The lack of access to high-quality schools creates an achievement gap that limits students' access to future earnings and longevity, exacerbating equity concerns across the nation where struggling, low-performing schools are disproportionately responsible for educating students living in poverty. Large Urban School District's Accelerating Campus…

Statewide assessments in reading and math are required every year under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, at an annual expense of billions of taxpayer dollars. Analyzing 10 years of school-level results from public schools in two states-- Nebraska and Texas--we found that year-to-year correlations of schools' test scores were…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if a difference exists between male and female superintendents in rural Texas elementary schools in terms of student academic achievement measured through performance on the 3rd grade State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test. The study engages one research question for…

The purpose of this study is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the learning of students in public education through the analysis of standardized assessment performance before and during COVID-19. The study also compares virtual learning and face-to-face students' change in performance on the standardized assessments. To answer the…

This study examined the effect of attending Pre-K 4 SA on students' educational achievement in third and fourth grades. Pre-K 4 SA is a high-quality pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program in San Antonio that meets all quality standards defined by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). The results showed that distance to Pre-K 4 SA…

This study employs an exploratory descriptive quantitative statistics design. District-level results in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) are explored to describe the achievement gaps that exist in districts implementing Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) programs and districts implementing Dual Language (DL)…

This research study investigates the impact of the rapid transition from paper-based to online administration of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams on student performance in a South Texas school district. The transition, mandated by House Bill 3261, presented Texas public schools with a tight timeline for adapting…

Researchers explored how 13 states in which policymakers have adopted an A-F school letter grade accountability system performed on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) post-policy implementation. Researchers found mixed results, with approximately half of these 13 states increasing achievement post-policy, and the other…

This annual report provides information for the 2021-22 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-8 on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and mathematics…

This annual report provides information for the 2020-21 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-8 on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and mathematics…

Texas enacted legislation allowing for the establishment of charter schools in 1995. The Texas charter sector has subsequently grown into one of the largest in the nation. Today, there are more than 600 charter schools in Texas educating approximately 3.5 percent of public school students. In this study, the authors estimate the impact of charter…

Meeting standardized test benchmarks is a challenge for elementary school students in Texas. The problem is that some elementary schools do not meet the performance standards of the fourth-grade STAAR state test average. Problem-based learning is a model used in schools to initiate problem-solving skills with a hands-on approach to real-world…

The engage2learn approach to educator support provides an in-person and virtual coaching system that builds capacity and engagement in public schools. Engage2learn hired LXD Research to conduct an independent evaluation and analysis of NWEA Math and Reading data collected during the 2021-2022 school year. The goal was to measure how engage2learn…

This annual report provides information for the 2017-18 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-8 on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and mathematics…

This annual report provides information for the 2018-19 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-8 on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and mathematics…