Students beginning high school commonly experience increased stress and behavior problems alongside declines in grades, attendance, interest in school, and perceptions of academic competence and self-esteem (Alvidrez & Weinstein, 1993; Reyes et al., 2000). Moreover, research indicates that, relative to students who graduate from high school,…

Schools and youth-serving organizations often struggle to better meet the needs of low-income students and to connect them to resources that can stabilize their lives and strengthen their academic competencies. Assisted-housing providers, including housing authorities, are in a unique position to support educators, low-income students, and their…

This study examined the influence of in-service training on educator perceptions concerning the use of Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM) in schools to guide instructional practice. Participants included 63 educators teaching in a southeastern metropolitan city school district. As part of the investigation, participants attended a 90-minute…

This conceptual model introduces a process to help school counselors use data to drive decision making and offers examples to implement the process. A step-by-step process is offered to help school counselors and school counselor supervisors address educational issues, close achievement gaps, and demonstrate program effectiveness. To illustrate…

Intervention models based on data use can be effective in raising student achievement. This article presents 3 studies of one such model which had reported improved reading comprehension levels in 7 poor urban multicultural schools serving indigenous and ethnic minority communities. The intervention (the Learning Schools Model) used a process…

The purpose of this case study was to demonstrate the influence of Tier 1 of Response to Intervention and Instruction (RtI[superscript 2]) and instructional coaching on teachers' instruction and on students' and English Language Learners' (ELL) learning. Research was conducted in one large urban elementary school. The unit of study…

Principals are charged with the responsibility of conducting teacher evaluations that lead to improved instructional practices, as well as using information gathered during the process to make informed data-driven decisions about teacher performance. This study analyzes the impact digital teacher evaluations have played on this process. Four…

Accelerating the acquisition of reading skills in at-risk third- through sixth-grade students is critically important if educators expect to meet federal and state performance targets and also meet children's needs. In an attempt to rapidly advance learning in reading, a large urban school district provided a group of 2,227 students performing…

A key lever for improvement in instruction and student support is the data that are available in urban districts. A considerable amount of information now exists about students' academic strengths and weaknesses, and the momentum to build and improve data systems is increasing at a rapid pace. In fall 2008, the Council of the Great City Schools…

The federal government, states, school districts, and private foundations are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in educational data management systems. The hope for these investments is that providing better information to teachers and administrators, particularly student performance data, will support school-wide planning, inform…

The federal government, states, school districts, and private foundations are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in educational data management systems. The hope for these investments is that providing better information to teachers and administrators, particularly student performance data, will support school-wide planning, inform…

This qualitative case study examined research exploring the role of a principal monitoring instruction during the implementation of a Readers Workshop model. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of an elementary school principal during the implementation of a Readers Workshop model and determine whether there was an affect on teaching…

This study is motivated by an ongoing debate about the kinds of schools that make for the best field placements during pre-service preparation. On the one hand, easier-to-staff schools may support teacher learning because they are typically better-functioning institutions that offer desirable teaching conditions. On the other hand, such field…

While there has been some research detailing the difficulties that special educators have with compiling the complex paperwork required by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandate, little has been written about how technology weighs into this framework, or how teachers use data to assist with their instructional…

Over the past decade, school districts and states have made impressive advances in collecting and managing data used for accountability purposes. By the year 2011, all 50 states will have systems to track students from year to year. But in most states and districts, all the data generated by these systems flows only one way: up. This paper…