In 2013, California implemented an ambitious school funding reform, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which allocates state funding by the proportion of unduplicated "high-need" students in the district: those from low-income families, English learners, and those in foster care. Using student-level longitudinal data for all…

Educators and researchers have long debated the best grade configuration grouping for middle grade students. This study examined school-level differences in reading and mathematics standardized test pass rates for students placed in middle schools versus alternative grade configurations. Latent growth modeling was conducted separately for 6th,…

Special education certification is used as an indicator of teaching quality in research, practice, and policy. This study examined whether elementary and middle school students with learning disabilities (LD) or emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) scored better on state math and English language arts (ELA) assessments in years when they were…

Despite the consistent policy focus on diversifying the teacher workforce, this workforce still fails to reflect the diversity of the student body in U.S. public schools. Dan Goldhaber, Roddy Theobald, and Christopher Tien examine the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence supporting the importance of teacher workforce diversity. They…

"Learning A-Z" contracted with Empirical Education to study the effectiveness of "Raz-Plus" in Milwaukee Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year. "Raz-Plus" is a literacy program that includes leveled books, skills practice, and digital activities and assessments. This study focused on 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade…

New technologies have had a large and transformative impact on education. This study explored the benefits of a comprehensive, computer-adaptive reading program for the literacy skills of young learners. Second grade students enrolled in a public school district used a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program and were evaluated at the beginning…

In this article, we focus on a statewide system of interdistrict open enrollment in Michigan, known as Schools of Choice. Our previous work indicated that students who take advantage of this program are disproportionately lower performing on state exams, come from lower-income families, and are more likely to be minority students. We estimated…

Following the recommendations of a 2013 instructional audit, the Academically or Intellectually Gifted department implemented a co-teaching instructional strategy in 41 volunteer schools starting in the 2014-15 school year. Implementation data and discussions with central office staff suggest that while implementation fidelity was relatively…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card, is the largest nationally representative assessment of what students know about mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, U.S. history, and technology and engineering. This fact sheet reports only the reading and…

This data book profiles noteworthy academic events, trends and outcomes at the state and complex-area level. It includes tables, figures and narrative sections related to demographic, financial and educational performance. A list of references and resources is provided. [For "Hawaii Department of Education Data Book, 2021. 32nd Annual…

Purpose: Scholars who advocate for equity-oriented educational practices have argued that the accountability era in the USA, now in place for two decades, has failed in its intended goal to improve student performance for traditionally marginalized student populations. This study aims to use a sociocultural lens to trace how a century-old…

Using administrative data from D.C. Public Schools, I use exogenous variation in the presence and intensity of teacher monitoring to show it significantly improves student test scores and reduces suspensions. Uniquely, my setting allows me to separately identify the effect of pre-evaluation monitoring from post-evaluation feedback. Monitoring's…

In this paper, we use NWEA MAP test data to examine variation in students' achievement and growth during the pandemic across multiple dimensions. Consistent with prior evidence, we find that students' test scores in fall 2021, on average, were substantially below historic averages. Moreover, the average scores of students of color, students…

The aim of this study was to measure the impact of the overall school facility condition for traditional Colorado elementary schools, according to Colorado's Facilities Conditions Index (FCI), on student achievement, as measured by the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). Control variables included Special Education (SPED), English Language…

The purpose of the present study was to determine if transitioning from elementary to middle school has an effect on value added scores of sixth graders as compared to scores of students in K-8 schools with no transition. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze achievement data from students in 442 Tennessee public schools for the…