Improving the reading ability of young students could hardly be a more urgent priority for our elementary schools. Two thirds of American fourth and eighth graders are not able to read proficiently--and the outcomes are far worse for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2019 showed that only…

Students with disabilities are often included in general education social studies classes, but these classes can differ in the achievement level of the overall class, including wide variation in content-related background knowledge, reading achievement, or both. The purpose of this study was to examine how background knowledge and reading…

Deficits in academic vocabulary knowledge plague students who struggle with reading and impact their reading comprehension and performance in content area courses. Experts have developed interventions aimed at improving vocabulary instruction. However, questions remain concerning the effects of vocabulary gains on reading comprehension and content…

This year's Brown Center Report (BCR) on American Education is the 17th issue overall since its beginning in 2000. The 2018 edition focuses on the state of social studies and civics education in U.S. schools. Like previous editions, which were authored by Tom Loveless, the report comprises three studies: The first chapter examines student…

The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand the beliefs held by content area social studies teachers who teach reading. The rationale for this study is that students in the 21st century must be able to meet the demands of disciplinary literacy to compete in the workforce. The data from the semi-structured interviews and classroom…

Today's social studies teachers and students face an unprecedented time of standards and accountability. Students bring influences that may interact with the instructional context teachers provide for learning. Eighth- and 11th-grade U.S. history students (n = 512) from 11 schools (23 teachers), diverse in location, ethnicity, and socioeconomic…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested in the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) as one strategy to support teachers' and students' transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts. This report provides an early look at the implementation of LDC in eighth-grade history/social studies and science classes in two…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of a middle school flexible interdisciplinary block schedule would increase eighth-grade students' reading scores, as measured by the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS). A 90-minute middle school flexible interdisciplinary block schedule served as the independent variable and…

Retention means repeating one or more courses in high school, rather than a full grade. Over 3,500 high school students were retained in 2011-12 in Wake County Public School (WCPSS), with the largest numbers in grades 9 and 10. Some students enter high school below grade level. In 2011-12, half the WCPSS high schools had greater than 30% of…

Although the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires that classroom teachers be highly qualified, the assumption that achieving the highly qualified endorsement equates to teacher effectiveness in the classroom is unverified. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of teacher qualification, as defined by the NCLB Act and…

This study examined the relationship between reading achievement and achievement in other subject areas. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a correlation between reading scores as measured by the Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR) and academic achievement in language arts, math, science, and social studies…

This study describes English language learner (ELL) student enrollment and achievement trends in Delaware public schools from 2002/03 to 2008/09. Two research questions guide this study: (1) How did the enrollment of ELL students in Delaware public schools change between 2002/03 and 2008/09?; and (2) How did performance (the percentage scoring at…

This study describes English language learner (ELL) student enrollment and achievement trends in Delaware public schools from 2002/03 to 2008/09. Two research questions guide this study: (1) How did the enrollment of ELL students in Delaware public schools change between 2002/03 and 2008/09?; and (2) How did performance (the percentage scoring at…

Increasing demands for students to perform at higher levels at the middle school level have caused educators to closely examine the quality of personnel working with middle level students. Middle school advocates and professional organizations have claimed that the preparation of teachers and principals who work with middle school students should…

Measures the effects of tape recordings alone, tape recordings and printed texts, and printed texts alone on the comprehension, oral reading, and vocabulary abilities of eighth-grade students and reports no significant differences with any method. Bibliography. (MD)