This study used short-term longitudinal data to examine the contributions of democratic teaching practices (e.g., the Developmental Designs approach) and equitable school climate to civic engagement attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors among 515 Black and Latino middle school students (47.9% male). Concurrent experiences of democratic homeroom and…

The purpose of this systematic review is to provide a comprehensive synthesis and analysis of the empirical evidence to date on the factors related to Latina/o student academic achievement in the country's increasingly Latina/o K-12 schools. Factors found to be related to academic achievement outcomes (e.g., grades, test scores, high school…

Instruction in history is important for all students. However, students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) often struggle to learn information in this content area. Instructional strategies proven effective for students with SLD are those that include active student responding (ASR), which are observable, measurable responses to…

The cost-effectiveness of the CTE program continued to improve in 2012-2013. The percentage of college-ready CTE seniors increased over the previous year, and expenditures declined. Seniors' college readiness rates did not differ by CTE status.

Field trips are an important feature of the United States' education system, although in the current context of high-stakes tests and school accountability, many schools are shifting resources away from enrichment. It is critical to understand how field trips and other informal learning experiences contribute to student test scores, but little…

In this paper, we show that the design and decentralized, school-based scoring of New York's high school exit exams--the Regents Examinations--led to the systematic manipulation of test sores just below important proficiency cutoffs. Our estimates suggest that teachers inflate approximately 40 percent of test scores near the proficiency cutoffs.…

As students continue to experience low test scores on national civics assessments, it is important to identify curriculum which can increase their civic capabilities. This is especially true for the quickly growing Hispanic population, which suffers a civic achievement gap. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental nonequivalent…

This study explores the influence high-stakes testing has on Latina/o student aspirations and subsequent college enrollment. It quantitatively examines the critical juncture of high school exit and college entry at a school district serving a predominately Latino population. Findings confirm a strong correlation between the math and English…

Hispanic students have long been an underrepresented group in post-secondary institutions. With the current and upcoming demographic changes in the United States, more Hispanic students are likely to enroll in college. Understanding if a relationship exists between engagement indicators and students' decision to persist or withdraw from college…

Inquiry-based teaching methods have been found to enhance students' abilities to understand the process of scientific inquiry. The purpose of this study was to determine if middle school students taught through an inquiry-based teaching approach consisting of scientific skill development, scientific knowledge, and scientific reasoning were more…

Since 2007, nineteen Houston Independent School District (HISD) campuses have partnered with Literacy Now to offer the Reading Intervention program. The Reading Intervention program provides individualized, small group reading tutorials for at-risk students in kindergarten to second grade to create proficient readers by the end of third grade.…

Test-score data show that both low-income and racial-minority children score lower, on average, on states' elementary-school accountability tests compared with higher-income children or white children. This report explores the relationship between racial and socioeconomic test-score gaps in New England metropolitan areas and two factors associated…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of frequent peer-monitored Fitnessgram testing, with student goal setting, on the PACER and push-up performance of middle school students. Subjects were 176 females and 189 males in 10 physical education classes at a middle school with an 83.7% Hispanic student population. Students were…

This study examined the development of noncognitive skills in a sample of 4,769 Hispanic/Latino students as they went through middle school and the first year of high school using ACT Engage 6-9, an assessment designed to predict student outcomes by measuring students' behaviors and psychosocial attributes. The scales of Academic Discipline,…

Mental health screeners need to demonstrate measurement equivalence across the populations of their intended use in order to improve the fairness in the identification of students in need of social, emotional, and behavioral supports. This study examined measurement invariance on three mental screeners across five racial and ethnic groups. The…