Scholars and practitioners have called for personalized and widely accessible professional development (PD) for teachers. Yet, a long-standing tension between customizing support and increasing access to such support has hindered the scale-up of high-quality PD for individual teachers. This study addresses this challenge by developing a…

This study examined the initial efficacy of World Generation (WorldGen), a Tier I social studies instructional approach for emergent bilingual (EB) students and their native English-speaking (non-EB) peers in Grades 6 and 7. WorldGen builds on prior research on instructional practices that have been associated with improved content knowledge and…

Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) improve student behavior. Yet, teachers may not receive adequate training to implement PBIS at the classroom level. This study evaluated class-wide function-related intervention teams (CW-FIT) as a classroom-level behavior management system to determine whether the behavior of middle school…

Most U.S. classrooms serve students with various linguistic and academic needs. Tier-I universal approaches support English language learners (ELLs) without segregating them into a different track and thereby constraining future learning opportunities. The current study examines whether Word Generation (WG), a Tier-I discussion-based program…

Inference skill is one of the most important predictors of reading comprehension. Still, there is little rigorous research investigating the effects of inference instruction on reading comprehension. There is no research investigating the effects of inference instruction on reading comprehension for English learners with reading comprehension…

The recent wave of test-based accountability reforms has negatively impacted the provision of K-12 arts educational experiences. Advocates contend that, in addition to providing intrinsic benefits, the arts can positively influence academic and social development. However, the empirical evidence to support such claims is limited. We conducted a…

Homework is transforming at a rapid rate with continuous advances in educational technology. Computer-based homework, in particular, is gaining popularity across a range of schools, with little empirical evidence on how to optimize student learning. The current aim was to test the effects of different types of feedback on computer-based homework.…

This study examined the efficacy of a supplemental, multicomponent adolescent reading intervention for middle school students who scored below proficient on a state literacy assessment. Using a within-school experimental design, the authors randomly assigned 483 students in grades 6-8 to a business-as-usual control condition or to the Strategic…

This article presents findings from an intervention across sixth and seventh grades to teach academic words to middle school students. The goals included investigating a progression of outcomes from word knowledge to comprehension and investigating the processes students use in establishing word meaning. Participants in Year 1 were two sixth-grade…

In this experimental study we examined the effects of a technology-mediated, multicomponent reading comprehension intervention, Comprehension Circuit Training (CCT), for middle school students, the majority of whom were struggling readers. The study was conducted in three schools, involving three teachers and 228 students. Using a within-teacher…

The results from controlled intervention research have indicated that effective reading interventions exist for children with reading difficulties. Effect sizes for older struggling readers, however, typically have not matched the large effects demonstrated with younger children. Standardized effect sizes for intervention/control comparisons…

In 2011 Baltimore City Schools submitted a successful proposal for an Investing in Innovations (i3) grant to offer a three year (2012-2014) summer program designed to expose rising sixth through eighth grade students to VEX robotics. The i3-funded Middle School Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Summer Learning Program was…

This ex post facto descriptive-comparative quantitative study compared the differences in reading achievement between groups of 6th- through 8th-grade students enrolled in a response to intervention (RtI) classroom against groups of students enrolled in a general education classroom. Students across English language learner and low socioeconomic…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of Achieve3000, a differentiated online literacy curriculum, on students' scores on the California State Test (CST). In the 2011-12 school year, 1,957 students in Chula Vista began using Achieve3000's solutions in 3rd through 8th grade. Using a form of propensity score matching called Inverse…

Background: School-based social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs can influence not only SECD but also academic-related outcomes. This study evaluated the impact of one SECD program, Positive Action (PA), on educational outcomes among low-income, urban youth. Methods: The longitudinal study used a matched-pair, cluster-randomized…