This report has been provided to the Legislature on an annual basis since 2000 when the legislature amended the language of G.L. c. 71B to align Massachusetts special education terminology with the federal "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" ("IDEA"). The Department is required to submit an annual report on compliance…

This issue of "The Progress of Education Reform" highlights data and research on why teachers leave, how attrition affects teacher shortages across the nation and the importance of working conditions for student performance. It focuses on: (1) reasons for teacher turnover; (2) elements of working conditions related to teacher retention…

While the educational difficulties of poor black students are well documented and have been discussed extensively, the academic performance of well-off African American children has received much less attention. Even with economic and educational resources in the home, well-off African American youth are not achieving at the levels of their white…

One of the intractable aspects of the so-called achievement gap between Black and White students lies in our failure to identify viable ways to increase science achievement and participation among African American students living in our inner cities. However, there has been little research that attempts to understand how the social and cultural…

This paper reports that the basic opportunity to learn does not exist in many countries, and that a concerted management focus to assure that schools provide basic elements of an opportunity to learn (OTL) could potentially yield big improvements in learning. The paper assesses: (1) what basic factors create the opportunity to learn; and (2) to…

This report has a simple aim: to present results from international assessments so readers can judge for themselves how American students stack up globally. It's intended to be a stand-alone supplement to the "Education Olympics" web event held between August 8th and August 22nd, 2008 (see edolympics.net). It shows how the U.S. has…

This study examined the degree to which achievement gaps existed among different ethnic and racial groups before kindergarten entry. Using published data on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, this study found statistically significant differences in language knowledge and skills, literacy knowledge and skills, and mathematics…

Evidence indicates that secondary level students are not making adequate reading progress to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) by 2013-2014. According to The Education Trust, reading skills of African American and Latino high school seniors are not commensurate with the reading skills of white middle school students. The 2005…

In a line of research employing a survey instrument, the "Critical Thinking Belief Appraisal", teachers supported critical-thinking (CT) activities more for high- than low-advantage learners, likely exacerbating a "rigor gap" implicated in persistent achievement gaps. Such beliefs were less likely to be espoused by expert teachers than randomly…

Given South Africa's divided past, it is imperative to improve educational outcomes to overcome labour market inequalities. Historically white and Indian schools still outperform black and coloured schools in examinations, and intraclass correlation coefficients (rho) reflect far greater between-school variance than for other countries. SACMEQ's…

Addressing the underdevelopment awaiting most children belonging to historically disparaged groups in the uneven playing field of public education remains--the top problem in advancing equity and excellence in education. Clearly, excellence in the educational system requires equity in opportunities to learn regardless of children's background or…

Transition problems from secondary to tertiary level in mathematics have been a recurrent issue in Sweden. This paper summarises the development during the last decades. Results from two recent research studies that illuminate the transition problem are presented. The first one, based on empirical data from a major Swedish technical university,…

In an effort to answer the "Educational Call to Arms", our national public schools have turned to Advanced Placement (AP) courses as the predominate vehicle used to address the lack of academic rigor in our public high schools. Advanced Placement is believed by many to provide students with the rigor and work ethic necessary to…

In consideration of the widening achievement gap between native English speaking and non-English speaking students, the purpose of this study was to determine whether a predictable relationship exists between the academic achievement of English language learners (ELLs) and their background variables. Specifically, this study examined differences…

Middle- and upper-middle-class students continue to outpace those from less privileged backgrounds. Most attempts to redress this inequality focus on the issue of access to financial resources, but as "Producing Success" makes clear, the problem goes beyond mere economics. In this eye-opening study, Peter Demerath examines a typical suburban…