Schools across the country are trying to build capacity to meet the diverse needs of learners. School psychologists are often expected to play a key role in capacity building and systemic change. Many students have or are at risk for having significant academic and social-emotional problems, and to date, schools have not been well equipped to…

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into determinants of knowledge growth among first-year psychology students in a curriculum that uses the Progress Test (an assessment method for long-term retention of knowledge and knowledge growth) as its main assessment tool. To that end, the relation between the level of initial learning, prior…

A teacher establishes red flags--clear and unambiguous warning signals--that enable her to intervene before students fail. Any student who has less than an 80 percent class average or who receives less than 80 percent on a quiz immediately moves into an intervention cycle in which the teacher regularly "checks in" with the student. Interventions…

Visualization skills are believed to be a strong indicator of success in engineering, science, and a variety of other careers. Previous studies have compared the visualization skills of first year engineering students in the US with their cohorts in Europe and Brazil, but to date there have been no data reported for developing countries in Africa.…

In this study the effects of a remedial spelling training approach were evaluated, which systematically combines certain visualization and verbalization methods to foster students' spelling knowledge and strategy use. Several achievement and test anxiety data from three measurement times were analyzed. All students displayed severe spelling…

In this paper we estimate the effect of class attendance on exam performance by implementing a policy in three large economics classes that required students scoring below the median on the midterm exam to attend class. This policy generated a large discontinuity in the rate of post-midterm attendance at the median of the midterm score. We…

In a large community college in the Midwest, an online medical terminology course was experiencing success rates below that of college- and state-wide levels. This study evaluated the outcomes of intentional, increased numbers of e-mail communications between under-performing students and faculty for the purpose of improving student academic…

Beginning in 2005, the GE Foundation initiated a commitment of expertise and financial resources to a set of urban school districts to improve public education and enhance student achievement in mathematics and science. This report analyzes the impacts of the GE Foundation commitment to the partner districts by examining trends in student…

Previous literature has discussed the use of cooperative and experiential learning as a means of augmenting student involvement in the learning process. Teamwork has been one method of employing cooperative learning and having students play games has been used extensively in experiential learning approaches. Often the two pedagogies are employed…

The discussion on how to improve students' academic performance has a long and rich history in the U.S. Although it has been a national priority, the debate has centered on the best method to accomplish this goal. Bernhardt (2003) and Shen and Cooley (2008) recognized the importance of teachers, principals, and data, deployed together, as critical…

Enrollment is rising across the nation's community colleges, but completion rates remain untenably low. Reformers are focusing on the importance of using comprehensive, high-quality data on student progress and completion to bring about change. A core tenet of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count has been to embed a culture of…

Researchers examined whether rewarding teams of teachers for student performance had an effect on student achievement or teacher practices or attitudes in a demonstration project in Round Rock, Texas. They found that the intervention had no effect in any of these areas. Students taught by teacher teams who were offered incentives scored slightly…

Student-athletes often miss class due to travel and competitions (Diersen, 2005; F. Wiseman, personal communication, September 30, 2010; Hosick, 2010; NCAA On-line, 2008; Rhatigan, 1984). Missing class is negatively associated with grades (Park & Kerr, 1990; Romer, 1993; Schmidt, 1983). Therefore, as classroom instruction time is replaced by…

On August 9, 2012, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) convened a meeting of researchers and U.S. Department of Education (ED) and IES staff to discuss recent advances in measuring teacher effectiveness. The objectives of the meeting were to: (1) Identify and discuss recent advances in the use of value-added models (VAMs) and student growth…

This issue of ETS Policy Notes (Vol. 20, No. 4) provides highlights from the symposium, "Middle School Matters: Improving the Life Course of Black Boys" held on July 23-24, 2012. The second in a series of four symposia co-sponsored by ETS and the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), the seminar examined the education and status of…