Decades of research on early care and education have shown that four-year-old children who enroll in prekindergarten (pre-K) programs start kindergarten scoring higher on assessments of academic skills than those who do not. A handful of long-term follow-up studies of pre-K have also found that these programs can have lasting beneficial impacts on…

This report provides an overview of kindergarten readiness of six Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) kindergarten cohorts from the 2016-17 to the 2021-22 school year. This report is accompanied by the Annual Digest of City Schools Kindergarten Statistics, 2022 Edition (Baltimore Education Research Consortium [BERC], 2022), which provides…

Young children enter kindergarten with varying levels of readiness and abilities to learn. One factor that contributes to lower levels of school readiness is poverty. One timely, cost-effective, and feasible strategy to boost school readiness, regardless of exposure to high-quality preschool is to leverage the summer months prior to kindergarten…

This study sought to examine the effectiveness of Reading RACES (RR), a computer program designed to deliver a repeated reading intervention with culturally relevant passages. Specifically, this study examined the effects of RR on the oral reading fluency (ORF) and comprehension gains for first-grade learners in an urban setting and whether these…

This paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental study examining the effectiveness of Amplify Reading, a digital supplemental literacy curriculum that students play independently at school or at home, in improving student literacy outcomes as measured by end of year Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Next for…

In response to chronically low gifted identification rates in the majority of elementary schools among Black and Hispanic/Latino students, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) launched Nurturing for a Bright Tomorrow (NBT) in Fall 2014. NBT was a multicomponent curricular enhancement program designed to train early elementary school…

The number of applied behavior analysis (ABA) classrooms for students with autism is increasing in K-12 public schools. To inform instruction of students with autism in public school settings, this study examined the relation between performance on mastery learning assessments and standardized achievement tests for students with autism spectrum…

Almost half of the students who enter kindergarten come to school unprepared. Students who come unprepared for the academic demands of kindergarten are at risk for needing support throughout their education. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the type of prekindergarten program (private, public, or none) attended and…

There has been considerable debate over the ways in which children's early literacy skills develop over time. Using confirmatory multidimensional scaling (MDS) growth analysis, this paper directly tested the hypothesis of a cumulative trajectory versus a compensatory trajectory of development in early literacy skills among a group of 1233…

This fifth annual "Boston Opportunity Agenda Report Card" provides the most up-to-date information available on Boston's education pipeline, from kindergarten through college graduation, including measures for school readiness, 3rd grade reading proficiency, 10th-grade academic proficiency, high school completion, dropout rates, college…

This study examines the effect of 30 min of small group explicit instruction on reading outcomes for first-grade Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) at risk of reading difficulties. Participants were 78 ELs from seven schools who were receiving Spanish only, or Spanish and English, whole group reading instruction in first grade. Students were…

This study examines the effect of 30 min of small group explicit instruction on reading outcomes for first-grade Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) at risk of reading difficulties. Participants were 78 ELs from seven schools who were receiving Spanish only, or Spanish and English, whole group reading instruction in first grade. Students were…