This dissertation uses data from the evaluation of a Striving Readers project to examine the associations between levels of implementation of different components of Scholastic's "READ 180" and student achievement as measured on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading assessment. The approach was hierarchical linear modeling using…

A variety of research has pointed to the interdependent linkage among vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension, and level of literacy. With this point in mind, the present study addressed the question of whether student vocabulary acquisition could be accelerated by using a multi-part, semantic word-family-oriented learning strategy to…

This report presents the results from an evaluation of the fourth year of the Memphis Striving Readers Project (MSRP) conducted by Research for Better Schools (RBS). MSRP, funded for five years by the United States Department of Education, comprises two interventions aimed at improving adolescent literacy and the quality of literacy instruction…

Pearce Academic Center for Excellence, Project PACE, involved one English/language arts teacher providing individualized instruction in the mechanics of basic English (e.g., parts of speech, rules on capitalization and punctuation, spelling, sentence writing, and library and dictionary skills) to grade seven and eight retainees in language arts…

Throughout the 1980s and early '90s, school leaders in Waterloo faced a gloomy horizon. Economic hardships, including declines in property values and rising unemployment, resulted in decreasing school enrollment and limited financial resources. By 1995, the district had accumulated several million dollars of debt. From 1995 to 2005, the student…