This study estimates the effects of open-enrollment charter schools on student performance in traditional public schools in Arkansas. The paper examines the change in Iowa Assessment scores for first and second graders across Arkansas school districts between the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years. The ordinary least-squares regression estimates…

Genetic liability to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be expressed in unaffected relatives through subclinical, genetically meaningful traits, or endophenotypes. This study aimed to identify developmental endophenotypes in parents of individuals with ASD by examining parents' childhood academic development over the school-age period. A cohort of…

Multiple predictors of academic outcomes in children have been identified and studied including gender, level of parental support, family structure, and age. Though the concepts of self-concept, self-esteem, and teacher perception of the student-teacher relationship have been studied in depth, their study as predictors of academic outcomes,…

Teacher nominations of students are commonly used in gifted and talented identification systems to supplement psychometric measures of reasoning ability. In this study, second grade teachers were requested to nominate approximately one fourth of their students as having high learning potential in the year prior to the students' participation in a…

Above-level testing is the practice of administering aptitude or academic achievement tests that are designed for typical students in higher grades or older age-groups to gifted or high-achieving students. Although widely accepted in gifted education, above-level testing has not been subject to careful psychometric scrutiny. In this study, I…

This study investigated the relationship among critical motivational variables and mathematics achievement as middle grades students engaged in a reform-oriented curriculum, "Mathematics in Context." We tested 327 students in fifth, sixth, and seventh grade before and after two years of implementation. We performed a path analysis with…

This paper examines evidence from a performance-pay program implemented in five Little Rock, Arkansas elementary schools between 2004 and 2007. Using a differences-in-differences approach, the evidence shows that students whose teachers were eligible for performance pay made substantially larger test score gains in math, reading, and language than…

Hurricane Katrina inflicted traumatic experiences on many children in New Orleans and the surrounding area. The literature has shown a significant relationship between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms and lowered academic achievement in children. This longitudinal study investigated the relationships between attendance, academic…

The purpose of this study was to explore the utility of a dynamic assessment (DA) of algebraic learning in predicting third graders' development of mathematics word-problem difficulty. In the fall, 122 third-grade students were assessed on a test of math word-problem skill and DA of algebraic learning. In the spring, they were assessed on…

The relationship between academic self-concept and academic achievement in African American students who have experienced geographic mobility was the focus of this study. Specifically, this study used quantitative methods to assess African American students from counties in Iowa to obtain information about the students' relocation from urban to…

The purpose of this study was to document the relationship between two commonly-used indicators of reading proficiency (i.e., Oral Reading Fluency [ORF] and Retell Fluency [RTF]) and two reading outcome tests in the state of Montana. Third and fourth grade students were assessed over 1 school year (2005-2006). Each student was assessed at three…

Stepwise regression was used in 1986 and 1987 to determine the best predictor variables for predicting the percentage of students in the 113 Atlanta Public Schools scoring at or above the national norm in reading and mathematics on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills/Tests of Achievement and Proficiency. Twenty elementary school, 16 middle school, and…

Students in an Ohio community (363 males and 332 females) took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in the spring of their eighth-grade year and the Ohio Ninth Grade Proficiency Test (ONGPT) in the following fall of their ninth-grade year. The scores from both tests, for a period of 3 consecutive years, were correlated to determine the predictability of…

One approach to identifying effective schools defines effectiveness in terms of student achievement in reading, mathematics, and language usage. Exceptional school achievement is indicated by performance above or below the level expected if students were merely to maintain their previous rate of growth. Regression analysis is used to compute…

This study compared the validity of chronological age, a standardized algebra prognosis test, standardized verbal and quantitative scales derived from an achievement test battery, and an objective measure of formal or concrete stages of Piagetian cognitive development for predicting final examination scores and course grades in high school…