In the summer of 2011, the Tennessee Department of Education contracted with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to provide a four-day training for all evaluators across the state. NIET trained more than 5,000 evaluators intensively in the state model (districts using alternative instruments delivered their own training).…

The Reading First Program is a central element of the No Child Left Behind legislation (No Child Left Behind Act, 2001). It builds on findings reported in a national consensus report (NICHD, 2000), about proven strategies to reduce the prevalence of reading difficulty in the early grades in order to help children read at or above grade level by…

The "District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003," passed by the Congress in January 2004, established the first federally funded, private school voucher program in the United States. The purpose of the new scholarship program was to provide low-income residents, particularly those whose children attend schools in need of…

Two pressing education reforms entail improving students' reading skills and improving high schools in the United States. In this article, the authors focus on both of these issues by adding the voices of students in an underperforming high school to the discussion about reading reform. We present the results of a larger study pertaining…