COVID has potentially reversed a decade of progress in closing the attainment gap. The evidence is clear that disadvantaged students have fallen further behind during the pandemic. This guide is designed as a practical starting point to support school leaders to develop, implement and monitor an evidence-informed approach to their Pupil Premium…

This book offers a roadmap for developing, growing, and sustaining living-learning communities (LLCs) that promote student success and enhance the undergraduate experience. Drawing on the Best Practices Model presented in "Living-Learning Communities That Work," as well as updated research and rich, real-life examples from LLC…

The purpose of this study was to investigate a high school Algebra I program through an examination of potential relationships among teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics, teachers' instructional styles, students' academic self-concept in mathematics, and students' mathematics achievement in an Algebra I course. While a…

This book is an authoritative examination of summer learning loss, featuring original contributions by scholars and practitioners at the forefront of the movement to understand--and stem--the "summer slide." The contributors provide an up-to-date account of what research has to say about summer learning loss, the conditions in low-income…

Whole-school or whole-class programs designed to promote positive behavior can enhance the likelihood that effective teaching and learning occur for all students. This practice guide is intended to help elementary education educators, as well as school and district administrators and parents, implement and support effective prevention-focused…

Case studies of Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) in the Iowa project included four high schools that have been practicing this professional development model for the last five years. The schools, AHST Secondary School, Cedar Falls High School, Spencer High and Middle Schools and Valley High School were visited in April, 2011. The visits included…

Across the education field, there is unusual consensus that strong teacher leaders are key to improving our nation's schools. Unfortunately, clear expectations for what teacher leaders should do, and strategies to prepare them to do it, are few and far between. One recent survey found that while 86 percent of schools have teacher leader roles,…

This guide is for superintendents, principals, staff developers, teachers and professional development providers--in short for anyone who has a stake in ensuring that professional learning has greater impact on improving practice and increasing student learning. The purpose of this guide is to help schools, districts, and SU/LEAs put in place…

States, school districts, and schools across the country are increasingly implementing multi-tier systems of support (MTSS) to improve outcomes for all students. Kansas is no exception. The Kansas MTSS is designed to improve outcomes for all students by instituting system-level change across the classroom, school, district, and state. Such…

"The Learning Principal" is an eight-page newsletter published eight times a year. It focuses on the important and unique work of school principals. This issue includes: (1) Efficacy Can Overcome Classroom Barriers (Valerie von Frank); (2) Q & A: Leadership, Learning Communities Change School Culture (Valerie von Frank); (3) Focus on NSDC's…

Improving teacher quality in early education is a major part of ensuring young children's school readiness and closing the achievement gap. This is the book decision-makers and administrators need to begin developing coordinated, effective teacher quality systems--ones that not only get teachers ready for the classroom, but also promote continuous…

As of October 2007, 54 interdistrict magnet schools enrolling 18,928 students were operating in Connecticut. The bulk of these schools are located in the Hartford and New Haven areas--21 in the Hartford area and 17 in the New Haven area. Interdistrict magnets also serve significant numbers of students in the Waterbury region. In keeping with the…

Over 600 students were served by the Reading/Mathematics Lab Program of the Des Moines (Iowa) Independent Community School District. Students enrolled in the mathematics lab at all grade levels attained an increase in mean percentile rank from pre- to post-testing as measured by the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills administered in October 1982 and again…

This document presents the results of an evaluation of the usefulness to 14 participating schools of Connecticut's School Effectiveness Program, which focuses on the achievement performance of low-income students. The following are the evaluation's major findings, based on interviews, questionnaires, case studies, test data, and archival data: (1)…

Many Washington students, who should be at a reading to learn level in grades 4-12, are still learning to read. The purpose of this review it to offer information to schools and districts in Washington State regarding intervention programs that are most promising for closing the achievement gap in reading. The 4-12 grades are an area that need…