How do we determine if incoming students are ready for college-level work? California's community college system is currently working to address this complex question in a more nuanced, comprehensive, and equitable way. This research brief offers insights that can inform these efforts resulting from the Student Transcript-Enhanced Placement Study…

In 2010, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Education Program has established the Deeper Learning Initiative, which focuses on students' development of deeper learning skills (i.e., the mastery of core academic content, critical-thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and "learn-how-to-learn" skills). Two test…

Discussions of the barriers to completion in community colleges have largely focused on student success in introductory college-level math and English courses, and rightfully so, since these courses are typically required for degrees. However, there is a much broader range of courses that also serve as "gatekeepers" in the sense that they are…

This volume offers a comprehensive, up-to-date, empirical and methodological view over the new scenarios and environments for language teaching and learning recently emerged (e.g. blended learning, e-learning, ubiquitous learning, social learning, autonomous learning or lifelong learning), and also over some of the new approaches to language…

The evaluation of the Portland (Oregon) Public Schools' Summer Program focused on academic achievement of its students, grades K-8, who participated in 1985. Courses included arts and crafts as well as basic and remedial instruction in reading, mathematics, and language. The achievement gains of summer school students were compared to the whole…

By 1981 Project READ had distributed more than one-half million books to 500 American schools or alternative institutions and had established workshops to train teachers in reading motivation techniques and the use of sustained silent reading. To evaluate the project, pre- and post-testing of reading gains, student evaluations, and individual…

Originally developed for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on evaluating the progress of the school reading program is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture giving an overview on the…

A method is described for determining the reading level of materials using a computerized test. (MK)

The development of the Alberta Diagnostic Reading Program (ADRP) was based on a current psycholinguistic theory that describes reading as a process in which the reader uses background information to communicate with the author. To ensure its usefulness and effectiveness, the developers of the ADRP sought the advice and direct involvement of many…

Learning to Read Through the Arts (LTRTA), a Title I program, offers intensive reading instruction to New York City elementary school students, through the integration of a total arts program with a total reading program. This report presents a brief program description and results of an evaluation of student achievement and teacher participation…

This document contains materials directly related to the actual reading test of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), including the reading rubric, released passages, selected-response questions with answer keys, performance tasks, and scored samples of students' responses to the tasks. All of these items may be duplicated to…

Developed for the America Reads initiative, this paper presents the LEARNS (Linking Education and America Reads through National Service) Literacy Assessment Profile (LLAP), a student assessment system that is designed to improve providers' ability to deliver high quality literacy programs to students, assess students' literacy understanding, set…

In implementing a districtwide reading project emphasizing staff development for middle school level teachers, the Moore County, North Carolina district conducted a study to determine whether middle school children could exceed their prior reading growth rates over a three-year period. Students from grades four through eight were pretested in the…

The Children's Art Carnival (C.A.C) is a community arts organization founded in Harlem in 1969. The organization aims to improve the language skills of pupils with low academic achievement through intensive participation in creative arts activities. In 1983-84, the program served 305 second, third, and fourth graders from eight schools in…

This paper examines how controlling statistically for baseline covariates (especially pretests) improves the precision of studies that randomize schools to measure the impacts of educational interventions on student achievement. Part I of the paper introduces the concepts, issues, and options involved. Parts II and III present empirical findings…