This applied dissertation was designed to provide perceptual teacher data as well as summative testing data to educational leaders concerning the effects of implementing Investigations in Number, Data, and Space® (Investigations) in three Title I elementary school settings, two Title I schools, and one non-Title I school. Data collected during…

Recent educational accountability efforts have married student assessments with reform mandates and sanctions. As a result, students--beginning in early elementary grades--are feeling the pressures of this new era of high-stakes accountability. This article chronicles a story of the consequences of high-stakes testing on a father and his son.…

Access to Head Start has been shown to improve children's preschool experiences and school readiness on selected factors through the end of 1st grade. Two more years of follow-up, through the end of 3rd grade, can now be examined to determine whether these effects continue into the middle elementary grades. The statistical design and impact…

Introduction: The Swedish government has decided to introduce national tests in primary education. Swedish pupils in general have few tests and a recognised possible adverse effect of testing is test anxiety among pupils, which may have a negative impact on examination performance. However, there has been little research on effects of testing on…

Early exposure to science may have a lifelong effect on children's attitudes towards science and their motivation to learn science in later life. Out-of-class environments can play a significant role in creating favourable attitudes, while contributing to conceptual learning. Educational science theatre is one form of an out-of-class environment,…

This study examines trends in American students' growth trajectories in reading and math achievement over the past three decades. Drawing upon multiple sources of national assessment data, cohort analyses provide new evidence on the stability and change of national academic growth curves. The emerging trends imply a tripartite pattern where…

How many students repeat a grade each year? How do retention rates vary across states and over time? Despite extensive research on the predictors and consequences of grade retention, there is no systematic way to quantify state-level retention rates; even national estimates rely on imperfect proxy measures. We present a conceptually simple…

Elementary general music teachers typically teach hundreds of students every week. Each child has individual learning needs due to a variety of factors, such as prior experiences with music, music aptitude, learning style, and personality. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore ways that experienced teachers used assessments to…

The 4Rs Program (Reading, Writing, Respect and Resolution) is a "dual focus" whole school universal intervention designed to promote literacy development and social-emotional learning, that is currently being rigorously evaluated using a school-randomized trial of 18 elementary schools (9 intervention, 9 control) in New York City. The…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of mathematics progress monitoring measures intended for use with students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. These measures, available as part of easyCBM[TM], an online progress monitoring assessment system, were developed in 2007 and 2008 and administered to…

One of the most critical needs in Florida's "Reading First" schools is to improve the effectiveness of interventions for struggling readers. For example, during the 2005-2006 school year, only 17% of first grade students who began the year at some level of risk for reading difficulties finished the year with grade level skills on the…

This article traces the evolution of a quest for solving the problems involved in the analysis of multilevel data and the estimation of the value added effects of schools in influencing educational outcomes. The authors report the findings of two studies that followed several cohorts of students that were tested at two grade levels (Grade 3 and…

This publication contains Arizona public schools' academic standards for Grade 1. The contents of this document include the following: (1) The Arts Standard 2006--Grade 1; (2) Comprehensive Health Education/Physical Activity Standards 1997--Foundations (Grades 1-3); (3) Foreign and Native Language Standards 1997--Foundations (Grades 1-3); (4)…

This publication contains Arizona public schools' academic standards for grade 2. The contents of this document include the following: (1) The Arts Standard 2006--Grade 2; (2) Comprehensive Health Education/Physical Activity Standards 1997--Foundations (Grades 1-3); (3) Foreign and Native Language Standards 1997--Foundations (Grades 1-3); (4)…

This publication contains Arizona public schools' academic standards for grade 3. The contents of this document include the following: (1) The Arts Standard 2006--Grade 3; (2) Comprehensive Health Education/Physical Activity Standards 1997--Foundations (Grades 1-3); (3) Foreign and Native Language Standards 1997--Foundations (Grades 1-3); (4)…