This article presents findings from an intervention across sixth and seventh grades to teach academic words to middle school students. The goals included investigating a progression of outcomes from word knowledge to comprehension and investigating the processes students use in establishing word meaning. Participants in Year 1 were two sixth-grade…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides federal funds to improve elementary and secondary education in the nation's schools. ESSA requires states and Local Educational Agencies (i.e., school districts and charter schools) to take a variety of actions to ensure that all children, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, gender, disability…

The Soccer Coaching Club program used the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model in an after-school soccer program for sixth grade boys between 11 and 12 years old in a local middle school. Soccer, as the featured physical activity, provided the "hook" for regular attendance. Desired outcomes included improved…

This article presents the results of an evaluation of Positive Family Support, an ecological family intervention and treatment approach to parent supports and family management training developed from a history of basic and translational research. This effectiveness trial, with 41 public middle schools randomly assigned to intervention or control,…

This report presents findings about the MacPhail Afterschool Intensive Strings Program in 2016-17. It shows that students who participated in the program are regularly attending school, maintaining or improving their math and reading proficiency scores, and reporting that they enjoy school. [For the 2015-16 report, see ED619373.]

Literacy in the Middle (LIM) is a sixth- through eighth-grade literacy initiative being implemented in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). The initiative is an extension of the Literacy by 3 initiative being implemented at the elementary school level, district-wide. LIM focuses on literacy across the curriculum, including the core…

School-based improvement programs represent a core strategy in improving education because they can leverage pre-existing social and organizational structures to promote coordinated and comprehensive change across multiple facets of schooling. School-based programs are generally designed to be implemented by intact schools/districts, frequently…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine what effective teaching with technology looked like in practice within middle grade Social Studies' classrooms. An additional purpose was to understand how teachers' combine content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge when making decisions about their curriculum.…

"FRIENDS for life" is a manualised, 10 week, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) based programme designed to be run in school and community settings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of "FRIENDS for life" when implemented in a mainstream secondary school by school staff. Data regarding implementation of the…

The importance of adolescent literacy is well established, and the topic continues to be of both local and national interest. Practitioners need to know not only which programs and practices appear effective, but which have the scientific evidence to support that claim. To identify effective programs and practices for general education students in…

Using secondary analysis, the author examined outcomes of academics, attendance, and discipline problems for 999 students placed in disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEPs) during the 2005-06 academic school year utilizing the Boys Town Educational Model as the intervention. Surprisingly, academic averages decreased, average attendance…

Directed consultation is presented as a professional development framework to guide and support teachers in the implementation of evidence-based interventions that involve contextual and process-oriented approaches designed to be incorporated into daily classroom management. This approach consists of four components: pre-intervention observations…

The adoption of the Common Core State Standards by 46 states and the District of Columbia represents a dramatic departure in U.S. education. In the past, national efforts to improve education have been directed by the federal government and have emphasized resources or organizational structure. In contrast, the Common Core State Standards in math…

The authors report findings from a systematic observational study of middle school educators (Grades 6-8) in two states who provided reading interventions within Tier 2 and Tier 3 of a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. Intervention sessions were coded and analyzed to understand (a) the frequency and type of evidence-based strategies…

At the intersection of biology and computer science is the growing field of bioinformatics--the analysis of complex datasets of biological relevance. Despite the increasing importance of bioinformatics and associated practical applications, these are not standard topics in elementary and middle school classrooms. We report on a pilot project and…