This brief examined the patterns of reading achievement using statewide data from all students (Grades 3-10) in multiple years to examine gaps based on student, school, and district characteristics. Results indicate reading achievement varied most between students within schools and that students' prior achievement was the strongest predictor of…

Federal regulations indicate that the achievement gap must be closed between subgroups, including the gap between special education and non-special education students. We explored the ways in which achievement trends are influenced by three methods of reporting (cross-sectional, cohort-static, and cohort-dynamic). We also investigated (a) the ways…

Building on previous listening strategy research, the author aimed to explore the differences between Chinese high-proficiency listeners (HLs) and low-proficiency listeners (LLs) on their strategy use, problems, and motivation in native language (L1) listening. It involved 1,290 Grade 7 and 1,515 Grade 9 students. Both quantitative and qualitative…

Researchers often presume that it is better to use administrative data from grades 4 and 5 than data from grades 6 through 8 for conducting research on teacher effectiveness that uses value-added models because (1) elementary school teachers teach all subjects to their students in self-contained classrooms and (2) classrooms are more homogenous at…

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are widely considered to be the gold standard in evaluating the impacts of a social program. When an RCT is infeasible, researchers often estimate program impacts by comparing outcomes of program participants with those of a nonexperimental comparison group, adjusting for observable differences between the two…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how students think in a technological environment. This was accomplished by exploring the differences in the thinking of students while they worked in a technological environment and comparing this to their work in a paper and pencil environment. The software program TinkerPlots:…

Behavioral science researchers routinely use scale scores that sum or average a set of questionnaire items to address their substantive questions. A researcher applying multiple imputation to incomplete questionnaire data can either impute the incomplete items prior to computing scale scores or impute the scale scores directly from other scale…

The study examined the effect of charter school attendance on annual student achievement growth in math and reading. The research described in this report is consistent with WWC evidence standards with reservations. Strengths: The study matched charter school students to similar students in traditional public schools using demographic and academic…

Districts and schools use progress monitoring to assess student progress, to identify students who fail to respond to intervention, and to further adapt instruction to student needs. Researchers and practitioners often use progress monitoring data to estimate student achievement growth (slope) and evaluate changes in performance over time for…

Districts and schools use progress monitoring to assess student progress, to identify students who fail to respond to intervention, and to further adapt instruction to student needs. Researchers and practitioners often use progress monitoring data to estimate student achievement growth (slope) and evaluate changes in performance over time for…

The study examined the effect of charter school attendance on annual student achievement growth in math and reading. The research described in this report meets WWC evidence standards with reservations. WWC Rating Strengths: The study matched charter school students with similar students in traditional public schools using demographic and academic…

Educators have long used test scores to make educational decisions, but only within the last decade has the availability of data been systematic (Abelman, Elmore, Even, Kenyon, & Marshall, 1999). In recent years, interest has spiked in data-driven decision making in education (Marsh, Pane, & Hamilton, 2006). With technological advances and…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was (a) to describe adolescents' use of the e-readers, (b) to discover if e-readers increase adolescents' intrinsic motivation to read and, if so, why, and (c) to examine the possibility of creating a learner-centered environment for students using e-readers. Five seventh and eighth grade…

The TALPS study aims to build on the existing research base to develop promising methodologies to identify chronically low-performing and turnaround schools, as well as to identify promising strategies for turning around chronically low-performing schools. By looking specifically at schools identified as turnaround, in comparison to nonturnaround…

This study was conducted in 11 schools across 5 school districts and solicited responses from 20 teachers. This study found a relationship between instructional strategies appropriate for gifted students and teachers' perceptions of contributions the strategies made to learning. The literature review section examined the modern focus on gifted…