As students enter the middle grades, many lose academic momentum and thus reach ninth grade unprepared. This lack of preparedness snowballs: It leads students to disengage from their studies, causing them to miss opportunities to get back on track in high school and thrive in the years beyond. Sixth grade is a particularly critical juncture.…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Peer Group Connection-Middle School, a cross-age peer mentor program designed to enhance student retention and achievement during the transition from elementary to middle school. We present findings from an individual-level randomized controlled trial that included 1,902 sixth-grade students across three…

German primary school students' reading skills have declined between 2016 and 2021, with a deficit of up to one third of a school year. The most significant portion of the decline is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic experiences. These delays are critical because children have to catch up on skills and knowledge they should already have while…

The normal lives of schools were significantly affected by the recent global pandemic. Some countries closed all schools nationally, others such as the USA closed at a local level according to state law. Much of the focus of research in this area is on the effect on children and learning loss, but this paper uses secondary analysis of data from a…

Elementary school teachers transition their students from recess to the classroom multiple times a day. When students do not line up quickly or are disruptive in line, teachers can spend valuable instructional time trying to manage students' inappropriate behaviors. The result is a loss of instructional time that could lead to a decrease in…

Characteristics of effective transition programs include (a) providing realistic experiences of middle school expectations for incoming students, (b) frequent communication with students, parents, and staff, and (c) extensive and ongoing planning, assessment, and redesign of the transition program. While these effective components of a transition…

To facilitate students' transition into secondary school, a coping-oriented group program was designed. Pre- and posttest data from three intervention groups conducted over the course of 5 weeks were combined for a total of 56 sixth-grade students waiting to undergo school transition. There was also a test-retest control group (n = 26). Results…

This research uses a descriptive quantitative statistical design to examine campus-level results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The focus is on describing the achievement disparities between campuses that implemented Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) programs and those implementing Dual Language (DL)…

This quantitative causal-comparative study investigated the growth performance scores of English learners in grades three through five in reading, mathematics, and science in four English language educational programs: English as Second Language (ESL), Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE), Dual-Language Immersion (DLI), and No Services. I used…

This study examined the relation between middle school Dual Language Learners' (DLLs'; N = 413; M age = 11.66 years old; 87.1% Latino; female = 234, male = 179) reading comprehension skills and their teachers' (N = 32; M age = 36.53 years; 81.3% Caucasian; female = 27, male = 5) questioning practices across the school year. This study also…

This study analyzed the effectiveness of an elementary school Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program during middle school transition in Portugal, and the influence of gender, classroom size and student's perception of two school climate dimensions (student-student relationships and teacher-student relationships) upon its effectiveness.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Spanish-speaking multilingual learner (MLL) students' long-term academic outcomes after participation in an early childhood education (ECE) program with English instruction. The study included 359 Spanish-speaking MLLs who qualified for Free and Reduced Lunch from Grade 1 to Grade 6. Participants…

This study was done to examine the transition of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) and hearing students from the first cycle (Grade 4) to the second cycle (Grade 5) of primary education in Ethiopia. Academic achievement and self-concept were measured longitudinally with 103 DHH and hearing students. Participants were selected from three different…

Transitions are an unavoidable part of life, often conceptualised as 'make it or break it periods'. They are important for personal growth and learning but can also be damaging in terms of our psychological wellbeing. Primary-secondary school transition is no exception and can heavily draw on children's ability to cope. However, support for…

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) offered several academic summer programs to students June through August 2021. These programs offered students opportunities to accelerate their learning, recover academic course credits, and support grade level transition. Although AISD offered a variety of summer programs in 2021, this report focuses…