The effectiveness of Tier 2 interventions may depend on the variability of student skills within an intervention group. We investigated the effect of initial variability within intervention groups using data from a large-scale study of ROOTS, a Tier 2 kindergarten mathematics intervention. Our research questions were as follows: Does mathematics…

The effectiveness of Tier 2 interventions may depend on the variability of student skills within an intervention group. We investigated the effect of pretest variability within intervention groups using data from a large-scale study of ROOTS, a Tier 2 kindergarten mathematics intervention. Our research questions were as follows: Does mathematics…

In this study, we examine friendship centrality and reciprocity between kindergarteners who exhibit externalizing classroom behaviors and their classroom peers. Teachers nominated children who display externalizing classroom behaviors, and we collected network data via individual interviews of 411 children (mean age = 6.7 years; SD = 0.33) from 21…

Purpose: This study explored the relation between therapy group size and language outcomes for children receiving school-based language therapy through an implementation science lens. Method: Data for the current study were gathered as part of the Speech-Language Therapy Experiences in Public Schools study. Participants included 273…

This study examined the effect of small class size intervention on student outcomes using reading achievement scores as measured by the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), a standardized, norm-referenced test, while controlling for independent variables inclusive of students' gender, race, socioeconomic status (SES), and environment. This…

In this essay Tatiana Geron argues that classroom "crowdedness"--the spatial, temporal, and group dynamics of many students interacting in a shared space--shapes teachers' every day ethical decision-making and should be essential to an ethical theory of teaching. Drawing from Philip K. Jackson's ethnographic work and her own teaching…

This study examines the associations between class size, teacher characteristics, and children's academic achievement in mathematics, reading, and science using a recent, large-scale, longitudinal dataset. Individual fixed effects models, which control for observed and unobserved time-invariant student variables, were employed to conduct analysis…

Transition to kindergarten is an important developmental milestone for children and families. This study explored factors associated with kindergarten readiness focusing on the impact of a summer kindergarten transition program. A mixed-method design was employed, and the qualitative data from interviews with 16 randomly selected kindergarten…

Knowing that each student's academic success relies on his/her reading proficiency, schools must implement effective instructional reading models so that students can move from learning to read to reading to learn in the early years of development. The purpose of this inquiry was to evaluate the effectiveness of a kindergarten and first grade…

High-quality Tier 1 instruction is frequently conceptualized as the "foundation" for other tiers of intervention within multitiered systems of support (MTSS) models. However, the vast majority of Tier 2 intervention studies do not account for Tier 1 variables when examining intervention effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to…

Districts and states are targeting summer break -- the most substantial chunk of out-of-school time in the typical year -- as a prime opportunity to help students make progress with learning left unfinished due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal COVID relief funds will allow schools the freedom to offer programs as they never have before. But not…

Student attendance is both a critical input and intermediate output of the education production function. However, the malleable classroom-level determinants of student attendance are poorly understood. We estimate the causal effect of class size, class composition, and observable teacher qualifications on student attendance by leveraging the…

High-quality Tier 1 instruction is frequently conceptualized as the "foundation" for other tiers of intervention within multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) models (Gersten et al., 2009). However, the vast majority of Tier 2 intervention studies do not account for Tier 1 variables when examining intervention effectiveness (Hill et al.,…

In an effort to reduce viral transmission, many schools are planning to reduce class size if they have not reduced it already. Yet the effect of class size on transmission is unknown. To determine whether smaller classes reduce school absence, especially when community disease prevalence is high, we merge data from the Project STAR randomized…

Every year, children enter PreK and kindergarten with varied early education experiences, and the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the problem. The need to respond to students' changing situations gives school districts and states an opportunity to reconsider how they are helping children and their families make the transition into kindergarten.…