The persistence of underperformance in schools within large urban districts remains a significant challenge in the U.S. K-12 education system. Education policymakers have enacted legislation aiming at improving these schools through "turnaround" initiatives. However, students attending underperforming schools face multifaceted challenges…

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical measurement model representing four proposed dimensions of the classroom ecology in pre-K to third-grade classrooms. The four proposed dimensions of Classroom Composition, Peer Network and Norms, Teacher Practices, and Student Experiences were evaluated using data collected in…

The purpose of this study was to study the impact on student performance due to participation in the Catapult Learning Intervention program in the Mathematics services offered in a religious non-public school system in the Northeastern United States from grades K-2. Student scaled scores from the NWEA MAP assessments administered at the beginning…

In this article, we report findings of a psychometric study comparing two screening tools: the Student Risk Screening Scale-Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) and the Devereaux Student Strengths Assessment-mini (DESSA-mini). Participants included 3,110 kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary students from five schools in one district in…

We present two types of validity evidence to support inferences and decisions about use of easyCBMs in relation to state testing programs. The first type involves the use of Benchmarks in reading to use in making predictions of performance on the Smarter Balanced (SB) test. These predictions can be made both well in advance (several months) or…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which ethnicity/race and economic status of Texas Grade 3 students is related to their mathematics achievement. In the first study, the degree to which ethnic/racial (i.e., Asian, White, Hispanic, Black) differences might be present in the mathematics…

When young children evaluate their confidence, their monitoring is often overoptimistic, that is, inaccurate. The present study investigated a potential underlying mechanism for kindergarteners' and second graders' overconfidence within a paired associates learning paradigm. We implemented a pre-monitoring phase motivating children to…

Per the Brown V. Board decision (1954), segregation in the American educational system is "unconstitutional", "has no place", and is "inherently unequal". Although American schools have been de jure desegregated for decades, issues of White flight, segregation academies, and poor academic preparation in public schools…

Engagement and academic achievement are generally correlated among elementary school students without learning disabilities (LDs). However, it is unclear if this pattern holds for students with LDs, who have lower achievement and engagement than their peers. This study examined whether links between achievement and student-reported behavioral…

Disparities in school discipline data indicate that children of color, particularly boys, receive more frequent and harsher disciplinary actions than their white peers, and this begins in early schooling. Within today's print-centered, bodily restricted school curricula, literacy instruction is often reduced to highly controlled, leveled readers…

Although proponents suggest that universal social-emotional learning (SEL) programs promote academic achievement, few studies have directly tested these outcomes under routine conditions in schools. Forty first-grade classrooms participated in an effectiveness trial in which schools (N = 13) were randomly assigned to implementation of a universal…

Purpose: Children's ability to adjust one's language according to discourse context is important for success in academic settings. This study examined whether second graders vary in linguistic and discourse features depending on discourse contexts, that is, when describing pictures in contextualized (describing the picture to an examiner while…

Purpose: Children's ability to adjust one's language according to discourse context is important for success in academic settings. This study examined whether second graders vary in linguistic and discourse features depending on discourse contexts, that is, when describing pictures in contextualized (describing the picture to an examiner while…

This study aimed to study the association between diglossic reading skills and reading comprehension in first grade students with and without learning disabilities. In this study population, students presented diglossia in literary and colloquial Arabic: 30 first grade students with learning disabilities and 30 first grade students without…

Grade retention, the practice of holding a student back in the same grade, has been a controversial topic in the United States for decades. English learners, a growing population in US schools, are consistently identified for grade retention more often than their English-only counterparts. The purpose of this study is to test the impact of grade…