Background: Recent research suggests that instrumental relationship styles can enhance the effectiveness of school-based mentoring, however, little research has been conducted with young children. This study reports findings from a three-year evaluation of an instrumental Literacy-Enhanced Mentoring (LEM) program that integrates a structured,…

Reading fluency has been a tenacious problem in our schools. Studies have addressed the national decline in reading fluency in elementary schools. Tennessee's data outlines a similar pattern of findings. Approximately one third of Tennessee students complete third grade without becoming fluent readers (Tennessee Department of Education, 2023). New…

Language program evaluation has the potential for positive program impact by providing an opportunity for program stakeholders to reflect on their goals, examine their outcomes, and determine ways to move forward to maximize a program's effectiveness. However, many stakeholders are either unaware of the affordances of program evaluation or unable…

Based on the intersection of different systems at school entry, children and families often experience uncertainty about their preparedness and impending shift from other early childhood settings. This study used a mixed-methods explanatory sequential design and investigated the perspectives of parents and caregivers on kindergarten readiness with…

In a study examining the efficacy of Heggerty's Bridge to Reading program during the 2023-2024 school year, LXD Research measured the program's impact on kindergarten and first-grade students' reading outcomes on the NWEA MAP Reading Fluency assessment. Results indicated that first graders using the program demonstrated significantly greater…

This study assessed the effectiveness of the TRACK Rx program. Track Rx is a program for healthcare professionals to counsel and prescribe outdoor physical activity (PA) to children. The program was implemented by a school nurse to increase children's time spent outdoors, increase a child's nature-based PA, and increase parents' intention for…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, tutoring has gained popularity as a strategy to improve the academic achievement of struggling students. Intensive, relationship-based tutoring is a highly effective academic support for many students. A range of tutoring approaches are available to accelerate young students' literacy. Sarah Novicoff and Susanna Loeb…

The "Examining Implementation and Outcomes of the Project On-Track High-Dosage Literacy Tutoring Program" study describes the characteristics of students who participated in a full year of Project On-Track, a high-dosage, small-group literacy tutoring program for students in grade 1-3. Its online adaptive program, Amplify Reading, groups…

This mixed methods program evaluation evaluated the implementation of the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) framework in one North Carolina school district. It examined the perceived teacher impact of the program implementation for Tier 3 reading students in first through third grades. The vision for employing the MTSS framework in North…

School systems have the responsibility to promote student success and character education is one program used to help improve school climate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the implementation of a school developed character education program and student perceptions of school climate in a city elementary…

Although phonics knowledge and decoding skill are important for academic and life success, there is little research that examines the effects of home-based, family-implemented instruction on the development of these early literacy skills. The purpose of this multiple baseline across participants single case experimental design study was to…

Many elementary school students require and may benefit from supplemental reading support and interventions that can be provided by afterschool programs. The problem addressed in this study was that it was not known if third grade students benefited from an afterschool reading program in one East Tennessee District. The purpose of this…

Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is a relatively recent entrant into the U.S. early education landscape, combining features of public pre-K and regular kindergarten. We provide the first estimates of the impact of Michigan's TK program on 3rd grade test scores. Using an augmented regression discontinuity design, we find that TK improves 3rd grade…

The study was carried out to determine whether Turkish primary school 1st graders experienced reading loss during the summer holidays and whether giving book support to disadvantaged students during the summer holidays was effective in preventing this loss. The research was conducted with 26 students at a rural primary school. The pretest-posttest…

Chronic absenteeism is a critical issue that has been linked to many adverse student outcomes. The current study focuses on improving a key system already in place in many school districts--early warning systems (EWSs)--in order to decrease chronic absenteeism in students' earliest schooling years. Using a demographically diverse population of…