The recent Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to identify and turn around their lowest performing schools, but it breaks somewhat from prior policies by granting states significant autonomy over how they identify and turn around these schools. This mixed-methods study, which draws on administrative, qualitative, and survey data,…

Students who struggle to read at an early age are likely to continue struggling for not only the rest of their schooling, but the rest of their lives. Schools need to begin adopting research-based reading programs and measuring their effectiveness formatively throughout the school year. Research suggests that effective reading programs need to…

The Chemical Engineering graduate program at the University of Michigan implemented a peer mentoring program for PhD students, with the goal of fostering department inclusivity and improved academic outcomes through facilitated social and academic activities in diverse, small groups. In this article, we detail the peer mentoring program…

In October 2010, WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) won an i3 "Validation" grant to scale up and validate the Reading Apprenticeship (RA) model in three core secondary content area classes: U.S. history, biology, and English language arts. SLI's proposal stated two goals. Goal 1: To transform academic literacy teaching and…

The purpose of this review of literature is to determine if the literature suggests that site-based management increase student achievement. Original research findings done on 19 Michigan Title I schools using the Bureaucracy Theory, Systems Theory, and Human Resource Development Theory was reviewed. Also, qualitative studies on superintendents…

Michigan is designing a new accountability system that combines high standards and statewide testing within a school accreditation framework. Sound assessment techniques are critical if the accountability system is to provide relevant information to schools and policymakers. One important component of a sound assessment system is measurement of…