Education plays a pivotal role in Zambia's vision of achieving prosperity as a middle-income nation by 2030. The Government is committed to delivering high-quality, relevant education and lifelong skills for all children. Despite progress in reading and mathematics scores, learning outcomes in Zambia remain low. Regional disparities within the…

PUMP-CS (Preparing Urban Milwaukee Pathways in Computer Science) is a researcher-practitioner partnership (RPP) among Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), Marquette University, the Learning Partnership, and the American Institutes for Research® (AIR®). The partnership's goal is to solidify and strengthen a preK-12 computer science pathway throughout…

The purpose of this paper is to showcase new research that seeks to provide guidance on the heterogeneity of treatment effects by utilizing the variance of demographic differences in state assessments. This study is focused on a simple randomized block design where students are nested within schools, and within each school students are randomized…

Progress monitoring focuses on individualized decision making in general and special education with respect to academic skill development at the elementary grades. Progress monitoring is conducted frequently (at least monthly) and is designed to: (1) Estimate rates of improvement; (2) Identify students who are not demonstrating adequate progress…

The Common Core State Standards Initiative will enter a critical period during the 2014-15 school year. Several states have recently reversed course on adoption of the mathematics and English/language arts standards, as vocal opposition gains prominence elsewhere. Despite fraying of the two national consortia developing assessments tied to the new…

Using detailed data from North Carolina, this paper examines the frequency, incidence, and consequences of teacher absences in public schools, as well as the impact of a policy designed to reduce absences. The incidence of teacher absences is regressive: when schools are ranked by the fraction of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch,…

How do salaries of elementary and middle school principals compare with those of other administrators and classroom teachers? Are increases in salaries of principals keeping pace with increases in salaries of classroom teachers? And how have principals' salaries fared over the years when the cost of living is taken into account? This article…

First, this report examines the level of public investment (from federal, state, and local school district sources) in children's growth and development by child age. It builds upon an earlier twelve-state report by examining public investment in nine additional states and the District of Columbia. This part describes overall per child investments…

This report summarizes the 2005-2006 evaluation results of the Michigan Freedom to Learn (FTL) program. The major goal of the FTL program is to improve student learning and achievement in Michigan schools through the integration of 21st Century technology tools with teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms. A key component of FTL was a rigorous…

The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) was appointed in 2002 and carried out its work under the auspices of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). NELP's primary goal was to identify interventions, parenting activities, and instructional practices that promote the development of children's early literacy skills. The National Institute…

The Excellence in Cities (EiC) policy was launched in 1999 with the aim of improving the attainment of all pupils in disadvantaged urban areas. Further Phases were launched in 2000 and 2001, by when EiC covered about a third of the secondary schools in England and over 60 per cent of the minority ethnic pupils in England attended schools in EiC…