This article presents the text of Keith Gilyard's presidential address, delivered at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 18, 2012. In his address he proposes several core elements that he believes will instrumentally improve the education system in the United States: a rich…

The affordances of learning analytics (LA) tools and solutions are being increasingly harnessed for enhancing 21st century pedagogical and learning strategies and outcomes. However, use cases and empirical understandings of students' experiences with LA tools and environments aimed at fostering 21st century literacies, especially in the K-12…

This study examined one public school system's change in its bell scheduling format from a seven period day to block scheduling. The data collected was from a three year period of the grade 10 students passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam. Students in Massachusetts must pass the mathematics and English/language arts…

Through a synthesis of test publisher norms and national longitudinal datasets, this study provides new national norms of academic growth in K-12 reading and math that can be used to reinterpret conventional effect sizes in time units. We propose d' a time-indexed effect size metric to estimate how long it would take for an "untreated"…

Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) data from one rural school system covering four groups of children for a consecutive three year period was used to study the impact of transient students entering the school system. The analysis compared native children (those on roll since the first year) with transient children added to or deleted…

The 1970 International Educational Achievement (IEA) survey had placed New Zealand's nine- and fourteen-year-olds first in reading achievement in comparison with all other participating countries. By the time the 1990 IEA survey took place, however, mean achievement levels had slipped somewhat, and by the mid-1990s New Zealand's reputation was…

If school principals are to exercise adequate management control over their educational programs, they must have effective management tools. Title I Program Analysis and Monitoring (PAM) is such a management tool. Title I PAM is useful, timely, and efficient--in the sense of minimum interference with the educational program and modest cost. The…

The 1970 International Educational Achievement (IEA) survey placed New Zealand's nine and fourteen year olds first in reading achievement in comparison with all other participating countries. Literacy educators the world over have studied New Zealand's methods and classroom environments, and its approaches to reading/writing instruction have been…

The effects of a multifaceted counseling program on 22 elementary students enrolled in a remedial reading program were examined. The program featured individual and group counseling, large group exercises, and teacher support and consultation. Individual sessions incorporated play therapy techniques, group counseling involved directed interaction…

A reading program evaluation was conducted by the school district of Eugene, Oregon, during the 1976-1977 school year. Three major questions were to be answered: (1) Are the district's elementary reading programs effective according to the district's reading scope and sequence? (2) What makes effective programs effective? (3) If programs are not…

A teaching technique that leads to auditory conceptualization--the ability to determine the number and order of sounds embedded within syllables--shows promise of measurably improving the reading proficiency of children of all ability levels. Based on C. and P. Lindamood's published technique, "Auditory Discrimination in Depth," the…

The National Reading Research Center (NRRC) advocates education through research that addresses the unacceptably low reading achievement of American students and the lack of equity in the achievement of mainstream and minority populations. The NRRC acknowledges four pervasive problems that will sharpen the focus of the center's work: too many…

Evaluation at the end of the first year of a 3-year project to use microcomputers to improve the reading and language skills of Limited English Proficient (LEP) Native American students revealed that the major objective was not reached, but there were achievements nonetheless. Lakota (Sioux) children constitute 10% of the Rapid City, South Dakota…

Increasingly, reading proficiency is being measured in terms of outcomes based data. This drive for accountability supports the growth of National Profiles, Literacy Benchmarks, and statewide assessments such as the Diagnostic Net, which record the numbers of students who fail to make the grade. In the face of widespread concerns about perceived…

During the past 25 years, the country witnessed a dramatic transformation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Actions by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), Congress, and the National Assessment Governing Board fundamentally changed NAEP's role in federal educational policy and the nation's schools. Developed in the 1960s…