This report provides findings from various surveys regarding parent, student, and teacher perceptions of Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) programs at Austin Independent School District (AISD) campuses. The ACE program was highly rated and thought to help maintain AISD enrollment.

The literature review showed the relationship with the lesson study with other practices such as CPD [continuous professional development], SBI [school-based in-service teacher training] through Peer learning altogether contributing to the implementation of Rwandan CBC [competence-based curriculum]. Lesson study practices showed tremendous…

This report presents a question-driven exploration of growth and achievement data using SAS EVAAS reports. The purpose of this exploration was to bring additional data, information, and ways of thinking about student growth to ongoing district conversations about the measurement of campus-level student growth.

There are two causes that have been suggested as the major contributors to poor student achievement. One view attributes student underachievement to educational factors such as inadequate standards and poor teachers. The other view sees societal factors as the main contributor to low student achievement. This commentary looks at one societal…

Poverty has always been a problem in the United States and no doubt the condition unfortunately will always prevail. Title One schools will always have children enrolled who come from the lower socioeconomic class. This article has to do with the devastating effect of poverty, including stories from a classroom teacher of students who lived in…

It is essential to support bilingual learners' language and academic development; however, teaching second language learners English has taken precedence over teaching content area knowledge and vocabulary, specifically for language arts. The focus has shifted from content area instruction to primarily second language instruction due to an…

This report describes the AISD at-risk student population and expenditures for 2012-2013, results from program evaluations conducted in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, and the longitudinal disparity between performance of at-risk and not-at-risk students.

Many learning, behavioural and developmental problems can limit students' abilities to respond adequately to the school's curriculum. School personnel often join with colleagues, including school psychologists, to assist students in resolving these problems. This presentation describes a model program in which school psychologists and others…

Since the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) schools have sought many avenues to improve student achievement. Sandvold (2008) was concerned that ". . . teachers try to do everything themselves, resulting in a hodgepodge of practices, a confused vision, and an impossible schedule. Unless teachers get rid of outdated practices, they will be…

This document provides new insights into events which occurred in a project funded by a Technology Literacy Challenge Fund grant awarded by Michigan Department of Education(MDE) in 2000. One purpose of this document is to update the formal report of the project which introduced new technology for use by low achieving students who are studying in…

The current article deals with the issue of increased dropouts of deaf pupils from compulsory education (primary and junior high school) and tries to map out plausible reasons according to what principals and teachers for the deaf say, which might account for these dropouts. Official statistics are employed to demonstrate reduced graduation rates…

This article highlights significant research about what below grade-level reading means in middle school classrooms and suggests a tested approach to improve reading comprehension levels significantly by using audio books. The use of these audio books can improve reading and academic performance for both English language learners (ELLs) and for…

This report summarizes AISD 2008-2009 program evaluation results for a state grant to improve students' grades in science courses, to increase students' chances of graduating, and to increase 10th and 11th-grade students' scores on the state science test.

Hispanics account for over one-fifth of newborns in the United States. Hispanic children, on average, achieve at lower levels from kindergarten forward than the non-Hispanic White majority and Asian Americans. Increasing the percentage of Hispanic children who enter kindergarten "ready" for school constitutes one of the nation's most…

In the eyes of much of the academic establishment, William Bowen and Derek Bok's "The Shape of the River" is the definitive defense of affirmative action. Released in 1998, this book, which was also sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, claimed that racial preferences at America's elite universities were crucial to the growth and maintenance of a…