Background: The importance of high school completion for jobs and postsecondary opportunities is well- documented. Combined with federal laws where high school graduation rate is a core performance indicator, school systems and states face pressure to actively monitor and assess high school completion. This proposal employs machine learning…

With the advent of data systems that allow for frequent or even real-time student data updates, and recognition that high school students often can move from being on-track to graduation to off-track in a matter of weeks, indicator analysis alone may not provide a complete picture to guide school leaders' actions. The authors of this paper suggest…

The early adolescent period and the transition to middle school is a foundational period that is as important to the outcomes of students' educational careers as is the transition into school. For many early adolescents, the changing contexts and demands of school are just as novel, the stresses are just as great, and the developmental stakes are…

A robust body of research has identified associations between positive teacher-child relationships--characterized by high levels of closeness and low levels of conflict--and children's academic achievement in elementary school (e.g. Roorda, 2012). Additional studies find that high-quality teacher-child relationships may promote academic resilience…

The Recognition & Response (R&R) model was developed and is being validated by a research team at the FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. R&R has generated widespread attention in the early childhood field as a promising RTI model for pre-k (see entire issue of NHSA Dialog, Volume 12[3],…

Previous research served as the platform for this study's research question: Does math anxiety mediate the relation between parental involvement and mathematics achievement? The primary purpose of this study was to examine this mediation model in a sample of at-risk second graders. Due to previous research, the investigators hypothesized that math…

Students entering high school in 9th grade face a formidable challenge. The transition to high school from 8th grade brings with it increased risks for all students. For example, students in 9th grade are anywhere from three to five times more likely to fail a class than students in any other grade. Similarly, ninth grade retention rates are…

Studies show that the mathematics test-score gap is evident at every level of schooling and can be linked to students' earlier performance. For example, a mathematics performance gap was found in children as young as three years of age (Case & Griffin, 1990; Jordan, Huttenlocher, & Levine, 1992). Addressing the mathematics performance gap…