The COVID-19 pandemic devastated student achievement, with declines rivaling those after Hurricane Katrina. These losses widened achievement gaps between historically marginalized students and their peers. Three years later, achievement remains behind pre-pandemic levels for many students. This paper examines 2022-23 academic recovery efforts…

Improving the educational outcomes of economically disadvantaged children is a policy priority in the United States, and yet relatively little progress has been made in recent decades. Education reforms that aim to help economically disadvantaged students often focus on improving the quality with which grade-level material is taught, or the…

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation has created pressure for districts to improve their students' proficiency levels on state tests. Districts that fail to meet their academic targets for 3 years must use their Title I funds to pay for supplemental education services (SES) that provide tutoring or other academic instruction. Many…

As teacher educators, we continue to focus on tutoring experiences as ways to help tutors connect coursework to practice. This study presents a preservice tutoring program designed to provide a field-based experience where the tutors would be able to (a) learn about literacy instruction, (b) use a multitude of assessment data rather than…

Due to the challenges of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, many schools and school districts are implementing after-school tutoring programs to provide students additional instruction to score proficient or better in reading and mathematics. This doctoral study analyzed the effects of the ABC Middle School Educational Assistance Program…

A little-discussed aspect of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a mandate that requires failing schools to hire after-school tutoring companies--the largest of which are private, for-profit corporations--and to pay them with federal funds. "Making Failure Pay" takes a hard look at the implications of this new blurring of the…

"The Achiever" is a monthly newsletter designed expressly for parents and community leaders. Each issue contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. Highlights of this issue include: (1) Fifth Anniversary for "No Child Left Behind"; (2) Empowering Parents: Response Soars for Supplemental…