The 2013-2014 North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten (NC Pre-K) Evaluation study was designed to examine the longitudinal outcomes through kindergarten for children who attended the Pre-K program, along with comparisons to previous cohorts of program attendees. A sample of 561 children was included in the study, with data gathered at the beginning and…

How well are our nation's high schools preparing students for college and career? Recent analyses by ACT show low rates of college and career readiness among United States high school graduates. Data from postsecondary institutions reveal high remediation rates and low second-year retention rates among first-year college students. Employers lament…

Every year 1.3 million U.S. high school students drop out of school with one quarter of female students failing to graduate on time. Female dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, to earn less when they are employed, to become pregnant before the age of 20, to become obese, to smoke, and to drink more heavily than their male counterparts. This…

This study examines whether the Problem Based Economics curriculum developed by the Buck Institute for Education improves grade 12 students' content knowledge as measured by the Test of Economic Literacy, a test refined by the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) over decades. Students' problem-solving skills in economics were also…

In an effort to identify instructional methods that might improve mathematics learning at the grade 4 level when used in a variety of educational settings under typical conditions, the REL Mid-Atlantic research team looked for promising, replicable practices that were being used broadly by teachers in U.S. schools, for which research showed…

This paper describes a project in the Department of Economics at Southeast Missouri State University undertaken to assess the actual and perceived impact of the World Wide Web upon student learning. Pre- and post-surveys were administered to students in "user" (i.e., instructors who incorporate the Web at least eight times in class and…

In spring and fall 1988, a two-phase study was conducted at Nassau Community College to evaluate two courses in the mathematics program: Preparatory Mathematics (MAT 001) and Introductory Algebra (MAT 002). Pre- and post-tests for the classes were administered to assess student learning outcomes. The first phase of the study examined aspects of…

The World Institute of Computer Assisted Teaching (WICAT) system was installed in November 1985 at the Salina and Fordson Schools in Dearborn, Michigan, and selected students in grades two, three, and four received their regular reading and/or mathematics instruction in the WICAT computer laboratory. Achievement gains of these students were…

This report presents student-level achievement results for the four charter schools that began operation in Tennessee during the 2003-04 academic year. To conduct a rigorous and valid analysis of student achievement outcomes at these schools, we employed a matched program-control design at the student level, whereby each charter school student was…

The Office of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment of the New York City Public Schools annually evaluates the PCEN English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program. Tests already in place in the High School Testing program are used as evaluation instruments. Objectives are that at least 50 percent of program participants will show a positive difference…

The present study examined outcomes on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program/Achievement Test (TCAP/AT) for the KIPP:DIAMOND Academy (KIPP:DA), which is in its second year of operation. Importantly, as in Year 1, a rigorous quasi-experimental research design was employed, in which each KIPP:DA student was individually matched to a highly…

The progress made by adults in dedicated mainstream basic skills provision in England and Wales and factors associated with students' progress were examined. Of the 2,135 students from 71 colleges of further education and local education authorities who took the reading pretest, 1,224 (57%) took the reading posttest. Writing scripts were received…