Teachers need instructionally useful data to make timely and appropriate decisions to meet their students with intensive needs (Filderman et al., 2019). Teachers have still experienced difficulty in instructional decision making in response to students' CBM data (Gesel et al., 2021). This is because data itself that was used for simply determining…

Background/Context: Developing strong number sense and additive reasoning in the early grades is a critical foundation for success in school and beyond. Longitudinal studies show that early competence with number and operations predicts later math achievement, reading achievement, high school retention rates, and employability and wages in…

Background/Context: Both correlational and experimental evidence suggests that having access to books can be a key resource for accelerating the literacy outcomes for children. Results from a 20-year study across 27 nations by Evans, Kelley, Sikora, and Treiman (2010), suggest that children growing up in homes with many books obtain 3 years more…

Background/Context: Improving reading comprehension has been a persistent and perplexing dilemma around the world since written communication was invented. Reading comprehension, which is the goal of reading, is a multi-faceted construct intertwining code-focused early reading skills and meaning-focused comprehension skills and strategies (Connor…

Background/Context: Literacy stands as a pivotal life skill, especially as it strengthens education across subjects. The elementary years are crucial for mastering literacy, yet national assessments show a decline in elementary students' reading proficiency, with only 33% of American fourth graders reading at grade level (National Center for…

Background/Context: Schools are spending more money than ever on a growing number of educational technology programs which are designed to boost student learning outcomes, especially after the integration of online learning that was necessitated by COVID-19 pandemic school closures and disruptions (Instructure, 2024; Teras et al., 2020). Rigorous…

Background/Context: In the early elementary grades, many students do not achieve literacy proficiency due to inadequate personalized literacy instruction (Taylor et al., 2010). Despite increasing evidence that differentiated instruction informed by assessments of students' reading abilities can improve learning more effectively than…

Background: The number of English learner (EL) students has been steadily increasing within the United States and currently includes more than 5M students. The National Education Association (2020) estimated that by 2025, nearly 25% of all learners will be EL students. Curricula, interventions, and assessments for both diagnostic and academic…

Background/Context: The U.S has experienced years of lost progress in math because of the COVID-19 pandemic (NAEP, n.d.a). Fraction understanding is widely characterized as the gatekeeper to algebra (Booth et al., 2012; National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008) and can support success in middle and high school math (Bailey et al., 2012; Booth et…

Background: Decades of research demonstrating the critical role of executive function (EF) and other regulation-related skills on children's short- and long-term outcomes has generated interest in measuring and cultivating these critical skills in early childhood and elementary school children (e.g., Bull et al., 2008; Moffitt et al., 2011). Most…

Context: As schools themselves became held accountable for absences, researchers and policymakers have consequently focused on what at school might be driving absenteeism and what are the consequences. Yet overall, research on classrooms and absenteeism remains sparse. What has been established is that absent students negatively affect their…

Background: Inequality along racial and economic dimensions is well-documented and widespread in educational contexts. Achievement gaps are observed among children as early as primary school and are especially notable in standardized testing (Fryer & Levitt, 2004; Fryer & Levitt, 2013; Bond & Lang 2013). In response, some observers and…

Background: Performance with fractions has been a weak point in U.S. education for decades and has not improved in recent years (Siegler, 2017). High School math teachers frequently rate their students' knowledge of fractions as "poor" and see this lack of foundational knowledge as one of the top barriers to students mastering algebra…

Background: Early-grade reading proficiency is well documented as in important factor for later academic success. Researchers and educators consider the achievement of reading proficiency by the end of grade three to be crucial to future academic success and financial independence (Hein et al., 2013; La Paro & Pianta, 2000; Singh, 2013). As…

Background: The Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2012) and Next Generation Science Standards ([NGSS] NGSS Lead States, 2013) emphasize that all students from the earliest grades onward must have the opportunity to learn and actively participate in authentic science. In K-12 science instruction, this means that students should have the…