This research responds to the call by early childhood educators advocating for more challenging mathematics curriculum at the primary level. The kindergarten Project M[superscript 2] units focus on challenging geometry and measurement concepts by positioning students as practicing mathematicians. The research reported herein highlights the…

Some universal behavioural screening processes require classroom teachers to complete a risk assessment measure on each student in their class, leading to a possible, but unexplored, problem: risk assessment scores may be influenced by the teacher completing the measure. The current study investigated whether teacher-reported risk assessment…

The purpose of this paper is to showcase new research that seeks to provide guidance on the heterogeneity of treatment effects by utilizing the variance of demographic differences in state assessments. This study is focused on a simple randomized block design where students are nested within schools, and within each school students are randomized…

This brief examined the patterns of reading achievement using statewide data from all students (Grades 3-10) in multiple years to examine gaps based on student, school, and district characteristics. Results indicate reading achievement varied most between students within schools and that students' prior achievement was the strongest predictor of…

In this study, the authors examine the impact of a yearlong supplemental reading course involving daily instruction in the learning strategies curriculum on lower achieving adolescent students' reading achievement and motivation. Using a multiple-cohort randomized treatment-control group design over 4 years, they compared achievement and…

Background: Cluster randomized experiments that assign intact groups such as schools or school districts to treatment conditions are increasingly common in educational research. Such experiments are inherently multilevel designs whose sensitivity (statistical power and precision of estimates) depends on the variance decomposition across levels.…

Research Findings: It is widely acknowledged that consistent, high-quality teacher-student interactions promote optimal developmental outcomes for children. Previous research on the quality of teacher-student interactions provides empirical support for this premise. Little research has been conducted on the consistency of teacher-student…

Given the international need to improve student learning, there is nothing more important than classroom teachers. Obtaining a deeper understanding of effective classrooms is a priority if educational reform efforts are to succeed in any educational system around the world. In the last decade, educational researchers have expanded the knowledge…

The authors sought to determine if an urban school district's effort to fundamentally change teaching, assessment, and intervention practices increased student achievement and decreased achievement variation among classrooms in 11 high schools. They examined Grade 11 mathematics achievement data from the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Kentucky Core…

Intraclass correlations are used to summarize the variance decomposition in populations with multilevel hierarchical structure. There has recently been considerable interest in estimating intraclass correlations from surveys or designed experiments to provide design parameters for planning future large-scale randomized experiments. The large…

Intraclass correlations are used to summarize the variance decomposition in popula- tions with multilevel hierarchical structure. There has recently been considerable interest in estimating intraclass correlations from surveys or designed experiments to provide design parameters for planning future large-scale randomized experiments. The large…

This nonexperimental study explored the relationships among individual differences, contextual variables, and reading achievement of English language learners (ELLs) in one large urban school district in the United States. The sample comprised 840 students in Grades 3-8 and 10 nested within 37 schools. Hierarchical linear modeling results indicate…

This study explored the predictive relationships of teacher efficacy, teacher knowledge, and teacher practices with student achievement. More specifically, secondary mathematics teachers' efficacy beliefs, geometry knowledge for teaching, and the cognitive complexity of the teachers' classroom practices were examined for 72 teachers in both urban…

Background: Cluster-randomized experiments that assign intact groups such as schools or school districts to treatment conditions are increasingly common in educational research. Such experiments are inherently multilevel designs whose sensitivity (statistical power and precision of estimates) depends on the variance decomposition across levels.…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference between self-contained and departmentalized classroom organization on the Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) in reading and mathematics for students in fourth and fifth grade. A secondary purpose of this study was to consider how these organizational structures affect the…