Argumentation skills are emphasized by the common core state standards (CCSS) and are viewed as essential for success in college, career, and life. Our project aims to develop formative assessment tasks measuring students' argumentative reading and writing skills. We used the framework of the "Discuss and Debate Ideas" key practice…

The evolution of U.S. secondary school mathematics requirements throughout the 20th century included a significant shift towards more rigorous standards by the end of the century. Initially, many states required minimal or no mathematics for high school graduation. However, reforms led most states to adopt a 3-year mathematics requirement, with…

This longitudinal study applied latent change score (LCS) modeling to examine individual changes in students' (N = 1205) academic engagement (behavioral and emotional), social competencies (relationship skills and social awareness), and classroom relationships (emotional support from teachers and collaborative peer relations). Average changes…

The field of STEM education calls for a nuanced understanding of participation as participation measured by attendance provides limited information about student learning. This multiple case study contributes to a nuanced understanding of youth's participation trajectories in a multimodal composition project. In the project, fifth to eighth grade…

The development and use of learning trajectories is a body of research that has made enormous contributions to the field of mathematics education, offering insight into the teaching and learning of topics at all levels. Simultaneously, the work of building learning trajectories can benefit from explicitly adopting an anti-deficit stance,…

Evidence in psychology and economics has converged on an understanding of what matters for students' learning and what influences their life trajectories. While earlier work focused on the role of large scale assessment test scores, more recent research emphasizes the importance of socioemotional skills, experiences, and mindsets--such as conflict…

Background/Context: Increasing evidence suggests a connection between racial differences in rates of exclusionary discipline (suspensions/expulsions) and academic achievement by (Losen & Martinez, 2020; Reardon et al., 2018). Black students receive out-of-school suspensions and expulsions at disproportionately higher rates, which is associated…

This study presents a framework that uses academic trajectories in the middle grades for identifying students in need of intervention and providing targeted support. We apply a set of academic college readiness benchmarks to rich longitudinal data for more than 360,000 students in 5900 schools across 49 states and the District of Columbia. In both…