The ongoing literacy crisis in the U.S. highlights an urgent need for effective, scalable literacy instruction. REED Charitable Foundation (RCF) is a non-profit organization that provides structured literacy training informed by Orton-Gillingham, along with ongoing professional coaching and comprehensive implementation support to help all students…

Throughout the history of the United States there have existed gaps in the educational achievement outcomes of different groups of students. One of the most well-known and persistent achievement gaps is seen in the academic performance of Black versus White students, which is also known as the Black-White student achievement gap (BWSAG). The BWSAG…

The extensive body of research into summer learning loss and the expanding achievement gap is a well-known issue in education. Summer learning loss has been shown to significantly contribute to the achievement gap and have a more noticeable effect on students from a low-SES household when compared with higher income peers. The effects of summer…

Brief, targeted self-affirmation writing exercises have recently been offered as a way to reduce racial achievement gaps, but evidence about their effects in educational settings is mixed, leaving ambiguity about the likely benefits of these strategies if implemented broadly. A key limitation in interpreting these mixed results is that they come…

Considering instructional time is one of the most valuable and expensive resources in public education, there is nominal research examining the effectiveness of its use (Farbman, 2015). The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between the amount of extended learning time provided to eligible students at least one grade level…

Research shows a math achievement gap for at-risk and economically-disadvantaged students in the United States. To address this issue, a Texas school district implemented a 90-minute math block-scheduling program with 8th grade students. Shaped by the academic learning time and social justice theories, the purpose of this quantitative program…

Persistence and progression rates for underprepared, African American, first year students entering four-year colleges is a major concern. With the consistent low persistence, progression and graduation rates of underprepared African American students in both Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and predominantly White serving…

This article describes how African American students' success can be improved via the increased support of Black churches and their partnerships with public schools. Findings and implications from a comparative case study of two North Carolina churches that strive to educationally assist African American public school students are detailed. Both…

This study addresses low literacy achievement in students in kindergarten and first grades. The study was designed to help identify how general education teachers can use specific daily research-based oral vocabulary acquisition strategies to close the literacy gap. This quantitative research helped to determine if the implementation of an oral…

This study is an examination of the relationship between participation in precollege outreach programs and students' college access patterns (i.e., enrollment patterns and timing in postsecondary institutions), comparing different racial/ ethnic groups. The study included a series of logistic regression models to investigate relationships between…

Brief, targeted self-affirmation writing exercises have recently been offered as a way to reduce racial achievement gaps, but evidence about their effects in educational settings is mixed, leaving ambiguity about the likely benefits of these strategies if implemented broadly. A key limitation in interpreting these mixed results is that they come…

The purpose of this set of analyses, conducted on a randomized control trial examining the effects of a fourth-grade fraction intervention, was to assess the initial academic deficit severity hypothesis. With this hypothesis, at-risk students with more severe initial academic deficits are expected to profit less from intervention than do students…

One approach to reducing persistent racial/ethnic achievement gaps is to tackle their social-psychological dimensions, including the negative consequences of stereotype threat and other identity threats in school. Initial research suggested that a particularly promising approach is brief self-affirmation writing exercises for 7th grade students;…

As public schools, charter schools are legally required to educate all students regardless of the difficulties they bring with them into the classroom. Nonetheless, many are concerned that the charter sector fails to educate all comers. Charter schools are often criticized for not enrolling similar proportions of students with disabilities as are…

Reading achievement scores for adolescents with disabilities are markedly lower than the scores of adolescents without disabilities. For example, 62% of students with disabilities read "below" the basic level on the NAEP Reading assessment, compared to 19% of their nondisabled peers. This achievement gap has been a continuing challenge…