This article examines a school district's Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program using perceived self-efficacy in academic achievement and self-regulated learning, GPA and attendance as indicators of program effectiveness. Results suggest that AVID participation was positively and significantly correlated with attendance in the…

Year after year, in every state and community in our nation, students from low-income families are less likely than other students to reach advanced levels of academic performance, even when demonstrating the potential to do so. These income-based "excellence gaps" appear in elementary school and continue through high school. It is a…

The intentions were noble. It was hoped that remediation programs would be an academic bridge from poor high school preparation to college readiness. Sadly, remediation has become instead higher education's "Bridge to Nowhere." This broken remedial bridge is travelled by some 1.7 million beginning students each year, most of whom will…

The San Diego Unified School District, the nation's eighth-largest, launched an ambitious program of literacy reforms in 2000 aimed at narrowing reading achievement gaps. Known as the Blueprint for Student Success, the program ran through 2005. The reforms succeeded in boosting the reading achievement of students who had been identified as lagging…

This report synthesizes what research says works in improving teacher skills and knowledge, what nations that outperform the United States in education are doing, and provides an analysis of newly available data from the federal Schools and Staffing Survey and other sources to indicate where the nation stands in building the capacity of educators…

Just a few years ago, Boston's Clarence Edwards Middle School was on the verge of being shut down. By 2009, a renaissance at the Edwards made it one of the highest performing and most desired middle schools in Boston, dramatically narrowing and even eliminating academic achievement gaps while delivering a far more well-rounded education to its…

This research sought to determine if unintended effects of increased accountability standards on graduation rates for students with disabilities existed. Data from one southeastern state were utilized in order to determine if graduation rates were impacted as a result of higher accountability standards. In addition, administrator attitudes on…

This report contains a summary of the findings from the various topical reports that comprise the author's comprehensive longitudinal study. As a summary, it does not include extensive details regarding the study samples and scientific methodologies employed in those topical studies. The research revealed a pattern of school choice results that…

In most developed countries, research studies that investigate the effects of special education on student outcomes have become conventional practice. However, in developing countries such as the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, there are no studies about the progress and outcomes of students and youths with disabilities. This…

A critical state-level indicator of progress in public education is student achievement annual performance and change over time. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has been very active in tracking and reporting on student achievement results and using state assessment scores and other data to analyze achievement trends. A central…

2010 was a pioneering year for Massachusetts public schools. State leaders recognized that while the Commonwealth leads the nation in student achievement on national measures such as NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), more needed to be done to close the persistent achievement gaps between our wealthy and poor students. Combining a…

The development of the horse and buggy was a necessary first step toward the development of the automobile; in fact, the first cars were built by putting engines on buggies. So it is with school accountability. The failure of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to measure school performance is well known among researchers and, to some degree, among…

Background/Context: There are few empirical studies exploring the alleged conflict between the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine what impact the No Child Left Behind Act has had on students with disabilities. Research Design: Specifically,…

S. Zellman (personal communication, September 16, 2003), Ohio's superintendent of public instruction, stated, "Students in Ohio's urban high schools demonstrate serious shortcomings in their academic performance." Hence, this ex post facto study, which used pre-existing data, sought to investigate if a statistical difference between the…

Low high school graduation rates continue to be a challenge in American public education. The pressure to meet the demands of adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left behind Act of 2001 has led to an achievement gap in student performance between science and other core subjects, namely English, math, and social studies, on the…