This dissertation examines the connection between the English Language Arts Professional Learning Community, data analysis, and research-based instructional strategies to improve students reading levels, as measured by the Pennsylvania Literature Keystone Exam at an Urban High School. It is a mixed-method study. Data were collected from 9th -12th…

Historically, there has been concern about students losing reading ability over extended breaks from school, commonly in the summer, but studies of this phenomenon have produced inconsistent results. We applied exploratory visual analysis of multiple datasets to examine whether students in Grades K-5 appear to lose or improve in various reading…

The study draws on the theory of 'migrant optimism' and anticipated discrimination to examine whether a gap in educational expectations and achievement exists between immigrant and native students in Qatar and explores whether the impact of educational expectations on educational achievement is contingent upon the migratory status of students…

Background: Data-driven investigations of how students transit pages in digital reading tasks and how much time they spend on each transition allow mapping sequences of navigation behaviours into students' navigation reading strategies. Objectives: The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to identify students' navigation patterns in…

This is the appendix for the report, "The Impact of Word Knowledge Instruction on Literacy Outcomes in Grade 5." District leaders in a large urban school district in central Florida wanted to examine the efficacy of a new curriculum designed to enhance the word knowledge of grade 5 students so as to improve reading achievement. The new…

This is the technical appendix for the report "Gaining Momentum: Refining Corequisite Learning Support to Boost Student Success in the First Year and Beyond" which seeks to develop a body of actionable information about how to refine learning support, close equity gaps, and promote strong momentum toward success for community college…

Despite common conceptions, evidence on whether No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has had adverse effects for low achieving students is mixed. We hypothesize that the incentive to shift attention away from the lowest achieving students increases with the rigor of state standards. Using panel data from students in North Carolina, we exploit two natural…

When New York state released the first results of the exams under the Common Core State Standards, many wrongly believed that the results showed dramatic declines in student achievement. A closer look at the results showed that student achievement may have increased. Another lesson from the exams is that states need to closely coordinate new data…

In 2009, some Spanish regions implemented the Program School 2.0 with the purpose of introducing digital methodologies at schools. The aim of this paper is to analyse which part of the variation in reading scores is due to this program. For this purpose, we use data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2009 and 2012) for…

Most studies find a positive correlation between family cultural capital and educational achievement. As compelling as the evidence on the advantages of family cultural capital for educational achievement is, most studies have focused on countries characterized by having a large middle class and high levels of income, not addressing societies with…

An existing school program in which therapy dogs are integrated into the reading curriculum was analyzed to determine the effect on student reading. Previous literature suggests an improvement in both reading skills and attitudes towards reading when students read in the presence of a therapy dog. Using a mixed method model, the researchers…

There are so many different intervention programs for educators to use to increase the reading achievement of below grade level students, that it can often be difficult to choose the appropriate one for the students. Most programs are scripted and are used with small groups of students. Reading Recovery is not a scripted program and is taught in a…

This study examines the feasibility of reporting scores of a test based on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 instrument that was administered to a sample of 25-year-old Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) respondents on the PISA scale. Each of these respondents also participated in PISA 2000. The study examines the…

Despite the prevalence of charter schools in the United States, few experimental studies evaluate the impact of charter school attendance on students in the early elementary grades. Using data from a randomized lottery in which kindergarten students and their parents applied to two oversubscribed and well-established charter schools in Denver,…

A growing body of research has emerged to support the concept of providing early childhood education as a quality investment for our children, unlocking early potential and creating lasting impacts related to school success and beyond. Several landmark studies indicated that a quality education targeted at our youngest learners has the ability to…