This study used a propensity score approach to estimate treatment effects in a multilevel setting. The propensity score approach involves the estimation of propensity scores for covariate balancing and the estimation of treatment effects. This study aimed at understanding how propensity scores estimated through a simple logistic regression compare…

This paper provides the first population-based evidence on how much standardized test scores vary among public school districts within each state and how segregation explains that variation. Using estimates based on roughly 300 million test score records in math and English Language Arts (ELA) for Grades 3 through 8 from every U.S. public school…

This study investigated the relationship between socio-economic status, school-level variables and mathematics achievement of sixth graders in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The study is based on secondary data collected by the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ III). SACMEQ employed cluster-sampling procedures…

Objectives: We examined the longitudinal relationship between cardiovascular fitness (CRF) and academic performance (AP) among students in a diverse public school district. Furthermore, we determined whether the relationship between CRF and AP varied by student sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: This study used data from 2005-2006 to…

In a cluster-randomized study, we investigate the impact of an argument-based approach to teaching science in elementary school on science learning and critical thinking skills. Forty-eight schools participated in the study, with data on 9,963 students across the 2 years of the intervention. Annual standardized tests assessing science content…

In this article, we analyze the variation in math achievement trajectories of Black male students to understand the different ways these students successfully or unsuccessfully navigate schools and the school characteristics that are associated with their trajectories. Using longitudinal student-level data from a large urban US city (n = 7,039),…

In a rigorous evaluation of ASSISTments as an online homework support conducted in the state of Maine, SRI International reported that "the intervention significantly increased student scores on an end-of-the-year standardized mathematics assessment as compared with a control group that continued with existing homework practices."…

Ratio and proportional relationships are of primary importance during the upper elementary and middle school grades (Kilpatrick, Swafford, & Findell, 2001; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989, 2000; National Mathematics Advisory Panel [NMAP], 2008). These relationships, along with the interrelated topics of fractions, decimals,…

Standardized tests are often designed to provide only a snapshot of test takers' knowledge, skills, or abilities at a single point in time. Sometimes, however, they are expected to serve more demanding functions, one of them is assessing change in knowledge, skills, or ability over time because of learning effects.The latter is the case for the…

All students need to learn how to read, write, solve mathematics problems, and understand and apply scientific principles to succeed in college and/or careers. The challenges posed by entry-level career fields are no less daunting than those posed by college-level study. Thus, career and technical education students must learn effective math,…

In the present study, hierarchical linear modeling with random intercept models was used to estimate the impact school and teacher-level factors had on K-12 teachers' perceptions of school influence, curricular and pedagogical autonomy, and job satisfaction in the early years of the Race to the Top Era. The main predictors investigated were…

High-potential students from low-income families are at an academic disadvantage compared with their more affluent peers. To address this issue, researchers have suggested novel approaches to mitigate gaps in student performance, including out-of-school enrichment programs. Longitudinal mixed effects modeling was used to analyze the growth of…

The present study was designed to explore the association between preschool academic skills and Grade 3 achievement among a sample of ethnically diverse children from low-income families. Data were collected from a sample of 1,442 low-income, ethnically diverse children in preschool and associated with Grade 3 achievement in reading and…

Middle schools are important because they launch students on trajectories that they are likely to follow throughout their formal educations. This study explored the relationship of first-generation segregation (elementary and middle school racial composition) and second-generation segregation (racially correlated academic tracks) to reading and…

Educational experts have criticized status models of school accountability, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), describing them as ineffectual in measuring achievement because their one-time assessment of student knowledge ignores student growth. Research on student achievement has instead identified growth models as superior…