School climate is theoretically important for the academic achievement of students in urban schools because safety and support at school may compensate for negative structural forces experienced elsewhere. There is strong evidence for an association between school climate and student achievement, but little suggests the association's…

Background: Vocabulary knowledge (VK) and morphological awareness (MA) are crucial linguistic variables for reading comprehension. However, the extent to which MA subskills are intertwined with different facets of VK in their contributions to reading comprehensions, and how MA influences the reading abilities of English as a foreign language (EFL)…

The transition from secondary to tertiary education varies from country to country. In many countries, secondary school is concluded with high-stakes, national exams, or high-stakes entry tests are used for admissions to tertiary education. In other countries, secondary-school grade point average (GPA) is the determining factor. In the…

This quantitative, correlational-predictive study examined the predictive relationship of the NWEA's Map Growth projected proficiency report data with students' STAAR scores in the area of mathematics, using archival data from the 2021-2022 school year. The theoretical foundation for this study was provided by Vygotsky's zone of proximal…

Traditional letter and number grades are inaccurate and harmful to children, while research indicates that standards-based grading is both more accurate and better for all stakeholders. However, despite standards-based report cards (SBRCs) coming in many forms, the best number and arrangement of performance level descriptors (PLDs) remains…

Individual differences in self-regulation have been a topic of increased empirical research. However, few investigations have been conducted on how sub-components of self-regulation differentially predict education outcomes over time. We examined cognitive and behavior regulation as predictors of middle-school students' (n = 127) long-term…

A recent study in our research group found that social comparison concern (SCC) was a medium strength predictor of course grades while controlling for demographic factors and standardized test scores. Additionally, students belonging to underrepresented communities (women and Underrepresented ethnic minorities) had significantly higher SCC than…

Before nursing graduates can practice as a registered nurse, they must successfully pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). Low first-time pass rates on this high-stakes test can cause concern for multiple stakeholders including graduate nurses, nursing programs, health care organizations, and society. The…

This quantitative, ordinal logistic regression study aimed to explore the relationship between the implementation of personalized learning and special education students' progress measures on STAAR. Another purpose was to determine if teachers' perceptions of implementation, using Olofson's survey, can predict the growth on STAAR. The conceptual…

This quantitative study is primarily intended to examine whether district level performance results from Grade 8 ELA state assessments can help to predict future passing rates on AP exams. The participants for the study are all 218 K-12 school districts in New Jersey, all of which generated results across score levels and passing rates for PARCC…

Validity studies of college admissions tests have found that, on average, students who are Black or Hispanic earn lower freshman grade-point averages (FGPAs) than predicted by these test scores. This differential prediction is used as a measure of bias. These studies, however, conflate student and school characteristics. The differential…

Students' academic achievement is a key predictor of various life outcomes and is commonly used for selection as well as for educational monitoring and accountability. With regard to achievement indicators, a differentiation has traditionally been drawn between grades and standardized tests. There is initial, albeit inconclusive, evidence that…

Recent work has demonstrated that having students study worked examples and answer self-explanation prompts as part of their problem-solving practice improves learning on researcher-developed measures of mathematical proficiency. However, little work has been done to date to investigate whether these benefits translate to improvements on the types…

Social and emotional (SE) skills are known to be linked to many important life outcomes, some of which fall in the academic domain. For example, meta-analytic analyses show that conscientiousness (a trait related to self-management, perseverance, and being organized and planful) accounts for 28% of the explained variance in academic performance…

In the 2017-18 school year, 18% of New York students opted out of a mandated state assessment test. On Long Island, that number was closer to 50% of students opting out of one or more tests. The implications of this phenomenon are far-reaching, but unknown. This study seeks to better understand both who opts out and the potential impact of opt out…