The purpose of this study was to conduct a program evaluation of a school district's Reading Recovery program. This quantitative study involved analysis of extant student reading achievement data from the first grade Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screener (PALS) and third grade Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments.. Participants…

Math instruction has undergone a tremendous amount of change since the late 1950s. "New math" of the 1960s, the standards movement, back to the basics in the early 90s, and now the common core standards have all had an impact on how mathematics is taught. This study examined the Math Expressions program, a conceptually based program…

Several social-emotional learning (SEL) or social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs have been shown to be effective at improving SEL/SECD skills, and some have also provided evidence of effectiveness in improving student behavior and academic achievement (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). Very few SEL…

This study extends and makes unique methodological contributions to research on the impact of learning communities (LCs) on community college students. Much of the previous research was short-term, lacked adequate comparison groups, and focused on four-year college students. This four-year study controlled for instructor-related variables by…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a computer-based reading intervention on the reading achievement of sixth grade students in one elementary school in a suburban school district located in the Midwest region of the United States. Data were collected through two district mandated reading assessments and a computer-based…

This article first examines recent theoretical and empirical research on reading development and instruction in English-speaking countries. Then, a study is described that examines the effects of a synthetic phonics-emphasis Direct Instruction remedial reading program on the phonological processes of students, with teacher-identified serious…

This longitudinal study examined the effects of providing an accelerated mathematics curriculum in heterogeneously grouped middle school classes in a diverse suburban school district. A quasi-experimental cohort design was used to evaluate subsequent completion of advanced high school math courses as well as academic achievement. Results showed…

In a 3-year longitudinal study, the authors examined the effect of Direct Instruction (DI) on students' reading achievement, teacher perceptions, nature of the classroom, and special education referral rate. Urban and suburban students completed the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests in the fall of Grade 1 and spring of Grades 1, 2, and 3. Teachers…