Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) spent over two decades researching the importance of social and learning (SEL). CASEL's (2020b) research revealed that the implementation of evidence-based SEL programs led to an 11% gain in student achievement, fewer behavior issues, reduced dropout rates, and decreases in mental…

Background: Schools are important contexts for preventing sexual violence (SV) among adolescents. Evaluating whether programming is effective requires surveying youth about SV experiences. However, school communities often have concerns about asking students, particularly those in middle school, about these experiences. This study sought to…

Data use is considered a key lever in school improvement processes, but the punitive pressure of high-stakes accountability can influence whether or not data use is enacted in ways which facilitate improvement. School leaders must learn to respond to high-stakes accountability in ways which lead teachers to feel safe, efficacious, and agentic with…

The goal of this evaluation was to provide findings and recommendations to the district on the instructional technology initiative at one elementary school in connection to its stated goals of promoting the college and career readiness of students through the use of instructional technology. The superintendent, director of technology, principal,…

We present the results of a study of local education agency (LEA)-based interventions to improve the reading outcomes of struggling readers in sixth grade. The sample included 1,076 intervention students and 3,644 comparison students. Regression discontinuity was used to evaluate intervention impact. The study contributes to the field by…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in how high and low performing elementary school districts use and analyze data to differentiate instruction, make changes to district/grade level curriculum, determine professional development needs, determine teacher effectiveness, and determine the use of school district…

This nonexperimental survey research investigated whether enrollment, location, expenditures, percentage of free and reduced lunch and percentage of minority students influenced Georgia's superintendent and board chairperson satisfaction. In addition, this study investigated whether respondents' satisfaction could predict student achievement.…

This article presents an instructional module that has been peer-reviewed, accepted, and sanctioned by the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) as a significant contribution to the scholarship and practice of education administration. It is a simulation in which the superintendent of a small rural school district is…

This playbook draws from the findings of "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades," the largest empirical study of this grade level conducted to date. The "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades" study was designed to find out what higher-performing schools do differently. The result is a compelling set of specific, actionable…

Today's world is challenged by complex issues and citizens need ever-increasing scientific literacy to understand the impact of issues such as global warming, alternative energy, and genetic engineering, on their daily lives and to make informed decisions. Students need to be prepared to tackle issues such as these by being exposed to learning…