READ 180 was adopted by a school district in Southern Alabama (SDSA) in response to students' low state reading and comprehension scores statewide. However, after years of implementation, it is unclear whether the READ 180 curriculum and the instructional practices characteristics of the READ 180 have been implemented with fidelity across district…

The Schools to Watch: School Transformation Network Project is a whole school reform model designed to improve the educational practices, experiences, and outcomes of low-performing middle-grades schools. Developed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, the four-year project was funded in 2010 by a U.S. Department of Education…

This study reports on the perceptions and instructional practices of Grades 3 through 5 special education teachers in a school district that implemented a multitiered response to intervention (RTI) framework for the previous 5 years. The authors used focus groups and interviews to examine special education teachers' perceptions of RTI. In…

Children and youth who reside in economically disadvantaged households and in low-resource, urban neighborhoods are more likely to lose ground in math and reading over the summer than their higher-income peers. Although summer learning programs are a promising strategy for narrowing this achievement gap, surveys indicate that only 25 to 36 percent…

The PD program evaluated in this study is designed to address the problem of low student achievement in topics in rational numbers. The study focuses on seventh grade, the culminating year for teaching those topics. The study randomly assigned 77 mid- and high-poverty schools from 12 districts to treatment and control conditions and collected…

This paper will describe results concerning the impact of the PD on the three primary study outcomes: teacher knowledge of rational number topics, teacher instructional practices, and student achievement in rational number topics. All analyses are completed. However, the results cannot be shared at this time because the report is currently under…

In recent years, providsion of early learning experiences to children has found a place on political agendas nationwide. Increasingly, early childhood education is viewed as a point of leverage for addressing low levels of, and gaps in, K-12 achievement. This article discusses what people know about the quality of existing early-childhood…

The problems stated for this study were: (1) to determine the additional cost per month of reading gain in the Dougherty County reading program--funded under Title I of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act--for elementary students (grades 1-6); (2) to compare the previous cost per month of gain for students enrolled in the Title I program…

Nearly 20 years ago, the first national assessment of student achievement in U.S. history yielded disappointing results. Although policy-makers and researchers expressed great concern about the low scores, the federal government did not undertake large-scale efforts to address poor student performance, and few research dollars were dedicated to…

Untracking places previously low-achieving students (primarily from low-income and ethnic or language-minority backgrounds) in the same college preparatory academic program as high-achieving students. The Achievement via Individual Determination (AVID) program of the San Diego (California) schools shifts education policy for underachieving…

This New York City Umbrella Program for reading enrichment was implemented in the context of the study of the marine environment. It combined language arts and science study as applied to the study of this environment. One hundred eighty-five pupils from seven fifth grade classes in four schools participated in the program. Classes of students…

A plan was developed to improve test scores in a Georgia high school. A committee of teachers, students, citizens, and a curriculum consultant was formed to analyze the school's problems and the reason for low test scores and low achievement. Data on the school climate indicated that it was poor, except that the instructional leadership of the…