In February 2016, the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) pulled together stakeholders from across the state and set an ambitious goal--that at least 75 percent of third graders would be proficient readers by 2025. The goal originated from both stagnant third grade reading scores in the state and national research indicating that third grade…

In this study, the authors explore the implementation of a statewide class-size reduction program in nine high-poverty schools. Through qualitative methods, they examined how schools used class-size reduction to change staffing patterns and instructional programs. Requiring changes in space allocation, class-size reduction was accomplished through…

This report presents findings from the third and final year of the Reading First Impact Study (RFIS), a congressionally mandated evaluation of the federal government's initiative to help all children read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 established Reading First (RF) and mandated its…

In 2002, the Tennessee Department of Education asked the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) at Edvantia, Inc. to develop content for online professional development that would help meet the goals of the state's Reading First Program. In response, laboratory staff developed and subsequently delivered Assessment and Intervention in a…

A task force was appointed by the Oregon Council for the Social Studies (OCSS) to study preschool/kindergarten through grade 3 social studies in Oregon and to make recommendations as to what OCSS could do to help improve social studies education. This report contains the findings and recommendations of the task force. A background statement based…

In this article, I examine the implications of additive and subtractive conceptions for the education of English language learner (ELL) students. To understand how competing theories regarding the education of ELL students materialize into action, I examine select findings from one district's implementation of Proposition 227. Focusing on the…

Questionnaires were mailed to first, second, and third grade state bilingual education program teachers in five selected South Texas school districts to examine criteria used by state bilingual education program teachers to transfer limited English speaking ability (LESA) children from Spanish reading to English reading. Three-fourths of the 31…