An ever-growing call for the use of evidence-based practice has come up against the logistical hurdles of a lack of resources and expertise, particularly in rural schools that work with historically underserved students. Although integrated learning systems (ILSs)--stable and likely requiring fewer resources than personnel--do not offer a complete…

Around the country, high school teachers are being called upon to improve student writing, but they often lack the tools and requisite know-how to make a difference. An ambitious new program called Drive to Write is attempting to change that. This report describes an evaluation of the program's implementation in 11 public high schools in New York…

Empirical Education Inc. is the independent evaluator of SRI International's 2014 Investing in Innovation (i3) Development grant called Redesigning Secondary Courses to Improve Academic Outcomes for Adolescents with Disabilities and Other Underperforming Adolescents. The goal of the grant is to develop "Enhanced Units" that combine…

The purpose of this research study was to evaluate iPersonalize, a gamified instructional approach developed by Fullerton School District (FSD) in California to encourage student engagement and promote achievement. An instructional approach is considered gamified when it incorporates computer game elements to augment existing classroom,…

The purpose of this research study was to evaluate iPersonalize, a gamified instructional approach developed by Fullerton School District (FSD) in California to encourage student engagement and promote achievement. An instructional approach is considered gamified when it incorporates computer game elements to augment existing classroom,…

Programs serving infants and toddlers are expected to use child data to inform decisions about intervention services; however, few tools exist to support these efforts. The Making Online Decisions (MOD) system is an adaptive intervention that guides early educators' data-based intervention decision making for infants and toddlers at risk for…

(Purpose) The purpose of this study was to understand if inclusion of computer activities and videos for pre-K and kinder students, with opportunities to view these videos again at home, providing a repeated learning experience with language concepts and vocabulary, improved young students' early reading skill. (Methods) The study followed one…

The Rural Math Innovation Network (RMIN) is a 4-year project that launched in January 2017 after receiving a $2.9 million Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and matching funds from the private sector. Virginia Ed Strategies and rural local education agencies (LEAs) in Virginia are implementing…

This report presents results from the "Ready To Learn" Prekindergarten Transmedia Mathematics Study, a principal part of the summative evaluation of "Ready To Learn," which is a partnership between the US Department of Education, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS. Researchers found that preschool children who…

A pretest-posttest cluster-randomized trial involving 31 middle schools and 335 students with disabilities tested the effects of combining explicit and anchored instruction on fraction computation and problem solving. Results of standardized and researcher-developed tests showed that students who were taught with the blended units outscored…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a system of least prompts procedure with a video prompt serving as the model in teaching office tasks to three high school students with moderate intellectual disability. A multiple probe across behaviors design replicated across participants was used to evaluate the intervention. The…

Two professional development (PD) models for teachers were compared on teacher and student outcomes. Special education teachers participated in Literacy Learning Cohorts (LLC), a PD innovation designed to improve content and pedagogical knowledge for providing reading instruction to upper elementary students with learning disabilities. The LLC,…

This article examines the effectiveness of a technology-based algebra curriculum in a wide variety of middle schools and high schools in seven states. Participating schools were matched into similar pairs and randomly assigned to either continue with the current algebra curriculum for 2 years or to adopt Cognitive Tutor Algebra I (CTAI), which…

We used a cluster randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a research-based model for scaling up educational interventions, focusing on the persistence of effects with and without a follow-through intervention. The instantiation of the Technology-enhanced, Research-based, Instruction, Assessment, and professional Development (TRIAD) model…

We describe the development and initial evaluation of the efficacy of "We Have Skills!" (WHS), a video-based social skills instructional program for early elementary school students. The components of WHS were designed to be scientifically sound, maximally useful to elementary school teachers, and effective in increasing students' social…