There are large gaps in reading skills by family income among school-aged children in the United States. Correlational evidence suggests that reading skills are strongly related to the amount of reading students do outside of school. Experimental evidence testing whether this relationship is causal is lacking. We report the results from a…

Online advising tools have the potential to reach a large number of students with the goal of increasing course performance and learning with relatively modest time investment from the instructor. Course SIGNALS provides students with online, real-time feedback on course performance based on an algorithm using the student's effort, achievement,…

We use admissions lotteries to estimate the effects of large-scale public preschool in Boston on college-going, college preparation, standardized test scores, and behavioral outcomes. Preschool enrollment boosts college attendance, as well as SAT test-taking and high school graduation. Preschool also decreases several disciplinary measures…

Using a dataset containing nearly 500,000 courses taken by over 40,000 community and technical college students in Washington State, this study examines the performance gap between online and face-to-face courses and how the size of that gap differs across student subgroups and academic subject areas. While all types of students in the study…

Close to half of all community college students leave before obtaining their stated goals. In order to determine what student characteristics increase community college student retention, with a heightened interest on the predictive nature of taking a student success course, a post-facto quasi-experimental study was conducted to determine whether…

The My Brother's Keeper (MBK) Challenge developed by President Obama supports communities that promote civic initiatives designed to improve the educational and economic opportunities specifically for young men of color. In Oakland, California, the MBK educational initiative features the African American Male Achievement (AAMA) program. The AAMA…

This study focused on the impact of a Student Development Course (SDEV 0170), a part of an overall First Year Experience program at the college of interest, on the achievement and retention of participants. It examined the effect of the relationship of achievement (GPA) and retention (enrollment in a subsequent semester) to (a) the successful…

Peer-led small-group learning has been used quite extensively in the US to enhance performance and retention of undergraduate students in science, math, and engineering classes. This study presents the results from an evaluation of a peer-led small-group programme at a research university in the US over a 10-year period across five disciplines…

This study examines the effect of supplemental education services (SES) on student test score gains and whether particular subgroups of students benefit more from NCLB tutoring services. Our sample includes information on students enrolled in third through eighth grades nested in 121 elementary and middle schools over a five-year period comprising…

Chicago has been in the forefront of the country in its use of 9th-grade indicators of dropout. Catalyzed by the development of the freshman on-track indicator and research around it, Chicago school administrators, central office personnel, and external partners have developed a number of mechanisms using 9th-grade indicators to stimulate school…

This study examined the impact of a commonly adopted elementary universal social-emotional learning program, Second Step, on student social-emotional and academic outcomes following 2 years of implementation. The cluster-randomized wait-list control trial included 61 schools, 321 teachers, and 8,941 early elementary students across 2 states, with…

Community colleges provide access to higher education for a broad range of students. The majority require "remedial" coursework in reading, writing and, especially, math. Most students who begin with this remedial coursework do not go on to earn a certificate or degree. Low levels of college graduation have high direct cost, adversely…

In August 2010, the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) received a grant of more than $25 million from the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation (i3) program for a five-year study to validate its Leadership Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) model in three very diverse regions of the United States: rural North…

In August 2010, the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) received a grant of more than $25 million from the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation (i3) program for a five-year study to validate its Leadership Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) model in three very diverse regions of the United States: rural North…

This non-experimental study examined the influence of an initiative that High Risk School District (pseudonym) implemented to offset the effect of low student academic performance in low performing-schools. The study attempted to answer the following research question: Does having a Teach For America (TFA) teacher have an influence on a student's…