Provides a conceptual and methodological critique of Milne's article (SO515520). Provides an alternative analysis of the data, showing that structural, attitudinal, and socioeconomic determinants of mother's employment substantially diminish the effects noted by Milne. (JDH)

Provides a rebuttal and final rejoinder to the articles by Milne and Heyns. Recognizes problems with the data base and provides additional analyses to demonstrate the effects reported in the original article. (JDH)

This study explored some factors associated with learning disabled high school students who passed the North Carolina Minimum Competency Test on the second administration. Factors examined include reading score on the first competency test, intelligence quotient, locus of control, mother's education, teacher support, student/teacher ratio, and…

Evaluated the effects of an inservice education program on 47 elementary teachers in three Kansas school districts. Information pertaining to several research questions was collected by assessing demographic factors, teachers' knowledge of reading instruction, teachers' attitudes toward reading-related issues, teacher implementation of specific…

Using a fifth-grade sample, the revised Self Description Questionnaire was investigated. Confirmatory factor analysis showed the factor structure invariant across the respondants' gender. Sex difference in self-concept areas and academic achievement were explored. A new internal/external frame of reference model was proposed. (Author/BS)

Data on the early prediction of learning problems was summarized by a meta analysis of 58 studies reporting correlations between measures administered in kindergarten or first grade and later reading achievement. The best single predictors of achievement were attention-distractibility, internalizing behavior problems, and language variables.…

English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities struggle with reading and the reasons for their struggles are not well understood owing to little knowledge about the impact of disability on language development in either the first or second language (Klingner et al., 2006). Nevertheless, this difficulty in reading achievement historically has…

Recently Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) completed a project to connect the scale of the MEA with NWEA's RIT scale. Six Maine school systems participated in the study, using test information from a group of over 800 students enrolled in fourth and eighth grade who took both the MEA and NWEA reading and mathematics tests in the spring of…

This study was designed to answer two key questions about the fixed portions of the fourth, eighth, and tenth grade spring 2003 Idaho Standards Achievement Tests (ISAT) in Reading, Language Usage and Mathematics: (1) To what extent do test items exhibit substantive differences in functioning across student groups formed based on ethnicity and…

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an assessment of reading comprehension of nine-year-olds in 35 countries and was conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). This report compares findings from the United States with other countries and takes a closer look at…

This inservice professional development module, part of the Alabama Reading Initiative, presents research summaries, notes for presenters, and activities. The Phonemic Awareness and Phonics module clarifies that skilled readers are accurate and automatic decoders (i.e., they have the alphabetic principle). Phonics instruction must empower all…

The 1998 High Schools That Work (HSTW) Assessment report contains good news for HSTW sites in the Appalachian Regional Commission area and provides information on specific practices that need improvement. This research brief summarizes the report's findings. Based on 196 schools in 9 Appalachian states, the report shows that school, district, and…

Although the hope for charter schools is the lessening and eventual elimination of the achievement gap that exists by race and income, this report indicates that charter schools in Milwaukee are mirroring the test score gap of both Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and the state of Wisconsin in both fourth grade reading and fourth grade math. Other…

Schools that become part of the "Making Middle Grades Work" network are expected to use the middle grades comprehensive improvement framework to show progress in changing school and classroom practices in ways that advance student achievement. True school reform is not a quick process. It is a continuous effort to make purposeful and planned…

This report reviews 75 high schools in the "High Schools that Work" (HSTW) network that made statistically significant gains in at least two of three areas reading, mathematics and science--between 2002 and 2004 on the "HSTW" Assessments. In these schools, all groups of students improved achievement--regardless of race, ethnicity or socioeconomic…