CBAL, an acronym for Cognitively Based Assessment of, for, and as Learning, is a research initiative intended to create a model for an innovative K-12 assessment system that provides summative information for policy makers, as well as formative information for classroom instructional purposes. This paper summarizes empirical results from 16 CBAL…

In 2007, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute collaborated on "The Proficiency Illusion," a study that illustrated the issues created by having each state set its own standards for what constitutes student proficiency for reading and mathematics tests, while holding all states to the same…

In this paper, the author asks the question, "Can Boys Succeed Later in Life if They Can't Read as Well as Girls?" He notes troubling statistics that illustrate lower performance of boys compared to girls, including performance on state reading tests, and graduation rates from both high school and college. He says that the good news is that the…

A long-standing question in educational research and policy discussion turns on whether technology-based instruction can improve academic performance. Finding a convincing answer to this question is important because school systems across the country have invested and continue to invest very large sums on new instructional hardware and software.…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational explanatory research study was to identify the relationship between lower-achieving children's standardized test scores and the low level of parental involvement in their children's education and to determine whether these variables are associated in students attending a small urban middle school…

The purpose of this study was to explore whether the results of Tree Based Regression (TBR) analyses, informed by a validated cognitive model, would enhance the interpretation of item difficulties in terms of the cognitive processes involved in answering the reading items included in two forms of the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery…

Drawing from a range of secondary data sources, this paper succinctly overviews patterns of access to good-quality education in Turkey over the last 15 years. It also maps the policy context within which issues of access, quality and equity are examined. As a result of effective supply and demand side strategies, enrolment ratios beyond the…

Most research suggests professional development improves teachers' knowledge and pedagogy and enhances teachers' confidence to facilitate a positive attitude about student learning. This study attempted to investigate the connection between teacher professional development program and students' Learning. This study took Readers' Theater Teaching…

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the online course tools, specifically discussion boards, blogs and wikis, the built-in facilities of Blackboard as computer-mediated communication integrated in e-learning environments on improving integrated reading and writing and on the attitudes of EFL college students towards literacy skills in…

In 2013-14, Letterland had strong implementation, with moderate to high fidelity within approximately 90% of Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) K-1 classrooms. The impact of Letterland on students' reading achievement was neutral to positive. A significantly higher percentage of WCPSS kindergarten students were at or above benchmark mid-year…

Connectives (e.g., although, meanwhile) carry abstract meanings and often signal key relationships between text ideas. This study explored whether understanding of connectives represents a unique domain of vocabulary knowledge that provides special leverage for reading comprehension, and whether the contribution of knowledge of connectives to…

Seventy-six fifth-year students from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds participated in three different instructional conditions in an intervention study. The first combined strategy training in top-level structuring and interrelated motivational support; the second implemented the strategy training only; and the third was a control condition…

This study examined reading performance of 102 Chinese Mandarin-speaking 4th graders in their second language (L2, English) as a function of performance in their first language (L1, Chinese). The results revealed that for Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) and Rapid Alternating Stimulus (RAS) measures, the mean naming time decreased monotonically in…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the current school computer access rates of elementary school students and to determine the extent to which school computer access relates to academic achievement among Grade 5 students in the state of Texas. Specifically, the relationship of school computer access to student passing rates on the…

This mixed-methods study was designed to compare the achievement in mathematics and reading to that in science since the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002. The literature discussed that due to the increased emphasis in mathematics and reading due to NCLB, science education was impacted. Science instruction has endured reduced…