The three tiered reading model and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are two initiatives being used to identify struggling readers of low socioeconomic status. While there is abundant information with statistical reports from various researchers, there is little research available as to what educators implementing…

The purpose of the study was to gain insights on key factors that make a difference in the reading achievement of students attending full-day and half-day kindergarten programs. More specifically, the focus was on investigating the impact that literacy instruction in full-day and half-day kindergarten had on the literacy achievement of struggling…

"The United States' failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country's ability to thrive in a global economy." Such was the dire warning recently issued by a task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. Chaired by former New York City schools chancellor Joel I. Klein and former U.S.…

There is little research of Hispanic and Asian children's educational outcomes; in particular, the achievement gap between these two racial/ethnic groups has not been fully explored. The objective of this investigation is to analyze the Hispanic-Asian achievement gap in elementary school using the ECLS-K, a longitudinal nationally representative…

Young children who experience difficulty learning to read are at an increased risk for reading failure and behavior problems. Emerging evidence suggests that improving the literacy skills of young struggling readers also improves levels of on-task behavior. This study examined the effects of Headsprout Early Reading, a phonics-based online reading…

While it is known that instructional technology improves academic achievement, there is little research about the integration of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) during Success For All (SFA) reading instruction. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether there was a significant difference in reading achievement between third…

A study incorporating components of a standards based model of teaching (Danielson, 2007) was undertaken to examine the relationship between the principal's evaluation of the teacher's effectiveness, the teacher's self-evaluation of effectiveness, and student achievement. Participants were solicited from a large school district and…

Research on educational administration from the past 40 years emphasizes the principal as an instructional leader. However, the research community has done little to specifically examine what literacy knowledge and practices elementary principals need to possess or do regarding literacy teaching and learning. Because federal legislation has…

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of improved school climate, as teachers' beliefs changed from negative to positive over time, on students' reading, math, and writing assessment scores and teacher administered grade scores in reading, math, and writing. Overall, findings indicate that lose, maintain, or improve…

In West Virginia one arts credit is required for graduation. This study examined whether participation in arts instruction beyond the one-credit minimum correlated with improved academic proficiency. Method of study: We studied a cohort of 14,653 public high school students who stayed at grade level during the 4-year period from 2007 through 2010.…

The SAT is an assessment of critical reading, mathematical reasoning, and writing skills administered by the College Board. This report provides a summary of all results for AISD students from school year 2011-2012 compared with previous years.

The ACT is a national college admissions examination developed and administered by ACT, Inc. AISD student participation has increased. This report summarizes the results for school year 2011-2012 compared with previous years.

In the current global economy, skills in the informational text genres are increasingly important for communicating ideas among professionals. The Reading Framework for the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress described informational text broadly as a major type of text that includes exposition, argumentation or persuasive text, and…

We are not well informed regarding the ability-achievement relationship for twice-exceptional individuals (very high cognitive ability and a diagnosed disability, e.g., autism spectrum disorder [ASD]). The research question for this investigation (N = 59) focused on the predictability of achievement among variables related to ability and education…

Using longitudinal data on a nationally representative U.S. cohort, this study investigated the relationship between socioeconomic status and students' reading growth between kindergarten and eighth grade. Piecewise latent growth modeling was used to describe nonlinear growth trajectories in reading during three developmental periods: kindergarten…