Accelerated Reader's impact on student reading achievement has been debated in educational circles for some time. The effectiveness of this tool to motivate students and build reading comprehension depends on its usage and the training provided to teachers using it. In its training seminars, Renaissance Learning stresses that AR is to be used as a…

Analyzing mathematics and reading achievement outcomes from a district-level random assignment study fielded in over 500 schools within 59 school districts and seven states, the authors estimate the 1-year impacts of a data-driven reform initiative implemented by the Johns Hopkins Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE). CDDRE…

Students' reading achievement is influenced by the amount of reading they actually do. In this column we present a workable and engaging model to increase the volume of student reading at home. A detailed outline of how teachers and schools can work with parents to implement the model is presented. (Contains 1 figure.)

The purpose of this study was to address the extent to which adequacy litigation functions as a means for improving student achievement, particularly among low-income and minority students. The study extended theory established in prior studies, and took into account the idea that change takes several years to realize and that sufficient time to…

This article describes a study conducted with four Kindergarten teachers and students. The researchers were the building's literacy specialist/reading teacher and a college professor teaching pre-service teachers on site at the school. This was a naturally evolving teacher research study generated from questions raised as children demonstrated…

This article considers the impact of a high-stakes testing and reporting requirement on students using publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools. We describe how such a policy was implemented during the course of a previously authorized multi-year evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which provided us with data on voucher…

In its analysis of data it collected in 2006, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) used a variety of statistical methods to arrive at the 'key findings' that school autonomy, school competition and the public posting of student achievement data were…

This study aims to investigate which factors are associated with Turkey's 15-year-olds' scoring above the OECD average (493) on the PISA'09 reading assessment. Collected from a total of 4,996 15-year-old students from Turkey, data were analyzed by logistic regression analysis in order to model the data of students who were split into two: (1)…

This longitudinal study examined (a) the second-grade reading outcomes of 368 children who participated in either experimental or school-designed supplemental intervention in kindergarten, and (b) the influence and interactions of learner variables and type of intervention on reading achievement. Descriptive findings indicated that percentages of…

In this work, the author analyzes how Mari, an undergraduate student labeled with a reading disability, describes her reading opportunities and texts throughout her K-16 schooling. Using a disability studies in education lens, the researcher investigated the role that experiences with texts played in Mari's identity development as a reader. For…

The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether and, if so, how formal teacher competence relates to the relationship between pupil reading achievement and teachers judgements' of pupils' reading achievement. The data come from the Swedish participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001 in Grade 3.…

In light of increasing mandates to incorporate close reading of primary source historical documents at the elementary level, this study explored the reading difficulty level of the US Constitution with preservice elementary teachers using a traditional cloze assessment procedure. While best practice pedagogy of social studies has long included…

The Matthew effect, where good readers get increasingly better over time compared to relatively lower-ability readers, is an often cited phenomenon in reading research. However, researchers have not always found empirical evidence supporting a Matthew effect. We used hierarchical growth curve modeling to test for the presence of the Matthew effect…

This quantitative survey study was designed to determine whether superintendent accountability behaviors or agreement about accountability behaviors between superintendents and their subordinate central office administrators predicted district student achievement. Hierarchical multiple regression and analyses of covariance were employed,…

Drawing on national and state assessment datasets in reading and math, this study tested "external" versus "internal" standards-based education models. The goal was to understand whether and how student performance standards work in multilayered school systems under No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Under the…