The effect of student-reported teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ) on academic motivation and achievement was investigated among a sample of 690 academically at-risk elementary students (52.8% male). Measures of TSRQ, achievement, and motivation were collected annually for 3 consecutive years, beginning when participants were in Grade 2…

Students in the United States change schools often, and frequent changes are associated with poor outcomes along numerous dimensions. These moves occur for many reasons, including both promotional transitions between educational levels and nonpromotional moves. Promotional student mobility is less likely than nonpromotional mobility to suffer from…

The Collaborative Language and Literacy Instruction Project (CLLIP) is a model of professional development designed to help teachers incorporate research-based practices of literacy instruction, support mastery, and sustained use of these practices through coaching, and serve as a foundation for whole-school reform efforts. We describe the model,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the size of Alabama's public high schools, selected school quality and financial indicators, and their students' performance on standardized exams. When the socioeconomic level of the student bodies is held constant, the size of high schools in Alabama has relatively little…

The study examined whether individual differences in high school first language (L1) reading achievement and print exposure would account for unique variance in second language (L2) written (word decoding, spelling, writing, reading comprehension) and oral (listening/speaking) proficiency after adjusting for the effects of early L1 literacy and…

In 2009, the United States Department of Education conducted a competition for a second round of Striving Readers grants. Its dual purpose was to: (1) Raise middle and high school students' literacy levels in Title I-eligible schools with significant numbers of students reading below grade level; and (2) Build a strong, scientific research base…

This is the final report in a five-year evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). This report features analyses of student achievement growth four years after the authors carefully assembled longitudinal study panels of MPCP and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) students in 2006-07. The MPCP, which began in 1990, provides…

Shared reading with think-alouds provides adolescent students with the modeling they need to become successful readers and writers. This article provides a sample of this type of interactive comprehension instruction in a science classroom. The authors then focus on the dimensions of effective shared readings with think-alouds that can be used…

While there remains little doubt that the "founding" preschool programs in America--the High/Scope Perry Program, the Chicago Child-Parent Centers, and the Abecedarian Project--had a positive academic and social impact on the students they served, such claims are difficult to substantiate for students being served in the Virginia…

The purpose of this project was to determine the relationship supplemental reading services had on first and second grade students who were identified in need of intervention services. Participants were from three elementary schools. Two of the schools received funding through Title I. The third school's supplemental reading services were funded…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between students' performance on the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) and the fourth and fifth grade Reading and Math Achievement Tests in Ohio. The sample utilized students from a suburban school district in Northwest Ohio. Third grade CogAT scores (2006-2007 school year), 4th…

The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was to ensure that states set educational standards in core academic subjects, and to hold schools accountable for ensuring that all students meet these standards. Given the inflexibility of NCLB's AYP (adequate yearly progress) targets and the federal line drawn in the sand for 2014, critics have…

This case study examined three K-5 schools, one 3-5 school, and two K-2 schools that implemented Michigan's Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MiBLSi) and showed improvement trends in third grade reading achievement as measured by MEAP results over four years. Each of the six schools completed the three years of MiBLSi training and are…

This study examined the concurrent validity of four different reading assessments that are commonly used to screen students at risk for reading difficulties by measuring the correlation of the third grade Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) in Reading with three specific versions of curriculum based measurement: DIBELS oral reading fluency (ORF),…

In this mixed methods study the potential for developmental readers to experience optimal experience (flow) within the multi-user virtual environment, "Second Life," was examined. In an educational context, "Second Life" provided a space for constructivist learning, socialization, exploration, discovery and creativity. The communicative, social…