What to do about persistently low-performing schools is a pressing challenge for policymakers and educators across the nation. Schools that fail to make "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) for five consecutive years under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) must be "restructured". The 3,500 schools in the United States currently in…

While research continues to link increased math anxiety with reduced working memory, the exact nature of the relationship remains elusive. In addition, research regarding the extent of the impact math anxiety has on working memory is contradictory. This research clarifies the directional nature of math anxiety as it pertains to working memory, and…

The overall impact of unions and collective bargaining agreements on student achievement has produced a literature with decidedly mixed results. Unions are seen to have both positive and negative influences on a teachers' ability to perform the teaching act. This study researches the impact of unions on state level student achievement, controlling…

Massachusetts policymakers have expressed concern about the consistently lower scores of Hispanic students, compared to other subgroups, on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). This summary describes a larger report that examines Hispanic high school students' performance on the MCAS tests in English language arts and…

Despite growing evidence of the success of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program (DCOSP), its future beyond 2009-2010 remains uncertain. This spring, Congress included legislative language in the Omnibus Appropriations Act requiring that the DCOSP be reauthorized by Congress and authorized by the D.C. City Council before receiving new federal…

"Accelerated Reader" is a computer-based reading management system designed to complement an existing classroom literacy program for grades pre-K-12. It is designed to increase the amount of time students spend reading independently. Students choose reading-level appropriate books or short stories for which Accelerated Reader tests are…

Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent disorders among school-age children, occurring in 3 percent to 12 percent of adolescents in the United States (Jakobson & Kirkas, 2007; Shulman, 2008). Recognizing and understanding the disorder is complicated by the fact that between 10 percent and 20 percent of people…

"READ 180" is a reading program designed for students in elementary through high school whose reading achievement is below the proficient level. The goal of "READ 180" is to address gaps in students' skills through the use of a computer program, literature, and direct instruction in reading skills. The software component of the…

Millions of middle and high school students lack the literacy skills--including reading, writing, and critical thinking--that they need to succeed in college and the workplace. According to "The Nation's Report Card" fewer than one third of eighth graders read at a proficient level. Policymakers have directed considerable resources toward…

One of the most consistent findings in the literature on teacher quality is that teachers improve with experience, especially in the first several years. This study extends this research by separately identifying the effect of general teaching experience and grade-specific experience. Using within-teacher variation, I find that both general…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of two theoretically different reading programs on the reading outcomes of first-grade students (N = 107). Two elementary schools were chosen for participation based on the first-grade reading program currently being implemented in the schools. One school used the "Horizons Fast Track…

The purpose of this study was to explore the connections between young children's oral language vocabulary and children's reading of written language in beginning reading books. Oral language has been viewed as the foundation for emergent reading development as it provides the semantic base, syntactic base and phonological base for successfully…

This study addressed three basic questions involving the amount of measurement needed to obtain valid estimates of reading growth. Participants were 41 students with learning disabilities from Grades 3 to 8, monitored across 10 weeks using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) of words read correctly (WRC). We compared growth slopes based on…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to further develop an emerging thread of quantitative research that grounds investment in school infrastructure in a unified theoretical framework of investment in human, social, and physical capital. Design/methodology/approach: To answer the research question, what is the impact of investment in human,…

Referential identification and resolution are considered the keys to help readers grasp the main idea of a text and solve lexical ambiguities. The goal of this study is to design a computer system for helping college students who learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL) develop mental maps of referential identification and resolution in reading.…