In March 1997, all State, Territory and Commonwealth education ministers agreed on the national goal: that every child leaving primary school should be numerate and able to read, write and spell at an appropriate level. To provide focus for this goal, ministers agreed to a sub-goal: that every child commencing school from 1998 will achieve a…

The results of this study conclude that there is a multidimensional basis for test score inferences on the mathematics and critical reading sections of the SAT. Results from the exploratory analyses indicate that the data are multidimensional, as mathematics displayed two dimensions and critical reading displayed three dimensions. The correlations…

The federal Class-Size Reduction (CSR) Program, first authorized in PL 105-277, begun in Fiscal Year 1999, represented a major federal commitment to help school districts hire additional qualified teachers, especially in the early elementary grades, so children would learn in smaller classes. The ultimate goal of the program was to improve student…

This document is the seventh in a series of reports designed to provide: (1) consistent, reliable indicators to allow analysis of trends for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico over time; (2) high data quality for comparability from state to state; and (3) accessible indicator formats for use by a variety of audiences. The report…

This report summarizes evaluation results for the Austin Independent School District (AISD) bilingual education and English as a second language programs for the 2001-2002 school year.

Examines officials' efforts to improve third-grade students' reading and language arts performances with newly developed curriculum guides and assessment. Interviews officials who developed guidelines/assessments on why they developed this material; how they informed teachers and administrators of their reform goals; and how practitioner should…

Finds that, among 117 Mexican-American second and fifth graders from Spanish-dominant homes, reading comprehension gains were proportionately much smaller in summer than the school year, while summer and school year gains in auditory vocabulary were similar. Discusses family, peer, and classroom influences on distinct language skills. (SV)

Reading and writing development of 54 children from grade one through four was studied. Poor first-grade readers almost invariably were poor readers at completion of grade four. Poor readers tended to become poor writers. Early writing skill did not predict later ability as well as did early reading ability. (SLD)

Describes a program at an Illinois middle school that was designed to increase reading achievement, vocabulary, and the enjoyment of reading. Highlights include the library's role; use of the Standardized Test for Assessment of Reading; the Accelerated Reader program; teacher training; teacher comments; and grant funds. Four appendices include:…

Describes theoretical and practical problems facing the field of early reading, examining: readers and texts (reader processes, text difficulty, linguistic and cultural knowledge, and unique learners); home and school (home-school match, communities and reading, preschools as contexts for reading acquisition, and best practices); and policy and…

The self-defeating behavior of some students can often make even the most persistent of teachers to feel discouraged. The purpose of this article is to explain and provide a research-based rationale for the use of teacher verbal feedback prompts that convince students of their ability to succeed on a task. He discusses how to understand the…

This study seeks to discover whether beginning kindergarteners vary in early literacy readiness according to their county's metro/nonmetropolitan status, county-level economic and social characteristics, individual demographic characteristics, family social capital resources, and preschool childcare. Using student-level data from the Early…

The purpose of this study was to understand relationships between English proficiency and academic performance for a group of English language learners (ELLs) from 4 elementary schools. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to examine scores from the Language Assessment Scales, the Woodcock-Munoz Language Survey, and the Colorado…

The ULINCS Project research describes how elementary teachers learned a model for integrating skills of mathematics, reading, and writing with the teaching of science which led to increased teaching skills and enhanced student achievement. This joint university and school district project was funded by an Eisenhower Grant, and focused on educators…

Education researchers and policymakers agree that teachers differ in terms of quality and that quality matters for student achievement. Despite prodigious amounts of research, however, debate still persists about the causal relationship between specific teacher credentials and student achievement. In this paper, we use a rich administrative data…