The Study of Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) is an international effort led by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with Houston Independent School District (HISD) serving as the only U.S. site. Over 6,400 10-year-old and 15-year-old students from 119 HISD campuses participated in SSES in the fall of 2019. This…

Background: Observation Studies, Unmeasured Confounding, and Sensitivity Analysis: An important part of educational research is identifying important, potentially causal, factors that influence children's learning from observational studies. However, it is well-known that discovering such factors from observational studies can be biased due to…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Spanish-speaking multilingual learner (MLL) students' long-term academic outcomes after participation in an early childhood education (ECE) program with English instruction. The study included 359 Spanish-speaking MLLs who qualified for Free and Reduced Lunch from Grade 1 to Grade 6. Participants…

Reading comprehension, or understanding the author's message, is a critical component of teaching literacy (Hougen and Smartt 2012). Student-centered activities using the iPad with the goal of improving reading comprehension in a fifth-grade classroom were implemented for this action research study. University teacher candidates guided fifth-grade…

Statewide accountability programs are incorporating academic growth estimates for general assessments. This transition focuses attention on modeling growth for students with significant cognitive disabilities (SWSCD) who take alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS), as most states attempt to structure their AA-AAS…

Over the past 65 years, the roles of the reading specialist have continually evolved. Historically, reading specialists have been hired by schools to work predominantly with struggling readers (Bean, Cassidy, Grumet, Shelton & Wallis, 2002; Bean, Swan & Knaub, 2003). Reading specialists today serve in a variety of roles within their…

For this study Bar-On's (1997) definition of emotional intelligence (EI) was used. "Emotional Intelligence" is defined as a set of emotional and social skills that influence the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and…

This mixed methods study investigates the effect of a multimodal reading intervention on EFL reading achievement and intercultural awareness of students (n = 20) at a Japanese university. A cross-culturally themed graphic novel was employed to overcome language barriers and cultural mores and promote higher-order literacy. Asynchronous discourse…

Leveraging achievement data measured in the fall and spring of kindergarten through eighth grade for 840,000 students attending 8,800 public schools, we report novel evidence on how achievement and growth patterns differ between rural and nonrural schools. Rural students start kindergarten slightly ahead of nonrural students but fall behind by…

Greater utilization of certain Literacy by 3 classroom practices is associated with the increased likelihood of a campus exceeding district average growth in reading. Though the Literacy by 3 program has been in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) since the 2014-2015 school year, this study is the first to examine the relationship…

Research suggests that student achievement and performance in literacy become strong predictors for achievement and success in high school, college, and career. However, Black children have historically been denied equal educational opportunities. Black boys, in particular, are falling behind in reading achievement, creating a persistent and…

This study aims to determine the direct effect of reading interest and achievement motivation toward comprehension. A quantitative approach with a path analysis method was used to assess reading interest and achievement motivation towards understanding English text. Furthermore, the instruments used were questionnaires of reading interest and…

The Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to balance a commitment to education in general, and girls' education more specifically, and additional challenges brought about through cyclical conflict. The Valorisation de la Scholarisation de la Fille project aimed to improve literacy and numeracy by providing scholarships, tutoring, and…

When determining whether or not children have a difficulty in learning, the quality of instruction they have received during their school career must be excluded as a possible explanation for their lack of progress. To this end, educational psychologists (EPs) have for some time adopted a model of response to intervention known as…

Federal law under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act stipulates that services provided to students with diagnosed disabilities must be (a) individualised based on the assessed needs of each student and (b) include the fewest restrictions necessary to achieve students' personalised goals. However, determining the level…