The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a universal program to promote positive classroom behavior on students' approaches to learning and early academic skills. Second grade classrooms (N = 39) were randomly assigned to treatment and business-as-usual control conditions. Teachers in intervention classrooms implemented the Social…

Since the start of the new millennium, international comparative large-scale studies have become one of the most well-known areas in the field of education. However, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has already been conducting international comparative studies for about half a century. The present…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of reading skill and reading modality (oral versus silent) on reading comprehension. A normative sample of sixth-grade students (N = 74) read texts aloud and silently and then answered questions about what they read. Skill in word reading fluency was assessed by the Test of Word Reading…

Explicit reading strategies help low-knowledge readers make the inferences necessary to comprehend expository texts. Self-explanation is a particularly effective strategy, but it is challenging to monitor how well a reader is applying self-explanation without requiring the reader to externalise the self-explanations being generated. Studies have…

This formative and design study examined how the Complex Text Analysis (CTA) instructional approach provided support for first-grade students to increase their comprehension of texts of increasing complexity. The students in the diverse class participated in weekly lessons during which fictional texts were read aloud and analyzed in terms of key…

This study examined the effects of the Success for All (SFA) whole-school reform approach on student reading achievement. The data were collected for the Study of Instructional Improvement by the University of Michigan, which did not previously report the achievement outcomes in detail but did make the data available online. Using propensity…

Schools across the nation are faced with an increased urgency to seek innovative strategies to improve low academic performance of students as mandated by No Child Left Behind Legislation (Friend, 2006). Specifically, in the state of Tennessee in schools such as those located in the Shelby County Schools District who have experienced low student…

This study investigated extra curricular activities and their influence on the academic achievement in reading fluency and reading comprehension for the middle school special education student. The purpose of this study was to explain and clarify relationships among the variables providing insight to the significance of the special education…

The effective use of assessments is a key component of school improvement. This mixed-method study analyzed the effect of Discovery Education interim assessments on student performance in seven low-performing schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools over a two-year period. The third-grade reading End-of-Grade exam results of more than 1,000…

Cooperative learning in reading was undertaken with 1299, Grade 6 students and 1275, Grade 8 students drawn from 120 classes in 10 high school settings. Grade 8 students acted as peer tutors to Grade 6 students in a 16-week long randomized controlled trial (60 intervention and 60 control classes). Data analyzed through hierarchical linear…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the achievement of south Texas public school fifth grade students participating in gifted and talented programs compared to the achievement of fifth grade students not participating in gifted and talented programs in the areas of reading and math to determine if any differences exist. The study also…

This paper examines the effect of Teach For America (TFA) on the distribution of student achievement in elementary school. It extends previous research by estimating quantile treatment effects (QTE) to examine how student achievement in TFA and non-TFA classrooms differs across the broader distribution of student achievement. It also updates prior…

The goal of HISD [Houston Independent School District] prekindergarten programs is to offer the youngest learners strong foundations built on solid concept, as well as individual and group discovery. The program curriculum focuses on beginning literacy, numeracy, social emotional development as well as supporting the individual linguistic and…

This report is one of several that examines student academic performance data to investigate equity in AISD. It describes the performance gaps between and among student groups district-wide for reading, math, writing, disciplinary removals/placements, and graduation rates.

Teaching systematic phonics effectively to beginning readers requires specialized knowledge and training which many primary grade teachers lack. The current study examined effects of a year-long mentoring program to improve teachers' knowledge and effectiveness in teaching phonics and the extent that it improved students' achievement in reading…