We measure the impact of observed teacher characteristics on student math and reading proficiency using a rich dataset from Florida. We expand upon prior work by accounting directly for nonrandom attrition of teachers from the classroom in a sample selection framework. We find evidence that sample selection is present in the estimation of the…

The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between transformational leadership, school climate, and student mathematics and reading achievement. Survey data were collected from a purposeful sample of elementary school principals and a convenience sample of his or her respective teachers located in a small suburban…

The primary objective of this special issue is to synthesize results from recent reading fluency research endeavors, and to link these findings to practical uses of reading curriculum-based measurement (R-CBM) tools. Taken together, the manuscripts presented in this issue discuss measurement work related to new metrics of indexing student reading…

This study was designed to investigate potential reading differences between low-achieving and typically achieving first-grade Korean-speaking children by (1) comparing their speed of lexical access on alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric tests of rapid automatized naming and (2) comparing relationships between the two groups' performance on…

This study evaluated the effect of online instruction on the academic achievement of K--12 students in ten states as measured by the percentage of proficient students in reading and mathematics at the school level. We used publicly available data provided by the Department of Education in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania,…

Although the Internet is widely used by students in both formal and informal environments, little is known about how and where youth spend their time online. Using Internet search and Web analytics data, this study discovered a large-scale phenomenon associated with the poor performance of elementary school students in the USA that has been…

Various studies have found that electronic books (e-books) promote learning, but few works have examined the use of e-books along with an adaptive reading strategy for children. The current study implemented a method to extract keyword cues from e-books to support e-book reading with the read, recite and review (3R) strategy, and then examined the…

In 2013, the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program identified Manitoba as the province having the lowest reading achievement scores of grade 8 students across Canada. These poor results serve as an indicator that changes to the way teachers support struggling readers in the classroom and beyond its walls are essential. Struggling readers require…

Monitoring educational development in the early years of schooling is vital if practitioners, and policy makers, are to support students' learning, but the assessment of student achievement in developing countries can be a logistical headache. Maurice Walker reports on an innovative approach to assessment using tablets that is addressing that.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether, or to what extent, property wealth of the upper and lower 5% districts, per pupil expenditure, limited English proficient students, economically disadvantaged students, membership, and teacher experience contribute to student achievement in 5th grade reading and mathematics. To do this, the…

Based on the Lexile® Framework, a scientific approach to reading and text measurement backed by more than two decades of ongoing research, Achieve3000®, a web-based differentiated reading program used by HISD [Houston Independent School District], is designed to improve student reading ability and comprehension of increasingly complex texts by…

In the 2013-2014 school year, the High-Dosage Tutoring (HDT) Program served approximately 1,698 students at nine AISD schools. This report summarizes the third year of implementation and outcomes.

Ten years ago, six teachers established a program of literacy intervention and professional learning in remote northwestern Australia based on the Reading Recovery principles. This group of teachers was determined to learn what had to happen in order for them to make a difference with students and then to make it happen. Their work led to getting…

Several researchers emphasize the role of the writer's topic knowledge for writing. In academic writing topic knowledge is often constructed by studying source texts. One possibility to support that essential phase of the writing process is to provide interactive learning questions which facilitate the construction of an adequate situation…

This article gives a short overview based on the "EU High Level Group of Experts on Literacy" (HLWG) report to address issues and challenges in Europe on improving literacy competencies in schools. Furthermore, an analysis is conducted focusing on the promotion of reading and early literacy skills in schools taking into account…