Significant relations among language impairments, academic difficulties, and behavioral problems have been well established in previous research, primarily with impaired children or non-minority samples. However, how and why these three developmental domains tend to co-vary has received only limited attention. Preliminary research suggests that…

This study examines cognitive ability profiles of children with specific age-based normative weaknesses in reading comprehension and compares those profiles to the profiles of (a) children with at least average achievement in reading comprehension, reading decoding skills, and mathematics and (b) children with low achievement across the 3…

This article discusses how literacy leadership is used to improve the achievement of struggling students. Literacy leadership begins with principals believing, knowing, and deliberately doing certain things. In reflecting on the experience of developing, implementing, and evaluating a successful literacy intervention, it is clear that literacy…

This article outlines the findings from a small-scale research study that explored how a group of secondary schools in challenging contexts had improved and raised attainment successively over a 5-year period. The study points to the importance of external factors and how they influence a school's ability to improve and to sustain improvement. The…

Oppositional culture accounts for race/ethnic differences in school achievement and the theory explains why male students tend to receive lower grades despite standardized test scores that equal or exceed the scores of female students. It is concluded that resistance to school is gender based and researchers should be more sensitive to gender…

Can money buy high-quality education? Studies find only a weak relationship between public school funding and educational outcomes. In "The Money Myth", W. Norton Grubb proposes a powerful paradigm shift in the way we think about why some schools thrive and others fail. The greatest inequalities in America's schools lie in factors other…

The California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) is a graduation requirement that includes passing a two part exam: English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Students take the exam for the first time in 10th grade. In 2005-06, the passing rates were about 77% for ELA and 75% for math. This study uses student level data to focus on the…

This study examines the relationship between high-stakes school accountability and its effects upon student test scores and school policies. The authors seek to understand the extent to which accountability sanctions and incentives for the poorest-performing schools in Florida explain subsequent changes in school practices and policies as well as…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Focus on Dropout Factories: Associated Press Article Spotlights Low-Performing High Schools, Draws Criticism from Many School…

This article considers how teachers come to assess pupils' needs and abilities and how pupils come to acquire particular identities in the classroom--particularly Bangladeshi pupils who are both English as an Additional Language (EAL) and minority ethnic pupils. This work is a contribution to an emerging "sociology of educational…

We used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) data to examine how important mathematics readiness levels are to subsequent achievement growth and the efficacy of instruction and engagement in producing such growth. The ECLS-K selected a nationally representative sample of kindergartners in fall 1998 and is following…

This study investigated the differences in four components of phonological awareness (i.e., judgment, deletion, blending, and substitution) and early reading ability across reading levels, and the correlation between phonological awareness (PA) and early reading ability in low and average-achievement groups. 27 students with reading difficulties…

In a recent poll that asked American adults to identify "the single most significant event that has happened in their lifetime, in terms of its importance to the U.S. and the world," 46 percent of the respondents cited the attacks of September 11, 2001, as the most significant occurrence in their lifetime. In light of this result, it is not…

Prior research on oppositional culture theory has generally focused on beliefs about the opportunity structure, or the "acting white" hypothesis, as an explanation for racial differences in school achievement. However, little attention has been given to the mechanism by which these beliefs affect achievement: schooling behaviors. The authors posit…

Peer nomination procedures were used to explore the development of academic achievement values and their relation to perceptions of barriers to opportunity. A total of 615 boys and girls across 3 grade levels (2nd, 4th, 7th) and 2 ethnic groups (African American, Latino) nominated peers who they admired, respected, and wanted to be like.…