This study examines the impact of Ethiopia's General Education Quality Improvement Programme Phase II (GEQIP-II) by comparing the learning outcomes of two grade 4 cohorts, one before and one after its implementation. Using student learning data collected in 2012/13 (pre-reform cohort) and 2018/19 (post-reform cohort), we matched the data at the…

This study conducted a meta-analytic case study of NAEP Trial Urban Data Assessment (TUDA) data, exploring science achievement trends among Black girls in urban versus larger city school districts (N = 26,298). Results revealed statistically significant but practically small differences in achievement (g = -0.07), underscoring structural…

Math achievement is one of the strongest predictors of long-term student success--influencing graduation rates, college enrollment, career readiness, and future earnings. Yet too many students today lack access to rigorous, well-designed math instruction. Without a clear definition of what constitutes high-quality instructional materials (HQIM),…

This mixed-methods, cross-cohort efficacy study evaluated "Just Right Reader's Classroom Libraries" first-grade students across six schools in a diverse Texas district. The Classroom Libraries consisted of decodable literacy resources appropriately matched to instructional needs and were available in English to all students and in…

The STEM.LD program was funded by a 2020 mid-phase Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant. It sought to improve student outcomes by strengthening professional learning for teachers and school leaders, expanding STEM curricular resources, and increasing student engagement in rigorous coursework and extracurricular opportunities. A randomized…

A distinctive aspect of science teaching is the use of various strategies to stimulate students' discovery-oriented curiosity. However, many instructional knowledge models overlook teaching methodology as a predictor of quality science instruction, as noted in the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge model. This study developed and tested a…

This policy paper examines the distribution and relevance of students' growth mindset beliefs, drawing on data from the 2022 cycle of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). It highlights a drop in the prevalence of a growth mindset--the belief that intelligence can develop through feedback, effort and effective…

This paper investigates changes in 15-year-old Australian students' attitudes towards reading mathematics, and science, as well as their relationships with students' performance in these respective domains over the period of 2000-2018. multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the measurement invariance of the construct of…

The 35th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's "KIDS COUNT"® Data Book examines the unprecedented declines in student math and reading proficiency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on education. The latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress reveals that between 2019 and 2022, fourth-grade reading…

This annual report highlights information on school performance and improvement in Hawaii's public schools. The report profiles academic events, trends, and outcomes. Featured are tables and figures related to demographic, financial, and educational performance. Also, comparisons to other states with relevant characteristics similar to Hawaii are…

Unequal access to qualified teachers for children of different socioeconomic status--also known as inequitable teacher sorting--has been increasingly put forth as one potential factor contributing to the socioeconomic achievement gap. Despite this, few studies have investigated cross-national differences in teacher sorting, and none have examined…

Finland and Singapore are both top-performing countries in international assessments such as PISA. Finland has been consistently one of the high-achievers regarding not only students' literacy levels but also educational equity. Similarly, Singapore has continuously shown outstanding performance in PISA. It outperformed all the other participants…

Although previous research showed that discrete social-emotional skills such as empathy, motivation, and social relationships in school significantly predict achievement, students tend to use various social-emotional skills in combination. As such previous investigations cannot comment on how different combinations or profiles of students'…

This study examines the direct and indirect relationships between key motivational constructs and science achievement using TIMSS 2019 data sets for Japan, Norway, and the United States. The sample of the study includes 4,446 and 8,698 eighth graders in Japan and the United States, with 4,575 ninth graders in Norway. The structural equation model…

Background: Little is known about how school breakfast programs are associated with school attendance and academic performance. This study evaluated Dallas Independent School District's (DISD) breakfast after the bell (BATB) program that provides breakfast for both habitually tardy and non-tardy students on (1) academic performance and (2) student…