Standardized tests provide information about student achievement that are vital to understanding how well students are learning the state standards. The problem addressed in this study was the underachievement of 52% of third-grade students in the target district in English Language Arts on a state standardized test. Poor reading skills can cause…

Recognizing the critical importance of early literacy, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) have both worked intensively with states on birth through third grade improvement strategies across literacy and other learning domains. Third grade reading laws are one strategy that…

The necessity and lack of reading proficiency has been researched thoroughly. Many administrators, along with educators, are constantly looking for a means to increase reading proficiency. Districts nationwide are spending money on professional development to increase reading proficiency. The purpose of this study was to examine data in search of…

The contributions of Executive Function (EF) to academic achievement in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are not well understood. Academic achievement and its association with EF is described in 32, 9-year-old children with ASD. EF at age 6 and 9, and academic achievement at age 9 were assessed as part of a larger longitudinal study.…

Previous research indicated that first grade students reading below grade level continued to receive reading instruction outside their zone of proximal development (ZPD). A preponderance of research indicated students scoring below grade level in reading by the end of third grade were at significant risk of dropping out of school. The purpose of…

Public Impact's "Opportunity Culture" (OC) initiative provides a suite of models aimed at extending the reach of highly effective teachers and has partnered with school districts to implement these interventions in schools. Using administrative data from three partner school districts that collectively include 44 OC schools, we estimate…

Research on seasonal learning and time in and out of school provided the foundation for preliminary projections that students would return in fall 2020 with approximately 63-68% of the learning gains in reading relative to a typical school year and with 37-50% of the learning gains in math (Kuhfeld, Soland, Tarasawa, Johnson, Ruzek, & Liu,…

This study examined longitudinal relations between emotion knowledge (EK) in pre-kindergarten (pre-K; M[subscript age] = 4.8 years) and math and reading achievement 1 and 3 years later in a sample of 1,050 primarily Black children (over half from immigrant families) living in historically disinvested neighborhoods. Participants were part of a…

The assumption that (early) attendance of universal pre-school enhances the future academic performance of pupils with lower socio-economic and/or immigrant backgrounds underlies many education policies in Europe. The purpose of this study is to assess this assumption for Flanders -- a case characterised by near-general enrolment and a…

Longstanding gaps between the reading achievement of English learner (EL) students and native English speakers highlight the need for evidence-based reading interventions validated for EL students. This study compared the efficacy of two flashcard-based interventions, incremental rehearsal (IR) and strategic incremental rehearsal (SIR), for…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether components of the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processing theory of intelligence predict reading and mathematics proficiency in a group of intellectually gifted children. One hundred forty-two intellectually gifted children (70 females, 72 males; M[subscript…

Upper elementary readers who persist with reading difficulties face both academic and emotional challenges when they do not make reading gains equal to their peers. Decades of research has shown that persistent treatment resisters respond positively to a systematic multisensory phonics intervention. In my action research study, I examined how 5th…

Little is known about the characteristics of academic overachievers, children whose achievement significantly exceeds IQ. Correlates of overachievement (achievement test scores = 1 SD above IQ), nondiscrepant achievement, and learning disability (LD; achievement = 1 SD below IQ) were analyzed in 1,543 children (739 ADHD, 285 autism, and 519…

This report examines the impact of Creative Teaching techniques on students' academic growth on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and math tests from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018. Statistically significant growth on STAAR reading was found for students who had teachers who were moderately competent at Creative Teaching…

Different uses of the ACT Assessment emphasize different intervals on its 1-36 score scale. Its use by colleges for applicant selection and course placement emphasize the middle and upper intervals of its score scale, and these uses have been extensively validated (ACT, 2019a). Its uses by school districts and state departments of education to…