Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), dubbed the "nation's report card," are often used to compare student achievement across states. An important limitation of NAEP is that it does not track the performance of individual students over time, so inferences about how much students are learning must be made by…

Schools in Vermont have followed a trend of partnering with out of school time afterschool and summer programs to address academic achievement gaps for students that are socioeconomically disadvantaged. The theoretical framework that informed this study was based in constructivist theory and experiential learning. The problem addressed in this…

This action research study explores the enhancement of intrinsic motivation and reading achievement in an early literacy-tutoring program through the use of culturally relevant pedagogy. This program is an interventional method used in addition to the students' reading curriculum. Students who have shown a reading deficit through low reading…

School leaders are continuously searching for innovative educational practices such as the use of digital badges to curtail illiteracy. Digital badges are electronic representations of academic achievements that offer a more cohesive and comprehensive account of learning. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental research study was to…

The number of English learners (ELs) who do not reclassify as English proficient after the first five years of schooling has increased in the Houston area and the state of Texas. ELs are a diverse population of students with varying levels of English proficiency. Many students who begin school as an EL reclassify as English proficient in a timely…

With the 2022 midterm elections behind us and 2023 state legislative sessions ahead, policymakers must shift their time and attention from winning reelection to addressing the perfect storm brewing in education. Three significant challenges paint a grim picture for students and public schools unless policymakers step in to help: catastrophic…

The percentage of students with lower academic achievement than their peers due to their socio-economical disadvantages is globally accepted as an indicator of inequality. Some students, despite their disadvantages, are as successful as their advantaged peers. The family and individual characteristics and academic experiences of these students,…

This study assessed differences in fathers' roles and involvements in children's development and learning in Tanzania. It compared fathers' socio-economic statuses and their implications on children's various indicators of learning attainments. A total of 400 fathers and 400 pre-primary and early grades children aged between 5 and 7 years -- 100…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a collaborative inquiry group of middle school ELA teachers who were utilizing the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) framework to create a virtual library of e-books, examine students' reading motivation data, and implement classroom practices intended to increase student reading value, motivation,…

Latinos comprise a significant portion of the total school enrollment in the U.S., and an increasing share of Latinos are pursuing higher education today. However, Latino students still face many educational barriers, and research has repeatedly demonstrated that Latino children lag their peers in terms of their academic achievement. In addition,…

Remote learning programs were rapidly implemented throughout the COVID-19 pandemic during school closures. We drew on an ongoing longitudinal study of a cohort of children in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana to survey children (N = 1,844), their caregivers, and teachers to examine learning experiences during the ten months of school closures in…

Determining the number of hours and days students should spend in school per year to improve student achievement has been a central policy issue, influencing, for example, authorities' attitudes toward disciplining pupil non-attendance and fining parents for the withdrawal of students for vacations. This paper is a review of research studies on…

Summer reading programs are a form of extended school year services for students in special education. However, previous studies have not reported including high percentages of participants in special education, nor have studies sufficiently controlled for selection bias. This study combined propensity score weighting with partially clustered…

Students' reading losses during the summer are a concern for schools in the United States. The purpose of this investigation was to examine fourth grade students' (N = 5,113) reading development over the summer. The results indicated that students in the lowest two quartiles made achievement gains over summer while these same students evidenced…

Oral reading fluency was investigated as a predictor of standard scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III Broad Reading Cluster (BRC). Participants included first- through third-grade students (n = 1301) from elementary schools in and around Houston, Texas. Median words correct per minute scores from three oral reading passages were…