Background: Little is known about how fine motor skills (FMS) relate to early literacy skills, especially over and above cognitive variables. Moreover, a lack of distinction between FMS, grapho-motor and writing skills may have hampered previous work. Method: In Germany, kindergartners (n = 144, aged 6;1) were recruited before beginning formal…

Background/Context: Increased interest in the correlates of media devices available to children has led to research indicating that access to and use of technology are positively associated with children's academic achievement. However, the digital divide remains; not all children have access to digital technologies, and not all children can…

The primary aim of this study was to assess the relations between concurrent, cumulative, and contextual intradistrict school mobility and early reading achievement. Longitudinal administrative school records were used for an entire cohort of students in a large urban district from first through third grade. Findings indicated that students with a…

Recent simulations suggest that trend line decision rules applied to curriculum-based measurement of reading progress monitoring data may lead to inaccurate interpretations unless data are collected for upward of 3 months. The authors of those studies did not manipulate goal line slope or account for a student's level of initial performance when…

This paper is part of a wider survey in which we identify groups of readers aged 10 to 11. The paper presents the findings on the observed affective variables (attitude and motivational) of different groups of readers. The results show that individual's attitude towards reading has the impact on reading comprehension and vice versa, better reading…

Interventions can enhance students' motivation for reading, but few researchers have assessed the effects of the specific motivation-enhancing practices that comprise these interventions. Even fewer have evaluated how students' perceptions of different intervention practices impact their later motivation and academic outcomes. In this study, we…

Many disadvantaged students with refractive errors, such as myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness), do not have eyeglasses, and their reduced vision may impact reading proficiency. Providing eyeglasses may increase their reading success. This article reports the findings of a study in Baltimore City in which disadvantaged second…

After the U.S. Supreme Court restricted the use of race in assigning students to schools, there was a surge in advocacy of school integration based on student socioeconomic status (SES). Benefits of socioeconomic integration have been supported by various studies finding significant effects of school SES on achievement after controlling for…

The aim of this mixed method action research study was to determine if a relationship exists between motivation and achievement. The participants in this study were elementary gifted students. Students first identified their individual learning styles as either "global" or "analytical." The gifted teacher then planned lessons…

Literacy has become a major component of teaching and learning. Students must be taught early literacy skills in preschool and kindergarten to develop a foundation for literacy in later grades. Many states have adopted a literacy promotion assessment. This assessment requires third-grade students to take and pass a literacy-based promotion…

The purpose of the study included a comparison of academic achievement scores for reading and mathematics to the implementation of positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS) among fifth-graders attending three different types of schools in Georgia. This descriptive comparative study included the collection of academic achievement scores from…

The public education system in Massachusetts enjoys a reputation of being "first" in the nation. This ranking is owed, in full or in part, to the performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments. NAEP is also called "The Nation's Report Card," as it is designed to discern trends in state…

This study investigated whether or not the use of the computer-based software program iStation would increase the reading achievement level of third grade students with learning disabilities. It served to add to the body of knowledge about the use of technology with students who have disabilities; previous studies primarily focused on the use of…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between longitudinal assessments of student achievement at 1187 elementary schools and educators' perceptions of the manner in which their school resolves the "organizational tensions, trade-offs, and conflicts" (Cameron, Quinn, DeGraff, & Thakor, 2006, p. 50) embodied in the…

There is no debate that teaching students to read is an important goal of education. School districts have the challenging tasks of choosing an effective research-based reading program to implement and then ensuring that reading instruction results in improved reading achievement. The Spring Valley School District was faced with these challenges…