After decades of attempting to identify effective reading programs within the United States, in recent years, the emphasis on identifying these programs has made a dramatic shift. The continuous increase in federal involvement began the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). One of the primary goals for NCLB is to drastically improve…

The year 2014 marked the deadline for school districts across the country to comply with the No Child Left Behind legislation. Yet, achievement gaps between Whites and Blacks, present during the year of implementation of the legislation, are still present today. While many interventions and school reforms have been launched since 2001, theoretical…

In order to identify students at risk of failing the Tennessee high-stakes achievement test known as the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), early literacy skills are monitored using reading assessments. Common reading assessments are based upon varying theories of reading development and do not reflect the necessary reading…

This document reports on the academic performance of the two most rapidly growing subgroups in Washington: English Language Learners (ELLs) and Former ELLs, but the emphasis here is on the latter. These two student groups have some unique qualities that pose some serious challenges to accountability systems. This research was initiated by State…

The purpose of this research study was to investigate how school districts, in the state of Missouri, dispersed funds from the American Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 to help drive educational reform, with respect to reading achievement and Response to Intervention strategies. The difference between the American Recovery and Reinvestment…

Achievement of adequate yearly progress (AYP) is crucial for all students due to the increased rigor of Common Core Standards and Keystone graduation requirements. Logically then, programs that can help students achieve AYP should be implemented to their fullest potential. This study investigated whether the Reading Apprenticeship (RA) framework…

This is a quantitative research project utilizing secondary data. Reading Recovery and Leveled Literacy Intervention are two early literacy interventions based on a whole language and phonetic approach to reading instruction. For the purposes of this study, the end-of-first-grade benchmark is a Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) 18 and the…

Many nine- and ten-year-old boys find reading interesting but begin to feel insecure about themselves as readers and avoid reading whenever they can. Reading avoidance starts early and for many boys, especially those of color living in poverty, fourth grade seems to be the time when this downward spiral begins. National and state assessment data…

The purpose of this study is to determine which reading strategies students use while learning Turkish as a foreign language and investigate the effects of these strategies on reading comprehension skill. Conducted in compliance with "pretest-posttest control group model" as the experimental design, this research involved totally 36…

Using quantile regression analyses, this study examines gender gaps in mathematics, science, and reading in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Jordan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Qatar, Tunisia, and Turkey among 15-year-old students. The analyses show that girls in Azerbaijan achieve as well as boys in mathematics and science and overachieve in reading. In Jordan,…

Despite efforts from the No Child Left Behind Act (2000) aimed at better educating minority children, the African American-Caucasian test score gap persists. The population of public school students is increasingly diverse; yet, 90% of public school teachers are Caucasian females (Graybill, 1997). Within this ethnographic dichotomy, what effect…

Has the academic achievement gap between high-income and low-income students changed over the last few decades? If so, why? And what can schools do about it? Researcher Sean F. Reardon conducted a comprehensive analysis of research to answer these questions and came up with some striking findings. In this article, he shows that income-related…

This commentary is based on two of the lessons the author learned as the professor in residence at ASU Preparatory Academy-Phoenix (ASU Prep), a Title I school operated in partnership with the Phoenix Elementary School District. Her role as a university professor on special assignment as a literacy coach, staff developer, and co-researcher. The…

The purpose of this report is to describe the procedure for revising the ReadiStep™ score scale using the field trial data, and to provide technical information about the development of the new ReadiStep scale score. In doing so, this report briefly introduces the three assessments--ReadiStep, PSAT/NMSQT®, and SAT®--in the College Board Pathway…

There is limited research available on the relationship between student attendance and academic achievement in secondary school. This quantitative, non-experimental study, conducted within a South Dakota high school of students in grades 9-12 during the years 2006-2012, examined the relationship between student attendance and academic achievement…