Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) refers to a delay in motor development that does not have any known medical cause. Studies conducted in English speaking societies have found that children with DCD display a higher co-occurrence rate of learning difficulties (e.g., problems in reading and writing) than typically developing (TD) children.…

The Black-White achievement gap in children's reading and mathematics school performance from 4.5 years of age through fifth grade was examined in a sample of 314 lower income American youth followed from birth. Differences in family, child care, and schooling experiences largely explained Black-White differences in achievement, and instructional…

The field of literacy education has long been concerned with the question of how to help classroom teachers improve their practices so that students will improve as readers. Although there is consensus on what characterizes effective professional development, the reading research on which this consensus is based most often is small scale and…

Using K-8 national longitudinal data, the authors investigate males' and females' achievement in math and reading, including when gender gaps first appear, whether the appearance of gaps depends on the metric used, and where on the achievement distribution gaps are most prevalent. Additionally, teachers' assessments of males and females are…

This research examined the scope of parental involvement at school entry and sought to determine what, if any, differences existed between ethnic groups. In addition, the researcher attempted to determine if parental involvement was related to academic achievement at school entry. Participants were the African American and European American…

The study featured in this What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Quick Review examined the effect of charter school attendance on annual student achievement growth in math and reading. The study analyzed data from a large sample of students in grades 4 through 9 in Indiana from 2004 to 2008. The study found that charter school students' annual math score…

The mixed-method explanatory research design was employed to investigate the effectiveness of the Accelerated Reader (AR) program on middle school students' reading achievement and motivation. A total of 211 sixth to eighth-grade students provided quantitative data by completing an AR Survey. Thirty of the 211 students were randomly selected to…

When children begin to connect spoken speech to print, regardless of their language, they all encounter disparities between oral and written representations. Children who speak the African-American English (AAE) dialect at home and in their communities may encounter an even greater number of disparities between oral and written representations…

Metacognitive strategies are needed for readers to be successful in comprehending nonnarrative social studies texts. The purpose of this study was to investigate the metacognitive strategies used by proficient readers (students reading above-grade-level) and struggling (students reading below-grade-level) readers comprehending social studies…

This research study explored the current state of teacher morale in fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms in three low socioeconomic schools. Additional research questions addressed correlational relationships among the variables of teacher morale, student engagement, and student achievement growth as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working…

Over the last 37 years, the Individualized Education Program (IEP) has been the guiding document that outlines the needs of a student who receives special education services. Washington State utilizes an IEP Review form as the means to determine if an IEP has been properly written and formulated. This information partially fulfills the Federal…

This report describes the implementation and intermediate impacts of an intervention designed to provide incentives to induce a school district's highest-performing teachers to work in its lowest-achieving schools to improve student achievement. The report is part of a larger study that used random assignment to form equivalent groups of…

This report presents estimates from a large-scale, multi-district RCT (randomized controlled trial) on the effectiveness of a summer reading program on improving student reading comprehension for economically disadvantaged grade 3 students reading below the 50th percentile nationally. This study focused on the summer between grades 3 and 4 for…

The educational community has raised several concerns regarding the identification of students with disabilities. Growing numbers of students classified in the Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) category have prompted much discussion. Available research on SLD classification raises issues regarding the traditional ability/achievement discrepancy…

This study examined seventh grade student achievement in math, reading, and language arts relating to the allocation of instructional minutes per subject. The treatment group consisted of students assigned to 90 minute classes in the core content. The control group consisted of students assigned to 55 minute classes in the core content.…