The extent to which reading achievement is causally impacted by eligibility for special education services due to a learning disability (LD) or speech or language impairment (SLI) is currently unclear. In this registered report, we analyzed U.S. national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K:…

Do Washington state's targeted, public preschool programs help socially vulnerable students succeed in elementary school? In this study, we explore this question by examining the state's Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) and the Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) program. Using statewide censuses of…

This study examines the impact of special education on academic and behavioral outcomes for students with learning disabilities (LD) by using statewide Indiana data covering kindergarten through eighth grade. The results from student fixed effects models show that special education services improve achievement in math and English Language Arts,…

We investigate the beginning of the school discipline pipeline using a reform in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools that limited the use of out-of-school suspension for students in grades K-2. We find that the reform reduced the likelihood of out-of-school suspension by 1.4 percentage points (56%) and had precise null effects on test scores and…

Currently 15 percent of U.S. students receive special education services, a widespread intensive intervention with variable effects on students. Spurred by changes in federal policy, many states and districts have begun adopting the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach to identifying students to receive special education services. RTI seeks to…

This report evaluates the effects of Lexia[TM] Core5[TM] Reading (Core5) -- a product of Lexia Learning Systems -- on the reading achievement of students in grades 3-5 during the 2021-2022 academic year. Core5 is a program that focuses on various student literacy skills, such as fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. This report represents the…

This Education Leadership Portfolio's (ELP) improvement goal was to reduce student chronic absence at West Seaford Elementary School (WSES), a K-2 public school in the Seaford School District (SSD), where I serve as principal. Significant levels of student chronic absence have been and remain common at WSES, and--according to national and state…

Using an explanatory sequential mixed method, this study investigated the impact of the employment of attendance agents in the Detroit Public Schools Community District on decreasing chronic absenteeism and improving attendance rates from kindergarten to fifth grade for different subgroups of students. The study also investigated the perceptions…

Because standardized tests in science are not given to PreK-3 students in Ohio, this report examined the longitudinal effects of learning from a teacher who had participated in the NURTURES professional development program. Specifically, it looked at the effects on students' mathematics and reading learning in grades 2-5 and science learning in…

Background/Context: Spurred by changes in federal policy, Response to Intervention (RTI) has witnessed increased adoption across states and districts in the past several decades (Berkeley et al., 2020). Originating in the special education field, RTI involves a shift from a uniform instructional approach to a tiered instructional approach…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of the Leader in Me philosophy to students' equitable achievement in school, by measuring the academic achievement of third through fifth graders in suburban Missouri public schools. A secondary purpose of the study was to inform teachers and school leaders of effective strategies for…

Zearn Math is a popular software platform for K-8 mathematics learning, designed to enable all students to successfully access grade-level content. RAND researchers collaborated with Zearn, the product's developer, to design this evaluation. Then RAND conducted the study independently, randomly assigning 64 schools in an urban Texas district to…

Literacy significantly impacts access to education, economic development, and life outcomes. However, far too many students pass through elementary school without acquiring the necessary literacy foundation to be successful readers. While students in general demonstrate difficulty in reaching reading proficiency, some groups of students struggle…

Exclusionary discipline is a consequence of behavior for students who break the student code of conduct. Extensive research about the effects that exclusionary discipline can have on secondary students, as evidenced by reduced graduation rates, has been conducted; but, research studies investigating the potential impact that exclusionary…

Research suggests more students have experienced more unfinished learning over the last year than ever before. With the COVID-19 pandemic waning, school systems are facing a critical choice about how to respond. Should they use the traditional approach of reviewing all the content students missed, known as "remediation?" Or should they…