On November 5, 2002, Congress passed the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA), establishing the Institute of Education Sciences (IES, or the Institute) and its board of directors, the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES, or the Board). The Institute reports to Congress yearly on the condition of education in the United States. The…

Response to Intervention (RTI) models of diagnosis and intervention are being implemented rapidly throughout the schools. The purposes of invoking an RTI model for disabilities in the schools clearly are laudable, yet close examination reveals an unappreciated paucity of empirical support for RTI and an overly optimistic view of its practical,…

There are now nearly four million children born in the United States who have undocumented immigrant parents. In the current debates around immigration reform, policymakers often view immigrants as an economic or labor market problem to be solved, but the issue has a very real human dimension. Immigrant parents without legal status are raising…

This letter is submitted to comment on the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) proposed revisions to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's (ARRA) State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), as published in the September 23, 2011, Federal Register. Overall, the Data Quality Campaign believes the proposed changes strike a sensible balance: they…

This paper is a transcript of a letter written by the author, Cornelia M. Ashby, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues, to June St. Clair Atkinson, State Superintendent of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. In this letter, the author reports that she and her colleagues have examined the efforts of selected…

Purpose: This study compared the official poverty rate for adults aged 65 years and older with alternative measures that portray the true resources and needs of older adults. Design and Methods: The analysis used data from the 2004 Health and Retirement Study on income, assets, in-kind transfers, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. It also…

This study investigated the role of the amount, content, and implementation of reading instruction provided by 17 kindergarten teachers in eight "Reading First" elementary schools as it related to students' progress (n = 286 students) on early reading assessments of phonological awareness and letter naming-decoding fluency. Children's…

In this report, the authors describe the value-added models used as part of teacher evaluation systems in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and in eligible DC charter schools participating in Race to the Top. They estimated (1) teacher effectiveness in DCPS and eligible DC charter schools during the 2011-2012 school year; and (2)…

In the United States, as public demands for quality teachers have escalated, there has been a corresponding increase in national policy efforts to tie the standards of student success to teacher preparation, licensing, and evaluation. This conceptual paper examines how national authorities used specific policy tools to usurp the state's…

"Educators Resource Directory" is designed to provide educators, administrators, and other education professionals with immediate access to a unique combination of educational resources, along with important educational statistics and rankings. "Educators Resource Directory" includes associations, publications, trade shows,…

Community colleges have maintained a mission and commitment to open access. Likewise, Federal Pell Grants have historically served as a primary means for low income populations to afford higher education. Thus, community college students and Federal Pell Grants are important parts of the American higher education landscape and a mode of social and…

The school-aged population in the United States is becoming more culturally and linguistically diverse, while achievement gaps across content areas persist. At the same time, more rigorous academic demands are being placed on all students, including English language learners (ELLs). Teachers of ELLs face the double challenge of promoting English…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences of Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) scores between fourth-grade African American male students who were enrolled in single-sex classrooms and their counterparts who were enrolled in coeducational classrooms. The research provided descriptive data concerning one Title I school in rural…

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of their Response to Intervention (RTI) skills as they relate to assessment, instruction, and intervention. "The Perceptions of RTI Skills Survey" was distributed to 138 elementary general education teachers in ten elementary schools in six rural school districts, and ninety…

Although the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires all American public schools to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), many fail to meet this standard each year. Effective Schools Research has revealed several correlates, such as a clear mission, a safe climate, strong instructional leadership, monitoring of student progress, strong…