In the past few decades, we have seen a rapid proliferation in the use of quasi-experimental research designs in education research. This trend, stemming in part from the "credibility revolution" in the social sciences, particularly economics, is notable along with the increasing use of randomized controlled trials in the strive toward…

Science is being criticized within scientific domains and society. To address this, we suggest that researchers in special education, broadly, and those working in the behavioral disorders field, specifically, consider three critical facets of research: (a) importance of rigor, (b) value of replication, and (c) transparency of reproducibility in…

I review the research literature on parent satisfaction with private school choice programs providing vouchers, scholarships, or education savings accounts. The reviewed studies make use of parent surveys to measure satisfaction, often comparing the responses of parents of scholarship lottery winners to those of parents of students who lost…

Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (SWPBIS) focuses on interventions in order to meet the social behavioral demands of schools with the help of a three-tiered model. The main aim in SWPBIS is to ensure behavioral success and academic achievement of students in schools. By analyzing the related studies it was seen that there…

This report summarizes the research on the association between state interventions in chronically low-performing schools and student achievement. Most of the research focused on one type of state intervention: working with a turnaround partner. Few studies were identified that examined other types of interventions, such as school closure, charter…

Background: The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the effects of the LiveWell@School Food Initiative (LW@SFI), a Colorado-based childhood obesity prevention program that partners with school districts to enable them to serve more scratch cooked foods through culinary training, action planning, and equipment grants. Methods: This evaluation…

We used a comparative interrupted time series design to examine the impact of the Massachusetts' Wraparound Zone Initiative on student achievement, attendance, retention, and suspension. This initiative was designed to create coordinated district systems that allow schools to proactively and systematically address students' nonacademic needs. The…

We report findings from a quasi-experimental evaluation of the recently implemented US$5,000 retention bonus program for effective teachers in Tennessee's Priority Schools. We estimate the impact of the program on teacher retention using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design by exploiting a discontinuity in the probability of treatment…

Developing K-12 science teachers' understandings of nature of science (NOS) and scientific inquiry (SI) continues to be a major goal of science education reform. There is consensus among science teacher educators that developing students' NOS and SI understandings is vital to the development of a scientifically literate citizenry. However, two…

This study evaluated the long-term impact of schoolwide positive behavioural interventions and supports (PBIS) on student academic achievement. In this quasi-experimental study, academic achievement data were collected over 9 years. The 21 elementary, middle, and high schools that achieved moderate to high fidelity to the Save & Civil Schools'…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a model to assist school leaders in managing the professional development activities of teachers. The model illustrates the important role of principals in promoting continuing professional development (CPD), chiefly by cultivating a collaborative learning culture and formulating policy.…

This report summarizes an evaluation study investigating the effects of participation in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) program on student achievement in mathematics and reading/language arts, for the cohort of students who participated during the 2012-2013 school year. The report is a supplement to the Office of Assessment,…

Much is known about short-term--but very little about the long-term--effects of reading interventions. To rectify this, a detailed analysis of follow-up effects as a function of intervention, sample, and methodological variables was conducted. A total of 71 intervention-control groups were selected (N = 8,161 at posttest) from studies reporting…

Title I students remain among the most challenging population for achieving significant gains in academic performance and standardized test scores. This multi-state, quasi-experimental, pre-versus-post study reflects the comparative Title I gains for math and reading scores for teachers participating in an online, on-demand professional…

Since the inception of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act (P.L. 107-110), the debate continues regarding supplemental education service (SES) providers and their effectiveness in improving student achievement. NCLB requires districts to use an amount equal to at least 20% out if their Title I, Part A funds (U.S.D.E, 2011) to offer SES to students…