This study examined high school teachers' and students' perceptions, attitudes and actual practices of continuous assessment. The participants of the study were 41 teachers and 808 students in Injabara General and Preparatory, Tilili General Secondary, Mengesha Jembere General Secondary, and Dangila Preparatory schools in West Gojjam, Ethiopia.…

Assessment expectations are communicated to students in various ways and at different points in the semester. The provision of written information in learning guides given to students at the start of semester articulates what they are to do and how well they are to perform in assessment tasks. This paper examines how assessment expectations at an…

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing are increasingly being educated in regular education classrooms along with their typical hearing peers. Establishing educational environments that address their unique needs is essential for their success. Response to intervention (RtI), as it is being implemented in the United States, provides a framework…

This paper presents research that explores similarities and differences across six randomized controlled trials of learning communities in community colleges that were conducted by MDRC and the National Center for Postsecondary Research. Five of these studies track students' progress in the program semester and two follow-up semesters, and one…

The "Read Naturally[R]" program is a supplemental reading program that aims to improve reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension of elementary and middle school students using a combination of texts, audio CDs, and computer software. The program uses one of four products that share a common fluency-building strategy: "Read…

The purpose of this case study was to demonstrate the influence of Tier 1 of Response to Intervention and Instruction (RtI[superscript 2]) and instructional coaching on teachers' instruction and on students' and English Language Learners' (ELL) learning. Research was conducted in one large urban elementary school. The unit of study…

This article provides insights from a 2-year, cross-site evaluation of state funded developmental education sites and serves as a focus article for response by those sites. Receiving grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), nine sites (5 community colleges and 4 universities) implemented innovative developmental education…

To stem the tide of students dropping out, many schools and districts are turning to early warning systems (EWS) that signal whether a student is at risk of not graduating from high school. While some research exists about establishing these systems, there is little information about the actual implementation strategies that are being used across…

This article describes how a purposeful sample of 62 elementary schools from 17 states implemented a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework for reading. School informants answered surveys and were interviewed about differentiated instruction in Tier 1, screening/benchmarking, where Tier 2 interventions were located, typical group size and the…

Each year, under the federal program called Supplemental Educational Services (SES), the Baltimore City Public School System (City Schools) pays educational vendors millions of public dollars to tutor thousands of its poorest students in its lowest achieving schools. Established in 2002 by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, SES was created to…

In 2007, spurred by University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (UChicago CCSR) research reports, leadership at the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began a new targeted approach to reducing course failure in the ninth grade. The research suggested that the transition between eighth and ninth grade played a critical role in shaping…

Parents of young children who are in early intervention (EI) or early childhood special education (ECSE) programs want to be sure these services are helping their children develop and learn. These services are designed to make the most of each child's potential as well as to strengthen the family's ability to help their child. This report asks how…

With the implementation of RTI, educators are attempting to find models that are the best fit for their schools. The problem solving and standard protocol models are the two most common. This study of 65 students examines a new model, the dynamic skills protocol implemented in an elementary school starting in their fourth quarter of kindergarten…

Background/Context: Arizona's most recent English Language Learner (ELL) legislation, starting in the school year 2008-2009, requires all such students be educated through a specific Structured English Immersion (SEI) model: the 4-hour English Language Development (ELD) block. The basic premise behind this particular model is that ELL students…

Over the past decade, there has been an increased emphasis on transition planning for students with exceptional needs. This is in part the result of the mandates contained in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. This increased emphasis has revealed a number of shortcomings with how transition planning is done…