Child Trends contracted with the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware, Minnesota's Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for early care and education (ECE) programs. The evaluation includes several legislatively mandated research activities designed to assess the…

LXD Research was engaged by 95 Percent Group to conduct a third-party, mixed-methods efficacy study of their 95 Phonics Core Program (95 PCP) to evaluate the impact on fourth and fifth grade literacy outcomes over the school year 2023-2024. LXD analyzed the formative assessment data from i-Ready, focusing on overall scale scores, subdomains, and…

LearnPlatform by Instructure conducted this quasi-experimental study, evaluating the impact of the Breathe For Change Mindfulness, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), and Yoga Teacher Training on K-12 student attendance and chronic absenteeism during the 2023-24 school year. The study included 172 educators and 955 students from a mid-size public…

LXD Research conducted a third-party, mixed-methods efficacy study of 95 Percent Group's Phonics Core Program (95 PCP) to determine the program's impact on fourth and fifth grade students' literacy outcomes. Outcomes included Istation's Indicators of Progress (ISIP) Advanced Reading and the State of Texas Assessments of Readiness (STAAR). LXD…

Florida Senate Bill 1720 drastically changed developmental education, beginning in fall 2014. This paper considers affected faculty members' perceptions and experiences with the passage and implementation of reform, according to focus group data provided by 294 participants at 21 Florida College System institutions between 2014 and 2019. We found…

Boosting literacy among school-age children remains a national priority. Nearly one third of students in the United States have not developed the foundational reading skills needed to succeed academically, with students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and English learners especially at risk. Starting in 2010, Congress invested more…

Attainment of grade-level reading proficiency by fourth grade is pivotal to student academic success. In fourth grade, students shift from learning to read to reading to learn where they gain the ability to use their reading skills to access knowledge. Despite the connection between fourth grade reading proficiency and future academic success,…

Research for Action (RFA) in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin is engaged in a five-year mixed-methods study of the reforms associated with California AB 705. Over the course of the study, our team will assess the implementation, impact, and cost effectiveness of reforms associated with the law. This second interim report,…

Anywhere from 40 to 68% of first-year students, over 1.7 million, enroll in at least one or more remedial or developmental course for reading, writing, or mathematics before being able to continue into the mainstream of college coursework (Barnett, 2018; Complete College America, 2016; Logue, 2018 WV HEPC Academic Readiness Report, 2019). An…

While research shows that exclusionary discipline practices in the early years are ineffective and developmentally inappropriate, young children continue to be suspended and expelled at high rates. An increasing number of states have taken steps to ensure that young children are not removed from programs due to their behavior. This report explores…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to evaluate the effectiveness of transitional preparatory programs from the perspective of parents and teachers in North Carolina. The following three research questions guided this research inquiry: Based on parent and teacher perspectives, how did the high school transitional program facilitate success…

The Texas Afterschool Centers on Education is the program administered through the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grants. The Texas ACE Austin Cycle 9 program is composed of a compilation of activities at 10 AISD campuses that provide a comprehensive range of high quality and…

This qualitative case study was designed to learn more about how the practices of instructional leaders support and monitor the implementation of Individual Education Plans (I.E.P.s) and influence teaching in inclusive classroom settings. It was designed to explore a sample of general educators' and administrators' perceptions about the challenges…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) allows alternate pathways for school districts to identify and classify students with a specific learning disability (SLD). Response to Intervention (RtI) is one of the frameworks schools can use when eliminating the use of the discrepancy model. The premise of RtI posits that…

Parent and community involvement has always been a part of the public education system; from its inception in the early American colonies, local community control was a hallmark of schools. Today, with mandates present in the No Child Left Behind Act, the Race to the Top legislation, and amidst more pressing international comparisons, educators…