This article provides the first causal evidence of a system-wide corequisite reform in Tennessee, which mainstreams underprepared students into college-level courses with concurrent support. Using regression discontinuity and difference-in-regression-discontinuity designs, we find that, for those on the margin of college level, students placed…

Harnessing a cluster randomized controlled trial, we estimated the impact on students' advanced placement (AP) examination performance of a project-based learning (PBL) approach to AP compared with a lecture-based AP approach. Through PBL, teachers primarily play a facilitator role, while students work on complex tasks organized around central…

We present results from the first randomized experiment of a remedial inquiry-based science education program for low-performing elementary students in a developing country. Among third-grade students in 48 low-income public elementary schools in Metropolitan Lima who score in the bottom 50% of their school baseline science distribution, half are…

This article presents the findings of an evaluation of the eMINTS (enhancing Missouri's Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies) professional development program. eMINTS is an intensive teacher professional development program designed to promote inquiry-based learning, support high-quality lesson design, build community among students and…

We use data from a randomized controlled trial of a middle school science intervention to explore the causal mechanisms by which the intervention produced previously documented gains in student achievement. Our study finds that implementation fidelity, operationalized as a measure of the frequency of implementation of the cognitive science…

This study investigates the influence of a school's pre-existing social resources on the implementation of a comprehensive literacy-coaching program (Content-Focused Coaching [CFC]). Elementary schools were randomly assigned to receive a CFC-trained coach (n = 15 schools) or to continue with the literacy coaching resources that are standard for…

This article examines the effectiveness of a technology-based algebra curriculum in a wide variety of middle schools and high schools in seven states. Participating schools were matched into similar pairs and randomly assigned to either continue with the current algebra curriculum for 2 years or to adopt Cognitive Tutor Algebra I (CTAI), which…

This study examines how high-quality professional development can promote the diffusion of effective teaching strategies among teachers through collaboration. Drawing on longitudinal and sociometric data from a study of writing professional development in 39 schools, this study shows that teachers' participation in professional development is…

Student engagement is a critical aspect of the learning process and a known predictor of school success. We report on an evaluation of a classroom intervention, CareerStart, designed to promote engagement through the use of career-relevant instruction whereby teachers use examples to tie the lesson material to knowledge and skills students can see…

There are fierce debates over the best way to prepare teachers. Some argue that easing entry into teaching is necessary to attract strong candidates, whereas others argue that investing in high quality teacher preparation is the most promising approach. Most agree, however, that we lack a strong research basis for understanding how to prepare…

Two approaches to math instruction were compared in the fifth grade of the Jordan (Utah) School District. For middle- to lower-socioeconomic-status (SES) pupils, the Goal-Based Educational Management System Proficiency Mathematics approach was substantially more cost-effective. For high-SES pupils, a more traditional text-oriented approach was…

Studied beyond students' failing scores on a state reading assessment to investigate the needs of struggling students and implications for policy. Results for 108 students in 17 elementary schools suggest that scores on state tests mask distinctive and multifaceted patterns of students'reading abilities that require dramatically different…

To examine how performance-based assessment changed mathematics teaching under conditions of moderate and low-stake assessment, middle school teachers were studied in five districts in Maryland and Maine, with interviews of 82 teachers and administrators. Findings suggest that effects of state testing on teaching may be overrated by both advocates…

Conclusion about site-specific determinants of educational outcomes of the controversial longitudinal evaluation of the Follow Through programs (1976) are challenged again by reexamining the Direct Instruction model data. Reanalysis confirms earlier critiques and supports more recent research funding on the relationship between types of…

Evidence gathered from a study of nine teacher education programs shows that lay culture norms among education students are strongly ingrained. Teacher education as it is currently structured is a weak intervention to alter views regarding the teaching and management of diverse learners. (SLD)