In order to help the state of Illinois assess the extent to which it is providing access to educational opportunities that lead to successful transitions to college and the workforce, the IERC is undertaking a six-year longitudinal study following the 113,660 students in the Illinois high school class of 2002. This report, the second one in the…

Schools working to raise student achievement need the help of an organized, focused central office. Yet many districts lack unified direction, agreement on the central office role in supporting school improvement, and coherence and alignment between goals and strategies. Drawing on the findings of a three-year study of several districts focused on…

Ohio's higher education policymakers are concerned with issues related to student preparation for college and degree completion. Discussions about student preparation focus on the costs of remedial courses, with the implication being that higher education costs will fall if students require fewer remedial courses. This study was designed to answer…

The Ministry of National Education in Turkey initiated a new early reading instruction method in 2004. Analytical approach (Whole Language), as defined in the curriculum, was abandoned and phoneme based approach (Phonics) was introduced. This research has a two year longitudinal perspective and aims to collect the opinions of teachers about the…

This paper presents part of the results of a completed study entitled "A Longitudinal Study of Minority Ph.D.s from 1980-1990: Progress and Outcomes in Science and Engineering at the University of California during Graduate School and Professional Life." It focuses particularly on the graduate school experience and degree of preparation…

One hundred twenty-eight Latina and African American girls from high-risk environments (e.g., poverty, family history of teen parenting, etc.) were studied from age 13 through age 19 to prospectively identify the protective factors that might guard against teenage pregnancy. Results indicated that involved and strict parenting during early…

This article presents the results of an 11-year longitudinal study of the impact of America's Choice comprehensive school reform (CSR) design on student learning gains in Rochester, New York. A quasi-experimental interrupted time-series approach using Bayesian hierarchical growth curve analysis with crossed random effects is used to compare the…

Although experimental results indicate that smaller classes promote higher achievement in early elementary school, the broader literature on class-size effects is inconclusive. This seeming contradiction raises questions about the generalizability of experimental evidence, an issue that this article addresses by examining the effects of class size…

This article demonstrates a novel application of propensity score matching techniques: to estimate nonexperimental impacts on program participants within the context of an experimental research design. The author examines the relationship between program participation, defined as qualifying for an earnings supplement by working full-time, and…

Purpose: Currently under the No Child Left Behind Act, cut scores of successive cohorts of students are used to identify schools that are successful and others that are failing. For many schools, however, this score does not provide an accurate, fair, or comprehensive performance assessment. The focus of this study is to compare three alternative…

This longitudinal study examined the protective influence of psychological and family factors on academic achievement in 123 Latino college (101 Mexican American, 14 Central American, 8 mixed Mexican/Central American) students. Three cultural resources-ethnic identity, family interdependence, and parental support-were hypothesized as protective…

This study examined whether the effects of level of alcohol consumption on condom use at first sex depend on adolescents' gender, utilizing data from Wave I of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Compared to girls who did not consume any alcohol, inebriated girls were significantly less likely to use a condom at…

This article discusses data arising from a longitudinal study of the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of preservice teachers regarding the use of popular culture in the primary literacy curriculum in England. Eighteen students took part in a series of interviews throughout their three-year initial teacher education course. Data were inductively…

For decades, researchers examined the "achievement gap" between minority and nonminority students. This singular definition of "achievement gap" ignores important within-group differences. This article uses National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) data to examine within-group differences and compares those across Latino, African American,…

Although success in managing evolving peer relationships is linked to critical adolescent outcomes, little is known about the specific factors that lead to success or failure in peer relationship development across adolescence. This longitudinal study examines the role of adolescents' level of ego development as a predictor of the future course of…