In the present study, 49 fifth-graders enrolled the KIPP D.I.A.M.O.N.D. Academy in the 2002-03 school year were individually matched to control student from five feeder schools on the basis of ethnicity, free-reduced lunch status, and fourth-grade achievement on the Reading and Mathematics subtests of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment…

In many countries, school populations are becoming increasingly socially and culturally diverse, and delivering effective literacy programmes is becoming more challenging and complex. This book shows schools how to address difficulties with literacy learning experienced by students of diverse backgrounds, by employing strategies that respond to…

This report synthesizes research on helping at-risk students meet academic standards. The studies chosen had to be published after 1984, be implemented in the United States, relate to K-12 students, directly assess students' academic achievement, address strategies that could be implemented in the regular classroom, and use strategies targeting…

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative, instrumental case study that examined students' academic preparedness, as well as assessment and placement policy in 15 community colleges in 6 states across the country. Although most community colleges mandate basic skills assessment for all entering freshmen, many do not require low-scoring…

This book provides a full framework for integrating science and literacy. It shows how tapping into children's interest in science can help them develop key literacy skills and strategies as they explore the world around them. Examples of integrated science units include hands-on instructions and reproducible materials for learning activities that…

The findings of this analysis represent cause for both optimism and concern. In most states, schools and systems are raising achievement and closing gaps, especially in the elementary grades. But in far too many states, they are struggling to educate students, especially low-income and minority students, to middle and high school standards.…

This report presents student-level achievement results for the four charter schools that began operation in Tennessee during the 2003-04 academic year. To conduct a rigorous and valid analysis of student achievement outcomes at these schools, we employed a matched program-control design at the student level, whereby each charter school student was…

Recently the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) completed a project to connect the scale of the MCA and BST with NWEA's RIT scale. Six Minnesota systems participated in the study, using test information from a group of over 13,000 students enrolled in third, fifth, and eighth grades who took these Minnesota Assessments and NWEA tests in the…

The eight issues for volume 6 of the "CEC Today," a newsletter exclusively for members of the Council for Exceptional Children, include the following featured articles: (1) "How To Set up a Classroom on a Tight Budget"; (2) "Survival Tips for First-Year Teachers"; (3) Get the Training You Need To Stay Ahead of the…

The Longitudinal Evaluation of School Change and Performance followed the progress of students in high-poverty schools as they moved from third to fifth grade, investigating the impact on student achievement of specific classroom practices fostered by school-, district-, and state-level policies. This analysis, conducted between 1996-99 as part of…

The Longitudinal Evaluation of School Change and Performance (LESCP) analyses were organized around policies embodied in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This study measured changes in student performance in seventy-one high-poverty schools, which included many schools that had implemented standards-based reform policies. The…

This updated second edition reflects developments in educational research and new information within the areas of language learning and instruction since the publication of the first edition in 1991. Its 75 essays assess the significance of research, evaluates new developments, and examines current conflicts, controversies, and issues, while…

This book examines how culturally specific aspects of Japanese preschool children's narrative discourse skills develop and eventually lead to literacy. It discusses how language shapes and is shaped by culture-specific experiences, analyzing how young Japanese children develop narrative structure and how Japanese parents guide their children in…

"Dimension" is the annual volume containing the selected, refereed, edited Proceedings of each year's conference. The theme chosen for the joint conference of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) and the Florida Foreign Language Association (FFLA) in Orlando, Florida, February 16-18, 2006, was "Languages for Today's…

"Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study in basic science or clinical research. This brief reports on the study "Contemporaneous and Longitudinal Associations between Social Behavior and Literacy Achievement in a Sample of Low Income Elementary School Children" (S. B. Miles and D. Stipek). In two groups of…