A variety of recent research has shown that the academic achievement gap has been growing between low- and middle-income students. Socioeconomic status has proven to have a large influence on academic attainment as well as the educational opportunities that a child is offered. This paper argues that, because poverty significantly affects children…

This quantitative, causal-comparative study examined the reading achievement of third grade students to ascertain the reading health of elementary students as measured through South Carolina's standardized assessment, the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS). The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference…

Research has shown that there is a strong link between reading comprehension and vocabulary, yet many children lack the required vocabulary needed to perform adequately on reading comprehension assessments. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the teaching of Larry Bell's 12 Powerful Words vocabulary program in order to raise third, fourth…

The accountability movement in education and the development of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model encourages school counselors to evaluate the effectiveness of their school counseling program based on student achievement. This study surveyed Wisconsin elementary school counselors to determine their use of…

Building on the empirical work of the previous two studies, this paper describes the development of the Minds In Motion curriculum (MIM), as well as the setting and circumstances of a randomized controlled trial conducted to evaluate this intervention. Throughout this paper the authors emphasize the benefits and challenges of assembling an…

The Adult Education--Basic Grants to States program authorized under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998 (AEFLA), enacted as Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) (P.L. 105-220), is the major source of federal support for adult basic education and literacy education programs. When AEFLA was authorized in 1998,…

This is the final technical report from the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education's (NRCCTE's) five-year longitudinal study of South Carolina's Personal Pathway to Success initiative, which was authorized by the state's Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA) in 2005. NRCCTE-affiliated researchers at the National…

This executive summary outlines key findings from the final technical report of a five-year study of South Carolina's Personal Pathways to Success Initiative, which was authorized by the state's Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA) in 2005. The Personal Pathways initiative is a K-16, career-focused school reform model intended to improve…

This Technical Appendix discusses how researchers from the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) conducted the five-year longitudinal study of South Carolina's Personal Pathway to Success initiative, which was authorized by the state's Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA) in 2005, and how they defined and…

This Technical Appendix is part of the report from the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education's (NRCCTE's) five-year longitudinal study of South Carolina's Personal Pathway to Success initiative, which was authorized by the state's Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA) in 2005. NRCCTE-affiliated researchers at the…

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are long-standing policies that link cash assistance to low-income families to work effort. A new policy being tested in New York City adopts this "conditional cash transfer" principle and extends it to a broader set of family efforts to build their…

This case study reports on the work of Denise Watts, who in 2011 was the newly named Project L.I.F.T. executive director and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools zone superintendent. She approached Public Impact for help in meeting the new Project L.I.F.T. (Leadership and Investment for Transformation) goals. Facing urgent needs for real change, Watts…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school climate and student outcome variables. The secondary purpose was to examine the relationship between the use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and the same student outcome variables. Variables depicting student perceptions of school climate,…

This dissertation examines how nomenclature and the act of naming shapes disciplinary identities for scholars and teachers of rhetoric and composition. The discipline is named differently by many of its members, sometimes called "composition studies," "writing studies," "composition and rhetoric," "rhetorical…

When students are able to cope with, manage and maneuver the social and emotional landscapes of their lives, their ability to learn on all levels improves. Teaching Social / Emotional Learning (SEL), as a component of secondary education, not only increases academic performance, but prepares students to meet the challenges of lifelong learning in…