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• Development of the Literacy Achievement Gap: A Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Through Third Grade

  1/1/07 - Foster, Wayne A., Miller, Merideth

  Purpose: The major goal of this study was to specify the developmental trajectories for phonics and early text comprehension skills of children from kindergarten through third grade. Method: Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (N = 12,261) were used in this study. The participants were divided into 3 school readiness groups based on an assessment of literacy skill development at the time of entrance into kindergarten. The different groups were tracked on phonics and text...

• Direct instruction: Its contributions to high school achievement

  1/1/00 - Kozioff, Martin A., LaNunziata, Louis, Cowardin, James, Bessellieu, Frances B.

  Describes the design principles, instructional practices, and specific curricula of Direct Instruction. At a time when public schools are increasingly held accountable for students' achievement and for closing and preventing the achievement gap between minority/disadvantaged and white/advantaged students, Direct Instruction provides highly effective programs whose implementation fosters beneficial change in students' engagement and achievement, in teachers' skill at instruction and...

• Disparities in Academic Achievement and Health: The Intersection of Child Education and Health Policy

  1/1/09 - Fiscella, Kevin, Kitzman, Harriet

  Recent data suggest that that the United States is failing to make significant progress toward the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating health disparities. One missing element from the US strategy for achieving this goal is a focus on gaps in child development and achievement. Academic achievement and education seem to be critical determinants of health across the life span and disparities in one contribute to disparities in the other. Despite these linkages, national policy treats child...

• Districtwide Instructional Reform: Using Sociocultural Theory to Link Professional Learning to Organizational Support

  1/1/08 - Gallucci, Chrysan

  No Child Left Behind Act accountability pressures and calls to close achievement gaps between groups of students have challenged school districts to achieve systemwide instructional improvement. These policies create learning challenges for classroom teachers and for school and district leaders. This article engages questions about organizational support for professional learning in the context of reform initiatives. A theoretical lens--called the Vygotsky Space--is used to analyze case...

• Do Small Classes Reduce the Achievement Gap between Low and High Achievers? Evidence from Project STAR

  1/1/08 - Konstantopoulos, Spyros

  Given that previous findings on the social distribution of the effects of small classes have been mixed and inconclusive, in the present study I attempted to shed light on the mechanism through which small classes affect the achievement of low- and high-achieving students. I used data from a 4-year, large-scale, randomized experiment (project STAR) to examine the effects of small classes on the achievement gap. The sample consisted of nearly 11,000 elementary school students who participated...

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  Dual-language programs in U.S. schools: An alternative to monocultural, monolingual education

  1/5/09 - Eugene Garcia, Bryant Jensen

  "Dual Language (DL) programs are relatively new in the United States. After the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1994, a large federal effort related to the education of dual language students was launched. It was at this point that the US Department of Education promoted the development of educational programs whose goal was dual language competency for both language minority students speaking a non-English home language as well as for students whose...

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  Effective practices for English Language Learners: Principals from five states speak

  1/28/10 - Mabel O. Rivera, David J. Francis, Magdalena Fernandez, Ani C. Moughamian, Julia Jergensen, Nonie K. Lesaux

  "This document addresses questions about how best to assist students who face the significant dual challenge of acquiring the content knowledge necessary for academic success and simultaneously developing their English language competency. Looking at key practices in schools with high populations of non-native speakers of English that have achieved exemplary academic success in their second, acquired language, this document details findings from 49 school principals on nine factors...

• Effects of single-sex and coeducational schooling on the gender gap in educational achievement

  1/1/08 - Gibb, Sheree J., Fergusson, David M., Horwood, L. John

  This study examined the effects of single-sex and coeducational schooling on the gender gap in educational achievement to age 25. Data were drawn from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1265 individuals born in 1977 in Christchurch, New Zealand. After adjustment for a series of covariates related to school choice, there were significant differences between single-sex and coeducational schools in the size and direction of the gender gap...

• Elementary School Counselors and Teachers: Collaborators for Higher Student Achievement

  1/1/08 - Sink, Christopher A.

  In this article I contend that elementary school teachers need to work more closely with school counselors to enhance student learning and academic performance and to narrow the achievement gap among student groups. Research showing the influence that counselors can exert on the educational process is summarized. Using the American School Counselor Association's organization framework for structuring counseling and guidance programs, I also illustrate where the educative roles of teachers...

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  Engaging Native American learners with rigor and cultural relevance

  1/26/09 - Abner Oakes, Traci Maday

  "In this Issue Brief, The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement identifies strategies that foster Native American student engagement and improved academic achievement. We begin by examining the distribution of Native students and then we explore three areas that are identified in the literature as promising strategies for improving educational outcomes for Native students: Instructional practices, Curriculum content, and School climate"

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  English learners in Boston public schools: Enrollment, engagement, and academic outcomes of native speakers of Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese dialects, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Vietnamese

  1/14/09 - Uriarte, M., Lavan, N., Agusti, N., Kala, M., Karp, F., Kiang, P., Lo, L., Tung, R., Villari, C.

  "In 2002, Massachusetts voters approved a referendum (Question 2) against the continuance of Transitional Bilingual Education as a method of instruction for English language learners. . . . Question 2 (implemented across the State in fall 2003), replaced a wide-ranging set of bilingual programs with Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) programs. . . . Unlike Transitional Bilingual Education, which relies on English learners’ own language to facilitate the learning of academic content as they...

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  English learners in Boston public schools: Enrollment, engagement, and academic outcomes, AY2003-AY2006

  1/14/09 - Tung, R., Uriarte, M., Diez, V., Lavan, N., Agusti, N., Karp, F., Meschede, T.

  "In 2002, Massachusetts voters approved a referendum (Question 2) against the continuance of Transitional Bilingual Education as a method of instruction for English language learners. . . . Question 2 (implemented across the State in fall 2003), replaced a wide-ranging set of bilingual programs with Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) programs. . . . Unlike Transitional Bilingual Education, which relies on English learners’ own language to facilitate the learning of academic content as they...

• Eradicating the Achievement Gap

  1/1/08 - Robertson, Harvetta

  The article discusses ways on attaining the goal of abolishing the achievement gap still present among U.S. schools in the 21st century. According to the author, despite of the technological advancements and institutional practices that are research-based, academic achievement and equal learning opportunities for U.S. students are not yet achieved. An overview of the ways to help students associate their knowledge with th instructional content is offered. It also suggests that participation...

• Exacerbating inequality: the failed promise of the No Child Left Behind Act

  1/1/07 - Hursh, David

  The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) marks the largest intervention of the federal government into education in the history of the United States. NCLB received and continues to receive support, in part because it promises to improve student learning and to close the achievement gap between White students and students of color. However, NCLB has failed to live up to its promises and may exacerbate inequality. Furthermore, by focusing on education as the solution to social and...

• Examining Disparities in Mathematics Education: Achievement Gap or Opportunity Gap?

  1/1/07 - Flores, Alfinio

  The so-called achievement gap in mathematics is reframed as a problem of unequal opportunities to learn experienced by many low-income students and many Latino and African American students. First, data are presented showing striking and persistent differences on standardized tests among students of different ethnic groups, and socioeconomic levels. Then evidence is presented demonstrating that opportunities to learn mathematics are not equally distributed among all students. Specifically...

• Family (Dis)Advantage and the Educational Prospects of Better Off African American Youth: How Race Still Matters

  1/1/07 - Gosa, Travis L., Alexander, Karl L.

  While the educational difficulties of poor black students are well documented and have been discussed extensively, the academic performance of well-off African American children has received much less attention. Even with economic and educational resources in the home, well-off African American youth are not achieving at the levels of their white peers. Why is this? A review of relevant literature identifies a set of social processes that pose formidable barriers to the academic and personal...