Critics of "No Child Left Behind" judge that it oversimplifies the influence of social context and the place of socially ascribed traits, such as social class, race, and gender, in determining achievement. We hold that this is especially likely to be true with regard to gender-related group effects and gender-implicated interaction effects. We…

Describes and evaluates the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative, a six-state consortium for academic improvement supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), that focuses on low-income rural schools. The 1-day, one-school site visits that constitute program reviews in this initiative are unlikely to enhance achievement in either science…

Studied the joint influence of school and district size on school performance in 367 schools with 8th grades and 298 schools with 11th grades in Georgia. Findings show substantial cross-level influences of school and district size at 8th grade and weaker influences at 11th grade, with equity effects strong at both grades and with a distinctive…