The number of students that live in families where a language other than English is spoken has risen relative to the English-only households in the United States over the last 25 years. These students face the dual challenge of mastering English while acquiring academic skills and knowledge. The education of these students has been shaped by…

The effect of student mobility on student outcomes has garnered much attention by researchers and policy-makers over the past few decades. The extant research relies on annual tests, typically measured each spring, to estimate the effect of structural moves on student achievement. The current literature does not allow researchers to evaluate…

One of the most persistent and urgent problems facing education policymakers is the provision of highly effective teachers in all of the nation's classrooms. Of all school-level factors related to student learning and achievement, the student's teacher is consistently the most important (Goldhaber 2002; Rockoff 2004; Rivkin, Hanushek, and Kain…

Comparison is a powerful tool that has been shown to improve learning in a variety of domains. In both laboratory studies and small-scale classroom studies, having learners compare and contrast worked examples has been shown to reliably lead to gains in students' knowledge. Comparison is also integral to "best practices" in mathematics…

The Instructional Conversation (IC) is a complete classroom pedagogy that focuses on teaching through small-group dialogue with students allowing responsive instruction for each student. The IC is anchored by cognitive-developmental theory and by four decades of multi-method quasi-experimental studies. This study describes the first research of an…

High-performing teachers tend to seek out positions at more affluent or academically challenging schools, which tend to hire more experienced, effective educators. Consequently, low-income and minority students are more likely to attend schools with less experienced and less effective educators (see, for example, DeMonte & Hanna, 2014; Office…

Recently, the authors have been exploring the use of propensity score methods for developing evidence of program impact. Specifically, they have been developing evidence (after one year of implementation) of the effects of the Math Science Partnership in New York City ("MSPinNYC2") on high school students' achievement--both in terms of…

This study is an evaluation of "Exploring Motion and Forces: Speed, Acceleration, and Friction" ("M&F") developed by ARIES of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (2001). Although "M&F" has been used in many schools and field-tested, it has never been evaluated in rigorous experimental or…

Decades of research evidence have consistently suggested teachers are the most important in-school factor related to student learning and achievement. Being taught by an effective teacher has important consequences for students' academic outcomes as well as longer-term impacts on postsecondary success and lifetime earnings. Yet how to measure…

Recent policy has charged schools and districts with maintaining highly qualified teachers and differentiating among teachers in terms of their effectiveness (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). This emphasis has driven the development and implementation of teacher quality measures which are increasingly being used to evaluate teachers with…

Most public schools and districts must face the problem of how to help low-achieving students and efficiently target resources, particularly in the face of accountability under No Child Left Behind. One policy that has been employed is grouping students into classrooms by their measured or perceived ability--a process known as tracking. Research…

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the "gold standard" for evaluating an intervention's effectiveness. Recently, the federal government has placed increased emphasis on the use of opportunistic experiments. A key criterion for conducting opportunistic experiments, however, is that there is relatively easy access to data…

This paper investigates the extent to which spring-to-spring testing timelines bias teacher value-added as a result of conflating summer and school-year learning. Using a unique dataset that contains both fall and spring standardized test scores, the author examines the patterns in school-year versus summer learning. She estimates value-added…

This meta-analysis is designed to build on the existing knowledge base by examining vocabulary interventions specifically for factors associated with child outcomes for at-risk children. Specifically, the authors addressed the following questions: (1) To what extent are vocabulary interventions an effective method for at-risk children prior to…

Value-added modeling (VAM), one class of statistical models used to estimate individual teacher's or school's contribution to student achievement based on student test score growth between consecutive years, has become increasingly popular in the last decades. Despite the increasing popularity of VAM, many researchers are concerned about the…