This study examines the impacts of two distinct types of school spending on student outcomes. State-imposed revenue limits cap the total amount of revenue that a school district in Wisconsin can raise unless the district holds a referendum asking voters to exceed the cap. Importantly, Wisconsin law requires districts to hold separate referenda for…

As part of a federally funded grant, we conducted Math for All professional development workshops at elementary schools in the Midwest to support teachers' implementation of high-quality, standards-based mathematics education for a wide range of students, including those with disabilities. Our research included week-long instructional logs…

High-quality Tier 1 instruction is frequently conceptualized as the "foundation" for other tiers of intervention within multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) models (Gersten et al., 2009). However, the vast majority of Tier 2 intervention studies do not account for Tier 1 variables when examining intervention effectiveness (Hill et al.,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the Family Check-Up initiated during kindergarten on teacher-report of children's emotional and behavior concerns in fourth grade. Participants were 57 primary caregivers, along with their children and teachers. Participants were randomized to a Family Check-Up condition or school-as-usual…

Parent-teacher relationship (PTR) quality is linked to child and family-school functioning and may be especially important in the school adjustment of autistic children. However, measurement of PTR quality has been limited by inconsistency in the use of measures, a paucity of two-informant measurement, and limited psychometric consideration. We…

Federal accountability policy mandates that states administer standardized tests beginning in third grade. In turn, third-grade test scores are often viewed as a key indicator in policy and practice. Yet literacy struggles begin well before third grade, as do racial and socioeconomic disparities in children's literacy skills. Kindergarten…

Experiencing large differences between pre-k and kindergarten classroom contexts may affect children's academic development as they start school. This study examined differences between classroom contexts in pre-k and kindergarten (teacher-child interactions, time on academic content, and academic rigor) and associations with literacy, language,…

Continuity of pre-k and kindergarten classroom experiences is a key area of interest for early childhood researchers interested in supporting public pre-k children's development over time. To advance the empirical evidence on this topic, this study examined whether differences in classroom experiences as children transition from pre-k to…

This paper reports the results of a randomized controlled trial evaluating "We Have Skills," a brief curriculum designed to teach early elementary students academic and social skills as well as improve teacher efficacy in classroom management. Intervention efficacy was tested with 127 teachers, randomly assigned to condition, and 2,817…

Food routines are an ecocultural asset of Latino families. This cluster-randomized trial with 248 children (M[subscript age] = 67 months; 50% girls; 13 schools) investigated the impact of a 4-week family program designed to capitalize on food routines in improving Latino kindergarteners' outcomes in the United States. There were moderate-to-large…

Narrative language abilities are foundational to literacy development and are a culturally grounded measure of early literacy for Latino children. This study evaluates the impacts on narrative language abilities and the costs of a 4-week, strengths-based program that leverages two valued sociocultural practices with built-in benefits, personal…

There is limited research on the relation between approaches to learning (ATL) and Latino kindergarteners' math development, and mixed results regarding the role of Latino home numeracy practices. This study examined the associations among Latino kindergarteners' ATL, home numeracy practices, and growth in math skills. Participants were 151…

Performance on a range of spatial and mathematics tasks was measured in a sample of 1592 students in kindergarten, third grade, and sixth grade. In a previously published analysis of these data, performance was analyzed by grade only. In the present analyses, we examined whether the relations between spatial skill and mathematics skill differed…

Purpose: Systematic reviews of literature are routinely conducted to identify practices that are effective in addressing educational and clinical problems. One complication, however, is how best to combine data from both group experimental design (GED) studies and single-case experimental design (SCED) studies. Percent of Goal Obtained (PoGO) has…

Bringing effective, research-based literacy interventions into the classroom is challenging, especially given the cultural and linguistic diversity of today's classrooms. We examined the promise of Assessment-to-Instruction (A2i) technology redesigned to be used at scale to support teachers' implementation of the individualized student instruction…