The overarching theme repeatedly heard over the two-day Black Male Summit at Morehouse College recently: African American males feel disconnected, misunderstood, and inadequately supported by teachers, principals, and others involved in running their schools. In this blog post, Darren Woodruff details some of the alarming data that emerged from the ...
The Clark County School District requested AIR and Gibson Consulting Group conduct an educational and operational efficiency study. The study identified areas that the district should focus on to increase efficiency and effectiveness in its programs and services through district-level interviews, extant data review, and a comparative district analysis. ...
Despite significant progress in school enrollment numbers, improvements in students' learning achievement have lagged behind in low- and middle-income countries. This paper examines when local language-speaking children in South India are ready to begin literacy acquisition in English (a second or later acquired language). ...
As California approaches a new system of academic standards, instruction, and assessment, it enters familiar territory. The use of multiple modes of assessment, tight alignment between assessments and expectations for student learning, and a focus on assessment for formative (as well as summative) purposes—all with an emphasis on students’ understanding ...
The purpose of this paper is to 1) present a multi-methods approach of evaluating comprehensive school reform models, 2) describe the Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center’s standards for evaluating CSR effectiveness; and 3) provide pilot data and results from one comprehensive school reform model provider. ...
The Texas Education Agency created the Texas Ninth Grade Transition and Intervention Program to ease the transition of at-risk students into high school and increase the likelihood that they graduate on time and are prepared for college and careers. The comprehensive evaluation conducted by AIR and its partner found that ...
In 2008, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) launched a diagnostic assessment program in which teachers in Grades K–8 classrooms administered commercially available interim assessments to their students. Results from each test were available to teachers, who were expected to use them to diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses and adjust ...
The Denver Teacher Residency program is a preservice, alternative certification program designed to train teachers to serve in high-need Denver Public Schools. AIR is conducting a five-year evaluation of this program, which is designed to monitor program implementation, measure program effectiveness, and explore program mechanisms. ...
By examining how comprehensive school reformers complete their life course, this paper highlights the importance of studying sustainability as well as the importance of being clear about what is being sustained.
The Plan, Do, Study, Act Process is central to the improvement of instructional routines. Watch one of the Better Math Teaching Network members in real time and in a real classroom setting introduce the Plan, Do, Study, Act, or PDSA, process.