The purpose of this project is to test the efficacy of Peer Assisted Writing Strategies (PAWS), an empirically based writing intervention to improve the writing outcomes of kindergarten children. PAWS was developed and evaluated with an IES goal 2 grant. PAWS is a fully developed writing instruction and has demonstrated evidence of promise and feasibility. Study results from that grant showed PAWS students outperformed students in the control classrooms in medium performing schools on letter...

Federal funding program:

Education Research Grants

Award number:

R305A190168

Grant

Instructional Supports for Children with Dyslexia Learning to Read Complex Words

The Principal Investigator (PI) will conduct a program of research focused on better understanding factors associated with complex word reading among students with dyslexia while participating in mentoring and training activities to develop knowledge and skills related to dyslexia, reading interventions and theory, randomized controlled trials, item-level statistical analyses, and grant writing. Although there have been recent calls for schools to address the unique educational needs of stud...

Federal funding program:

Research Training Programs in Special Education

Award number:

R324B190025

FY2018

FY2018 Single-Session Peer Review Panel

Grant

Identifying Risk Factors and Predictors of Literacy Sills for Adults Performing at the Lowest Levels of PIAAC in the United States

The purpose of this project was to explore a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults with low reading skills to identify factors that may predict literacy performance. According to the 2017 PIAAC report, roughly 1 in 5 (19 percent) of U.S. adults read at or below basic levels. This group has inherent heterogeneity, but there may also be commonalities that practitioners or policymakers could leveraged to help improve instruction or other interventions. In this study, the researchers e...

Federal funding program:

Education Research Grants

Award number:

R305A180299

Grant

What Does It Take to Develop Writing Skills for Spanish-speaking English Learners? A Longitudinal Examination of Co-development of Language, Cognitive, and Writing Skills

Writing remains a challenging and understudied skill for all students, including Spanish-English emergent bilingual learners. Although research has produced considerable information about reading for Spanish-English emergent bilingual learners, less is known about the component skills of writing for these students. The purpose of this study was to identify linguistic, cognitive, and transcription factors that contribute to writing development for Spanish-English emergent bilingual learners b...

Federal funding program:

Education Research Grants

Award number:

R305A180055

Grant

Evaluating Content Area Reading Instruction Professional Development: A Partnership between Seminole County Public Schools and the Florida Center for Reading Research Targeting Underperforming Adolescent Students

The purpose of this project is to continue to build a partnership between SCPS and FCRR, and to begin to examine the effects of the Next Generation Content Area Reading Professional Development (CARPD) on the literacy outcomes of struggling high school students. The state of Florida requires districts to provide reading interventions to students who score the lowest on a statewide reading assessment, and SCPS began implementing CARPD to train teachers to infuse literacy strategies into the c...

Federal funding program:

Partnerships and Collaborations Focused on Problems of Practice or Policy

Award number:

R305H180030

FY2017

FY2017 Single-Session Peer Review Panel

FY2017

FY2017 Social and Behavioral Peer Review Panel

Grant

Morphological Awareness Test for Reading and Spelling (MATRS)

In this project, researchers will develop a comprehensive, reliable, and valid morphological awareness assessment tool for students in grades one through six called the Morphological Awareness Test for Reading and Spelling (MATRS). Morphological awareness refers to the ability to understand and manipulate the smallest units of meaning in language, such as root word, prefixes, and suffixes. Many students in the United States do not read and write proficiently, and recent research has shown th...

Federal funding program:

Education Research Grants

Award number:

R305A170065

report Descriptive Study

Examining school-level reading and math proficiency trends and changes in achievement gaps for grades 3-8 in Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina

The 2001 authorization of the No Child Left Behind Act and its standards and accountability requirements generated interest among state education agencies in Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina, which are served by the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast, in monitoring changes in student reading and math proficiency at the school level. This study was requested by governing board members representing North Carolina, members of the Improving Literacy Research Alliance (which include...

Jan 01, 2017

report Impact Study

The relative effectiveness of two approaches to early literacy intervention in grades K-2

Understanding written language is crucial to academic success in all content areas. Ensuring a strong foundation in the components of written language--that is, the literacy skills of reading, writing, and oral language--is essential if students are to read with understanding and, thus, is a primary goal of early literacy instruction and of the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast Improving Literacy Research Alliance. When students fall behind in developing literacy skills, early literac...

Jan 01, 2017

FY2016

FY2016 Social and Behavioral Peer Review Panel

report Descriptive Study

Predicting math outcomes from a reading screening assessment in grades 3-8

District and state education leaders frequently use screening assessments to identify students who are at risk of performing poorly on end-of-year achievement tests. This study examines the use of a universal screening assessment of reading skills for early identification of students at risk of low achievement on nationally normed tests of reading and math and provides support for the interpretation of screening scores to inform instruction. Several members of the Regional Educational Laborat...

Jan 01, 2016

resource Other Resource

A guide to developing and evaluating a college readiness screener

The high rate of students taking developmental education courses suggests that many students graduate from high school unready to meet college expectations. A college readiness screener can help colleges and school districts better identify students who are not ready for college credit courses. The primary audience for this guide is leaders and staff at colleges that are seeking to revise or evaluate their screening methods or to develop a college readiness screener if they do not already hav...

Jan 01, 2016

report Descriptive Study

School reading performance and the extended school day policy in Florida

Florida law requires the 100 lowest performing elementary schools in reading to extend the school day by one hour to provide supplemental reading instruction. This study found that those schools were smaller than other elementary schools and served a higher proportion of racial/ethnic minority students and students eligible for the school lunch program. The lowest performing schools reported increasing the number of minutes of reading instruction provided to students, increasing staff, and pr...

Jan 01, 2016

report Descriptive Study

Can scores on an interim high school reading assessment accurately predict low performance on college readiness exams?

During the 2013/14 school year two Florida school districts sought to develop an early warning system to identify students at risk of low performance on college readiness measures in grade 11 or 12 (such as the SAT or ACT) in order to support them with remedial coursework prior to high school graduation. The study presented in this report provides preliminary evidence that scores on an interim reading assessment in grade 9, the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading-Florida Standards ...

Jan 01, 2016

FY2015

FY2015 Social and Behavioral Peer Review Panel

report Descriptive Study

Development and Examination of an Alternative School Performance Index in South Carolina

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the measures that make up each of the three separate accountability indices of school performance in South Carolina could be used to create an overall, reliable index of school performance. Data from public elementary, middle, and high schools in 2012/13 were used in confirmatory factor analysis models designed to estimate the relations between the measures under different specifications. Four different factor models were compared a...

Jan 01, 2015

report Descriptive Study

Comparing Success Rates for General and Credit Recovery Courses Online and Face to Face: Results for Florida High School Courses

This report describes the results of a REL Southeast study comparing student success in online credit recovery and general courses taken online compared to traditional face-to-face courses. Credit recovery occurs when a student fails a course and then retakes the same course to earn high school credit. This research question was motivated by the high use of online learning in the Southeast, particularly as a method to help students engage in credit recovery. The data for this study covered al...

Jan 01, 2015

Grant

National Center for Research on Gifted Education

Many policymakers, educators, and parents want assurance that the nation's gifted and talented students receive instruction that is sufficiently challenging and that will allow these students to reach their full potential. Recent studies of gifted and talented programs indicate that the extent and quality of services available to gifted students varies from state to state, district to district, and even from school to school within school districts. Overall, the field knows little about how ...

Federal funding program:

Education Research and Development Centers

Award number:

R305C140018

report Descriptive Study

Beating the Odds: Finding Schools Exceeding Achievement Expectations with High-Risk Students

State education leaders are often interested in identifying schools that have demonstrated success with improving the literacy of students who are at the highest level of risk for reading difficulties. The identification of these schools that are "beating the odds" is typically accomplished by comparing a school's observed performance on a particular exam, such as a state achievement exam, with how the school would be expected to perform when taking into account its demographic characteristic...

Jan 01, 2014

report Descriptive Study

Using evidence-based decision trees instead of formulas to identify at-risk readers

This study examines whether the classification and regression tree (CART) model improves the early identification of students at risk for reading comprehension difficulties compared with the more difficult to interpret logistic regression model. CART is a type of predictive modeling that relies on nonparametric techniques. It presents results in an easy-to-interpret "tree" format, enabling parents, teachers, principals, and school district leaders to better understand how a student is predict...

Jan 01, 2014

report Descriptive Study

Testing the Importance of Individual Growth Curves in Predicting Performance on a High-Stakes Reading Comprehension Test in Florida

Districts and schools use progress monitoring to assess student progress, to identify students who fail to respond to intervention, and to further adapt instruction to student needs. Researchers and practitioners often use progress monitoring data to estimate student achievement growth (slope) and evaluate changes in performance over time for individual students and groups of students. Monitoring student progress is central to accountability systems in general and is useful for measuring how ...

Jan 01, 2014

Grant

Academic Language and Writing for Children in Kindergarten to Fourth Grade—A Longitudinal Study

Writing is an important skill for communication and self-expression in school and in the workforce, but the majority of students in the United States do not write at a proficient level. Some research has suggested that early precursors to writing may be identifiable, and theory suggests oral language may be one such precursor. However, there has been very little systematic examination of association between oral language and writing development. Further, academic (or decontextualized) langua...

Federal funding program:

Education Research Grants

Award number:

R305A160408

report Descriptive Study

Evaluating the screening accuracy of the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR)

Florida requires that students who do not meet grade-level reading proficiency standards on the end-of-year state assessment (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, FCAT) receive intensive reading intervention. With the stakes so high, teachers and principals are interested in using screening or diagnostic assessments to identify students with a strong likelihood of failing to meet grade-level proficiency standards on the FCAT. Since 2009 Florida has administered a set of interim assessments ...

Jan 01, 2013

FY2012

FY2012 Social and Behavioral Peer Review Panel

Grant

Development of Oral and Silent Reading Fluency and Their Relation with Reading Comprehension in First Through Third Grade Students

Despite the recognized importance of reading fluency for reading comprehension development, research has tended to focus on oral reading fluency with little knowledge of how silent reading fluency develops over time and how to best support children during the transition from oral to silent reading. The goals of this study were to: (1) explore development of oral and silent reading fluency (including reading prosody) and their relation with reading comprehension for first through third grade ...

Federal funding program:

Education Research Grants

Award number:

R305A150589

FY2011 IES Peer Reviewers

FY2011 IES Research Peer Review Panel

Grant

Assessing Reading for Understanding: A Theory-based, Developmental Approach

This team developed and evaluated a new system of assessments aligned with current theoretical constructs and empirical findings pertaining to both reading comprehension and performance moderators; sensitive to changes in development in reading comprehension; emphasize strategic reading processes empirically supported in the literature; provide greater information for guiding instruction (especially for students struggling to reach proficiency); and are comprised of texts and tasks that repr...

Federal funding program:

Reading for Understanding Research Initiative

Award number:

R305F100005

Grant

Morphological Awareness Computer Adaptive Testing Project

In this project, researchers will develop and test a computer-based test of middle school students' ability to understand parts of words (e.g. roots, prefixes). The ability to use and understand how small parts of words (i.e., morphemes) combine to form words that express different meanings (i.e., morphological awareness) is important for students' ability to learn challenging words that are not used much in everyday language but are used more frequently in school settings. Based on whether ...

Federal funding program:

Education Research Grants

Award number:

R305A150199