Although rudimentary forms of argumentation emerge early in oral language, many students, especially English Language Learners (ELLs), struggle to construct evidence-based written arguments. These difficulties may stem from limited academic vocabulary, unfamiliarity with genre conventions, and fewer opportunities to use academic language involving argumentation. This study examined whether exposure to a dialogic instruction intervention that includes small-group discussions, vocabulary instruction, and analytical reading of argumentative texts was associated with improvements in argumentative writing and conceptual understanding of argumentative concepts among middle school ELLs and non-English Language Learners (non-ELLs). In total, 802 students in the 6th (34.4%), 7th (34.4%), and 8th grades (31.2%) from the mid-Atlantic region of the United States participated in the study. Mixed-effects regression models revealed that while non-ELL students entered the study with stronger pre-intervention reading and writing skills, specific indicators of instructional exposure (e.g., attendance and engagement with aligned tasks) significantly predicted posttest gains for both groups. Notably, ELLs with higher reading proficiency showed greater benefits from curriculum-aligned assignments, while ELLs with lower proficiency gained more from consistent attendance. These findings highlight the need for responsive instruction that aligns supports with students' linguistic readiness and task demands. The activities associated with this project were approved by the University of Delaware's Institutional Review Board. The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

This study used a randomized, controlled trial to assess the impact of the automated writing evaluation system MI Write on middle school students from traditionally underserved groups, including Black and Hispanic/Latinx students and those experiencing poverty. The research focused on whether students who used MI Write for one school year (n = 1,260) showed improved argumentative writing performance, increased self-efficacy, greater enjoyment of writing, and stronger beliefs in the recursive nature of writing compared with those who did not use MI Write (n = 1,227). No significant overall treatment effects were found, but significant treatment by district interactions emerged. Perceptions of MI Write were positive overall but varied by district. Findings reveal the limitations and promise of automated writing evaluation.

Observational and experimental studies demonstrate that young children possess an inchoate understanding of argumentation. Nevertheless, they often fail to adequately justify their viewpoints in their oral and written argumentation. The current study investigated whether exposure to a dialogic instruction intervention during the Covid pandemic was associated with improvements in middle-school students' argumentative writing and their conceptual understanding of argumentative concepts. In total, 802 students in the 6th (34.4%), 7th (34.4%), and 8th grades (31.2%) participated in the study. Instructional exposure was operationalized using four indicators (attendance, instructional mode, teacher planning engagement, and student participation in teacher-assigned activities) and analyzed using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to identify distinct exposure groups. Missing data were managed through multiple imputation, and Propensity Score Analysis (PSA) was used to estimate associations between exposure profiles and student outcomes. We found that students in the highest exposure group outperformed their peers in lower exposure groups, suggesting that high exposure to the dialogic intervention was generally associated with practically significant improvements in the quality of middle-school students' written arguments and their knowledge of concepts that represent argumentative discourse.

Purchasing, consumption, and health data from 3,073 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Shoppers (SNAP) at 77 U.S. farmers’ markets (FMs) are reported. Descriptive and bivariate analyses indicate SNAP households spent $345/month on all groceries and $153.76/month on all fruit and vegetable (FV) purchases; daily FV consumption significantly correlated with percentage of household expenditures on FV and household FV dollars/month. Females and Hispanics spent significantly more on FV. 82% of participants were food insecure and 26.1% reported fair/poor health. Average BMI was 28.5. Findings suggest SNAP FM shoppers have unique FV expenditure and consumption patterns, despite higher food insecurity, meriting future research.

Automated writing evaluation (AWE) is an artificial intelligence (AI)-empowered educational technology designed to assist writing instruction and improve students’ writing proficiency. The present study adopted a quasi-experimental design using the inverse probability of treatment weighting method to explore the long-term effects of an AWE system known as Utah Compose on students’ state test English Language Arts (ELA) performance. The participants included 134,425 students in Grades 4–10 in Utah from school year 2015 to 2018. Findings showed AWE’s cumulative benefit to students’ ELA performance, but those cumulative effects decreased each year and peaked after three years of implementation. This study is the largest evaluation of AWE effects to date in terms of both its sample size and the duration of investigation. The findings regarding AWE’s cumulative effects on students’ state test ELA performance, which is a distal outcome at the state level, have significant implications for policy and practice regarding large-scale AWE implementation.

PurposeIn this study, we investigated the effects of a schoolwide program, Bookworms K-5 Reading and Writing, on student achievement.MethodThe study included seven cohorts of students (N = 8,806) in grades 2-5 in 17 elementary schools across three school years. We used a comparative interrupted time-series design, conducting multilevel growth curve models of Measures of Academic Progress reading scores with up to 10 data points per student. By modeling each student's growth curve, including a time by treatment interaction term, we were able to estimate the change in students' achievement trajectories corresponding to the implementation of Bookworms.ResultsResults confirm a significant positive impact of Bookworms on achievement, with gains compounding over time and producing an overall standardized effect size of .26 by the end of 5th grade. Students who began third grade with relatively weaker achievement experienced more growth than those with average achievement, and those with average achievement experienced more growth than those with the highest achievement.ConclusionThis study provides evidence that a comprehensive literacy curriculum that emphasizes high-volume reading of grade-level texts and the use of evidence-based instructional practices produces positive effects on student achievement for students with a range of initial reading achievement.

To estimate the long-term effects of the Reading Recovery (R) intervention, a regression discontinuity design (RD) was implemented in a randomly selected sample of Reading Recovery schools during each year of the federally-funded i3 Scale-Up external evaluation (2011-2015) and also in one additional cohort during the 2016-2017 school year. Long-term outcomes were measured by collecting scale scores on state achievement tests in reading or English language arts (ELA) that were administered to students during 3rd and 4th grades (2013-2019). We were able to record and link 3rd grade state test score data in reading/ELA for 9,879 students, and 4th grade state test data for 6,345 students. Results suggest that the long-term impact of Reading Recovery on students' reading/ELA test scores in 3rd and 4th grades is statistically significant and substantially negative; students who participated in Reading Recovery in first grade had 3rd and 4th grade state test scores in reading/ELA that were, on average, .19 to .43 standard deviations (about one-half to one full grade level) below the state test scores of similar students who did not participate in Reading Recovery.

This paper presents empirical analyses illustrating the organizational relationship between chronic absenteeism and student achievement as estimated via a contextual model of school-level and student-level relationships. We conduct a series of descriptive analyses and multilevel hierarchical models (HLM) in which absenteeism is used to predict variation in student achievement for nearly 50,000 individual students in grades K-3 in 109 elementary schools in Delaware during the 2014-2015 through 2017-2019 school years. Results demonstrate that chronic absenteeism tends to be clustered in a subset of schools, and that the adverse contextual effects of absenteeism at the school level are many times larger than the negative effects at the individual level. Implications for education policy and interventions are discussed.

A solid understanding of fractions is the cornerstone for acquiring proficiency with rational numbers and paves the way for learning advanced mathematical concepts such as algebra. Fraction difficulties limit not only students’ educational and vocational opportunities but also their ability to solve everyday problems. Students who exit sixth grade with inadequate understanding of fractions may experience far-reaching repercussions that lead to lifelong avoidance of mathematics. This article presents the results of a randomized controlled trial focusing on the first two cohorts of a larger efficacy investigation aimed at building fraction sense in students with mathematics difficulties. Teachers implemented an evidence-informed fraction sense intervention (FSI) within their sixth-grade intervention classrooms. The lessons draw from research in cognitive science as well as mathematics education research. Employing random assignment at the classroom level, multilevel modeling revealed a significant effect of the intervention on posttest fractions scores after controlling for pretest fractions scores, working memory, vocabulary, proportional reasoning, and classroom attentive behavior. Students in the FSI group outperformed their counterparts in the control group, with noteworthy effect sizes on most fraction measures. Challenges associated with carrying out school-based intervention research are addressed.

This design research project developed and evaluated curriculum for developmental writing classes in community colleges. The core of the curriculum was self-regulated strategy instruction, which has been shown to be effective with adolescents who are struggling as writers. In the curriculum, students learned strategies for planning, drafting, and revising compositions with an emphasis on using knowledge of text organization to guide planning and self-evaluation. In addition to specific writing strategies, students learned strategies for self-regulation. The study is part of a project that developed two levels of developmental writing courses, but only the lower level course is addressed in this article. This article reports findings from the first two cycles of implementation and revision. Over two semesters, the curriculum was implemented in eight classes taught by three instructors and revised after an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. Substantial gains in writing achievement and motivation were found, especially in the second cycle. In addition to successes, the article discusses design challenges for the curriculum and professional development.

Disparities in healthy food access and consumption are a major public health concern. This study reports the findings from a two-year randomized control trial conducted at 77 farmers' markets (FMs) in 13 states and the District of Columbia that sought to understand the impact of fruit and vegetable (FV) incentive vouchers, randomly issued at varied incentive levels to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, for use at FMs. Measures included FV and overall household food purchasing; FV consumption; food insecurity; health status; market expenditure; and demographics. A repeated-measures mixed-effects analysis and the Complier Average Causal Effect (CACE) were used to examine outcomes. Despite 82% reporting food insecurity in the prior year, the findings showed that financial incentives at FMs had statistically significant, positive effects on FV consumption; market expenditures increased with added incentives. SNAP recipients receiving an incentive of USD 0.40 for every USD 1.00 in SNAP spent an average of USD 19.03 per transaction, while those receiving USD 2 for every USD 1 (2:1) spent an average of USD 36.28 per transaction. The data showed that the incentive program at the highest level (2:1) maximally increased SNAP FM expenditure and FV consumption, increasing the latter by 0.31 daily cups among those who used their incentive (CACE model).

The article presents the results of a randomized experimental study of a writing curriculum for college developmental writing courses based on strategy instruction with self-regulation integrated with practices common in college composition. Students in a full semester course learned strategies for planning and revising based on rhetorical analysis and genres. In addition, they learned metacognitive, self-regulation strategies for goal setting, task management, self-evaluation, and reflection. A prior quasi-experiment found positive effects of the curriculum on writing quality, self-efficacy, and mastery motivation. The current study included 19 instructors and 207 students across two colleges. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) with students nested within instructors and with condition and college as factors and pretest scores as covariates, analyses found positive effects of the treatment for quality of argumentative writing (ES = 1.18), quality of writing on an independent writing assessment (ES = .67), and several motivation outcomes, including self-efficacy (for tasks and processes, ES = .50; for grammar, ES = .36; and for self-regulation, ES = .40), affect (ES = .32), and beliefs about the importance of content (ES = .29). No significant effects were found for grammar/conventions or reading comprehension. Teachers in the treatment condition commented positively on the approach and noted improvements in student writing and motivation. Students also shared positive experiences and noted improvement in their writing. Educational Impact and Implications Statement This study demonstrates strong positive effects of strategy instruction with self-regulation in college developmental writing courses. Students learned strategies for planning and revising along with metacognitive strategies for managing their learning. Results revealed substantial improvement in students' wring quality and motivation. The findings are significant for administrators and instructors looking for evidence-based practices and for policymakers as they consider reforms in community college developmental programs.

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 (ISI) intervention from kindergarten through third grade. In seven randomized controlled trials, A2i and ISI have demonstrated efficacy. However, the research version of A2i was not scalable. In order to bring A2i to scale in schools serving linguistically diverse students, we carried out the current study across two phases. This study represents both an exploration of what it takes to bring an educational intervention to scale (Phase 1) and a quasi-experiment on the literacy outcomes of learners whose teachers used the technology (Phase 2). We integrated assessments of vocabulary, word decoding, and reading comprehension; revised the A2i algorithms to account for the constellation of skills English learners (ELs) bring to the classroom; updated the user interfaces and added new graphic features; and improved bandwidth and stability of the technology. Findings were mixed, including several non-significant results, a marginally significant intent-to-treat effect on word reading in kindergarten and first grade for English monolingual students and ELs, and one significant interaction effect, which suggested ELs and students with less developed reading skills in second and third grade benefitted most from the intervention. With some caution, we conclude that A2i demonstrates potential to be used at scale and promise of effectiveness for improving code-focused skills for diverse learners.

This study provides information about the prevalence, living conditions, and demographic characteristics of housing instability among students in the state of Delaware. Data were obtained from the Delaware Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) for the 2011–2017 academic years and included 23,819 youth respondents in grades 6–12. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were conducted to characterize student demographics. Results show that 3.6% (about one out of 30) of Delaware students, grades 6–12, experience housing instability, and this rate was consistent across urban and rural areas. Findings also reveal that males and students of color were more likely to experience housing instability. Results obtained are utilized to understand the prevalence of housing instability and to inform schools, communities, and policy makers of ways to support and strengthen services and programming for students’ academic needs and well-being.

This study examines and compares the recruitment, employment, and retention of minority and nonminority school teachers over the quarter century from the late 1980s to 2013. Our objective is to empirically ground the ongoing debate regarding minority teacher shortages and changes in the minority teaching force. The data we analyze are from the National Center for Education Statistics’ nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and its longitudinal supplement, the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS). Our data analyses document the persistence of a gap between the percentage of minority students and the percentage of minority teachers in the US. But the data also show that this gap is not due to a failure to recruit new minority teachers. In the two decades since the late 1980s, the number of minority teachers almost doubled, outpacing growth in both the number of White teachers and the number of minority students. Minority teachers are also overwhelmingly employed in public schools serving high-poverty, high-minority and urban communities. Hence, the data suggest that widespread efforts over the past several decades to recruit more minority teachers and employ them in disadvantaged schools have been very successful. But, these efforts have also been undermined because minority teachers have significantly higher turnover than White teachers and this is strongly tied to poor working conditions in their schools.

This paper documents early results from the Center for Research Use in Education (CRUE), which is funded by a $5M grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to study when and how practitioners use research in decisions about policy and practice.To motivate new approaches to increasing research use and data-driven decision making in schools, CRUE is conducting a series of research studies.The first of these involves developing and validating a survey to measure depth of research use by schools and teachers through collection of multilevel data from district staff, school administrators, and classroom teachers.A key goal is to provide information about the micro-political processes that influence decisions at the school and classroom levels.In this paper, we present results from the first two pilots of this survey with over 800 educators from 60 schools.The results presented in this paper focus on the section of the survey designed to measure the capacity of individual educators to critically evaluate research.

The concurrent associations between students' perceptions of cognitive-behavioral and emotional engagement in schools and three factors aligning with the major aims of the school-wide social-emotional learning (SEL) approach (i.e., teacher-student relationships, student-student relationships, and teaching of social and emotional competencies) were examined among 25,896 students across elementary, middle, and high school while controlling statistically for demographic variables. Results indicated that at the student level all three factors were associated significantly with cognitive-behavioral engagement, but at the school level only the teaching of social and emotional competencies was associated significantly with cognitive-behavioral engagement. All three factors were also associated significantly with emotional engagement at both the student and school levels, with teacher-student relationships having the strongest association. Results of moderating analyses revealed that the strength of association of student engagement with teacher-student relationships, student-student relationships, and the teaching of social-emotional competencies varied depending on the types of engagement and students' grade levels. These and other key findings, as well as implications for research and practice, are discussed.

Recent efforts to improve the quality and availability of scientific research in education, coupled with increased expectations for the use of research in practice, demand new ways of thinking about connections between research and practice. The conceptual framework presented in this paper argues that increasing research in educational decision-making cannot be simplified to an issue of dissemination or of motivating practitioners to access evidence-based research but rather is a bidirectional problem in which characteristics of both the research and practice communities must be understood and addressed in order to strengthen ties between research and practice in education.