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Maintaining educational equity in an era of increasingly diverse learners is an issue of critical interest to all of the region’s stakeholders. REL-NEI’s work in this area assists state departments of education and school districts that seek to better understand the characteristics and needs of various specific student populations as well as how best to address the placement, assessment, and instruction issues relevant to these populations. This includes examinations of how states/jurisdictions and districts are providing and delivering services to support teaching and learning for all students, categorizations of how students intersect, and overlap in their student populations.
A Description of Foundation Skills Interventions for Struggling Middle-Grade Readers in Four Urban Northeast and Islands Region School Districts
This study describes how four midsize urban school districts in the Northeast and Islands Region were providing foundation skills assessments and programs to struggling middle-grade readers. Researchers found variations, but also some similarities, in the districts’ use of tests and programs. (Posted 6/12/08)
Piloting a Searchable Database of Dropout Prevention Programs in Nine Low-Income Urban School Districts in the Northeast and Islands Region
Despite evidence that some dropout prevention programs have positive effects, whether districts in the region are using such evidence-based programs has not been documented. This report details a pilot project to generate and share knowledge by building a searchable database of dropout programs and policies implemented in nine midsize urban school districts. (Posted 6/12/08)
Gender Gaps in Assessment Outcomes in Vermont and the United States
Using data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), the report examines how gender gaps differ between Vermont NAEP scores and U.S. NAEP scores and between Vermont NAEP and NECAP scores in grades 4 and 8. Overall and disaggregated by poverty and disability status, gender achievement gaps in Vermont resembled those in the country as a whole except in a few cases. (Posted 9/15/08)
Performance Patterns for Students with Disabilities in Grade 4 Mathematics Education in New York State
This report describes the mathematics performance of fourth-graders with disabilities across schools categorized by need-to-resource capacity and compares their performance by school with that of general education students across New York State from 2003 to 2005. It finds that the percentage of students with disabilities scoring proficient increased over time and that the proficiency gap between this subgroup and general education students narrowed by 1 percentage point. (Posted 8/25/08)
Performance Patterns for Students with Disabilities in Grade 4 Mathematics Education in Massachusetts
This report—analyzing the mathematics performance of fourth-graders with disabilities in Massachusetts across several metrics (by locale-need combination categories, in top-performing schools, and relative to general education students)—finds that the proportion of students with disabilities scoring proficient fell by less than 1 percentage point between 2004 and 2006. The proficiency gap between general education students and students with disabilities was 30 percentage points in 2006 and decreased by almost 2 percentage points over the period. (Posted 9/2/08)
Math Education Practices for Students with Disabilities and Other Struggling Learners: Case Studies of Six Schools in Two Northeast and Islands Region States
This report describes in-depth practices at six schools that are making targeted efforts to improve math education for students with disabilities and other struggling learners. It examines each school’s practices for improving the math learning of all students as well as specific supports for students with disabilities and other struggling learners and identifies the challenges that schools face in serving students with diverse needs. (Posted 9/2/08)
New Measures of English Language Proficiency and Their Relationship to Performance on Large-Scale Content Assessments
Using assessment results for fifth- and eighth-grade English language learner (ELL) students in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, this report finds that performance in the English language domains of reading and writing (as measured by the ACCESS for ELLs proficiency assessment) are significant predictors of performance on reading, writing, and mathematics assessments (as measured by the New England Comprehensive Assessment Program, or NECAP). The report also finds that the English language domains of reading and writing (literacy skills) are more closely associated with performance than are the language domains of speaking and listening (oral skills). (Posted 1/26/09)
Parent Involvement Strategies in Urban Middle and High Schools in the Northeast and Islands Region
Increasing parent involvement has been identified as a priority in multiple Northeast and Islands Region jurisdictions and is consistent with requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Title I. Yet, while the benefits of parent involvement are documented across the K–12 years, less is known about what strategies schools are using to engage parents as their sons and daughters move from elementary to middle school and high school. Informed by a review of the literature on parent involvement strategies and working with nine urban districts in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York (with the exception of New York City), this project developed and field-tested a protocol for documenting what parent involvement policies, programs, and practices are being implemented by states, districts, and schools at the secondary level, and how these efforts are evaluated. (Posted 4/27/09)
Analyzing Performance by Grade 10 Hispanic High School Students on the Massachusetts State Assessment
Massachusetts policymakers have expressed concern about the consistently lower scores of Hispanic students, compared to other subgroups, on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). This report examines Hispanic high school students’ performance on the MCAS tests in English language arts and mathematics over 2002/03–2005/06. It compares the scores of grade 10 Hispanic and non-Hispanic students and uses multilevel regressions to examine associations between the Hispanic students’ scores and student- and school-level characteristics. Previously, no such analyses of this specific subgroup’s performance on the MCAS had been conducted. (Posted 6/1/09)
Processes and Challenges in Identifying Learning Disabilities Among Students Who Are English Language Learners in Three New York State Districts
To help districts accurately identify students who are English language learners (ELLs) and also have learning disabilities, this study examines practices and challenges in the processes applied in three New York State districts in identifying learning disabilities among students who are ELLs. Using interviews with district and school personnel and documents from state and district websites, the study finds both similarities and differences in practices, with more differences in the prereferral process than in the referral process. It also identifies eight challenges to the identification of learning disabilities in ELLs and five interrelated elements that appear to be important for avoiding misidentification of learning disabilities among students who are ELLs. (Posted 2/16/10)
Features of State Response to Intervention (RTI) Initiatives in Northeast and Islands Region States
The report analyzes the RTI-related initiatives, policies, regulations, and structures for support in all nine REL-NEI jurisdictions. Researchers scanned the state education agency (SEA) websites of the nine jurisdictions using a common set of keywords to collect policies, regulations, and guidance documents related to RTI. The report finds that the six New England states and New York support RTI as an overall school instructional improvement approach or an approach to determining special education eligibility. It also finds that RTI documents in the seven jurisdictions address the eight core features of RTI as defined by the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities. (Posted 11/30/09)
Achievement Gap Patterns of Grade 8 American Indian and Alaska Native Students in Reading and Mathematics
Focusing on student proficiency in reading and math from 2003/04 to 2006/07, this report from REL Northwest compares gaps in performance on state achievement tests between grade 8 American Indian and Alaska Native students and all other grade 8 students in 26 states serving large populations of American Indian and Alaska Native students.
Of REL-NEI’s nine jurisdictions, only New York State met the inclusion criteria for this project. (Posted 7/6/09)
 
Understanding the Reporting Behavior of School Bullying Victims
Bullying in school is a form of aggressive conduct in which one or more students intentionally and repeatedly harasses, intimidates, or physically harms another student. Unfortunately many bullying events are not reported to school authorities. Learning more about the conditions in which bullying is reported or not would be instructive to concerned officials. This project will use national crime data to analyze the reporting of bullying events involving students in grades 6–12 (ages 12–18). This project is in progress.
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