Web-based coaching programs are a cost effective and scalable option for schools looking to improve instructional quality. Brown University’s Matthew Kraft and Harvard University’s Heather Hill evaluated the efficacy of one such program, Mathematical Quality Instruction (MQI) Coaching, for teachers implementing Common Core-aligned math instruction. The randomized field trial evaluated MQI Coaching’s effect on teachers’ instruction and student achievement over a two-year period. The bi-weekly MQI Coaching cycle included teacher selection of MQI practice development, filming of lessons, meeting with an instructional coach to review lesson clips and stock clips from the MQI library, and identification of a plan for improvement. Two public school districts in a Midwestern state partnered with the authors to evaluate the efficacy of the MQI Coaching model. One was a large, urban district serving 83% low-income families and the other was a smaller suburban district serving 37% low-income families. Participating upper elementary and middle school math teachers...

The feelings of fear, tension, and apprehension about math pose an obstacle for math learning. In a recent article published in Frontiers in Psychology, Youqing Yu and colleagues examined whether math anxiety’s impact on math achievement could be mediated through grit. The study first conducted a survey among 222 high school students studying grade 10th in China. The questionnaire contained measures of math anxiety, math-specific grit, and domain-general grit (not limited to mathematics). They indexed the math score of the final term examination for the first semester to assess their math achievement. The researchers then conducted another study among 465 Chinese high school students in 11th grade with the same set of measurements plus a measurement of math procrastination. The purpose of this second study was to examine the replicability of the results and whether math procrastination was subject to the influence of math anxiety. The analysis showed that: The...

There is large interest in the literature on digital books and their effect on children’s reading skills. A recent meta-analysis clarifies the impact of medium (paper vs. screen) on reading comprehension and vocabulary. To be included in the meta-analysis, studies had to use experimental or quasi-experimental designs; compare reading a narrative in both digital and print formats in school, home, or lab settings; and include students 1-8 years old. Thirty-nine studies were included in the review. In five studies, digital books contained the same content as paper books, while the other studies’ digital books included additional features: Thirteen digital books were supplemented with a dictionary, and eighteen digital books included story-related enhancements, such as digital story-telling. The results showed a positive impact of digital books compared to paper books on vocabulary (ES = +0.20) but not on story comprehension (ES = -0.07). Characteristics of settings and books were found to be relevant...

One approach to help students with vocabulary acquisition is to increase their awareness of the morphological structure. A randomized control trial study published in Reading Research Quarterly examined the transfer effects of a morphological intervention for students with limited vocabulary knowledge in Danish, which is like English in that most words consist of more than one morpheme. Transfer effects are the essence that distinguishes morphological training from direct vocabulary training. About 12 students with the most limited Danish vocabulary knowledge from each of 29 fifth-grade classes in 13 schools participated in the trial (N=332). The students within each class were randomly assigned to a control group or to one of two treatment groups: a morphological vocabulary intervention or a context-based vocabulary intervention. Students in the two treatment groups received 24 lessons of 30 minutes separately, two days per week. The interventions were delivered by 5 trained speech-language therapists, each responsible for instruction in both...

A new review from MDRC analyzes the evidence on how families’ involvement in children’s learning and development affects literacy, mathematics, and social-emotional skills at ages 3 to 8. A total of 95 studies, primarily from the last 10 years, were included. Four categories were considered: learning activities at home, family involvement at school, school outreach to engage families, and supportive parenting activities. The review found that: Overall family involvement had small to moderate effects on children’s outcomes. Numerous studies confirmed a link between family involvement and children’s literacy skills. A number of studies also demonstrated positive associations with children’s mathematics skills, and a few with children’s social-emotional skills. The weakest association was between family involvement at school and children’s outcomes. The review concludes that family involvement is potentially important in terms of efforts to improve children’s early learning and development, particularly as all parents, when given direction, can increase their involvement...

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in the UK has published findings from a new evaluation report of “Family Skills,” a program that aims to improve the literacy and language of children learning English as a second language. A total of 115 primary schools in England took part in a randomized controlled trial of Family Skills. Over the course of one term, parents of four- and five-year-olds were offered weekly sessions with family learning tutors. The 2.5 hour sessions focused on topics like reading to children, phonics, making the most of bilingualism, learning through play, and understanding primary education in England. Families were encouraged to do learning activities at home with their children, and were also given opportunities to visit a local library and take a tour of their child’s school. The evaluation, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research, found that: Overall, children of parents who were offered the Family Skills intervention...

The relationship between parental warm support, a type of parent-child relationship, and students’ academic achievement has been well established. A two-wave longitudinal study published in Current psychology examines the mediating role of self-control and the moderating role of teacher emotional support among Chinese adolescents on this well-known link. About 2500 students from 7th and 8th grade in China completed a self-report questionnaire at two timepoints (baseline and one year later). The questionnaire contained measures of parental warm support, self-control, and teacher emotional support. Mid-term examination scores for three main disciplines, i.e., Chinese, Mathematics, and English, were combined as an achievement index. Results suggested that: Adolescents with higher parental warm support tended to have higher academic achievement one year later. The link was positively mediated by self-control. That is parental warm support heightened adolescents’ self-control, and in turn increased their academic achievement one year later. Additionally, when teacher emotional support was...

With the rise in the availability of absenteeism data, it is clear that students in the United States were missing much school time even prior to Covid closures. In response, researchers and policymakers have been identifying school programs that might reduce student absenteeism. “Breakfast After-the-Bell” (BAB) is a school-based program where breakfast is served after school starts (rather than the traditional breakfast model, which occurs before school), either in the classroom itself or as a grab-and-go from a cafeteria where a student eats it in the first period classroom (or in-between first and second periods). In an article published by Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Kirksey and Gottfried examined whether implementing this breakfast program might reduce school absenteeism. Exploring longitudinal statewide datasets (Colorado and Nevada) containing school breakfast information linked to national data on chronic absenteeism rates, they employed sharp and fuzzy regression discontinuity designs to examine the effects of BAB. The findings...

Secondary reading performance has drawn increasing attention in recent years. In a study published in Reading Research Quarterly, Baye and colleagues conducted a quantitative synthesis on the effectiveness of reading programs for secondary students. Sixty-nine studies that met high evidence standards were identified, including 62 randomized and 7 quasi-experimental designs. All studies included took place in the US and the UK. Fifty-one programs were evaluated across all studies. The examined programs were divided into 10 categories. Among them, 7 categories showed positive overall weighted outcomes, including tutoring interventions (ES=+0.24), cooperative learning (ES=+0.10), whole-school approaches (ES=+0.06), writing-focused approaches (ES=+0.13), content-focused approaches (ES=+0.08), strategy-focused instruction (ES=+0.09), and group/personalization rotation (ES=+0.09), whereas vocabulary-focused approaches, personalization approaches, and intensive group approaches demonstrated no statistically significant positive outcomes. Two cross-cutting factors, additional reading periods and technology applications, were also explored using random-effects models. The findings were as follows: No significant differences were found between studies providing extra reading...