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The author of this article does a study of individual level and school structural variables and weather they effect academic achievement. This study was conducted on about 12,000 10th graders so it is sufficient data and very reliable. They found that a schools climate is very important and can influence a students achievement level. Also, the article mentions student involovment will help academic achievement in many students.

Using a nationally representative sample of 13,609 kindergarten children in 2,690 classrooms and 788 schools from the base year of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999, along with three-level hierarchical linear models, this study investigates the impact of early literacy instruction on kindergarten children's learning, as measured by direct cognitive test scores, indirect teacher ratings of children's achievement in language and literacy, and indirect teacher ratings of children's approaches to learning. Two composite measures of phonics and integrated language arts are constructed from teachers' reports of their instructional practices. Findings show that classroom mean outcomes were significantly higher when classroom teachers reported using both integrated language arts and phonics more often. However, children with low initial performance benefited less from integrated language arts instruction, as measured by direct measures of achievement; such differential effects of instruction were not observed for teacher ratings of children's achievement and learning style. Policy implications of the findings are discussed. (Abstract taken from JSTOR.)

In this prospective study home literacy is considered a multifaceted phenomenon consisting of a frequency or exposure facet (opportunity), an instruction quality facet, a parent-child cooperation facet, and a social-emotional quality facet. In a multiethnic, partly bilingual sample of 89 families with 4-year-old children, living in inner-city areas in the Netherlands, measures of home literacy were taken by means of interviews with the parents and observations of parent-child book reading interactions when the target children were ages 4, 5, and 6 years. At age 7, by the end of Grade 1, after nearly 1 year of formal reading instruction, vocabulary, word decoding, and reading comprehension were assessed using standard tests. Vocabulary at age 4 and an index of the predominant language used at home were also measured in order to be used as covariates. Correlational and multiple regression analyses supported the hypothesis that home literacy is multifaceted. Home literacy facets together predicted more variance in language and achievement measures at age 7 than each of them separately. Structural equations analysis also supported two additional hypotheses of the present research. First, the effects of background factors (SES, ethnicity, parents' own literacy practices) on language development and reading achievement in school were fully mediated by home literacy, home language, and early vocabulary. Second, even after controlling for the effects of early vocabulary and predominant home language, there remained statistically significant effects of home literacy, in particular, opportunity, instruction quality, and cooperation quality. (Abstract taken from JSTOR.)

The author in this article explains that there needs to be a solution to find how to close the achievement gap. They thought that more programs for the children would decrease the problem, but it is still a problem today. The author came up with that if parents get more involved in their childrens school work, then theie achievement will increase.

Kraus proposes a reform program that will reform low-income Minneapolis schools. Then he observes how urban schools attract low-income students and creates a problem of low achievement in these types of schools. This reform wanted no school to have more than 70% of any racial or minority group. He noticed that students in urban schools have lower test scores, so in order to change this they are implementing transfer programs into suburban schools. Most students showed improvement and to test their improvement the students were assessed. This program may improve academic achievement in some schools, but it does not exactly improve urban schools.

Georgiou shares the view of how school achievement is effected by the unity of a person's family. Children with parents that have greater incomes and better jobs tend to do better academically than students that comes from lower income. Georgiou conducted a study that shows the differences between the SES and socioeconomic status between suburban and urban schools. The results showed that test scores for people with low income tend to be lower because the lack of unity in their families. Even though this study focuses on schools on the island of Cyprus, this can relate to any urban and suburban schools.

The authors discuss why head coaches for college athletic teams should be held responsible for the academic achievement of college athletes. They suggest that head coaches focus on recruiting students that can win games instead of students with sufficient academic achievement and propose that student recruitment by coaches be measured against graduation rates of student athletes.

Hill and Barth discuss the Federal Government's attempt to raise student achievement, especially in standardized testing, with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The NCLB's intent was to limit academic achievement gaps in students who are minorities, disabled, financially disadvantaged, or limited English proficiency. One of the biggest problems that has arisen from the law is teacher retention. The NCLB requires highly qualified teachers, but all the highly qualified teachers are not staying. The authors focus on this huge problem of teacher retention.

Financially literate people are imperative to an economy because they make good financial decisions that help stimulate the economy. The author emphasizes the need for individuals (especially low income families to write out a written budget monthly. Consumers should establish emergency funds, practice good saving habits and have knowledge of investment funds. Through the surveys conducted in the article there is a correlation between knowledge of financial practices with and financial achievement. The author emphasizes the need to expand on ones' personal financial knowledge in a way befitting to the individual.

Financially literate people are imperative to an economy because they make good financial decisions that help stimulate the economy. The author emphasizes the need for individuals (especially low income families to write out a written budget monthly. Consumers should establish emergency funds, practice good saving habits and have knowledge of investment funds. Through the surveys conducted in the article there is a correlation between knowledge of financial practices with and financial achievement. The author emphasizes the need to expand on ones' personal financial knowledge in a way befitting to the individual.

The authors share the difference of how the education gap between minority and low-income students compares to the fortunate white students. These low-income students are usually seen in urban schools that are at a disadvantage because of their label as a "failing school". The authors conduct a chart that shows the number of free or reduced lunches, percent of minority students, the student teacher ratio and the percent of poverty rate of failing schools, choice schools and the mean difference in schools in North Carolina. The rates in failing schools were substantially higher than the ones in choice schools. This process was only conducted in North Carolina, but it would be very similar for all states.

The authors research the effects of public school choice in the state of South Carolina under the No Child Left Behind Act. It has been found that public schools are labeled "in need of improvement" if there is a large minority of students and a large amount of poverty independent of rural, suburban, or urban location. The article touches on all the spatial aspects of the academic achievement gap between public schools and how rural failing schools are the most disadvantaged. The research in the article is useful but it is limited to the state of South Carolina.

The authors of this article talk about he achievement gap among students that are wealthier compared to lower class. The wealthier student get a lot more of the needs and get the support from home, while the lower class do not get as much and do not always have that support. In this article many studies were conducted. These are reliable studies that show how poverty among students can cause more problems in a childs academic development.

This article discusses the assessment of a class of girls who were issued a certain type of graphics calculator. The teacher of this class was known for his integration of calculators in his course curriculum, and his classes were known for achieving above average on tests. The primary study was to investigate the effects of learning with the use of a graphing calculator. Classroom conversation was recorded and analyzed in order to determine how well the class understood the curriculum. This article while limited only to certain number of students delves deeply into how they were taught, and their response to the use of graphics calculators in the classroom.

Georgiou shares the view of how school achievement is effected by the unity of a person's family. Children with parents that have greater incomes and better jobs tend to do better academically than students that comes from lower income. Georgiou conducted a study that shows the differences between the SES and socioeconomic status between suburban and urban schools. The results showed that test scores for people with low income tend to be lower because the lack of unity in their families. Even though this study focuses on schools on the island of Cyprus, this can relate to any urban and suburban schools.

Most studies find positive correlations at the individual level of analysis between athletic participation and academic success. One opportunity for scholarship left largely unexplored concerns the effect of athletics on group-level processes. The author used a resource-based perspective to explore the influence of athletic investment on academic achievement at the organizational level.

An increasingly complex and challenging financial world is facing our nation's youth. Elizabeth Johnson takes a look at the disadvantages that our lower income youth have in regards to financial knowledge and access to learning. Though there has been a rising awareness of the importance of financial literacy among the youth, there needs to be an equal interest in our disadvantaged youth and the access that they are given to improve their financial literacy. The paper addresses building financial capability through learning by doing. It also shares several innovative ideas such as having youth-ran school banking programs. In addition it talks about the successes of Junior Achievement programs addressing economic concepts.

A provision in the No Child Left Behind Act is that teachers must me the standard of being "highly qualified." The authors argue that the provision is necessary, important, and achievable. Teacher qualifications can greatly affect the process of student learning. The authors suggest certain Federal initiatives that can be put in place to ensure all children have highly qualified teachers no matter the district or state. The article is helpful in knowing the standards for teachers in the No Child Left Behind Act.

A provision in the No Child Left Behind Act is that teachers must me the standard of being "highly qualified." The authors argue that the provision is necessary, important, and achievable. Teacher qualifications can greatly affect the process of student learning. The authors suggest certain Federal initiatives that can be put in place to ensure all children have highly qualified teachers no matter the district or state. The article is helpful in knowing the standards for teachers in the No Child Left Behind Act.

This article presents the authors' views on the educational experiences of intercollegiate student, athletes. The critics of intercollegiate sport argue that winning, which is highly correlated with revenues, has corrupted higher education. Most specifically, at some schools the athletic performance of athletes is more important than their academic achievement.