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Programs that improve teaching effectiveness represent a core strategy to improve student educational outcomes and close student achievement gaps. This article compiles empirical values of intraclass correlations for designing effective and efficient experimental studies evaluating the effects of these programs. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K) data are used to estimate empirical design parameter values in the setting of students nested within teachers nested within schools. The results show that intraclass correlations at the school level are relatively stable, and those at the teacher level increase along with grade level. We illustrate the utility of the results by demonstrating how to leverage this information to design more efficient and effective experimental studies.

There is growing interest in the relation between the racial achievement gap and the racial discipline gap. However, few studies have examined this relation at the national level. This study combines data from the Stanford Education Data Archive and the Civil Rights Data Collection and employs a district fixed effects analysis to examine whether and the extent to which racial discipline gaps are related to racial achievement gaps in Grades 3 through 8 in districts across the United States. In bivariate models, we find evidence that districts with larger racial discipline gaps have larger racial achievement gaps (and vice versa). Though other district-level differences account for the positive association between the Hispanic-White discipline gap and the Hispanic-White achievement gap, we find robust evidence that the positive association between the Black-White discipline gap and the Black-White achievement gap persists after controlling for a multitude of confounding factors. We also find evidence that the mechanisms connecting achievement to disciplinary outcomes are more salient for Black than White students.

Recent evidence points to the early elementary grades as a pivotal point for the development of science learning trajectories and achievement gaps. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, this study estimates the degree to which time spent on science and the breadth of science topics/skills covered predict science achievement in the earliest grades of elementary school. Using regression along with school fixed effects and student fixed effects models, we find suggestive evidence in some models (student fixed effects and regression with observable controls) that time on science instruction is related to science achievement but little evidence that the number of science topics/skills covered are related to greater science achievement. These results are generally consistent across student subgroups. We discuss the implications for early science policy and practice.

Recent work examining science test performance in the earliest grades of school has demonstrated that science test score gaps by race/ethnicity are apparent as early as kindergarten and that, in a number of cases, the racial/ethnic test score gaps in science are significantly larger than the corresponding gaps in reading or mathematics. This study explores the factors that explain the differences in the magnitudes of racial/ethnic disparities in performance on science standardized tests as compared to those in reading/mathematics. Drawing on nationally representative data from over 10,000 kindergartners in the 2010-2011 school year, this study employs regression models that examine the explanatory power of nine conceptual domains for explaining the "gap-in-gaps" or test score gap differences in science relative to mathematics or reading. Results indicate that the gap-in-gaps is relatively unchanged by the inclusion of many conceptual domains but that students' language and immigration contexts do explain substantial portions of the gap-in-gaps for Hispanic and Asian students. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Recent evidence demonstrates that disparities by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status in science achievement are present in the earliest grades of school. Preschool represents one potential policy solution; however, little research has explored the relationship between preschool attendance and science outcomes. This study examines whether preschool participation may improve science outcomes overall and reduce science achievement gaps by race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of 2011, this study uses school and classroom fixed effects models with a robust set of controls to estimate the relationship between preschool attendance and early science outcomes. Results suggest that attending preschool is predictive of higher teacher-rated science ability in the fall of kindergarten but that preschool is not predictive of higher science achievement in the spring of kindergarten. The relationship is not found to consistently differ by student race, socioeconomic status, or gender, though descriptive results demonstrate that subgroups have different patterns of preschool attendance. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

This study documents gaps in kindergarten and first-grade science achievement by family income and explores the degree to which such gaps can be accounted for by student race/ethnicity, out-of-school activities, parental education, and school fixed effects. In doing so, it expands on prior research that documents disparate rates of science achievement by income in upper elementary and high school. The study uses nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of 2011. Findings suggest a science achievement gap of approximately 1 standard deviation between students from families near the 90th percentile of income and those from families near the 10th percentile of income. Race/ethnicity, out-of-school activities, parental education, and school fixed effects explain approximately one third of this gap each. The results suggest the need to focus on both in-school and out-of-school factors as part of a concerted effort to improve equity in science education.

Disparities in science achievement across race and gender have been well documented in secondary and postsecondary school; however, the science achievement gap in the early years of elementary school remains understudied. We present findings from the recently released Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 that demonstrate significant gaps in science achievement in kindergarten and first grade by race/ethnicity. We estimate the Black-White science gap in kindergarten at -0.82 SD but find only a small gender gap by first grade. Large disparities between Asian student performance in science as compared to mathematics and reading are documented. Student background characteristics and school fixed effects explain nearly 60% of the Black-White and Hispanic-White science achievement gaps in kindergarten. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.