Widespread access to technology facilitates the sharing of effective classroom practices across disciplines. The implementation of successful practices is essential; particularly in this era of educational accountability, most notably the adequately yearly progress (AYP) goals of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. In addition to bottom-up classroom practices, teachers and other educational stakeholders are entitled to information about top-down policies to enhance teaching and learning. This study examines the correlation between policies in four areas and outcomes on one specific component of AYP in Pennsylvania public secondary schools. The policies considered herein are scheduling (traditional or block), grouping (homogeneous or heterogeneous), grading (weighted or not), and secondary math curriculum (U.S. Department of Education cited standards-based or traditional). This study quantifies the correlation between school district polices in these areas and results on the 11th grade mathematics portion of the 2006 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). Standard and Poor's recognizes school districts in Pennsylvania and across the country whose students have achieved NCLB testing outcomes that exceed expectations. In 2005, 55 Pennsylvania districts were cited by Standard and Poor's as being "outperforming school districts." The 60 secondary schools in these districts served as the population for this study. The study quantifies the correlation between the specific combinations of the four policies utilized by the 40 participating high schools and PSSA results. Evidence is discovered that, of the four policies, only block scheduling correlated with higher PSSA 11th grade math outcomes. / Mathematics and Science Education

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The implementation of effective reading programs for special education students is paramount for school success due to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the reauthorization of Individual with Disabilities Education Act. One local school implemented the Science Research Associates Corrective Reading Program (SRACRP) because their special education students did not meet the required proficient or advanced reading scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). The purpose of this quantitative within-group study was to determine if special and regular education students demonstrated growth in reading comprehension after the implementation of the SRACRP. The theoretical foundation for this study was Piaget's stages of development, which is consistent with the SRACRP instructional design of assimilating words through repetition. The research question examined whether the SRACRP impacted the reading levels of 200 randomly selected 3rd to 8th grade special and regular education students as measured by archived PSSA scores. Archived PSSA scores were collected from the year before and the year after the program's implementation. Repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that special and regular education students' mean scores increased significantly after the implementation of the SRACRP. The results of this study may inform school principals and policy makers to critically evaluate reading intervention programs prior to implementation. The results may also lead policy makers to use the SRACRP as a method to increase students' reading comprehension scores and eventually meet the requirements of the NCLB.