The Tennessee Educator Survey (TES) is a comprehensive annual effort between the Tennessee Department of Education (department) and the Tennessee Education Research Alliance (TERA) used to gather information about the experiences of educators across the state and empowers stakeholders and decision-makers to meet the needs of teachers to the best…

Increasingly, state departments of education, school districts, and high schools are recognizing that many students graduate from high school underprepared for college-level coursework in mathematics. Many are referred to remedial education when they arrive at college. To help students become better prepared for college and avoid remedial courses…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine teacher perceptions of the effectiveness of the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework with students who are acquiring English as a second language. Students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds have been disproportionately represented in special education programs for…

Children with or at risk of disabilities engage in fewer and less complex social interactions (SIs) than their typically developing peers. The playground is an ideal setting for teachers to promote SIs among children. However, few studies have examined practical and meaningful strategies for supporting teachers in effectively facilitating SIs.…

Individuals with severe disabilities often face significant challenges after high school. During the last years of secondary school, transition teams develop plans for individuals who are receiving special education services. Little is known about the outcomes of those efforts. In this qualitative multiple case study, the researcher examined the…

This study compared the number of discipline referrals in a Middle Tennessee elementary school for two years, during the implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (SWPBIS). This study also examined the relationship between the number of discipline referrals and academic achievement by comparing TCAP scale scores in both…

The Tennessee First Five Training Institute (TFFTI) is a workforce development project to build infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) capacity across Tennessee's community mental health agencies. TFFTI focused on foundational trainings in IECMH concepts, training in child-parent psychotherapy, dyadic, trauma treatment for children birth…

Last spring, the Covid-19 pandemic upended routines for over 56 million students and challenged more than 3.7 million teachers in over 130,000 schools nationwide to continue educating kids in an online format. This transition to "virtual learning" was understandably trying for all educators, schools, and districts, but some managed to do…

Community colleges in Tennessee, either directly or indirectly, experienced unprecedented change as a result of Tennessee Promise. The present study explored how student support service administrators at three community colleges responded to organizational change as a result of the Tennessee Promise legislation. Investigators selected community…

This report explores the premise that there's nothing more powerful than great teachers skillfully using great instructional materials to motivate and engage students in their learning. Three real-world examples illustrate how schools and school systems are working to support teachers to skillfully use high-quality, standards-aligned curricula, by…

Consistent with national trends, only about ½ of students who intend to major in STEM disciplines at Maryville College (MC) complete bachelor's degrees in these fields. The Scots Science Scholars (S[superscript 3] ) program was funded through the National Science Foundation's STEM Talent Extension Program to increase the number of students…

This paper uses Middle Tennessee State University's MT Scholars Academy, an extended early arrival program targeting first-year students who are classified as at-risk by a variety of measures, as a case study for demonstrating the effectiveness of AASCU's Re-Imagining the First-Year (RFY) initiative. In particular, this case study demonstrates the…

Data breaches due to social engineering attacks and employee negligence are on the rise. The only known defense against social engineering attacks and employee negligence is information security awareness and training. However, implementation of awareness and training programs within organizations are lagging in priority. This research used the…

With ongoing efforts in the United States to further develop the availability of computer science education in the public schools, federal, state, and local educational agencies are increasing efforts to encourage and promote the inclusion of computer science and programming skills in the middle school curriculum (Grover, Pea, & Cooper, 2015).…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has created additional opportunities for school librarians to collaborate with classroom teachers, reading specialists, and other educators in support of schools' literacy goals. This potential for expanded collaboration suggests a need for increased focus on reading instruction as part of the school…