Throughout this action research project report, the teacher-researchers explored the problem of test anxiety among students. The purpose of this project was to alleviate test anxiety among students with various interventions in grades five through seven in the subject areas of social studies, science, and language arts. There were 66 student…

The purpose of this action research project report was to increase the homework completion rate of middle school students through the use of interventions. The participants in this study came from one public middle school. The participants were thirty-four 6th grade students in language arts, respectively. The intervention took place from…

This action research project report summarizes the methods used to reduce boredom and frustration and increase students' academic motivation in three mixed-ability classrooms. This action research project included 21 third grade students, 23 fifth grade students, and 28 eighth grade students (n=72) during the dates of September 10, 2007, through…

The papers in this compilation are the result of K-12 action research projects and were submitted in partial fulfillment for a variety of degrees from Winona State University (Minnesota). The compilation contains the following nine papers: "Will Playing Background Music in My Classroom Help Increase Student Spelling Scores?" (Jonathan L.…

This study describes a program designed to improve reading comprehension through the selection, application, and transfer of appropriate reading strategies with both fictional and informational texts. The targeted population consisted of seventh and eighth grade middle school students in a middle-class community in the western suburbs of Chicago,…

The present study tested four research hypotheses dealing with sentence-combining (SC) practice as a component of the language arts curriculum. It examined the progress of 100 seventh graders over a period of three months. No formal instruction in grammar was included. Four classes, controlled for ability, sex, and teacher effect, followed a…

Chapter 1 contains a general description of the Israeli school system, with a history of education in Israel and a summary of the education situation in Palestine; a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the school system's division into general, religious, and labor trends; a detailed account of the organizational framework; an…

This paper presents a Reading/Language curriculum for grades K-4 (but adaptable to middle and high school students) which is anti-bias and literature-based. It is intended to help educators use high-quality multicultural children's literature as a medium for reading instruction, and to show all students why discrimination is harmful, and how bias…

A General Semantics Language Arts program was developed to improve the self-confidence of third-grade pupils. The effectiveness of the program was tested in an experiment involving 165 students. Four treatment group teachers used the program three times a week for ten weeks; control group teachers were not introduced to the program and continued…

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of an additional basic language-development program on the science academic achievement of low-achieving kindergarten pupils. From responses on a performance test, an experimental and a control group were formed. Both groups received instruction in science. The experimental group also received…

The background of the Kanawha County, language arts textbook controversy is described, and several factors are examined as possible precipitating elements in the controversy. The major actions, reactions, and occurrences in Kanawha County from April 1974 to April 1975 are reported, and various sources are used to document positions taken by…

Student achievement has been low in language arts in Suburban Chicago, Illinois school districts. This action research project was designed to determine the effect of incorporating multiple intelligence strategies into the language arts curriculum. The targeted students were in the second, third, and fifth grades, in a western suburb of Chicago,…

Ninety-one teachers in three elementary schools, kindergarten through sixth grade, participated in a study of the relationships between teachers' educational preparation in the area of children's literature and the role of children's literature in their classrooms. Each teacher completed a questionnaire about educational preparation, reading of…

The principal aim of this study was to bring together three contemporary frameworks, general semantics, linguistic semantics in transformational theory, and speech acts in ordinary language philosophy, and to present their individual methods for analyzing the nature of meaning in language. The survey of these three systems forms the basis for a…

The purpose of this study is two-fold: it determines and describes quantatively the current status of multiple-elective programs in English in the public schools of New Jersey, and it analyzes and appraises qualitatively--using case study--two-semester elective programs for grades 11 and 12, the predominant pattern of course offerings of New…