Elementary school students' knowledge of history appears to be at an all-time low as evidenced by the 2010 NAEP scores that indicated only 20% of fourth-grade students scored at the "at least proficient" level in a test of historic knowledge. Many culprits are being blamed for this dismal performance of U. S. students, such as No Child…

The theory of learning centered academic advising states that the purpose of advising is to teach undergraduate students about the logic and purpose of their education. Previous scholarship on learning centered advising has focused on the theoretical or on implementation by faculty at small colleges and universities. Methods for supporting…

Through an action research approach, this dissertation focuses on the central role of interpersonal warmth in the teacher and student relationship. The heart of its inquiry is based on data gathered by a set of teachers working collaboratively as co-researchers in their own classrooms. These individuals inquired into the potential of the teacher…

There has been a plethora of research done on all kinds of beginning teachers, but little has focused on art education teachers, and even less has focused on how beginning art education teachers make sense of their early teaching experiences. It is, however, known that teachers of art come to the profession with multiple skills that can be…

This dissertation is a collection of three papers that employ empirical within study comparisons (WSCs) to identify conditions that support causal inference in observational studies. WSC studies empirically estimate the extent to which a given observational study reproduces the result of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) when both share the same…

Through a consensual qualitative research and phenomenological approach, this study explored the function of serving students in Catholic schools with special educational needs. Utilizing a survey, a breadth of data were collected from teachers and administrators on the incidence of special educational needs, services available, accommodations and…

This is a study of teachers' authentic professional learning at a public school in Poudre School District in northern Colorado. At Polaris Expeditionary Learning School, teachers and administrators have developed a form of school-based instructional rounds referred to herein as PLC rounds (professional learning community rounds). In PLC rounds,…

Drawing on data from teachers using various elementary mathematics curriculum programs, this study highlights prevalent decisions teachers make to enact the task from the written curriculum and the potential of such decisions for student learning. In doing so, we examine teachers' instructional design decisions, especially those that teachers make…

With the face of American schools changing rapidly to reflect a more diverse population, today's educators must work purposefully to create a teaching and learning environment that embraces the sociocultural differences of its students. While the ethnicity of students has become more diverse, the school principalship remains mostly white, with…

This study explored school-wide technology integration at two sites where traditional barriers to technology were minimized. Traditional barriers include access to technology and support to integrate technology. A school-wide technology integration model was introduced at both sites ten years ago. Now, ten years later, what is being sustained? In…

This publication explores quickly deployable, high-impact tactics that State education agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) are using to make their evaluation systems more manageable. It also examines the foundation upon which States and school districts must build high-quality, manageable evaluation systems.

The purpose of this paper is to review major statistical and psychometric issues impacting the study of psychophysiological reactivity and discuss their implications for applied developmental researchers. We first cover traditional approaches such as the observed difference score (DS) and the observed residual score (RS), including a review of…

This study examined college instructors' utilization and perceived value of sources of instructional feedback (institutional student ratings, consultation with an instructional specialist, soliciting feedback from students, self-assessment, self-observation, peer/administrator observation, and peer coaching). We examined relationships between the…

This paper reports on the research process and findings of a commissioned study of a Sure Start Children's Centre based in the North West of England. The study focused specifically on how child observations were being carried out in the Children's Centre to inform assessment and planning. It was imperative that the research process should not be…

The issue of language, specifically access to English, has emerged as a key concern for both U.S. policy-makers and immigrant communities alike. Many of these debates are framed by neoliberal and human capital perspectives, which view English as a set of skills and linguistic capital that are inextricably tied to employment opportunities and…