The purpose of this study was to identify the specific strategies that teachers believe are most effective in helping below-level students attain reading success. The scope of the study included seasoned first-grade teachers in the School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The methodology took the form of a qualitative approach with the use…

The current study considers grade repetition rates in the early years of school, Preparatory (Prep) to Year 3, in Queensland state schools, of which there is a significant gap in the Australian research literature. Data accessed from the Queensland Government's Department of Education and Training (DET), shows that particular groups of students…

Around their first birthday infants begin to talk, yet they comprehend words long before. This study investigated the event-related potentials (ERP) responses of nine-month-olds on basic level picture-word pairings. After a familiarization phase of six picture-word pairings per semantic category, comprehension for novel exemplars was tested in a…

This study investigated the extent and nature of changes in symptomatology in cognitively able children with autism over a 3-year period. Thirty-seven children diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition involved in an earlier study (M age = 5 years, 7 months) were followed and reassessed 3 years later (M age = 8 years, 4 months). Scores on the…

Background: Children are motivated to engage in stereotypic and repetitive behaviours for a number of reasons. Their motivation seems to change according to context, but little empirical evidence supports that observation. Interventions designed to reduce the behaviours may be improved by an increased understanding of the interaction between…

Purpose: This study investigates the relative contributions of phonological short-term memory and phonological representations to nonword repetition (NWR). This was evaluated in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and/or reading impairment (RI); it was also studied from a developmental perspective by comparing 2 groups of typically…

Purpose: Recent work suggests that specific language impairment (SLI) results from a primary deficit in phonological processing. This deficit is most striking in nonword repetition tasks, where semantic and syntactic demands are eliminated. Children with SLI repeat nonwords less accurately than do their unimpaired peers, which may reflect…

Many elementary schools have volunteers who read with struggling readers, yet most have limited background knowledge on teaching reading or a framework to follow when working with students. This piece outlines "Fast Track to Fluency," a method to ensure volunteer and students' time is used efficiently in the classroom. Data from…

School leaders are faced with selecting programs to support at-risk students in high schools across the United States. Increasingly, supplemental online learning is being selected as an innovative way to assist these students. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand stakeholders' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of high…

Deliberate practice is increasingly recognised as necessary for professional development. This paper sets out to explore in what ways student teachers' learning activities in a teacher education programme can be characterised as deliberate practice. Based on an in-depth exploration of 574 learning activities, our results highlight the different…

Preparing to become an effective primary school mathematics teacher is a challenging and complex task; and is influenced by one's past experiences, personal knowledge of, and beliefs and attitudes towards mathematics. This paper examines the experiences of a small group of pre-service teachers who did not pass their first year mathematics…

At present, the incidence rates of children identified with autism spectrum disorders are on the rise, leading to an increased number of school-aged children needing specialized services in public schools. Most intervention efforts in the school setting focus on behavioral interventions and/or communication and social skills remediation services…

In 2011, with ongoing concerns over state budget shortfalls and the increasing educational cost structure, California state legislators focused their attention on measures that could lead to access, added productivity, and value in order to sustain the current educational system. One of the recommendations provided by the Legislative Analyst's…

Michigan is at a critical moment in time -- a historic moment where citizens and leaders must choose whether the state will take advantage of new opportunities to become a top ten education state -- or face a continued and dramatic educational decline. Today, national data reveal that Michigan's public education system is among the poorest…

This report describes the results of a REL Southeast study comparing student success in online credit recovery and general courses taken online compared to traditional face-to-face courses. Credit recovery occurs when a student fails a course and then retakes the same course to earn high school credit. This research question was motivated by the…