The rationale for this study occurred from a need for approaches to meaningful professional development that would have an effect on a teacher's desire to employ learned strategies. Exploring teachers' opinions and beliefs is important to understanding why professional development may or may not be successful. For this qualitative study, the…

First-generation students enroll in college expecting to be the first in their families to obtain a bachelor's degree, yet historically; the number of these students who graduate with four-year degrees is much lower than their non first-generation peers (Nunez & Cuccara-Alamin; Choy, 2001; Glenn, 2008). Limited research exists on the…

The role of the "principal" in encouraging and supporting parent involvement has not received as much research attention as it would seem to merit. While the recent literature on parent involvement is extensive, virtually none are devoted to investigating the impact of school leadership, particularly the function of the principal on…

It is common to see students multitasking or switching between different tasks on the computer while also listening to the teacher lecture in the front of a classroom. In today's classrooms, students have much greater control over how they use their time, with the classroom integration of computers and mobile devices combined with social media and…

This study of fifteen first generation American college freshmen documents their initial semester with a focus on factors and dispositions contributing to eventual success or failure. Students were identified prior to campus arrival, allowing for immediate and real-time data collection as they were experiencing the beginning of their college…

The purpose of this article is to explore both the challenges and skills needed to effectively assume a leadership position and thus to create an entry plan or "toolkit" for a new rural school leader. The entry plan acts as a guide beginning principals may use to navigate the unavoidable confusion that comes with leadership. It also assists…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine select novice teachers' perceived knowledge of high-quality reading instruction, explore the extent that select novice teachers implemented high-quality reading instruction into their own classrooms, and to investigate any factors that explain the similarities and differences between…

Educators in many disciplines are too often forced to rely on intuition about how students learn and the effectiveness of teaching to guide changes and improvements to their curricula. In computer science, systems that perform automated collection and assessment of programming assignments are seeing increased adoption, and these systems generate a…

If less time in the classroom is a cause of poor student performance, can adding more time be the cure? This strategy underlies a major effort to fix the nation's worst public schools. Billions of federal stimulus dollars are being spent to expand learning time on behalf of disadvantaged children. And extended learning time (ELT) is being proposed…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to "explore and understand how recent college graduates made meaning of their on-campus work experience". The author interviewed graduates from a private liberal arts institution regarding how their on-campus employment impacted their academic success, overall student experience, and beginning…

It is possible to create a literacy block where teachers meet with students for guided reading and writing conferences, and provide daily explicit instruction in both reading and writing. A comprehensive look at literacy and learning, "100 Minutes" shows teachers how to fit balanced literacy into a daily 100-minute literacy block using a framework…

Little research to date has investigated the involvement of school counselors in partnerships with linguistically diverse families. This article reviews the results of a study with school counselors (N = 95) in a Midwestern state on their involvement in school, family, and community partnerships with linguistically diverse families. The results…

Although action-research is a well-known research methodology in the field of education, in the case of Greece there are few actions-researches carried out by early childhood teachers. The absence of action-research in early childhood education settings is related to the way many early childhood teachers shape their professional role as well as…

Teaching competence is an important skill for graduate students to acquire and is often considered a precursor to an academic career. In this study, we evaluated the effects of a multi-day teaching workshop on graduate teaching philosophies by surveying 200 graduate students, 79 of whom had taken the workshops and 121 who had not. We found no…

This article discusses specific issues on homeschooling a child with special needs. For anyone unfamiliar with homeschooling, the first question is not about academic success but the nebulous concern about a lack of "socialization." While homeschooling, parents can expand their child's personal contacts with Scouts, sports participation, dance…