Purpose: One challenge to the design and delivery of effective vocabulary intervention is the selection of vocabulary targets. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of word characteristics to vocabulary learning from explicit vocabulary intervention. Method: This study was a secondary analysis of data from two recent efficacy…

School security is an issue faced by all school districts. Some school districts in the state of Missouri made the decision to arm members of their staff to provide an additional layer of defense. This qualitative study looks at the lived experiences of PK-12 school staff members who carry a concealed weapon for Shield Solutions. The participants…

Underachievement in education and the exploration of its factors have been in constant interest in educational research for years. According to McFarland et al., 2017) previously conducted research has found a relationship between family risk factors and negative educational outcomes which include low academic achievement, student retention, and…

Undergraduate teacher candidates participated in a faculty-led, short-term study abroad to Reggio Emilia in Italy to further their knowledge about the educational philosophy used within the school setting and for the purpose of examining how philosophy might be applied in school settings in the United States. The faculty-led, short-term study…

How can Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) in Missouri take lessons from the COVID-19 global pandemic to use technology to provide greater student access to highly qualified educators? Research on this question examined what impacts, influences, and disruptions occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically during the 2020-2021 school year.…

This research essay examined a growing trend in a rural area of the Midwest where PK-12 school districts are partnering with a local university to hire teacher candidates (TCs) as the Teachers of Record (TORs). Many rural school districts are challenged to address the teacher shortage. As a result, many school districts are hiring TCs as the TOR…

"Math Expressions" is a curriculum for students in prekindergarten through sixth grade that aims to build students' conceptual understanding of mathematics and to develop fluency in mathematical problem solving and computation. The curriculum encourages student learning of mathematics through real-world situations, visual supports such…

Schools are increasingly being leveraged as intervention points to address childhood trauma due to the well-established links between childhood trauma exposure and poor child well-being outcomes. However, although preschool-aged children experience higher rates of trauma, such as maltreatment and violence exposure, than their older counterparts,…

This exploratory study examined the changing role of music education and the availability of musical experiences for students attending Montessori schools in the Midwestern United States. On a survey instrument designed by the researcher, Montessori school directors (N = 36) from eight states shared descriptions of the current role of music at…

At a time when deaf education teacher preparation programs are declining in number, little is known about their actual effectiveness. A phenomenological case study of a graduate-level comprehensive deaf education teacher preparation program at a midwestern university explored empowered and enabled learning of teacher candidates using the Missouri…

A quantifiable measure of teachers' intervention fidelity when delivering curriculum-based interventions allows researchers to interpret the effectiveness of the curricula under scrutiny. Fidelity measures, however, must accurately represent the critical components of an intervention to confirm that the intervention was delivered as intended and…

This article describes the preschool program at Missouri State University where deaf and hard of hearing children with all communication modalities and all styles of personal assistive listening devices are served. The job of the early intervention providers is to model for parents what high expectations look like and how to translate those…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 68 percent in Iowa. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy economy…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 66 percent in Missouri. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Missouri. Descriptive statistics are presented for Missouri and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…