This study's purpose was to examine the effects of the concrete-representational-abstract integrated (CRA-I) sequence on the performance of students who struggled with rational number concepts. Three students in southeastern U.S. fifth grade class participated in the study. The CRA-I intervention was grounded in the principles of explicit…

Over the 10 years of 'Closing the Gap', several interventions designed to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have been trialled. In 2014 the Australian Government announced the 'Flexible Literacy for Remote Primary Schools Programme' (FLFRPSP) which was designed primarily to improve the literacy outcomes of…

In the journal article "Did DI do it? The impact of a programme designed to improve literacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in remote schools," Guenther and Osborne (2020) compare schoolwide NAPLAN reading scale scores for 25 Very Remote Indigenous schools implementing Direct Instruction through the Flexible Literacy…

There are multiple pathways for students with and without disabilities to learn new vocabulary terms. However, the number of empirically tested and validated multimedia options is surprisingly limited. In this study, researchers tested a commercially available app (InferCabulary) to evaluate the impact on vocabulary performance of fifth-grade…

A qualitative pre-/post-test case study was conducted to explore the influence of inquiry-based education in eliciting learners' understanding of the particulate nature of matter in the gaseous phase. Two grade four classes (n=116) were conveniently and purposively sampled from two farm schools in Pretoria, South Africa. Data was collected through…

Scence educational standards are increasingly emphasising on argumentation skills. However, students' argumentation skills are often not developed well as their experience of science knowledge in schools is often in the form of uncontested facts. This research asserts that argumentation skills should be developed through explicit teaching of…

This quantitative study sought to compare the levels of motivation and engagement for middle school students before and after the implementation of both project-based learning and direct instruction. Student participants completed the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory [IMI] (Deci & Ryan, 2017) to assess their levels of motivation prior to and…

Schools serve an essential function for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and complex needs. However, school-based instruction may be interrupted due to pandemics, natural disasters, and school shootings, and as a result, schools are forced to stop traditional services and begin teaching students in their homes. Fortunately, distance…

In theory, both virtual manipulatives and explicit instruction are viable options to support students with disabilities as they learn mathematics. This study explored the effect of a treatment package--an app-based virtual manipulative (Cuisenaire® Rods) in conjunction with explicit instruction--on students' acquisition and generalization of…

This article examined the extent to which administrative decisions that affected the implementation fidelity of Direct Instruction programs were related to student achievement. Data from three studies showed that administrative decisions that disregarded recommended protocols regarding teacher training, teacher preparation, and student schedules…

We present results of an evaluation of the first year of a multi-year comprehensive middle school reading program. Four public middle schools in rural Virginia with large populations of students with limited reading proficiency participated in a study to determine the reading program's impact. We evaluated 235 students with low reading achievement…

This study investigated the effects of a Direct Instruction (DI) reading comprehension program on the reading comprehension skills of students with autism spectrum disorder or developmental delay. Although the effectiveness of DI programs has been well documented in disability and instructional literature, effectiveness of DI for individuals with…

Nearly one-quarter of U.S. eighth graders score below basic on national assessments of reading (NCES, 2013) and are poorly equipped for the reading demands of secondary school. Struggling adolescent readers cannot summarize a simple passage, use context to determine word meanings, and have difficulties making text-based inferences. In addition,…

Literacy instruction is once again at the forefront of school reform throughout North America. Numerous federal and state initiatives in the United States, such as Reading First and Response to Intervention, have either recommended or required that educators use research based curricular materials and instructional practices. This study is reports…

This article presents the author's response to Karen Eppley's "Reading Mastery as Pedagogy of Erasure". Eppley's commentary (2011) on Dr. Stockard's article, "Increasing Reading Skills in Rural Areas: An Analysis of Three Rural School Districts" (Stockard, 2011), uses selected details as points of departure for a critique of…