The critical area of literacy instruction has long relied on the use of measurement tools and the resulting data to identify at-risk readers and deliver needed supports. When the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to education, measurement practices were altered and there was limited existing research available to predict the potential impact of…

We examined transitions occurring throughout the school day in an elementary school, sampling from kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade classrooms. Unobtrusive observations and descriptive notetaking were used to gather data during six typical school days in the second half of the school year. Data were coded by committee to categorize the…

The purpose of this study was to determine any differences between factors that may influence a teacher's self-efficacy regarding the implementation of technologies in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. Specifically, this study analyzed the independent variables: age, number of years teaching, attitude toward technology, teachers'…

Implementing a play-based curriculum presents challenges for pre-service and in-service teachers given the current climate of standards and didactic pedagogies. This study highlights the value of playful learning and its rightful place in early childhood classrooms for children of all ages. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the…

The curricula for young children rarely provide specific teaching about how to conserve earth's resources. Yet, adults need to help children early in life become aware of and actively involved in ecologically sensitive and sound practices. Interviews were conducted individually with 41 children (4- to 6-year-olds; 7- to 9-year-olds and 10- to…

During the 2012-2013 school year, Metropolitan Montessori School, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a school for 3-to-12-year-olds, adopted a reading workshop approach. This decision resulted from several recognized needs. One need was to provide teachers with a strong, clear framework for literacy instruction, particularly at the emergent reading…

Biological kinds undergo a variety of changes during their life span, and these changes vary in degree by organism. Understanding that an organism, such as a caterpillar, maintains category identity over its life span despite dramatic changes is a key concept in biological reasoning. At present, we know little about the developmental trajectory of…

How children and youth deal with academic challenges and setbacks can make a material difference to their learning and school success. Hence, it is important to investigate the factors that allow students to cope constructively. A process model focused on students' motivational resources was used to frame a study examining whether engagement in…

The study reported here used data from the ACCESS 4-H Enrollment System to gain insight into strengthening New York State's 4-H programming. Member enrollment lists from 2009 to 2012 were analyzed using Microsoft Excel to determine trends and dropout rates. The descriptive data indicate declining 4-H enrollment in recent years and peak enrollment…

Participation in the federally-subsidized school breakfast program often falls well below its lunchtime counterpart. To increase take-up, many districts have implemented Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC), offering breakfast directly to students at the start of the school day. Beyond increasing participation, advocates claim BIC improves academic…

Through my own experiences as a child and now as a teacher, I strongly believe in helping children of any age build positive relationships. In my childhood experiences, I did not witness the extent of bullying behavior that is going on today. I believe that bullying is getting worse and worse. My research explored the frequency of bullying in a…

This article examines the relationship between after-school program quality, program attendance, and academic outcomes for a sample of low-income after-school program participants. Regression and hierarchical linear modeling analyses use a unique longitudinal data set including 29 after-school programs that served 5,108 students in Grades 4 to 8…

Conducted at 10 schools in four communities, this study investigated relationships of young adolescents' reading motivation, reading preference, and reading engagement as influenced by their English Language Arts teachers' use of instructional strategies. Students in eight sixth grade (N = 196) and nine seventh grade (N = 218) classes completed a…

Experimental approaches can help disentangle the impacts of policies from the effects of individual characteristics, but the heterogeneity of implementation inherent in studies with complex program designs may mask average treatment impacts (Morris & Hendra, 2009). In the case of the Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards (ONYC-Family Rewards),…

The purposes of this two-part study were (1) to investigate urban middle school African American girls' physical activity levels and their relationships to attitudes and, (2) to explore urban middle school African American girls' attitude toward physical education. A total of (N = 649) African American girls from 14 New York City middle schools…