Stagnant standardized test scores keep literacy achievement at the forefront of national education discussions. Increased conversations about the science of reading have propelled investigations into different types of phonics instruction. However, questions still linger such as "Which strategies are most effective for which students?",…

Around 6% of U.K. children are underachieving at school relative to their potential (URP). We explored whether difficulties with phonological decoding, short-term memory (STM), and complex grammar may be responsible. We compared school-based reading test data or formal SATs, and verbal reasoning in 2462 children (150 URP and 2312 non-URP children)…

Background/Purpose: Before school exercise programs (BSEPs) give students time for breakfast and add time to their daily physical activity. However, the effects of BSEP on physical fitness and academic achievement in the classroom remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of BSEP on cardiorespiratory fitness and academic…

Although the majority of elementary school teachers cover all major subjects in self-contained classrooms, a growing number of teachers specialize in teaching fewer subjects to higher numbers of students. We use administrative data from Indiana to estimate the effect of teacher specialization on teacher and school effectiveness in elementary…

Background: Rural learners face severe reading challenges that are unique to their environment. The challenges include parents' low level of education, little or no parental support, lack of reading material, and parents' low socio-economic status. It is therefore important that rural education research highlights these challenges in order to help…

The contribution of reading self-concept (RSC) to reading comprehension in Hebrew elementary school students was examined with respect to grade level (second, fifth, and sixth graders) and students' level of reading comprehension (poor, average, and good). RSC questionnaire and reading measures were delivered to 49 second graders and 48 fifth and…

According to the National Reading Panel's (2000) report, there was not enough evidence in previous reading research to recommend the instructional practice of having students spend classroom time reading independently. The 2019 National Assessment of Education Progress report, however, reported that more than half of fourth grade and eighth grade…

The goal of this work was to examine the effects of computerized instruction in elementary school children in the context of COVID-19 school closure and pre-COVID-19 times. Specifically, this project investigated how the program i-Ready may facilitate reading skills during COVID-19 school closure and pre-COVID in-person learning. Moreover, this…

In a large school district in Florida, many third-grade students have been retained over a 7-year period. Enrollment documents, such as summer school registration forms and seven annual summer reading camp evaluations in 2013-2019, indicated that 13,693 students attended the 4-week summer reading camp during this period. Summer reading camps are…

In 2 experiments, I investigated the role of conditioned seeing on incidental bidirectional naming (Inc-BiN) for unfamiliar stimuli and reading achievement. In Experiment 1, I investigated the correlation, associations, and differences between conditioned seeing, Inc-BiN, and measures of reading achievement for 49 participants in kindergarten…

Historically, research has focused on academic underperformance for students of color and those living in poverty, with less attention given to protective factors that promote academic achievement. Students' perceptions of their school environment (i.e., school climate) and their social-emotional competence have emerged as protective factors for…

The achievement gap is a historic and pervasive issue of social justice in education. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has further stalled student achievement in reading and math, amplifying the urgency for accelerating student learning to close the gap. The third grade is a critical year for literacy in education; if students have not mastered…

Purpose: We examined the extent to which achievement goals predict reading comprehension, measured by two response formats (free recall and constructed response), and how these relations differ for students with and without reading difficulties (RD). We further explored how executive functions (working memory and semantic verbal fluency) mediate…

The challenge that existed in the Fall of 2020 was not knowing exactly how students and teachers could adapt to a new way of teaching and learning amidst a world-wide pandemic. There has long been a debate over the effectiveness of online versus face-to-face teaching. The researcher found insufficient research so far has been done on the…

The research design for this study was grounded in descriptive research to explore participants' experiences and perceptions of using evidence-based reading strategies to motivate, engage, and advance student learning in the primary grades. Primary teachers' strategies show encouraging impacts on students' learning, specifically in reading,…