Title I, Part A and Title II, Part A funds are provided to Houston Independent School District (HISD) through the 2002 reauthorization of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965" (ESEA), also known as the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB). ESEA was reauthorized in 2015 as the "Every Student Succeeds…

Learning about certain scientific topics has potential to spark strong emotions among students. We investigated whether emotions predicted students' attitudes after engaging in independent rereading and/or rereading plus discussion about Pluto's reclassification. Fifth and sixth grade students read a refutation text on Pluto's reclassification.…

Lack of reading motivation impedes upper elementary and secondary school students' willingness to improve critical reading skills and strategies to be successful in school. Struggling readers often show a negative attitude towards reading tasks and manifest low motivation to read. Although the importance of motivation is clear, there is limited…

"Welcome to Conversions Rock" is a new math program designed to build and reinforce the important skills of converting fractions, decimals, and percents for students in grades 6-8. Developed by The Actuarial Foundation, this program seeks to provide skill-building, real-world math to help students become successful in the classroom and beyond. [A…

With the increase of high-stakes testing and the subsequent consequences it is essential that educators understand the validity and the inferences based on the scores produced by these tests. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the underlying constructs of the grade six reading TAKS, the Test of Reading…

The complexities of the modern society and interconnected world in which we live requires students who are able to problem solve and think critically. The research on which this article is based aims to explore how classroom questioning can help students guide their learning and model the spirit of inquiry to become lifelong learners. The research…

In this technical report, we present the results of a reliability study of the sixth-grade multiple choice reading comprehension measures available on the easyCBM learning system conducted in the spring of 2011. Analyses include split-half reliability, alternate form reliability, person and item reliability as derived from Rasch analysis,…

"It's All Connected" provides teachers of mathematics the support they need to improve their instruction. This in-demand collection of lessons for grades 6-8 explores proportionality, proportional relationships, and proportional reasoning, acknowledging that the ability to reason proportionally is crucial in the middle school mathematics…

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the reciprocal and the self-check teaching styles on pupils' basketball chest pass performance and on related psychosocial variables in a single physical education session. Participants were 64 fifth and sixth grade pupils between 11 and 12 years of age who were randomly assigned to three…

In a pedagogical method increasing in popularity, students of all levels--from elementary to post graduate--are likely to be asked to engage in debate with peers. How they understand the purposes and values of argumentive discourse is likely to affect its effectiveness. The 3 studies presented here involve junior high school, senior high school,…

Although curriculum integration has a long history of myriad models, rarely have those stakeholders most connected to the practice--the students--been consulted about the efficacy of the approach. This study applied a longitudinal, intrinsic case study approach (Stake, 2000) to examine middle school students' perceptions of learning and engagement…

Over the past decade, educational policy trends have shifted to a focus on examining students' growth from kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). One way states can track students' growth is with a vertical scale. Presently, every state that uses a vertical scale bases the scale on a unidimensional IRT model. These models make a…

This action research study examines the impact instruction informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) with a particular focus on tenor and socio-cultural theory has on sixth, seventh and eighth grade English language learners in an urban school. Over the course of seven and 1/2 months I used Systemic Functional Linguistics with a focus on…

Examining motivational variables may prove to be particularly fruitful towards our understanding of classroom processes, student behaviors and school outcomes. The present study examined the role of personal and contextual goals (goals and goal structures) towards explaining social relationships (peer, teacher-student and home-school). 1493 fifth…

Maze tasks have appealing properties as progress-monitoring tools, but there is a need for a thorough examination of the psychometric properties of Maze tasks among middle school students. We evaluated form effects, reliability, validity, and practice effects of Maze among students in Grades 6 through 8. We administered the same (familiar) and…