Research shows little benefit from phonics instruction in Grades 2 through 12. However, more recent studies show that students who fall below a decoding threshold fail to benefit from other kinds of reading instruction. This exploration of the evidence suggests that these students are likely to need support in the reading and spelling of…

All interventions -- whether academic, behavioral, or social-emotional -- should be consistently delivered as planned to realize desired student outcomes. In other words, they should be delivered with fidelity. School psychologists can address this concern by monitoring fidelity and providing support for intervention implementation. In this final…

After 30 years of practicing, researching, and teaching project-based learning (PBL), Steven Wolk offers insight into what he has learned. He discusses what PBL is and responds to common misunderstandings about how it works. He describes how PBL units are structured, the role of direct instruction in PBL, how students learn content and skills…

Mastery learning is an instructional approach that empowers every student to progress with confidence. Using flexible pacing and targeted supports, teachers guide students through a cyclic process of preparation, demonstration, and formative feedback until there is a mutual agreement between teacher and student that the student is ready to…

Background/Context: Students classified as Long-Term English Learners (LTELs) are those who have not gained fluency in the English language, even after being enrolled in the U.S. K-12 educational system for five to seven years (Olsen, 2014). Although LTELs are not consistently tracked across states, we know they constitute a sizeable portion of…

In this systematic review, a series of didactic proposals and experiences that have been developed over recent years in formal education are presented with the common purpose of ensuring that students with special educational needs learn science. Initially, only 54 publications on the topic were identified, which underlines the scarce research…

In this article, Travis J. Bristol and Joy Esboldt examine the supports and constraints teachers at one midsized urban school serving predominately Latinx students encountered during school-based professional development aligned with becoming a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT). Research has established that Black and Latinx students have…

The support of academics, professionals, and researchers from the most diverse scientific areas to STEAM education is due to the strong impact it has on preparing citizens for a world of continuous scientific and technological development. Among its benefits, we highlight the improvement of critical, innovative, and creative thinking; the…

"Strategies for Teaching Students with Learning and Behavior Disabilities" prepares teachers to meet elementary and secondary students' needs in a variety of settings. It builds a foundation with information about general teaching and learning approaches, then turns to specific content areas such as reading, math, oral and written…

Several researchers have advocated explicit instruction of vocabulary in order to help students improve their reading comprehension, especially low-achieving readers who need to "catch-up" to their age peers. Very few studies, however, have attempted to compare the time efficiency of direct instruction to its alternatives. In this…

High-leverage practices (HLPs) are instructional approaches educators in K-12 can use to teach different types of learners and content. They are deemed "high leverage" because they are foundational to effective instruction, they help with managing and intervening in students' behavior, and they support successful implementation of the…

Emergent Bilinguals (EB), particularly those of Latino descent, who have a moderate intellectual disability (ID) are arguably one of the most underserved and under researched populations. Although there has been an increase of evidence-based practices for both EBs and students with ID, there are still a limited number of empirical studies of EBs…

The increase in enrollment in online programs for Grades K-12 students, including students with disabilities, requires teachers to consider how to provide effective online instruction. Although schools may offer students a fully online curriculum, teachers serve an essential role in supporting students with disabilities in meeting (a) learning…

The purpose for this study was to examine student reading data at one high-poverty, low-performing Title I school in the State of Tennessee over 2 consecutive years when reading instruction, teacher expectations, and administration changed. This study examined student growth in third and fourth grade on the county benchmark assessment (Study…

Virtual Reading Coach assesses student reading abilities with MindPlay's Universal Screener and automatically develops a unique, differentiated syllabus of instruction and mastery-based activities for every student, thus improving their reading fluency. This report includes its logic model, foundational literature review, and summaries of…