Literacy is a critical life skill which impacts individuals and society. Knowledge to practice gaps in the field of education have existed for many years, specifically while teaching all students to become proficient readers. The intention of this qualitative study is to explore teacher understanding and perspectives about early literacy…

Districts across the country are using Preschool to Third Grade (P-3) approaches to address long-standing barriers to achieving positive outcomes for young children, for example by helping increase children's readiness for elementary school. P-3 approaches are promising for realizing these results because they demand investments in the systems…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how teachers of kindergarten through second grade describe students' socialization opportunities during online learning and the supports needed for effective fostering of socialization during online learning in southeastern Pennsylvania. The theoretical foundation for this research…

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of effective professional learning communities while learning their impacts on staff members. The study also discovered the role of educational leaders during an effective implementation of professional learning communities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff members of an…

Standards-based grading has been used in many Illinois public elementary schools for years, offering educators a different way of assessing and communicating to parents about their student achievement and performance on the grade level state standards. Educators faced many benefits and challenges using a standards-based grading system identified.…

Experiencing low parent involvement can affect students' academic achievement. The problem this study addressed was low parent involvement for kindergarten-3rd-grade (K-3) students at the private elementary school in a southeastern state in the United States. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore how parents described their…

Students in Title 1 school districts continue to fall far behind their peers academically in comparison to neighboring suburban districts. School reform has unsuccessfully attempted to improve test scores by consistently changing reading curriculums and mandating the use of various resources that fail when implemented. Struggling school districts…

Educator expertise is urgently needed in supporting young children displaying early markers of dyslexia; yet, there remains an abundance of neuromyths associated with dyslexia that need remediation in order to provide effective interventions. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine kindergarten through Grade two educators' baseline…

This embedded case study sought to answer the question of what obstacles and opportunities presented when a reading initiative aimed at increasing the amount of time students spent reading independently was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four embedded grade level cases from a small rural elementary school were explored over the course…

The importance of access to quality physical education (PE) among children is well-documented. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, resulted in significant shifts in PE curriculum delivery alongside a rapid uptake by PE teachers of new technologies. Although some research about integrating technology into teaching does exist, there is very…

This dissertation investigates how embodied learning within a Mixed Reality (MR) environment supports young children's science learning, focusing on a honeybee system. To do so, I designed three types of activities within an MR environment to enable young children to assume different perspectives as they create embodied models of honeybees as…

Problem Statement: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were negatively impacted academically and social-emotionally (Kuhfeld et al., 2020). Preexisting academic inequities were exacerbated, especially for students of color, students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and those from low-income backgrounds (Kuhfeld et al., 2022).…

The need for technology use has become a necessity in 21st-century classrooms. To accomplish this, more districts have been implementing 1:1 technology initiatives. In a 1:1 technology classroom, every student has their own device, such as a Chromebook or iPad. Although districts are increasing their 1:1 initiatives, little research has been done…

Math achievement is an important predictor of progression to later science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and careers. However, attitudinal factors also play a role, and interventions attempting to improve math attitudes may be important for increasing the number of STEM-aspiring students. To design effective interventions, it…

Despite the use of literacy coaching to help improve the instructional practices of teachers and increase reading achievement, data of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) indicate that Florida's students are averaging about 60% below NAEP proficient level. This dissertation reported the results of a nonexperimental study that…