As the popularity of growth and fixed mindset in education grows, there is an increasing need to investigate how mindset is actually portrayed in the classroom, especially from the students' perspectives. This dissertation proposal aims to build upon the research conducted in the previous phase of the study. The research component study revealed a…

Oral language is foundational to literacy. Because their language is under construction, emergent bilingual students have unique needs related to literacy development regardless of the language of instruction. Knowledge teachers gain through formative assessment of student oral language can guide decisions about literacy instruction. The purpose…

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.…

Little is known about students' engagement in school writing tasks and the methods that should be used by the researchers to assess this engagement. This exploratory study examines the relationship between the engagement reported by elementary school students (N = 136) in a handwriting and keyboarding activity (Likert scale questionnaire) and…

The purpose of this mixed methods triangulation convergence study (Creswell & Clark, 2017) was to identify the differences between expressions of understanding through writing versus video reflection in a second-grade science classroom. Specifically, we analyzed the reflective piece of the design thinking of the engineering and design process…

There are large gaps in reading skills by family income among school-aged children in the United States. Correlational evidence suggests that reading skills are strongly related to the amount of reading students do outside of school. Experimental evidence testing whether this relationship is causal is lacking. We report the results from a…

This report evaluates the impact of intensive student support services provided by Communities in Schools of Kalamazoo (CISK) to elementary students of Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS). These intensive services typically follow a case-management format and include activities related to academic assistance, basic needs, enrichment/motivation, and…

This paper explores ways of capturing teachers' formative assessment behaviors in Philippine classrooms through an observation tool. Early versions of the tool were structured using the 'Elicit-Student response-Recognize-Use' ESRU model. To account for the practices observed in the classroom, the observation tool was resituated to focus on Elicit…

This article reports on Grade 2 teachers' perceptions of formative assessment in explaining the phenomenon of the underutilisation of formative assessment practices in mathematics teaching. A qualitative and interpretative case study investigated two Grade 2 teachers' enactment of formative assessment in priority schools in Gauteng. Data were…

Curriculum Associates' "i-Ready® Personalized Instruction" ("i-Ready") is a supplemental, online personalized instruction program available for reading and mathematics. Prior research has indicated "i-Ready" has a positive impact on K-8 student achievement for students overall (e.g., Swain, Randel, & Norman…

Curriculum Associates' "i-Ready® Personalized Instruction" ("i-Ready") is a supplemental, online personalized instruction program available for mathematics and reading. Prior research has indicated "i-Ready" has a positive impact on student achievement for students overall (e.g., Swain, Randel, & Norman Dvorak,…

The purpose of this report is to present the results of a two-year randomized control trial evaluation of the SPARK literacy program. SPARK is an early grade literacy program developed by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. In 2010, SPARK was awarded an Investing in Innovation (i3) Department of Education grant to further develop the…

The goal of the current research was to better understand when and why feedback has positive effects on learning and to identify features of feedback that may improve its efficacy. In a randomized experiment, second-grade children (N = 75) received instruction on a correct problem-solving strategy and then solved a set of relevant problems.…

This report provides a description of the development process, field testing, and psychometric properties of a student mathematics test designed to assess grades 1 and 2 student abilities. The test was administered to 2,373 participating grade 1 and 2 students in 22 schools located in 2 public school districts in Florida during fall 2013. Focused…

Many schools identified by states as needing improvement through their Elementary and Secondary Education Act waivers have selected Response to Intervention (RTI), a three-tiered instruction program sometimes referred to as tiered levels of instruction, as one of their main strategies for improving school performance and closing achievement gaps.…