This study examines the association between classroom characteristics and teacher-student agreement in perceptions of students' classroom peer networks. Social network, peer nomination, and observational data were collected from a sample of second through fourth grade teachers (N = 33) and students (N = 669) in 33 classrooms across five…

In this essay we examine how educators work within a component of a class size reduction reform designed to strengthen the connections between families' home and school lives. We describe the accomplishments and struggles experienced by educators enacting this "lighted schoolhouse" based on our research in nine schools over three years.…

What picture of schoolwork do we obtain if we take a close look at everyday classroom activities and consider what students and teachers do and say about them? This is the basic focus of the study reported here which examines a teaching and learning practice called "own work" ("eget arbete") in the context of primary classroom…

The aim of this paper is to decipher the essence of the joy of learning and the ways to enhance it at school. In the field of educational psychology, research on feelings is lacking, and the little that does exist has focused more on negative rather than positive feelings. The present paper is based on ethnographic and observational research of a…

The guidelines published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children on the use of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) have, over the last two decades, had an important influence on young children's educational experiences. The efficacy of these guidelines for changing children's outcomes has been examined by only a…

Purpose: In this study, the authors examined how variability in classroom social communication performance differed between children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and pair-matched, typically developing peers. Method: Twelve pairs of children were observed in their classrooms, 40 min per day (20 min per child) for 4 days over a…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) on the reading fluency (RF) of students from traditionally underrepresented groups. The study included 86 participants attending 1st through 4th grade within an inner-city charter school located in a high-poverty, urban…

Lesson Study can be viewed as a continuous development programme because it offers teachers support in an environment unlike other traditional continuous development programmes. In this study, 28 primary mathematics teachers were surveyed and 4 out of the 28 were interviewed to examine how they perceived Lesson Study as professional development.…

Prior research has documented that classroom-level variables have a significant effect on student outcomes; however, previous findings have typically focused on average student outcomes and have only recently begun to use hierarchical linear modeling techniques. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of classroom-level variables on the…

The purpose of the present study is to investigate first level of elementary school students' perceptions of the future state of the environment through the pictures they draw. The participants of the study are 131 first-grade students, 127 second-grade students, 160 third-grade students, 188 fourth-grade students, and 222 fifth-grade students,…

The current observational case study involves four second grade students without disabilities in a classroom in which a disruptive student with disabilities was included. The purpose of the study was to record and analyze the academic responses (AR) and inappropriate behaviors (IB) that were exhibited by students without disabilities in three…

The purpose of this study was to see if second grade students who were taught by teachers trained in choice theory/reality therapy (CT/RT) methods had higher achievement scores in mathematics/reading compared to students who were taught by teachers who were not trained. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model suggests that…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are often placed into self-contained settings to provide more focused academic and behavioral supports. Little is known, however, about differences in the instructional contexts of self-contained and general education classrooms. Using direct observation and self-report measures, the present…

Gabriela Montserrat (pseudonym) is a Mexican-American child classified by her school district as an "emerging bilingual" and is the focus of this qualitative case study that took place at a public elementary school located in a suburban community in the southwestern US in Mrs Pérez's (pseudonym) second-grade classroom. The student's use…

Helping children experience early learning success and acquire essential skills by third grade is a crucial part of any school reform effort. Yet, many teachers and children are overwhelmed by the ineffective curriculum-driven education system and the "rush to cover" climate in schools. "Fanatically Formative" shows how you can rediscover the joy…