The problem of disproportionality in special education is complex and requires an investigation of multiple factors related to racial, ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, school context, and family characteristics. Researchers have debated whether language minority (LM) students are under or overrepresented in special education, but…

There have been recent calls to support student agency in the field of literacy. Agency, which we define in the context of schooling, is a multidimensional construct where individuals exert influence and create opportunities in the learning context through intentions, decisions, and actions. We propose highlighting agency as an interconnected…

Recent evidence points to the early elementary grades as a pivotal point for the development of science learning trajectories and achievement gaps. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, this study estimates the degree to which time spent on science and the breadth of science topics/skills covered predict science achievement in…

Recent research has indicated that science-based achievement gaps open early in children's educational careers and are explained largely by malleable factors. Two potentially important variables to consider include children's executive function (EF) and learning-related behaviors exhibited in the classroom. These variables have been identified as…

A disproportionate number of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are below grade level in reading. This trend may be due in part to characteristics of the disability, but it may also reflect lack of access to the instructional conditions needed for success in beginning reading. In this study, we surveyed special education teachers to…

This study employed purposive sampling across 20 SE Idaho schools to explore PK-3 educators' perceptions regarding the value and importance of creativity education in the early childhood education setting (PK-3). A survey instrument and semi-structured interview protocol were developed for use. Surveys were distributed by mail and through on-site…

This study examined children's trajectories of mathematics and reading achievements from kindergarten to eighth grade along with the gender differences in these trajectories. A total of 8503 participants drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) formed the sample of the study. The results of the latent growth…

By the time girls are second graders, they may be exhibiting negative attitudes toward math (Cvencek, Meltzoff, & Greenwald, 2011). McFarland, Benson and McFarland (2011) examined girls' math achievement in single-gender and mixed-gender classrooms and suggest that single-gendered formats can help females. In this study, we compare the math…

In the present study, we examined the extent to which the responses of teachers and mothers toward a particular child are similar in respect to their instructional support and affect, and whether child characteristics predict these responses. The data of 373 Finnish child-teacher-mother triads (178 girls, 195 boys) were analysed. Teachers and…

The Best Practice in Mathematics Education project was funded by the Australian Office of the Chief Scientist, to examine promotion of students' learning, engagement and aspirations in this core learning domain. We draw upon cross-sectional survey data from 551 students in grades three to nine to examine how students' mathematics engagement…

One-hundred-fourteen kindergarten through third-grade teachers from seven different schools were surveyed using "The Survey of Preparedness and Knowledge of Language Structure Related to Teaching Reading to Struggling Students." The purpose was to compare their definitions and application knowledge of language structure, phonics, and…

Science lessons using inquiry only or history of science with inquiry were used for explicit reflective nature of science (NOS) instruction for second-, third-, and fourth-grade students randomly assigned to receive one of the treatments. Students in both groups improved in their understanding of creative NOS, tentative NOS, empirical NOS, and…

This i3 scale-up study examined the implementation and effectiveness of a 3-year literacy intervention developed by the Children's Literacy Initiative (CLI). The study was a school-level cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in 55 elementary schools from four states. Implementation results showed a high level of fidelity of intervention…

There is strong theoretical support for oral reading fluency (ORF) as an essential building block of reading proficiency. The current and standard ORF assessment procedure requires that students read aloud a grade-level passage (˜ 250 words) in a one-to-one administration, with the number of words read correctly in 60 seconds constituting their…

Positive youth development (PYD) deserves more empirical attention, particularly among children of diverse racial-ethnic backgrounds. Given the need among families for monitoring and supervision during out-of-school time, community-based afterschool is a potentially promotive ecological setting. This study explores the quality of afterschool…