Through educational connoisseurship and criticism, this study explores how labels based on standardized student growth affect a rural school in Colorado. While the educators express intentions to help their students to demonstrate academic growth and achievement, they also have concerns that focusing on growth might compromise the well being of…

Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their environment, and the best place to see these interactions is outside in natural habitats. Pillbugs (roly-polies) provide an excellent opportunity for students to learn ecological concepts through inquiry. Because of their fascinating behaviors, pillbugs are ideal organisms to introduce…

By taking an intersectional and emic view to studying a group of African American girls in a third-grade class, we attempted to capture the complexity of mathematics learning for these girls. Traditionally, children's social networks in school are framed as external to mathematics content learning. Our preliminary analyses of student interviews…

Background: A disparity in smoking behavior exists between the general and minority populations residing in Taiwan's mountainous areas. This study analyzed individual and environmental factors associated with children's smoking behavior in these areas of Taiwan. Methods: In this school-based study, data on smoking behavior and related factors for…

With increased academic and social challenges at school, middle childhood can be a particularly stressful time. The present study explored how a sample of children from a supportive learning environment interpreted, experienced and reported coping with everyday stress at school. Using a phenomenological approach, third graders attending an…

In this article the author describes how she teaches third and sixth grade classes about the six essential elements of geography at the beginning of each school year. The six elements organize the eighteen national standards and include: the world in spatial terms, places and regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society, and…

Emotional skills underpin what teachers do. However, relatively few studies have investigated whether these skills can be formally learnt by teachers and the benefits enhancing teachers' social-emotional skills may have on students. The current research aimed to develop an intervention to improve teachers' social-emotional skills in the classroom…

The present study investigated the role of early stimulation in the home and child language delays in the emergence of depressive symptoms. Data were from a longitudinal study of at-risk children in Hawaii (n = 587). Low learning stimulation in the home at age 3 and language delays in first grade both significantly increased risk for child…

Peer influence and social interactions can give rise to spillover effects in which the exposure of one individual may affect outcomes of other individuals. Even if the intervention under study occurs at the group or cluster level as in group-randomized trials, spillover effects can occur when the mediator of interest is measured at a lower level…

In response to chronically low gifted identification rates in the majority of elementary schools among Black and Hispanic/Latino students, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) launched Nurturing for a Bright Tomorrow (NBT) in Fall 2014. NBT was a multicomponent curricular enhancement program designed to train early elementary school…

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the relationship between the components of school climate and leadership behaviors on student achievement in an urban school district in the mid-atlantic region. School climate and leadership behaviors for the participating school districts was determined by the School Climate Survey (Corner…

Place-based environmental education draws on childhood experiences in nature that foster place-conscious connections to the local bioregion, and intentionally cultivate children's relationships with nature on a trajectory toward increased environmental literacy. Even though opportunities for children to bond with the local natural environment are…

Objective: Less than half of young people in the USA are meeting the daily physical activity requirements of at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity. A mixed-methods pilot feasibility assessment of "Move it Move it!" was conducted in the Spring of 2014 to assess the impact of a before-school physical activity…

Each year, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) updates its continuing, five-year comprehensive strategic plan for elementary and secondary education, per the Education Reform and Accountability Act of 2004. ISBE's Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Elementary and Secondary Education provides a comprehensive review of how the agency…

Accountability in education has prompted policy makers and practitioners to focus on data use for instructional and organizational decision-making. The popular media have seized on Value Added (VA) measures as a key type of data use for reforming U.S. schools. Among education researchers, however, there are both critics and proponents. We examined…