This research study focused on the effects of departmentalization in the elementary school setting. Previous research on the topic of departmentalization in elementary school settings presented inconclusive results. The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze data from self-contained and departmentalized classrooms in fourth and fifth…

Lesson study, especially when conducted with support from targeted resources, is often identified as a potentially effective means to support teacher learning. In this study, 80 school-based teams of educators, representing 80 classrooms of third- or fourth-grade students in the US, were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: lesson study…

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.…

Teacher accountability and test scores currently drive many practices within the field of education. At the same time, student populations have become increasingly diverse, causing classroom teachers to feel pressured to teach to the test. Differentiated instruction has emerged as a best practice to help maximize learning for all students.…

The purpose of this explanatory mixed method study was to assess teachers' perceptions of whole brain learning (WBL) and its effects on student success within eight southern Illinois school districts in rural and suburban areas in kindergarten through fourth grade. Quantitative data were collected from survey questions in SurveyMonkey, providing…

This study explored the influence of school funding and climate on student achievement in Illinois public elementary schools, examining de-identified individual fourth-grade students and their achievement scores during the 2018-19 academic year. Data sources included the Illinois Achievement Readiness (IAR) assessments for reading and math,…

The elementary and middle years give educators a profound opportunity to impact students' long-term outcomes: in this research, students with strong grades and attendance in elementary school were more likely to graduate high school and enroll in college than their peers. Although some Chicago Public Schools (CPS) elementary schools use CPS's…

This quantitative, causal-comparative ex-post-facto study primarily examined differences in mathematics achievement between Latinx English Learner (EL) fourth-grade students instructed in English and Spanish within one-way dual/developmental additive elementary bilingual language programs but tested in English. Additional analyses examined the…

This study utilized a quantitative research approach with a survey design to determine whether a sample of K-8 principals in the state of Illinois, that rated teachers in a set of classroom instructional videos, exhibited inter-rater reliability since they all received the Illinois state-approved training and certification for teacher evaluators.…

This study investigated the perceptions of teachers of grades three, four, and five regarding differentiated instruction in conjunction with Standards-Based Report Card as aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The purpose of this study was specifically seeking teacher perceptions on how these phenomenon interact, as well as teacher to parent…

The Early Fractions Test is a paper-pencil test designed to measure mathematics achievement of third- and fourth-grade students in the domain of fractions. The purpose, or intended use, of the Early Fractions Test is to serve as a student pretest covariate and a test of baseline equivalence in the larger study. In this report, we discuss our…

Virtual Environment for Social Information Processing (VESIP™) is a web-based social information processing assessment developed for youth in grades 3-7. VESIP was developed to address: (1) the broader assessment of social information processing in a variety of socially challenging situations; and (2) the need for technically strong and scalable…

The COVID-19 pandemic began in the late months of 2019, and by the spring of 2020, to limit transmission of the virus, schools across the globe closed and transitioned to emergency online teaching. While the move to online teaching and learning was inevitable, many learners, especially in rural and remote areas, found that online schooling had…

The academic success and language proficiency in Arabic of bilingual Arabic learners (BAL) in immersion programs have been limited by a lack of effective policies and practices that address the Arabic population's inclusive and equitable educational environment. This qualitative case study aims to provide insight into how academic leaders can…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between elementary instructional content minute allocations and academic growth. The study sought to explore the relationship between instructional content allocations, scheduling, and the use of content time on student achievement growth. Additionally, the study sought to uncover the…