Research shows that children's reading proficiency levels in the early grades positively correlate with students' future academic achievement. This study provides the first-ever analysis of reading achievement trajectories for a cohort of students in grades 3 to 5 in 2014-17 in Hawaii schools. Hawaii serves a diverse student population whose…

This paper will demonstrate how we used state-level longitudinal data to model reading growth trajectories. Using data from large scale assessments that were vertically linked across grades in Hawaii, we utilized a multilevel regression framework to develop growth models to study students' reading performance trajectories during their elementary…

Career development is a lifelong process that begins in childhood and has been linked to student success in other aspects of their development in childhood and adulthood (Blackhurst, Auger, & Wahl, 2003). This article presents a fifth-grade technology-based career development curriculum that engages students in a 10-week long exploration of…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how general education teachers of grades K-6 describe their experiences modeling social acceptance of students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. The overarching research question was as follows: How do general education teachers of grades K-6 describe their experiences…

This report describes the use of a Learning Progression Framework (LPF) to support the Student Learning Objectives (SLO) process. The report highlights a few common threats we currently see in the SLO process implemented at various states and districts, and offers the LPF as a possible solution for addressing these threats. This report was…

The Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA) brings significant changes as well as opportunities for schools to improve their students' academic outcomes. One proposed regulation is for states to analyze the performance of student subgroups separately in order to show how states are levelling the playing field over time to ensure educational equity. This…

The American legislation of No Child Left Behind resulted in a boom in scripted, prepackaged curricula for improving student outcomes. At the same time, greater attention to the needs of diverse populations also took prominence, resulting in a new area of study, culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy. The current view is that scripted curriculum…

When the author was first introduced to philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i, it made her cringe. She wasn't sure what it was all about, but it reminded her of a miserable past experience of sitting in a circle. Sitting in circles is the sort of activity that she tries to avoid in life. She was told that Dr. Thomas Jackson, aka Dr. J, would guide…

Several social-emotional learning (SEL) or social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs have been shown to be effective at improving SEL/SECD skills, and some have also provided evidence of effectiveness in improving student behavior and academic achievement (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). Very few SEL…

Due to budget shortfalls, teacher furloughs were imposed in 2009 in Hawaii Public Schools. The furloughs resulted in a 2009-2010 school year of 167 days as opposed to the regular school year of 180 days. The purpose of this causal-comparative study with a pretest-posttest design was to examine the found effects of those furloughs on academic…

Objective: Child sexual abuse is a significant health problem with potential long-term consequences for victims. Therefore, prevention and education programs are critical. This preliminary study evaluates changes in children’s knowledge of sexual abuse using a school-based train-the-trainer curriculum. Emphasis was placed on developing a…

Eliminating inequity in public education is a central goal of the No Child left Behind (NCLB) act. Controlling for 3rd-grade performance, the impact of English language learner (ELL) status, socioeconomic status (SES), and special education (SPED) status on a cohort's reading performance was investigated from elementary to high school through a…

This study evaluates the effects of an interdisciplinary standards-based school garden-based education program on student learning. The objective of the program is to help students learn to be self-directed learners, community contributors, complex thinkers, quality producers, effective communicators, and effective/ethical users of technology. For…

Major federal education initiatives, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, have highlighted the importance of teacher quality in improving student achievement. The federal government has committed significant funding and resources to professional development programs for teachers through Title II of the Act and other initiatives. There…

This is the first examination of exemplary evaluation under a new editorial approach, in which the authors are attempting not only to report how the evaluation was conducted and to explain the rationale for design and implementation but also to examine the conditions, events, or actions that might have contributed to its exemplary status. This…