It is imperative that schools and communities give students opportunities to participate in active citizenship and prepare them with the important skills and dispositions needed to become informed citizens. Action civics is a promising practice that puts students at the heart of civics learning by providing them with the opportunity to learn about…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to use an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach to discover generative instructional and assessment practices of teachers in the language arts classroom at a 5th and 6th grade low socioeconomic public school campus in Texas that earned five distinctions or three consecutive years. The study sought to design a…

This piece describes how a 5th grade language arts teacher employed technology to create and sustain a metaphorical, virtual, and physical figured world in her class by means of a web site called "The Hive Society." This world positioned students as intellectuals and scholars, and explored how Ms. Smith integrated 21st Century…

Little is known empirically about intraclass correlations (ICCs) for multisite cluster randomized trial (MSCRT) designs, particularly in science education. In this study, ICCs suitable for science achievement studies using a three-level (students in schools in districts) MSCRT design that block on district are estimated and examined. Estimates of…

"Saxon Math," published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is a core curriculum for students in grades K-5. A distinguishing feature of the curriculum is its use of an incremental approach for instruction and assessment. This approach limits the amount of new math content delivered to students each day and allows time for daily practice. New…

A cluster-randomized trial (CRT) relies on random assignment of intact clusters to treatment conditions, such as classrooms or schools (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002). One specific type of CRT, a multi-site CRT (MSCRT), is commonly employed in educational research and evaluation studies (Spybrook & Raudenbush, 2009; Spybrook, 2014; Bloom,…

This paper summarizes the historical and legislative backgrounds leading to statewide testing of health-related physical fitness in Texas children grades 3-12 as mandated by Texas Senate Bill 530. The rationale and goals for an associated research project (the Texas Youth Fitness Study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) to evaluate…

Considering a Latin@ fifth-grade dual-language classroom (Spanish/English) as a community of practice, this paper explores how a bilingual teacher and her bilingual students, as members of such community, utilize translanguaging (García, 2009) as a learning and teaching tool in social studies and science classes. In this particular classroom, the…

"Investigations in Number, Data, and Space"[R], published by Pearson Scott Foresman, is an activity-based K-5 mathematics curriculum designed to help students understand number and operations, geometry, data, measurement, and early algebra. Each instructional unit focuses on a particular content area and lasts from two to five-and-a-half…

"Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics" is a core mathematics curriculum for students in prekindergarten through grade 6. The program aims to improve students' understanding of key math concepts through problem-solving instruction, hands-on activities, and math problems that involve reading and writing. The curriculum…

This quasi-experimental mixed methods study examined the use of e-readers during guided reading instruction and its impact on 5th grade students' reading motivation, attitude toward reading, and reading comprehension. For 10 weeks, 19 students received guided reading instruction by means of the traditional paper/text format, while 16 students…

The purpose of this two-phase mixed-methods study was to describe the relationship of the ratio of the number of minutes of instructional classroom time to the number of minutes of scheduled unstructured recess time and the reading scores of fourth- and fifth-grade students in Title I schools in the state of Texas. Further, the beliefs of teachers…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) has updated its 2009 intervention report for SuccessMaker®, a set of computer-based courses designed to supplement regular K-8 reading instruction. The program is designed to improve skills in areas such as concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and…

This ethnographic study reports on one elementary literacy coach's response to high-stakes testing and her approach to support third- through fifth-grade teachers in a Title I school in Texas. Sources of data included field notes and observations of classes and meetings, audio/video recordings, and transcribed interviews. The findings illustrate…

For decades scholars have agreed that the United States is becoming a more racially and ethnically diverse society. It is projected that the U.S. will become a majority-minority nation for the first time in 2043. By 2060, people of color will consist of 57% of the total population. Given this trend, it is hardly surprising that this social…