This study is a language policy ethnography of the families of four Latina fifth-grade students at a TWBE elementary school as they transition to middle school. Parents and their children jointly acted as policy agents as they navigated the school district's open enrollment system and, through their choices, co-created policy. Situated within…

This study was conducted to explore US elementary teachers' perceptions of their experiences using rubrics as a tool for student self-assessment and metacognition (assessment for learning) to improve elementary students' achievement and their instructional decision-making at a private American elementary school in South Florida. The constructivist…

Students do their best work when they have a sense of agency around science and science learning. Scientific practices like argumentation and critique are areas in which students' agency is especially visible, as they require many points of decision-making and evaluation. While argumentation and critique are fundamental practices in both classroom…

The researcher explored the impact of a student voice initiative (SVI), the Student Ambassador Council (SAC), on the social-emotional competencies (SECs) of middle school, 5th-8th grades students. Drawing upon the principles of youth empowerment, more specifically Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), and social-emotional learning (SEL), the…

Parents compare the costs of sending their children to private Christian schools with the benefits of their children attending the schools. Christian school leaders benefit from understanding the factors influencing parents' decisions to enroll their children in Christian private schools. In this qualitative study, the researcher interviewed nine…

Research has suggested that measures of both general classroom observational tools (Classroom Organization and Teacher Emotional/Instructional Support) and content-specific observational tools (Ambitious Math Instruction and Errors and Imprecision) are related to K-6 student math achievement and therefore there is encouragement to use both types…

Students with emotional behavioral disorders often exhibit comorbid academic and behavior deficits and benefit from strategies that address those needs. Writing can be significantly difficult for students with EBD due to the complex requirements when completing written activities. Chapter 1 consists of two research to practice papers discussing…

This ethnographic case study investigated literacy instruction and intervention practices within a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework in upper elementary school. Multi-Tiered Systems of Support has been proposed as a system of schoolwide reform aimed to support students' academic and social-emotional development and is often used…

Boy participation in public school choirs is disproportionately low compared to that of girls in the United States (Elpus, 2015; Elpus & Abril, 2011; Freer 2007, 2010). Participation is even lower for African American boys. Few studies have examined the causes and perceptions of African American boys regarding their participation in elementary…

Administrators at a Southeastern elementary school eliminated single-sex instructional grouping in 5th-grade classes without a proper analysis of all available data and later reflected upon whether this instructional model should be revived. Because data-based decisions may positively improve teaching and learning for all stakeholders, the purpose…

As caseloads for special education teachers continue to rise and as more students with disabilities enter the regular education setting (U.S. Department of Education, 2016), the need for co-teaching, in which a special education teacher and regular education teacher work together in one classroom to meet all students' needs, is significant.…

This qualitative case study explored the writing assessment practices of upper elementary ELA teachers and factors that influenced their decision making when assessing student writing. Effective assessment practices are important because these practices can aid teachers in identifying student needs, designing tailored writing instruction, and…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how special education teachers describe selecting and applying differentiated instructional strategies for students with mild, moderate, to severe disabilities in self-contained classrooms within a school district in Arizona. Jean Piaget's social constructivism theory and Carol Ann…

An increasing number of parents are opting-out their children from high-stakes. Accountability systems in education have used students' test scores to measure student learning, teacher effectiveness, and school district performance. Students who are opted-out of high-stakes tests are not being evaluated by the state tests, making their level of…

This three-article dissertation examined how policy choices in three key policy areas -- initial enrollment, service provision, and reclassification -- impact English learner (EL)-classified students. The first article examined the national landscape of state statutes, regulations, and state education agencies' (SEA) guidance that support…