This study investigated Turkish and Canadian primary school students' ways of expressing their perception of interactive art education through video conferencing and that of cultural interaction through pictorial representations. The qualitative research data were collected in the form of pictures and interviews on interactive art education along…

The quality of classroom interactions has typically been studied using aggregates of ratings over time. However, within-day ratings may contain important variability. This study investigated within-day variability using the NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development's observational data during grades 3 and 5. The first question examined…

Traditionally, K-5 students' writing has had a primarily academic aim--to help students master concepts and express themselves. Even if students take a professional writing course later, they typically do not have the opportunity to practice--over the long period of time mastery requires--the non-academic writing skills they will be required to…

The Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) Yearbook, Volume 34, includes papers presented at the annual conference, which have gone through a double peer review process. It also includes the Presidential Address and the keynote addresses given at the conference. For ALER's 55th annual meeting, the Association of Literacy…

The achievement gap between African American and White students continues to be an issue of great concern for educators. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of teacher characteristics on African American student math achievement: More specifically, the study examined years of teaching experience, campus teacher turnover, and the…

This report presents results from a new quantitative synthesis of research on the effectiveness and validity of test accommodations for English language learners (ELLs) taking large-scale assessments. In 2006, the Center on Instruction published a review of the literature on test accommodations for ELLs titled "Practical Guidelines for the…

This is a mix methods follow-up study in which we reconfirm the findings from an earlier study [Vedder-Weiss & Fortus [2011] "Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(2)", 199-216]. The findings indicate that adolescents' declining motivation to learn science, which was found in many previous studies [Galton [2009] "Moving to…

"Reading Mastery," one of several curriculum components that constitute the Scientific Research Associate's Direct Instruction curriculum, is designed to provide systematic instruction in English language reading. "Reading Mastery" is a full-year curriculum and is available in two versions, "Reading Mastery Classic"…

By employing qualitative methods, this study sought to determine the perceptions three fifth grade science teachers held about using the arts to complement science teaching in an economically distressed county in rural Appalachia and the perceived roles the arts and sciences play in the lives of those living in rural Appalachia. Each case was…

The problem is that 5th-grade students are not achieving sufficient writing scores on Georgia state-mandated writing assessments, which the researcher hypothesized was due to the teacher-directed instructional approach utilized at the school. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine whether discovery learning, a method based on the…

This action research project focuses on increasing student comprehension and achievement. The study examined the effectiveness of completing detailed item analysis of assessments for the purpose of placing students into different Language Arts classes and learning groups within those classes. Research advocates placing students of similar ability…

This small scale qualitative study investigated teachers' and students' perceptions of praise and feedback in the classroom using structured interviews and classroom observation. A case study approach was used whereby students and teachers from one school participated. Some 56 students and five teachers were interviewed individually or in small…

This study examines a problem that many mainstream teachers face today: how to successfully improve reading comprehension for English language learners (ELLs) in an English-only environment. The researcher examines both the academic and psychosocial effects of the Transactional Literature Circles (TLC) programme on a treatment group of 75 fourth…

This paper reports on a process in which program designers, classroom teachers, and students worked together to adapt the 7th grade "keepin' it REAL" prevention curriculum to a developmentally, socially, and academically appropriate curriculum for 5th graders. A Community-Based Participatory Research methodology (CBPR), combined with a 9-step…

In this article, the author considers the ways in which a White first-year teacher performs critical racial consciousness in the context of her urban fifth-grade classroom. The process of critical racial consciousness engagement is complex as well as understudied outside of preservice courses. The findings of this study fall into three…