Elementary students' literacy skills are decreasing nationwide ("The Nation's Report Card," 2019). This is concerning because as literacy skills slip, the literacy demands for American workers are steadily increasing (OECD, 2013). Unfortunately, adding to the situation is the fact that students' attitudes towards reading are worsening…

This applied dissertation was designed to determine the effectiveness of the Middle School Teacher Training Intervention on the application of culturally relevant instruction and classroom management instructions by teachers in a Title I middle school in the southeastern United States. This school lacked culturally relevant instruction and…

This research study investigates the impact of the rapid transition from paper-based to online administration of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams on student performance in a South Texas school district. The transition, mandated by House Bill 3261, presented Texas public schools with a tight timeline for adapting…

The purpose of this study is to determine if there was a difference in the level of student achievement among sixth-grade students who were eligible for entitlement services under Individuals Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) who received instruction using technology assisted techniques versus those who…

In 1967, Martin Luther King affirmed, "In elementary schools, Negroes lag one to three years behind Whites, and their segregated schools received substantially less money per student than do the White schools." (as cited in Startz, 2020, para. 1) Two years prior, the main intent of the ESEA of 1965, which also created Title I, had been…

Students classified as English learners (EL) are a protected class of students with core legal rights. There are clear opportunities to strengthen education policies and practices to improve opportunities and outcomes for EL-classified students. This dissertation is comprised of three studies examining key issues in EL education with the goal of…

Professional development is a term researched, defined, and developed for decades. The term professional development is a critical component to the effectiveness of teacher practice and implementation of teacher resources that can ultimately affect student achievement. As professional development evolves, research on this topic centers on changes…

Access to general education is a federal mandate for all students but a major challenge in middle schools. The problem addressed in this study is a lack of access to the general education curriculum in the middle grades 6th-8th. To solve this problem, the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework was created to provide instructional design…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact a sustained rotational blended learning model on the academic achievement on Title I K-8 elementary school students at a Catholic school in the areas of reading comprehension and mathematics as measured with standardized assessments, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. In response to the first…

The purpose of this study was to determine if Appreciative Inquiry affects assessment scores of middle school students, grades 6-8. The data used in this study was collected from a cohort of students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic school shutdowns with inconsistent return to structured, continuous in school routines. The data used in this study…

Although Individual Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) has mandated states to collect and analyze data to determine if special education disproportionality is occurring within the local education agencies (LEAs), student of color continue to be disproportionately represented in special education programs. Historical trend data revealed that…

Recognition of the need for students with disabilities to receive free and appropriate education was brought to the forefront with the passage of Public Law 93 - 112, Rehabilitation Act in 1973. In 1975 Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was enacted requiring all schools to develop and provide a free, appropriate…

National and state assessment data indicate that Hispanic students in American schools lag behind their peers in reading. Schools are struggling to meet the educational challenges of the Hispanic subgroup of students. Effective strategies and intervention tools need to be determined. Though the issue has been identified and schools under the…

Although the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 created new instructional intervention practices, reading and writing scores across K-12 and postsecondary levels continue to reflect stagnant achievement outcomes. The research questions in this study concerned the effect of a northern Michigan middle school language arts…

The introduction of No Child Left Behind increased performance expectations for students across the United States and compelled teachers to focus on standardized assessments instead of frequent formative assessments to monitor instruction and promote student learning. Common formative assessments (CFAs) help teachers align curriculum, assessment,…