This study examined teachers' language use across the school year in 6th grade urban middle-school classrooms (n = 24) and investigated the influence of this classroom-based linguistic input on the reading comprehension skills of the students (n = 851; 599 language minority learners and 252 English-only) in the participating classrooms. Analysis…

"Spelling Mastery" is designed to explicitly teach spelling skills to students in grades 1 through 6. One of several Direct Instruction curricula from McGraw-Hill that precisely specify how to teach incremental content, "Spelling Mastery" includes phonemic, morphemic, and whole-word strategies. The What Works Clearinghouse…

This study analyzed the impact of classroom based reading instruction ("direct instruction") on the standardized test scores of 6th grade students as measured by the New York State English Language Arts assessment (NYS ELA). It was hypothesized that the implementation of direct instruction in reading in grade 6 would improve NYS ELA…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a Direct Instruction (DI) flashcard system paired with a math racetrack to teach basic multiplication facts to two elementary students diagnosed with learning disabilities. The study was conducted in a resource room which served intermediate aged elementary students. The school was located…

Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS), a technology-based mathematics curriculum, was piloted in the 2012-2013 school year at a Minnesota rural public middle school. The goal was to find an equivalent or more effective mathematics teaching method than traditional direct instruction. The purpose of this quantitative study was to…

Update your vocabulary practices to meet the Common Core and improve students' word knowledge! This new, clearly-structured guide shows you how. It's packed with engaging, research-based, classroom-ready strategies for teaching vocabulary. Topics include: (1) Selecting meaningful words for direct instruction; (2) Strategies for engaging students…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using a dynamic geometry environment (DGE) together with inquiry-based explorations on the sixth grade students' achievements in polygons and congruency and similarity of polygons. Two groups of sixth grade students were selected for this study: an experimental group composed of 66…

Male underachievement in language arts is a continuing problem. At the participating school for this study, girls in Grades 3-6 have continued to outscore boys by 8% to 24% in language arts. As a result, school administrators identified male students as a population that need to demonstrate growth in this subject to meet state expectations. This…

Students from three different British Columbia grade six classes were followed through two weeks of instruction on climate change. Pre, post, and follow-up surveys were used to determine the differences in knowledge gained and retained by students that received direct instruction from their science teacher, and by those who received equivalent…

This study investigated the effects of learning strategies instruction on metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive skills, and achievement. An experimental pre-test/post-test control group design was used in the research. The study was conducted in the 2008-2009 school year on 6th grade students at Orgeneral Tural and Dikmeli Primary Schools located…

"Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition"[R] is a reading and writing program for students in grades 2 through 6. It has three principal elements: story-related activities, direct instruction in reading comprehension, and integrated language arts/writing. Daily lessons provide students with an opportunity to practice comprehension…

The development of the metacognitive skill of prediction in deaf students in a middle school social studies classroom was explored in an action research study (Riel, 2006). After observation of this group of learners and assessment of current skills, a unit was developed that integrated the teaching of prediction into their study of the American…

A key learning outcome in problem-solving domains is the development of flexible knowledge, where learners know multiple strategies and adaptively choose efficient strategies. Two interventions hypothesized to improve flexibility in problem solving were experimentally evaluated: prompts to discover multiple strategies and direct instruction on…

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study conducted in fifth and sixth grade classrooms in five public schools in Guadalajara, Mexico, in June of 2009. The goal of the study was to learn about current instructional and institutional practices in a region with high migratory rates to the United States, with the express purpose of…

"MathThematics" is a mathematics curriculum for grades 6 through 8 that combines activity-based, discovery learning with direct instruction. The textbook for each grade level has eight instructional modules, with each module focused on a theme. Open-ended questions and projects are utilized throughout the curriculum to assess…