Instructional games fluctuate between "restricted play" and "free play." Highly structured games with lots of corrective feedback can be less engaging, whereas unstructured games with minimal feedback can lead to frustration. This mixed methods, formative evaluation study investigated how designers might find the balance between too much and too…

This study assessed the outcomes of adapting the culturally-grounded, middle school, substance-use prevention intervention, "keepin' it REAL" ("kiR"), to target elementary school students and to address acculturation. At the beginning of 5th grade, 29 schools were randomly assigned to conditions obtained by crossing grade of implementation (5th,…

This chapter argues that for the science of learning to become a fully "human" science, it needs to move from viewing learning from an exogenous perspective to an endogenous one. Taken from Latin, the term "endogenous" translates roughly to "from within," and in the meaning the author gives to it here, it refers to a perspective on learning from…

Stereotype threat has been proposed as 1 potential explanation for the gender difference in standardized mathematics test performance among high-performing students. At present, it is not entirely clear how susceptibility to stereotype threat develops, as empirical evidence for stereotype threat effects across the school years is inconsistent. In…

Objective. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the self-efficacy for healthy eating and physical activity measure (SE-HEPA) for preadolescents. Method. The reliability of the measure was examined to determine if the internal consistency of the measure was adequate (i.e., [alpha]s greater than 0.70). Next, in an…

Drawing on early research on parental involvement and its effect on children's school functioning, it was hypothesized in this study that parents' educational involvement is positively related to two indicators of school functioning: academic self-competence and academic achievement. However, in light of research on the distinction between…

Since the beginning of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) program in the Study School District there has not been an evaluation of its effectiveness in reducing student discipline referrals and student suspensions and its success in promoting a positive learning environment leading to improved academic achievement. This study…

Middle school students struggle to solve mathematical word problems and mathematics teachers require researched based strategies to use when instructing students. Drawing a picture or representation is a strategy that students frequently use, and the purpose of this study was to examine the effects that learner-generated drawing has on a student's…

In 2007, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute collaborated on "The Proficiency Illusion," a study that illustrated the issues created by having each state set its own standards for what constitutes student proficiency for reading and mathematics tests, while holding all states to the same…

This article features Smokey Road Middle School, a Title I school serving 850 middle level students in grades 6-8. The school is located on the outskirts of Newnan, Georgia, a historic city of approximately 27,000 residents. The growth and development of the Coweta County School District is largely attributed to its close proximity to Atlanta. In…

This research aimed at identifying unique effects of reading motivation on reading performance when controlling for cognitive skills, familial, and demographic background. We drew upon a longitudinal sample of N = 1508 secondary school students from 5th to 8th grade. Two types of intrinsic reading motivation (reading enjoyment, reading for…

Summer setback, which is defined as a decline in academic achievement over the summer months, occurs in many academic areas but seems especially problematic in reading. We assessed students from a midwestern parochial school serving predominantly students from a low--socioeconomic status background for their reading achievement before they left…

This study explored the performance of seventh-grade students with and without disabilities, educated in inclusive mathematics classes, on a mathematics assessment aligned to state standards with graphing calculators as an accommodation. The study used random assignment of classes to condition with students nested in classes. Students did not use…

Florida requires that students who do not meet grade-level reading proficiency standards on the end-of-year state assessment (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, FCAT) receive intensive reading intervention. With the stakes so high, teachers and principals are interested in using screening or diagnostic assessments to identify students with a…

Observational methods are increasingly being used in classrooms to evaluate the quality of teaching. Operational procedures for observing teachers are somewhat arbitrary in existing measures and vary across different instruments. To study the effect of different observation procedures on score reliability and validity, we conducted an experimental…