Latino families highly value education and are committed to their children's educational success; however, Latino students often experience educational challenges. Well-designed family involvement programs can encourage Latino families, especially new immigrants or monolingual Spanish-speakers, to increase their involvement resulting in positive…

Abydos is a professional development program that includes a three-week writing institute. It provides school districts with teachers who, after a year of implementation and another year of professional development, can train other teachers, thus providing ongoing staff development. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) implemented Abydos…

Budget constraints, political will, narrowed curricula, and a continued emphasis on high-stakes testing in public schools have resulted in a continued loss of instruction in fine arts. Fine arts instruction is known to improve student achievement, but the contribution to achievement in the elementary schools after accounting for demographic…

The purpose of this study was to provide professional development in vocabulary instructional practices and analyze the impact on student achievement. This quasi-experimental study utilized the PLC to curriculum map English/Language Arts state academic vocabulary words in K-4 into each of the four nine-weeks. The first through fourth grade…

In 2010, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Education Program has established the Deeper Learning Initiative, which focuses on students' development of deeper learning skills (i.e., the mastery of core academic content, critical-thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and "learn-how-to-learn" skills). Two test…

This Annual Service Plan Report provides data and discusses the results related to measures in the Ministry of Education 2014/15-2016/17 Service Plan. The Ministry of Education operates in accordance with the Taxpayer Accountability Principles. Work within the Ministry is driven by the Minister's Mandate letter, aligning both with government's…

The purpose of the study was to evaluate two approaches to teaching spelling and vocabulary to second through fourth graders in two different urban school systems to determine if one program revealed greater growth scores on Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) reading components. Research question1 posited: Does Word Study, a…

This quantitative study explored the academic progress of at-risk students in English language arts (ELA) when they were given differentiated instruction (DI) and universally designed curriculum (UDC) to address their academic needs. The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a significant change in passing rates on the California…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected demographic characteristics on the reading ability of fourth-grade students in Louisiana. The dependent variable for this study was reading ability of fourth-grade students. Independent variables were demographic characteristics as measured by reading achievement (overall…

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) self-ratings and student Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores. The study assessed the relationship between LoTi ratings and TAKS scores of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students as reported in student records at Alamo Heights Independent School…

Using a causal-comparative research design, this study investigated the effectiveness of Differentiated Instruction Support Inclusion Services on fifth grade regular education and gifted students' Reading/Language Arts achievement. The study analyzed and compared the achievement of the regular education students who received no inclusion support…

There are a limited number of studies that examine the predictors of academic success in charter schools (Lawton, 2009). This study utilized a multiple regression analysis to identify the best predictors of academic success in language arts literacy (LAL) and math on state assessments in New Jersey charter schools. This study included four student…

With increased pressures on school districts to enhance student achievement, administrators are implementing professional learning communities (PLCs) as one method to improve student performance (DuFour & Eaker, 1998, Hord, 1997, Thompson, Gregg, & Niska, 2004). Educators working within a PLC experience a shared ideology, supportive…

This study examines the impact of instrumental music study and group chess lessons on the standardized test scores of suburban elementary public school students (grades three through five) in Levittown, New York. The study divides the students into the following groups and compares the standardized test scores of each: a) instrumental music…

The Common Core State Standards produce a need to understand how digital tools can support literacy instruction. The purpose of this case study was to explore how a language arts teacher's integration of computers and iPads empowered and constrained her and the resulting classroom instruction. Constraining factors included (a) inadequate…