The importance of formative assessment in facilitating student learning has been well established in the literature. However, defining and implementing formative assessment in classroom settings is a rather complicated task. The aim of this study is to explore formative assessment, as implemented in primary classrooms in Cyprus, and develop a…

Donnelly, Idaho, is a small town surrounded by private ranches and Forest Service property. Through the center of Donnelly runs Boulder Creek, a small tributary feeding into Cascade Lake Reservoir. Boulder Creek originates from a mountain lake north of Donnelly. Since 1994 it has been listed as "impaired" by the Environmental Protection…

This technical report provides detailed information regarding the technical, statistical, and measurement attributes of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) for the Grades 3-8 Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics 2016 Operational Tests. This report includes information about test content and test development, item (i.e.,…

Researchers often presume that it is better to use administrative data from grades 4 and 5 than data from grades 6 through 8 for conducting research on teacher effectiveness that uses value-added models because (1) elementary school teachers teach all subjects to their students in self-contained classrooms and (2) classrooms are more homogenous at…

Background: In elementary grades, comprehensive health education curricula have demonstrated effectiveness in addressing singular health issues. The Michigan Model for Health (MMH) was implemented and evaluated to determine its impact on nutrition, physical fitness, and safety knowledge and skills. Methods: Schools (N = 52) were randomly assigned…

This quantitative causal comparative study looked to see if there was a relationship between childhood obesity and student achievement. Because of the many conflicting results in the research available, it was not known if there was a relationship between childhood obesity and student achievement among inner-city middle school students in a school…

With crosscutting concepts such as stability and change in the "Next Generation Science Standards," this article was written for those who have wondered how to teach these concepts in a way that is relevant to students. In this investigation, students ask the question, "Why is the pond dirty?" As students investigate the health…

Educational outcomes across multiple countries show large gaps between children's grade level curricular expectations and the actual learning levels of children. This paper discusses findings from an early grades literacy study and attempts to explore factors that potentially improve the English language learning results of Grades 3 and 4 learners…

Improving systematic use of student data to inform the work of teachers, schools, and districts has become a hot topic in education reform. Learning Forward's Standards for Professional Learning stress better use of data, and particularly student performance data, within an integrated approach to improving practice. While better use of data by…

This technical report provides detailed information regarding the technical, statistical, and measurement attributes of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) for the Grades 3-8 Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics 2015 Operational Tests. This report includes information about test content and test development, item (i.e.,…

This qualitative study examined the amount of time that fourth and fifth grade teachers devoted to literacy instruction within the time allotted to them within the daily literacy block. Prior research of the literacy block focused largely on primary grades (Allington, McGill-Franzen et a1.,2010; Cunningham & Allington, 2003; Morrow, 1992);…

The ability to write well is more important today than ever to prepare students for success in school and later in the 21st century global workplace. When children are able to express their knowledge and their beliefs in writing they experience the joy and power of making an impact on the world and reaching to their full potential. Children with…

Oranges, flying disks, pool noodles, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe may seem like items discarded after a Rube Goldberg experiment, but in fact, these objects were used in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). This article describes a project in which The Center of Ocean Sciences Education Excellence SouthEast (COSEE SE)…

This study aims to evaluate a differentiation approach that was recently developed to teach mathematics to gifted middle school students in terms of its practice by teachers by studying the effect of the approach on achievement among both gifted and non-gifted students. From mixed research methods, the study used an explanatory design. It was…

The concept of "implementation fidelity" is broadly used to capture the extent to which an intervention is executed as intended by the designers of the intervention (Century, Rudnick, & Freeman, 2010; Huntley, 2005, McNaught, Tarr, & Sears, 2010, Munter, 2010). Though implementation fidelity instruments are often used to assess…