Scholars and practitioners have called for personalized and widely accessible professional development (PD) for teachers. Yet, a long-standing tension between customizing support and increasing access to such support has hindered the scale-up of high-quality PD for individual teachers. This study addresses this challenge by developing a…

On average, Florida students earn only half of the points possible in the statistics content area of the state's annual mathematics assessment. Leaders in Broward County Public Schools, a large, diverse, urban school district, viewed changes to statistics curriculum and instruction as one way to address this issue. This study randomly assigned 40…

Learning fractions is a critical step in children's mathematical development. However, many children struggle with learning fractions, especially fraction arithmetic. In this article, we propose a general framework for integrating understanding of individual fractions and fraction arithmetic, and we use the framework to generate interventions…

Learning fractions is a critical step in children's mathematical development. However, many children struggle with learning fractions, especially fraction arithmetic. In this article, we propose a general framework for integrating understanding of individual fractions and fraction arithmetic, and we use the framework to generate interventions…

Middle school is a cornerstone for success in high school. However, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement of adolescents often decline as they transition from elementary to middle school, resulting in lower school grades and more challenging behaviors, especially for adolescents with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the National Institute for School Leadership's (NISL's) Executive Development Program (EDP) and paired leadership coaching as implemented in three states, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation (i3) grant program. NISL's Executive Development Program (EDP) is a…

Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) improve student behavior. Yet, teachers may not receive adequate training to implement PBIS at the classroom level. This study evaluated class-wide function-related intervention teams (CW-FIT) as a classroom-level behavior management system to determine whether the behavior of middle school…

The current study investigated the effectiveness of three distinct educational technologies--two game-based applications (From Here to There and DragonBox 12+) and two modes of online problem sets in ASSISTments (an Immediate Feedback condition and an Active Control condition with no immediate feedback) on Grade 7 students' algebraic knowledge.…

Seventh- and 8th-grade students in a within-teacher randomized control study read from visual-syntactic formatted text for 44 min per week over the course of 1 year. On the annual state assessment, we found small statistically significant improvements on the overall English Language Arts scaled score (ES = 0.05, p < 0.05) and the writing…

During the transition from the elementary to middle grades, young adolescents may become increasingly vulnerable for emotional and behavioral problems. Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams for middle level school (CW-FIT MS), the independent variable examined in this study, was developed to improve teaching and learning by fostering…

Classroom management is commonly challenging in middle schools. Class-wide function-related intervention teams (CW-FIT) is a multitiered intervention designed to decrease problem behaviors at the classroom level. It is comprises evidence-based practices such as teaching classroom expectations, increasing teacher praise, and using positive…

Three central Virginia school districts and engineering education researchers at the University of Virginia were awarded an Investing in Innovation development grant to design, implement, test, and nationally disseminate a project-based engineering curriculum for middle school students. Referred to as invention kits, the curriculum is developed to…

The effectiveness of an experimental middle school fraction intervention was evaluated. The intervention was centered on the number line and incorporated key principles from the science of learning. Sixth graders (N = 51) who struggled with fraction concepts were randomly assigned at the student level to the experimental intervention (n = 28) or…

Appropriate and effective classroom management skills are critical in supporting students' academic, social, and behavior development in schools; however, teachers often cite needing help with classroom management as their greatest need. Given this concern, school psychologists need effective and efficient strategies to offer to teachers and…

Middle school special education teachers often express concern about challenging student behavior. Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT), a behavior management program based on school-wide positive behavior support, have been effective in elementary general education classrooms. The present study, the first to apply it in a…