Early onset of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems is associated with persistent and more severe academic, social, and mental health challenges later in life. Understanding the factors that increase children's risk of developing these behavior problems prior to the start of formal school is important for preventing their emergence…

The early development of spatial reasoning skills has been linked to future success in mathematics (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009), but research to date has mainly focused on the development of these skills within classroom settings rather than at home. The home environment is often the first place students are exposed to, and develop, early…

Each year, SC TEACHER administers the SC Teacher Exit Survey to public K-12 classroom teachers who are not renewing their teaching contracts. The survey is designed to offer insights into how working conditions and other factors relate to teachers' decisions to either teach in another school district or leave the classroom. This report highlights…

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on education. Science teaching, in particular, has faced specific challenges given the field's emphasis on high-quality instruction that has students "do" science collaboratively rather than just read about it or hear about it in a lecture. This brief provides: (1) a summary of data collected…

This study proposes a two-stage causal modeling with instrumental variables to mitigate selection bias, provide correct standard error estimates, and address nonnormal and missing data issues simultaneously. Bayesian methods are used for model estimation. Robust methods with Student's "t" distributions are used to account for nonnormal…

Collecting data on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer-plus (LGBTQ+) issues and the experiences of LGBTQ+ young people is essential both for enforcing civil rights protections and advancing racial, gender, and disability justice outcomes in K-12 education systems across the country. The absence of this data: (1) Is a barrier to full…

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort (2010-2011), this study is the first to investigate predictors of kindergarten science achievement and growth across elementary school--English language proficiency (ELP), executive functioning, math and reading achievement, parent-engaged science and math activities, and classroom…

Kindergarten is emphasized as a critical first entry into the education system, as politicians and pundits believe kindergartners' success can lead to later academic achievement. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of kindergarten school readiness data should consider how it is measured and how that affects learning. Using the Early Childhood…

Working memory is an essential mechanism in the cognitive learning process. However, its definitions and mechanisms remain a topic of debate. Miller-Cotto and Byrnes ("Journal of Educational Psychology," "112"(5), 1074-1084, 2020) reported a comparison of three models of working memory to determine which best accounted for data…

Using the data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), this paper proposes to theoretically redefine and empirically capture the concept of emotional capital as it applies to students, employing five components (engagement, school belonging, grit, peer social support, and life satisfaction). The…

Teachers face many barriers to climate change education, including access to resources. The U.S. national parks are an informal education sector that offers a variety of climate change educational resources (CCER). However, there are gaps in understanding teachers' use of these resources. This explanatory sequential mixed-method study aimed to…

This study examines the associations between class size, teacher characteristics, and children's academic achievement in mathematics, reading, and science using a recent, large-scale, longitudinal dataset. Individual fixed effects models, which control for observed and unobserved time-invariant student variables, were employed to conduct analysis…

School counselors are essential staff in an education setting, contributing to student success by delivering critical services when implementing a comprehensive school counseling program. The study examined the predictive relationships of school counselors' level of grit and mindset with their activities performed in programmatic service delivery.…

The Tennessee Department of Education's office of coordinated school health (CSH) works with every school district in the state to address all aspects of student health, with a special emphasis on reducing Tennessee's childhood obesity rates. Encouraging adequate physical activity and providing physical education for all students are the central…

The global COVID-19 pandemic has passed. This process required greater attention and care to the specifics of the organization of distance learning and the resolution of problems that arose for participants in the educational process. By late 2021 face-to-face teaching was returning but Russian aggression against Ukraine interrupted the…