This study examines Chinese immigrant parents' educational involvement beliefs and practices during their children's transition to kindergarten in the United States. Interviews were conducted with 10 Chinese immigrant parents in an area with a small Chinese population and limited ethnic resources. Three main themes emerged. First, limited English…

Mathematical modeling is a high-leverage topic; it is critical to students' participation in STEM education and supports civic engagement. Until recently, research on modeling at the elementary level has been underemphasized, particularly research on supports and challenges for teachers who engage in designing authentic modeling tasks. In this…

Little systematic attention has been paid toward belonging for young children, particularly in contexts of diversity that are regularly part of school settings. Two-Way immersion (TWI) programs provide one educational context ideally suited for exploring the constructs of belonging and inclusion in linguistically and culturally diverse settings.…

This paper shares reflections and stories from a collaborative design process between the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab and a global network of community-based educators to develop a creative coding app called OctoStudio, which supports children and families to create and share interactive projects on mobile devices. The app…

Drawing from principles of ethical research derived from our review of national and international policy documents, in this paper we reflect on our research experiences working in partnership with Indigenous educators in a project to support young Indigenous children's oral and written language development through collaborative action research.…

Digital disparities have been a concern among different communities across the U.S. The lack of an integrated approach to evaluate digital connectivity limits our understanding of where and what the differences are to address digital equity. This research utilized broadband internet open data and other government datasets to evaluate the status of…

Place-based initiatives, such as the federal Promise Neighborhoods grant, attempt to coordinate interventions, supports, and services with a myriad of organizations to targeted communities. Although Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), inclusive of academic medical institutions, are among the most overall researched anchor institution,…

This article offers a model of how to construct a course that makes the abstract principles of the Catholic social tradition more concrete through community-service learning (CSL). Primary source readings from scripture, the Apostolic Fathers, Thomas Aquinas, and the major documents of Catholic social thought provide the academic theory of the…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine and understand educators' perceptions of the community support offered to kindergarten students and their families by the partnership between the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium Robert B. Daugherty Education Center and Bancroft Elementary. These educators included those teaching or leading…

This dissertation examines how first-grade children, as a community of learners, used technology in meaningful and authentic ways within their everyday literacy practices. Two research questions were posited: What are the literacy practices of first graders as they use digital technologies within their everyday community of learners; and how do…

While social skills training allows students to acquire social skills, often it does not enhance their performance of those skills outside the social skills training context. A withdrawal design was used to determine if a modified Tootling intervention could enhance at-risk, first-grade students' performance of two recently trained social skills…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to determine how four rural school districts in East Tennessee worked to implement the third-grade retention law within their understanding and interpretation of the law to the benefit of the students and overall communities they serve. The study used a semi-structured questionnaire format conducted with a…

A system of climate learning includes students, educators, administrators, educational leaders, community members, and others across different contexts and from diverse lived experiences. As people begin to foster climate learning within these systems, the work of drawing people together in this work can seem daunting. However, the lessons from…

School context can shape relative intervention response in myriad ways due to factors, such as instructional quality, resource allocation, peer effects, and correlations between the school context and characteristics of enrolled students (e.g., higher-poverty students attending higher-poverty schools). In the current study, we used data from…

This 5-year mathematics professional development project involves 27 elementary teachers prepared and supported as Elementary Mathematics Specialists (EMSs) in high-need urban schools. They complete a university's K-5 Mathematics and Teacher Supporting & Coaching Endorsement programs and participate in Professional Learning Communities and…