"Looking Closer" is the eighth biennial report to SREB states on their progress in meeting SREB's Challenge to Lead goals for education. Each customized state report documents progress on both measurable outcomes and state policies. Through effective policy implementation, the goals can help states drive improvements in student…

Service-learning projects are becoming more prevalent in Information Systems education. This study explores the use of community-based research, a special kind of a service-learning strategy, in an Information Systems web development course. The paper presents a case study of a service-learning project to develop an educational web portal for a…

The purpose of this mixed research study was to investigate early assessment and identification for dyslexia in kindergarten through second grade, and to examine whether teachers' knowledge and beliefs lead to the practice of retaining students in grade rather than recommending formal dyslexia assessment. This study investigated both kindergarten…

There is a critical need, according to national policy statements in the United States, to integrate information and communication technologies into instruction, and yet research about the effect of such integration on the literacy learning of at-risk populations is scant. In addition, barriers exist that prevent teachers from realizing the goal…

This is the second edition of the "Mobile Digest of Education Statistics." This compact compilation of statistical information covers prekindergarten through graduate school to describe the current American education scene. The "Mobile Digest" is designed as an easy mobile reference for materials found in detail in the…

Over the past twenty years extensive research has been conducted on emotional intelligence and its correlation to effective leadership. The initial studies were in large part related to the business sector. However, in recent years, more emphasis has been placed on its impact in the field of education. Emotional intelligence is the ability to…

This study examined the effectiveness of repeated readings in four second-grade classrooms in two urban elementary schools in Northwest Ohio. As determined by the Ohio Department of Education, 75% of the students in each building must score at or above the proficient level. For the 2008-2009 school year Building A, a school within one of Ohio's…

Implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) for children with autism is challenging for teachers because these practices are often complex, requiring significant training and resources that are not available in most school settings. This brief investigation was designed to identify areas of strength and difficulty for teachers implementing one…

The purpose of this study is to reveal the opinions of teachers on using the mind mapping technique in Life Science and Social Studies lessons. The participants of the study are 20 primary education teachers. In this study, a semi-structured interview technique was used. For content analysis, the themes and codes were defined, based on the views…

In 2011, a small Midwestern school district referred an increasing number of 2nd-4th grade students, with reading problems due to phonetic and phonological awareness deficits, to the district's intervention team. Framed in Shulman's pedagogical content knowledge model and the International Dyslexia Association's phonological deficit theory of…

Current debates concerning effective professional development for teachers of early reading have focused on the potential benefits of a literacy coach in providing sustained support and guidance for teachers' learning from a professional development program. In this study, we compare the response of first-grade teachers to a model of professional…

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which general education teachers in elementary schools believe they are prepared to teach children/students with specific special education exceptionalities in the general education classroom. The study addresses the exceptionalities of: autism, speech/language disorder, specific learning…

The ESEA Blueprint for Reform states that teachers need "effective, ongoing, job-embedded, professional development that is targeted to student and school needs… [and] aligned with evidence of improvements in student learning." Unfortunately, the professional development approaches advocated, though sensible and compelling in theory,…

Although scholars have long advocated the use of informational texts in the primary grades, gaps and inconsistencies in research have produced conflicting reports on how teachers used these texts in the primary curriculum, and how primary students dealt with them during instruction and on their own (e.g., Saul & Dieckman, 2005). Thus, to add…

A researcher-developed questionnaire regarding the importance and developmental appropriateness of 12 specific elements of the nature of science (Alshamrani, 2008) for early elementary (kindergarten through fourth grade [K-4]) science instruction was mailed to a random sample of U.S. K-4 teachers. At least half (N = 377) of the respondents…