The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to describe the associations between the specific Central Florida district's final instructional summative evaluation scores and student achievement scores for Grade 4 instructional staff teaching ELA or mathematics within the district for the school year 2017-2018. The self-determination…

Lesson study, especially when conducted with support from targeted resources, is often identified as a potentially effective means to support teacher learning. In this study, 80 school-based teams of educators, representing 80 classrooms of third- or fourth-grade students in the US, were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: lesson study…

Early mathematics achievement is a strong predictor of later mathematics achievement, and student competence in fractions and division may be the strongest predictor of success in secondary-level algebra. We used a multisite cluster-randomized trial to estimate the impact of a mathematics teacher professional development (PD) program on student…

This study was conducted to explore US elementary teachers' perceptions of their experiences using rubrics as a tool for student self-assessment and metacognition (assessment for learning) to improve elementary students' achievement and their instructional decision-making at a private American elementary school in South Florida. The constructivist…

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to analyze the extent to which the proportion of IEP students in inclusionary classrooms covaried with turnover intention for K-5 general education teachers in Florida. The researcher employed a quantitative research approach with a correlational research design. The sample was drawn on…

Despite the use of literacy coaching to help improve the instructional practices of teachers and increase reading achievement, data of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) indicate that Florida's students are averaging about 60% below NAEP proficient level. This dissertation reported the results of a nonexperimental study that…

Teacher evaluation systems treat instructional quality as generic. Principals often observe elementary teachers in one subject and generalize assessments to all subjects. However, there is little empirical work to justify these decisions. This study provides needed evidence about whether elementary teachers engage in comparable instruction across…

Mathematics teacher professional-development (PD) programs based on Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) have been developed and implemented with tens of thousands of elementary mathematics teachers worldwide since the 1980s. Starting with a focus on addition and subtraction on whole numbers in the first CGI PD program, the content of these…

Computer science (CS) and computational thinking (a problem-solving process used by computer scientists) teach students design, logical reasoning, and problem solving--skills that are valuable in life and in any career. Computational thinking (CT) concepts such as decomposition teach students how to break down and tackle a large complex problem.…

The purpose of this quantitative evaluation was to determine if student assessment scores and teacher evaluation scores were affected by the use of "i"-Ready, a computer-based instructional program. To provide an overall teacher perspective of the "i"-Ready program and its effectiveness in this study, the following were used:…

A top education priority in the United States is to address the needs of one of the fastest growing yet lowest performing student populations--English learner students (Capps et al., 2005). English learner students come from homes where a non-English language is spoken and need additional academic support to access the mainstream curriculum. These…

Third, fourth and fifth grade teachers have the potential to shape the way their students will begin to view and use technology. This study investigated the nature of technology usage among third, fourth and fifth grade teachers in a Florida school district as well as the relationship between the level of technology usage factors such as available…

This qualitative single exploratory case study explored instructional practices of third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers to explore how Florida students with learning disabilities at the elementary school level perform on statewide mathematics assessments of learning following both cognitive and metacognitive skills development. Theoretical…

Evidence that teachers' short-term instructional effects persist over time and predict substantial long-run impacts on students' lives provides much of the impetus for a wide range of educational reforms focused on identifying and responding to differences in teachers' value-added to student learning. However, relatively little research has…

Several states have recently adopted or are pursuing policies that deny or revoke tenure from teachers who receive poor evaluation ratings over time based in part on quantitative measures of performance. Using data from the state of Florida, we estimate such value-added measures to consider the future effectiveness and number of teachers who would…