This study examined the effectiveness of using primary sources to support close reading in social studies among students with disabilities in grade 7 middle school resource rooms. The setting is a middle school in a suburban school district located in Western New York. Two resource rooms of 10 students with reading or writing difficulties were…

This article reports on student surveys and faculty interviews with regard to a university pilot project of a common book program for first-year students. We found that a minority of students read the book and the book was integrated into only some faculty members' courses. First-year students varied in their perceptions of the impact the project…

Are teachers who are faced with mandated assessments more likely or less likely to explore their students' performance in depth and use their discoveries to enrich learning? This is the story of how six first-grade teachers in New York City responded to a mandated performance assessment--and how that response compared to a set of informal,…

This study contributes knowledge about how a digital badge system integrated into an online, subject-matter-specific, and competency-based professional development (PD) program affected teachers' experiences with and perceptions of the program activities. The report presents findings from a one-year exploratory study of an online PD program, and…

This article reports the results of the third and final phase of a two-year research study on the impact of New York State's school libraries on student achievement and motivation. Results of phase I and phase II are briefly reviewed to provide the context for phase III methods and findings. Phase III comprised (1) qualitative research that…

The present study was designed as non-experimental longitudinal research. This was explanatory research because the researcher sought to explain factors that produced change. The study was a panel or prospective study because the same individuals were studied over a specified period of time. The design included both quantitative and qualitative…

The purpose of this research was to ascertain if the reading comprehension skills of English-speaking fifth grade students improve when they study a second language. The research was done in an inner-city elementary school in Rochester, New York. The researcher provided a weekly after-school workshop in foreign languages for a group of children…

This study, conducted during the 2006/07 academic year, describes how four midsize urban school districts in the Northeast and Islands Region--Worcester, Massachusetts; Nashua, New Hampshire; Yonkers, New York; and Providence, Rhode Island--were providing foundation skills assessments and programs to struggling middle-grade readers. Researchers…

This study examined the nature of the partnership between clinicians and parents of two struggling readers at a university reading clinic. Research questions sought to examine the roles of the clinicians and parents in the reading clinic and the ways, if any, their partnership facilitated reading improvement of the children involved. Data were…