This instrumental mixed methods case study investigated Grades 3-5 classroom teachers' perceptions of teaching for creativity and the effects of a researcher-developed, one-day, online professional development creativity module intervention within a suburban school district in south-central Pennsylvania. Creativity has been identified as a…

Fluency, vocabulary building, making inferences, expanding background knowledge, and metacognitive thinking are reading skills taught in schools across the country. Which of these do ELA teachers consider to be most important? It is not known which of these five areas Western Pennsylvania teachers believe has the most impact on comprehension…

Purpose: A growing trend in instructional improvement efforts is the use of formative assessment informed by research-based developmental trajectories of how students gain deeper understanding of subject matter content over time. This article reports the findings of a large-scale experimental study of an innovative mathematics professional…

This mixed methods action research dissertation examines the effects of implementing growth mindset teaching practices in third grade math as a means to improve student math self-efficacy, math mindset and student achievement. Since the transition to the Pennsylvania Core Standards, students across the state including those in this district have…

By participating in global projects, students learn to communicate, asynchronously or synchronously, through digital tools and media. The project in this article paired pre-service teachers in the United States with primary students, ages 8 to 10, in South Korea. The intent was to expose pre-service teachers to global collaboration projects, and…

Teachers' efforts to manage classroom social dynamics are associated with students' social and academic adjustment, but the determinants of teachers' use of social dynamics management strategies have remained unexplored. Multiple potential determinants of strategy use were examined in a study of 164 teachers and their 2986 students in 164 1st,…

Elementary teachers face the challenging task of meeting state curriculum standards while at the same time attempting to expand ideas that are inclusive of the wider world. True inquiry is "experienced when those involved [do] not know the answers that lay at the end of their exploration". Guiding children into true inquiry is difficult…

The development and psychometric qualities of a measure using teacher judgment to rate performance in reading comprehension for narrative text is described--the Rating Scales for Academic Skills-Reading Comprehension Narrative (RSAS-RCN). Sixty-five teachers from the third, fourth, and fifth grades of 8 elementary schools completed the measure on…

Teacher candidates in one Professional Development School did make a difference in children's academic growth. This paper describes a mixed-methods study that investigated student achievement of elementary children after receiving interventions from teacher candidates and identified the perceived benefits and challenges of a new Professional…

Using a case study design, with a phenomenological perspective, this research focused on a sample of primary classroom teachers (grades K-3rd grade) in south central Pennsylvania who are currently using and have been using Responsive Classroom® (RC) strategies for an extended period of time. Their perspectives provide insight into their use of…

This study investigated elementary teachers' observations of how a representative sample of achieving, average and struggling readers adapted the use of best practice comprehension strategies taught in the classroom as well as during instructional level guided reading time. A researcher-constructed strategy checklist was the instrument teachers…

This study explored how elementary educators implement iPad devices as instructional tools to enhance their language arts instruction. The study used a phenomenological qualitative design with a single-subject case study design coupled with an embedded rubric component. The researcher conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews, classroom…

The intent of this qualitative research was to use an ethnographic, case study design to examine the self-efficacy of the elementary teacher and how it affects his/her willingness to engage in student-centered practices of technology use. The study was based around three themes: the beliefs and attitudes of the elementary teacher toward technology…

This study contributes to the literature clarifying teaching practices in elementary classrooms that promote students' social relatedness. The focus on teaching practices reflects the need to understand malleable elements of the classroom, which can then be targeted for professional development. Specifically, this study examines whether children…

The long-term goal of this program of research is to clarify how teachers may influence features of peer networks that, in turn, may affect students' perceptions of social support, achievement-related beliefs and academic achievement. As a first step in this process, in this study the authors focus on identifying teaching practices that are…