Guided by the theory of differentiated instruction, this quantitative study evaluated the effectiveness of Achieve 3000, a technology-enhanced program for differentiating reading instruction. Achieve 3000 was fully implemented with fidelity in a local middle school that has a large percentage of advanced learners. Archived reading scores of 120…

This quantitative study sought to compare the levels of motivation and engagement for middle school students before and after the implementation of both project-based learning and direct instruction. Student participants completed the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory [IMI] (Deci & Ryan, 2017) to assess their levels of motivation prior to and…

Imagine walking into an 8th-grade science classroom and hearing a discussion among students about a challenging assignment they recently completed. A pilot program in 18 Tennessee schools develops agency through competency-based education. Students in Beth Hines' 8th grade physical science class at West Collierville Middle School in Tennessee are…

Introduction: Because of the preponderance of visual images, many mathematics texts are wholly or largely inaccessible to students who are blind. This study investigated how much description is sufficient to communicate math content in different types of images. Methods: Representative math textbooks from grades five, eight, and 11, aligned to the…

A quantitative ex post facto causal comparative research method was used to investigate and analyze the reading comprehension achievement of middle school Black male students in two middle schools. Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) reading scores of students in grades five, six, seven, and eight from school years 2006-2007,…

Whether students of color are more or less likely to be identified as having disabilities than similarly situated students who are White in U.S. states with histories of de jure and de facto racial segregation is currently unknown. Unadjusted analyses of large samples of students attending elementary and middle schools in the U.S. South yielded…

The purpose of this study was to compare scores students received on the eighth grade EXPLORE test in math and English to scores received in English 9 and Algebra I on both the End-of-Course (EOC) test and the final average in those courses. These scores were taken from a rural East Tennessee High School and the middle schools that feed into the…

The Tennessee Department of Education explored course enrollment patterns in an effort to better understand in which courses students are enrolling and whether course enrollment policies and procedures are promoting students' interests. This report focuses on eighth grade Algebra I enrollment, which can propel students to take more rigorous math…

Our work aims to substantiate and extend earlier findings on the effects of student-teacher race matching on academic achievement using longitudinal data for students in Grades 3 through 8 in Tennessee. We examine heterogenous effects not only by racial subgroup and student preparedness, as explored in prior literature, but also by levels of…

Teacher questioning in mathematics is an important diagnostic tool for teaching as well as measuring the academic progression and comprehension of the learner. While teacher questioning enhances student learning and self-assessment of the teacher's lesson delivery effectiveness, if not presented properly can have negative impacts on the student…

Our nation is in the midst of one of the largest education reforms in decades centered on the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and aligned assessments. In an era of rising accountability measures and declining literacy proficiency, it is vital to ensure that educational resources, such as benchmark assessments, are appropriately…

The topic of educational spending and its connection to student achievement was long-debated before charter schools entered the conversation. With the rise in government spending on education, particularly charter school funding, the financial debate has strengthened and evoked much controversy. Though the Tennessee Department of Education (TNDOE)…

Environmental education (EE) facilitates students' scientific and environmental literacy, and addresses content areas including sustainability, ecology, and civic responsibility. However, U.S. science content compartmentalization and EE's interdisciplinary nature historically made it a fragmented curriculum within U.S. schools. To gain a better…

"Odyssey® Math" is a web-based program developed by Compass Learning® for mathematics instruction in grades K-8. The online program includes a mathematics curriculum and formative assessments designed to support differentiated and data-driven instruction. Based on assessment results, the program generates an individualized sequence of…

"Two, four, six, eight, we ain't gonna integrate!" the author's eighth-grade students shouted with gusto. They were reading "Warriors Don't Cry," Melba Patillo Beals's memoir about her experiences as one of the nine African American students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Each time those hateful words…