A service-learning mentoring project was designed to impact two groups of participants. Five cohorts of pre-service teachers in an elementary preparation program provided weekly mentoring to elementary students identified as needing additional support. During this longitudinal study, thirteen elementary students were randomly paired with a…

The engage2learn approach to educator support provides an in-person and virtual coaching system that builds capacity and engagement in public schools. Engage2learn hired LXD Research to conduct an independent evaluation and analysis of NWEA Math and Reading data collected during the 2021-2022 school year. The goal was to measure how engage2learn…

This article explores how stakeholders in one Texas school district perceive, experience, and respond to the Spanish bilingual teacher shortage. Interview data from a qualitative case study contributes to the article's vivid portrayal of the teacher shortage and its impact on the elementary education of bilingual Latino school children in Texas.…

The present study examined relations between Theory of Mind (ToM) understanding and social competence among school-age Latino children. Participants included 62 children ages 6-12 years. Picture vocabulary was assessed via a standardized language survey, and ToM assessed via Happé's [(1994). An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of…

The two-way immersion dual language education program design includes the use of language labels to identify students as either the English speaker or the speaker of a language other than English. This paper examines four focal student and two teacher interviews to consider the ways in which the idea of a 'language expert' transpired during…

The purpose of this study was to determine if implementing a mathematics response-to-intervention program increases student achievement on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness mathematics test among fourth-grade students. The goal of this study was to determine if implementation leads to increased student performance among the…

Given the growing number of Latino English learners and the lack of evidence-based educational opportunities they are provided, we investigated the impact of one potentially effective literacy intervention that targets struggling first-grade Spanish-speaking students: Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL). DLL provides first-grade Spanish-speaking…

Word problems require students to read a language-based problem, identify necessary information to answer a prompt, and perform calculation(s) to develop a problem solution. Solving word problems proves particularly challenging for students with mathematics difficulties because skill in reading, interpretation of language, and mathematics is…

Given the growing number of Latino English learners and the lack of evidence-based educational opportunities they are provided, we investigated the impact of one potentially effective literacy intervention that targets struggling first-grade Spanish-speaking students: Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL). DLL provides first-grade Spanish-speaking…

This study explores the experiences of primarily Latina/o children with learning music in a Music and Arts-Based Program (MABP) the context of a low-income neighborhood on the U.S- Mexico border. This year-long ethnographic study was conducted in an after-school art program in the Rio Grande Elementary School, in a low-income neighborhood located…

This research employs a language ideologies framework to examine the language practices and beliefs of bilingual first grade students in an ESL classroom, in which the teacher valued and encouraged Spanish and translingual talk and writing. Using ethnographic methods of data collection and analysis, the findings pointed to the influence of both…

Current literacy assessments are focused on a single mode of meaning-making (reading and writing, whether oral or written) and assume that literacy and language are 'fixed systems'-- comprised of discrete skills that can be taught and measured in isolation. This validation and privileging of a single mode of assessment are most culpable in…

The purpose of the current action based quantitative research study was to investigate a relationship between student's achievement on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in reading and mathematics and parent participation as school sponsored family reading and math curriculum night workshops. While attending these…

This study examines the COVID-19 shift to online instruction and its impact on a charter school system (CSS) 3rd-10th grade students' academic achievement through the lens of noncognitive factors. We recruited 693 students and utilized qualitative and quantitative analyses. We found that students' NWEA math and ELA scores continued to increase…

The use of standardized assessments to monitor the success and productivity of public school systems in the United States is arguably a necessary component of state accountability systems. This research study is not intended to challenge the compulsion of accountability via testing, but the results of this study do raise questions regarding the…