This action research project report uses standard-based grading to address the problem of traditional grades not adequately assessing student content mastery and students' lack of awareness regarding their strengths and weaknesses. Research was conducted by one elementary and two middle school teachers with 158 students between the dates of…

This report describes a program for increasing students' intrinsic motivation in an effort to increase academic achievement. The targeted population consisted of secondary level students in a middle to upper-middle class suburban area. The students of the targeted secondary level classes appeared to be disengaged from learning due to a lack of…

Three teacher researchers conducted this action research project to increase their 54 high school students' achievements in mathematics. The teacher researchers had noticed a trend of low scores on teacher-made chapter tests and non-completion of daily homework. Standardized tests showed that most students scored below average on the mathematics…

Teachers at three separate public schools analyzed possible reasons behind low grades. All problems (late work, unprepared students, lax attitudes) related to students who were not organized for learning. Even though these teachers taught a variety of ages ranging from third thru twelve grades, they typically found evidence of a lack of…

This report focuses on the implementation of strategies to improve student listening skills. The targeted population consisted of primary elementary students located in the suburbs of a large Midwestern city. The lack of students' listening abilities was documented through the use of journals, surveys, checklists, and anecdotal records. Analysis…

This study was undertaken to further the development of procedures and programs to improve student inquiry behaviors as a means of improving student reading and learning skills. Half of the 37 seventh grade students were randomly assigned to the experimental class in which the inquiry procedures were developed and used for instruction by the…

This action research report describes a program to improve and enhance students' social skills in and out of the classroom. The targeted population consisted of two fourth grade classrooms at two different suburban sites. The need to address this issue seems to have grown due to an increase in school violence and the decline of the traditional…

This action research project sought to decrease the number of late or missing homework assignments among fourth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders in two schools near large urban communities. Survey data showed that over 75 percent of teachers polled considered late or missing assignments to be a problem. Several strategies were implemented,…

A literature review focused on ways for teachers to increase students' motivation. A total of 37 annotations were organized in terms of positive and negative effects of rewards on students' motivation, the issue of whether negative effects of rewards can be manipulated to have a positive effect, and suggestions for the classroom teacher on the use…

In order to determine whether the use of two types of teacher written responses to student essays--clarifying and directive--produced significant differences in writing performance growth, 28 12th grade students in a metropolitan Nebraska high school were randomly divided into two groups. Each group received one of the two types of teacher…

An action research project developed a program for implementing character education to improve behavior, particularly as related to respect and responsibility and to reduce inappropriate behavioral choices. Targeted population consisted of junior high and high school students at three sites in a community located in a Midwestern suburban…

This action research project implemented and evaluated a program for establishing organizational skills, utilizing routines and tools that maximize school success. The targeted population consisted of students in four kindergarten classes in a primary school and three third-grade classes in an intermediate school. Analysis of probable cause data…

This action research project developed and implemented a program to improve student knowledge of social sciences and application in the real world. The targeted population consisted of fourth grade students in a K-5 accelerated elementary school in a midwestern state. The problem was documented through the results of standardized tests which were…

This action research project implemented and evaluated a program for increasing time spent on homework. The project was intended to improve academic achievement among five employed high school students taking geometry and physical science who were also employed more than 15 hours per week. The problem of lower academic achievement due to…

This action research project devised and implemented an intervention for increasing student engagement in the learning process. The targeted population consisted of elementary students in an urban area in north central Illinois. The problem of non-engaged learning was documented by means of observation of class participation, a student attitude…