Existing literature has established the benefits of recess and physical activity for children. In response, more schools in the United States are implementing, or even requiring, extended recess time for students. With these policy changes, it is important to understand the impact upon students, faculty, and staff. The following study used the…

The importance of establishing effective literacy/reading skills at an early age, preschool to early elementary, is well known and accepted among educators. For students whose heritage language is not English, the influential factors of cultural relevance and parent/family involvement for the acquisition of these fundamental skills are…

At least 16 states have limited exclusionary discipline for elementary age students, but little is known about the effects of these policies on discipline rates and disproportionality. This paper tests whether a limit on exclusionary discipline in grades K-5 in Arkansas impacted the likelihood of suspension and expulsion overall, for different…

Background: Recess is an integral part of a comprehensive school physical activity program. Immediately prior to the pandemic, state legislation doubled the amount of required recess, creating an opportunity to better understand how policies and practices influence recess. Purpose: To describe changes to recess due to COVID-19 and extended recess…

Purpose: When the emergency transition started in the spring of 2020 in the USA, teachers had to quickly switch from traditional in-person teaching to distance and remote teaching, regardless of their level of preparation. The distance and remote learning environments and contexts were different from traditional classrooms, which significantly…

Traditional grading methods have faced criticism for potentially exacerbating educational disparities, leading to the proposal of grading equity practices as a remedy (Feldman, 2019). We conducted an analysis with survey data from 506 Arkansas public school teachers, utilizing an Ordinary Least Squares (OSL) regression. Our findings illuminate key…

One plausible method for ensuring students are truly understanding science fundamentals beyond being actively and intellectually engaged is to consider how informal learning environments can provide meaningful relevancy by connecting to real-world instances. Transforming traditional science centers into informal learning centers will ensure that…

Background and Context: Historically, women have been underrepresented in computer science. To address this gender gap, researchers advocate for high-quality computer science programs for early childhood. Objectives: This study examines gender differences in coding performance before and after implementing a 24-lesson visual programming curriculum…

Many states and school districts are implementing reforms to reduce reliance on exclusionary discipline such as out-of-school suspension and expulsion. This article uses survey and administrative data to study the implementation of a state-level policy limiting elementary school out-of-school suspension and expulsions. While the results are…

From 1991-2019 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), 202 different faculty individuals, from each of the five UAMS colleges, volunteered to offer 120 different workshops in health science content to 22,731 PreK-12 teachers and some school nurses in the Partners in Health Science (PIHS) program. Participants consumed 83,488…

Informal science opportunities provide authentic experiences to stimulate students' interests in science and engineering and foster their curiosity through problem-based investigations. STEMulate Engineering Academy was designed to provide children (Grades 3-5) engineering opportunities and offer teachers a unique professional development…

Background: Breakfast after the bell (BAB), an alternative way to deliver breakfast after the school day begins, has been shown to increase participation in the School Breakfast Program. However, BAB occupies time that could otherwise be used for instruction and may affect academic performance. This study examined whether BAB affects math and…

This paper presents the results of a nationwide survey of educators for grades 6-12 who specialize in family and consumer sciences education (N=380). The paper examines teacher reports about their self-efficacy in online learning during the switch to off-campus instruction. Data revealed that district communication to teachers indicating that they…

Researchers explored how 13 states in which policymakers have adopted an A-F school letter grade accountability system performed on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) post-policy implementation. Researchers found mixed results, with approximately half of these 13 states increasing achievement post-policy, and the other…

We examined the state of Arkansas, empirically testing how focusing on high-achieving students using state tests might expand the pool of gifted identified students. From a broader sample of 173,133 students, we compared the degree to which students who were academically talented in the top 5% on third-grade state literacy and math assessments…