The goal of Smithsonian Science for North and South Carolina Classrooms was to provide teachers with ongoing, differentiated professional development and research-based curricular materials to improve elementary student achievement in science, mathematics, and reading. This work used an inquiry-based science curriculum, Smithsonian Science for the…

Purpose: Children with cochlear implants (CIs) have difficulty with literacy, and although it is established that phonological processing underlies literacy skills in children with typical hearing (TH), the relation of phonological processing and literacy in children with CIs is not fully understood. This study evaluated the contributions of…

We examined how children (N = 448) with separate or co-occurring developmental language disorder (DLD) and dyslexia performed on school-based measures of academic functioning between second and fourth grades. Children were recruited from 1 school district in the U.S. state of South Carolina via classroom screenings and met common research criteria…

This study investigated factors associated with fourth graders' music knowledge assessed by the South Carolina Arts Assessment Program (SCAAP). Participants included 2,683 fourth-grade students nested within 35 elementary schools in South Carolina, United States. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to examine both the student-level…

A longitudinal analysis was used to investigate the relationships between school-level factors (poverty, location, size, ratings, and race/ethnicity) and visual arts achievement. Data were collected on 4th-grade students from 34 elementary schools that received Distinguished Arts Program grants in a southeastern state of the United States from…

The purpose of this collective case study was to examine elementary music teachers' mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research questions were: 1) What factors influenced music teachers' mental health and well-being during COVID-19; 2) How did music teachers support their own mental health and well-being during…

Background: In Spartanburg County, SC, nearly 33.7% of children are overweight or obese. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in eating behavior of youth by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Methods: Students (N = 997) in 4th to 5th grades completed the School Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey. School databases…

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…

Since the early part of the 20th century, researchers in the fields of cognitive psychology and education have studied the ill-effect of noise on the social, physiological, and psychological aspects of the human psyche. In order for academic progress to take place, it is important for all teachers to select instructional methods and accommodations…

T.A.L.E.S., Teaching And Learning with Engaging Stories, is an alternative teaching method that focuses on enhancing learning by teaching science, math, ELA, and social studies through story. A six-week research study investigating socioeconomically disadvantaged students' responses to oral stories was conducted during an afterschool tutoring…

Background: A 2010 publication showed a positive relationship between children's body mass index (BMI) and energy intake at school-provided meals (as assessed by direct meal observations). To help explain that relationship, we investigated 7 outcome variables concerning aspects of school-provided meals: energy content of items selected, number of…

Contemporary state math standards emphasize that students must demonstrate an understanding of the mathematical ideas underlying the computations that have typically been the core of the elementary school math curriculum. The standards have put an increased emphasis on the study of fractions in upper elementary grades, which are the years during…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the acute dose-response relationship of classroom exercise breaks with executive function and math performance in 9- to 12-year-old children by comparing 5-min, 10-min, or 20-min classroom exercise breaks to 10 min of sedentary classroom activity. Method: This study used a within-subjects…

Purpose/Objectives: Analyses were conducted to examine variations in fourth-grade children's participation in school-breakfast and school-lunch programs by weekday, month, socioeconomic status, absenteeism, gender, and school-breakfast location. Methods: Fourth-grade children were participants in a dietary-reporting validation study during either…

Within diverse classrooms, sometimes teachers need extra assistance to reach all students. This quantitative research design was used to determine the affects of math intervention on student achievement. Students in this study were selected by their "Not Met" PASS scores from their 3rd grade year. A survey assessing student attitudes…