Research on the effectiveness of fidget spinner use in the classroom to increase academic performance and behavior has had mixed results, with no studies evaluating the use of fidget spinners on reading performance. The current study examined the effects of using a fidget spinner on Aimsweb oral reading fluency probes for 66 students in the 3rd…

Increasing evidence of the re-segregation of students of color within special education suggests that the constructivist-explicit instruction debate may still be relevant for urban educators. While inclusive educators advocate learner-centered constructivist methods for supporting students with disabilities, mainstream special educators equally…

This study uses a theoretical framework rooted in stereotype threat theory to investigate the perceptions and experiences of high-achieving African American students at an urban elementary school that had implemented a test-centered curriculum. The investigation utilized data from six focus group interviews conducted with a purposefully selected…

The lack of quality of instruction in urban mathematics classrooms in the United States has received much attention in the scholarly literature. Other classroom mechanisms such as relational interactions, however, have not received much attention of mathematics education researchers. Relational interactions go above and beyond content instruction…

Policy documents in science education suggest that even at the earliest years of formal schooling, students are capable of constructing scientific explanations about focal content. Nonetheless, few research studies provide insights into how to effectively provide scaffolds appropriate for late elementary-age students' fruitful creation of…

In this paper, we examined data collected as part of a 5-year project designed to foster reform-based urban science teaching through teachers' communities of inquiry. Drawing upon a distributed leadership framework, we analyzed teacher "talk" during professional learning community (PLC) meetings. This analysis yielded five elements:…

Objectives: To outline the prevalence and disparities of breakfast consumption among school-aged urban minority youth, causal pathways through which skipping breakfast adversely affects academic achievement, and proven or promising approaches for schools to increase breakfast consumption. Methods: Literature review. Results: On any given day a…

Follows an ethnically diverse third- and fourth-grade urban classroom of school-labeled remedial readers as they moved from round robin reading to the construction of a classroom theatre in which they interpreted and performed literary text. Finds that children began to see themselves not only as characters and actors but as readers. (RS)

An ethnographic study described a successful educational environment for students from low-income families and examined what it is about those environments that makes them successful. The subject class was a combined fourth and fifth grade class at Taft Elementary School in a predominantly African American working class community two miles from…

This study evaluated the effects of a repeated reading (RR) intervention on the oral reading fluency and comprehension of six urban fourth and fifth-grade students with and at risk for emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD). A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to study RR effects according to gains in reading fluency,…

Describes the Instructional Software Design Project conducted in a LOGO-based learning environment in a Boston inner-city public school with fourth graders engaged in the design and production of educational software to teach fractions. Constructionist views of computers in education are discussed, and learning processes are examined. (Contains 58…

A study was done to determine whether or not the attitudes of parents and teachers were related to the academic achievement of their inner-city Memphis (Tennessee) elementary school students. Seventy-one teachers, 49 parents, and 32 fourth-grade students served as participants. Teachers' responses were used to supplement the development of the…

This report presents results from a national survey, conducted in 2005, that examined the educational experiences of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in grades 4 and 8, with particular emphasis on the integration of native language and culture into school and classroom activities. Students, teachers, and school principals all…

Results from the third national writing assessment of nine-year-old students conducted in 1979 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are presented in this volume. Chapter one provides highlights of the results of the test assessment which indicate both decline and improvement on different tasks in the writing performance of…

Having low literacy skills could impact everything from reading a newspaper and balancing a checkbook to wise consumer decisions and job advancement. This study estimates adult literacy measures for Cuyahoga County, Ohio and its municipalities. It is also important to have a sense of how many children are at risk for developing literacy problems…