In response to legislation from the federal government and the rising number of ELs in public schools many school districts are searching for ways to ensure ELs are making adequate progress on English proficiency. The problem is defining the best method for teaching ELs in the mainstream classroom is difficult. The current gap in educational…

Educational research has been around for over one hundred years and has faced periods of optimism, pessimism, and skepticism. Currently, there is a plethora of educational research available for teachers and districts to use. However, there is a research-practice gap. This gap refers to the amount of research available and educators using the…

Research on mathematics classroom learning opportunities shows that student's experiences with mathematics affects not only what they learn, but also how they view themselves as learners and doers of mathematics (Boaler, 1997, 2016; Jackson, 2009; Langer-Osuna, 2016). High-stakes testing policies have implications for the kinds of mathematics…

The ongoing cycle of educational reform in America has led policymakers and educational leaders to prioritize test-based results and de-prioritize noncognitive skills, equitable outcomes, and crucial socio-emotional aspects of schooling (Lynch et al., 2009). Despite the equitable goals outlined in previous education policy reforms, intended…

This study investigated two questions: a) What is the relationship between reflection and professional development? and b) What is the role of reflection in teachers' instructional decision-making? Teachers are often conflicted by competing theories (e.g. behaviorist vs. constructivist) and principles (progressives vs. essentialists) at both…

Regardless of the school community or type of school in the United States, Black students are disproportionately excluded from school at a higher rate than any other student group. These discipline practices are a matter of race that negatively impact educational outcomes for Black students and have a direct correlation with their involvement in…

A growing number of schools are adopting social-emotional learning (SEL) programs to address students' social, emotional, and academic needs. The proliferation of school-based SEL programs has spurred more research to investigate the ways in which educators enact SEL in schools. However, very few studies have considered the role school leaders…

Character education, an educational construct which emphasizes educational strategies and targets the specific moral development needs of children (Berkowitz & Bier, 2007), is often taught in the school setting through direct instruction by the school counselor using simple tools such as books and movies. However, there is absence of…

This concurrent multi-phase mixed methods study investigated whether indicators of Social Cognitive Theory could be observed in Grades 3-5 classrooms and if these indicators could be used to describe teacher effectiveness in high poverty schools. The conceptual framework drew upon Bandura's (1997) measurement of the individual self-efficacy of…

Public schools in the United States are becoming increasingly diverse with students from differing racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds bringing to the classrooms varied expectations, experiences, and ways of knowing (Woodward, 2018). While the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2018) projects that the…

This study explored the use of critical literacy practices employed by five third-grade teachers during their shared reading instruction. These individuals worked within a community of elementary classrooms. The purpose of the research study was to understand what critical literacy practices looked like as teachers learned about and then refined…

Carol Dweck's Mindset Theory suggests that a teacher who has a growth mindset believes that a student's basic qualities are things you can cultivate through effort. Dweck's theory explains that by applying a growth mindset towards children, they begin to change the way they take on challenges in their education (Dweck, 2006). One way that…

The purpose of this quantitative causal comparative study was to examine to what extent if any, there was a difference in academic and recreational reading motivation and reading achievement between third grade students who participated in the Accelerated Reading curriculum (AR) (reading software management system), as defined in definitions and…

Student engagement has been shown to be essential to the development of research-based best practices for K-12 education. It has been defined and measured in numerous ways. The purpose of this research study was to develop a measure of online student engagement for grades 3 through 8 using a partial credit Rasch model and validate the measure…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship of language proficiency (WIDA) on the performance of third, fourth, and fifth grade English language learners who were administered the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments during the 2017-2018 assessment year. The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) reading and…