Since zero-tolerance policies were put into effect, suspension rates have risen dramatically in the United States (Ayers et al., 2001). This fact is unsettling because research shows that suspension has a negative impact on both academic achievement and poor life outcomes (Rausch & Skiba, 2005). The goal of this quantitative study was to…

This qualitative case study served to investigate teachers' and students' experiences implementing BASE Education, an electronic learning (e-learning) platform for social and emotional learning (SEL), in an urban charter middle school in Paterson, New Jersey. Convenient purposeful sampling was used to recruit seven students and three…

There has been extensive research done on varying leadership styles as well as how school leaders employ these styles in order to improve students' academic achievement. However, little literature exists that discusses how leadership style affects a principal or assistant principal's approach to managing student discipline. The purpose of this…

In response to the adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Language Arts Literacy by the New Jersey Department of Education, Chesterport K-8 Public School District implemented a district-wide program to promote reading skills across all academic subjects called the Close Read Initiative (CRI). This study reviews and analyzes the Stanton…

As caseloads for special education teachers continue to rise and as more students with disabilities enter the regular education setting (U.S. Department of Education, 2016), the need for co-teaching, in which a special education teacher and regular education teacher work together in one classroom to meet all students' needs, is significant.…

Adolescents in the urban public school system experience childhood trauma that sometimes makes it difficult to focus on learning. Even more so, sometimes trauma experienced by youth manifests in disruptive behaviors in the school setting. Traditionally, urban public schools have focused on teaching and learning academics, generally neglecting the…

The purpose of this study was to determine if teachers are currently providing screencast video feedback for students as a means of formative assessment while they develop digital content. If this approach was already in place, the benefits of the practice were explored to support existing research on the method. If they did not use the…

The purpose of this non-experimental, cross-sectional, correlational study was to examine the influence, if any, of mathematical-instructional minutes on academic achievement as measured by the 2014 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) 6, 7, and 8 mathematics scores. Additionally, the study accounted for other factors that…

This dissertation analyzes data in order to answer the research question, "Do eighth grade students who have participated regularly in their school band programs for four consecutive years achieve higher scores in New Jersey's Grade Eight PARCC Assessment than students of similar ability who do not play a musical instrument?" Data was…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how regular and special education teachers prepare elementary school students with disabilities to take the statewide test, The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), by using electronic resources. The PARCC was introduced in 2014 to replace the paper and pencil statewide…

Problem: Educators struggle with how to include the attacks of September 11th, 2001 in the nation's social studies classrooms. This study investigates how teachers engage in instruction about these events and the messages students take away from that instruction. Much of the research to date on the instruction of 9/11 focuses on resources and…

This study was relational, non-experimental, explanatory, and cross-sectional in nature, using quantitative methods to explain the influence of student, staff, and school independent variables on 6th, 7th , and 8th grade student achievement in both Language Arts and Mathematics on the 2011 NJ ASK. The variable of interest was the length of the…

The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of two Response to Intervention (RTI) Tier 2 literacy programs used with sixth graders in a middle school setting to determine if the use of either the SuccessMaker® or READ 180® Tier 2 RTI literacy program for two marking periods, or eighteen weeks, positively impacted student achievement as…

This quantitative causal comparative study looked to see if there was a relationship between childhood obesity and student achievement. Because of the many conflicting results in the research available, it was not known if there was a relationship between childhood obesity and student achievement among inner-city middle school students in a school…

The purpose of this case study was to determine the perceptions of students, faculty, and parents about the JostensRenaissance Program® (JRP) on overall school climate in a New Jersey middle school. The population for this research consisted of fifth through eighth grade students who participated in the JRP during the 2011-2012 school year, as…