This study sought to determine whether a significant difference exists in the efficacy of teachers who received a traditional licensure versus those who received alternative licensure in their first three years of teaching. Additionally, the research aimed to determine if there was a significant difference in student growth based upon teacher…

The COVID-19 pandemic affected schools worldwide. When schools shut down, teachers and students had no choice but to go to remote learning. A school in a rural setting participated in blended learning where students did a combination of asynchronous and synchronous learning. The subject of this study was two sixth grade groups of students with the…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of the reading program, System 44, on students with learning disabilities in grades six and seven at a small rural middle school. The middle school implemented the reading program during the 2018-2019 school year to assist students reading below grade level to "catch up" or close the…

Elementary students have continued to struggle in mathematics nationally which causes concern among educators about how to improve achievement. While educators have a plethora of technology resources, these resources have not improved the overall performance of students in math. Recently, the digital badge has become a tool to help impact student…

After the COVID-19 pandemic came to the United States in March 2020, teachers and educational leaders looked to virtual learning as a way for students to overcome learning challenges and improve educational experiences for students. Stakeholders were met with conflicting claims about virtual learning. Proponents of virtual learning claimed virtual…

The importance of accurate reading assessment data cannot be overstated. Data is used to make decisions that directly impact student learning. The problem this study addressed was that 66% of fourth-grade students in Missouri were scoring below grade level on reading achievement assessments (NAEP, 2019). However, most high-stakes reading…

The overall purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the School Improvement Grant on student achievement in a rural elementary school in Mississippi. In an attempt to decrease the achievement gap that existed among socioeconomically disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers, the United States Department of Education created…

The purpose of this non-experimental, causal-comparative study was to examine the impact of a blended learning format on the academic achievement of at-risk 9-12 grade students in a rural Northeast Georgia school system. After obtaining IRB approval and district curriculum director and superintendent approval, data was obtained for evaluation.…

The benefits of involvement in early childhood education have been researched from many different perspectives to show how children achieve social, emotional, and academic gains when they participate in a pre-kindergarten program. The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to assess how attending a pre-kindergarten program in a…

While districts and schools continue to place more emphasis on personalized instruction and tiers of literacy interventions, more students are continuing to reach middle school without the ability to read on grade level. Much of the emphasis on the attainment of literacy skills occurs in the elementary grades. As a result, middle grades' literacy…

Reading teachers have exercised tremendous efforts to differentiate instructions based on the influence of the Elementary and Secondary Act (Putman, Smith, & Cassady, 2009, "Promoting Change through Professional Development: The Place of Teacher Intentionality in Reading Instruction"). These efforts are used to promote success for…

Engagement and motivation for participants in online learning have been studied extensively in business courses and in postsecondary courses. These studies have provided evidence of the difficulty for students to learn from and even complete online courses. Now that online learning is being promoted in high schools to cut costs and provide more…

The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Model has been used to make many high-stakes decisions concerning schools, though it does not provide a complete assessment of student academic achievement and school effectiveness. To provide a clearer perspective, many states have implemented various Growth and Value Added Models, in addition to AYP. The…

Integrated technology within a learning environment has become a common instructional expectation in public schools. Many school officials are embracing constructivist views that students learn best within a blended learning environment that promotes active learning by anchoring skills and concepts affiliated to real-world activities. This…

The purpose of this study was to associate Astin's (1999) theory of student involvement and Tinto's (1993) theory of student departure as a framework for assessing and understanding the relationships among student involvements, academic performances, rates of retention, and rates of departure for African-American students enrolled at 3 rural…