This qualitative case study explored instructional decisions exemplary primary teachers (kindergarten-third grade) made in order to engage students in mathematics. The phenomenon of teachers altering, supplementing, or utilizing district-given materials to support student engagement and understanding was studied. Specifically, this involved…

Professional development is essential for teachers to grow in their profession. However, often professional development is a one size fits all approach, and it occurs outside of the teachers' classroom. This causes teachers to not fully implement new strategies when they return to their classroom. One way to overcome this is to utilize…

Students with disabilities who are identified to receive special education services have the right to a free and appropriate public education until they reach the age of 21 according to The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA] (2004). This includes developmentally appropriate sex and reproductive health education for youth with…

A hopeful path to furthering social justice in America is to support all young children to develop the habits of mind necessary for guiding, and fully living, their own lives. Unfortunately, much of what is known from brain research, psychology, and the learning sciences regarding the contextual and relational ways young children learn is not…

Social emotional learning (SEL) is a term that encompasses a set of essential life skills including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making (Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning [CASEL], 2024, para. 1). Despite growing interest, many school districts struggle with…

Teacher stress and burnout impact a teachers' daily activities, the student's learning, and attrition. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain teachers' viewpoints on how teachers can mitigate the stress they feel, what could support them during this process, and what could be done to prevent them from changing their teaching…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to create a predictive model to account for the variance in student performance based upon school district categorical expenditures. The study analyzed seven independent variables, which accounted for 16.1% of the variance in student performance of Missouri schools. The study indicated total instructional…

The number of Multilingual Learners (MLs) enrolled in U.S. schools increased from 8.1% of the total student population to more than 10% between the 2000-2001 school year and the 2016-2017 school year (NCELA, 2016; U.S. Dept. of Education, NCES, 2020). Like all learners, MLs need support to ensure their engagement in mathematics classrooms (Kena et…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify and describe effective instructional strategies for English language arts and mathematics perceived by expert fourth and fifth grade elementary teachers in southern California to reduce the achievement gap in high poverty and high English language learner (ELL)…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand and describe the strategies and practices that exemplary teachers use to address the educational needs of Latino male students from kindergarten through third grade. Methodology: The researcher selected a qualitative research design to describe and understand the instructional…

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) aims to effectively and efficiently leverage Education Technology (referred to as Ed Tech) to serve as a powerful resource for strong instruction. The term "Ed Tech" at CPS refers to digital instructional products and programs, used by students or educators, for teaching and learning. Examples of Ed Tech…

Bilingual programs continue to expand in school districts across the United States to address the growing numbers of students whose home language is other than English. The Response to Intervention (RTI) framework was used to guide this qualitative study, the purpose of which was to identify the extent to which the five elements of RTI exist in…

The ultimate purpose of school lies in the success and achievement of its students. Therefore, efforts must be made to continuously improve achievement for every student. What the teacher knows and can do in the classroom is the most powerful factor in increasing a student's achievement (Cunningham & Allington, 2003; Darling-Hammond, 2000;…

This dissertation study focused on three aspects of staff development in North Texas: (1) funding sources, (2) types of professional learning programs, and (3) teachers' views of the effectiveness of the funded programs. Qualitative data came from interviews with nine district administrators concerning funding sources and how those resources…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the implementation of Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) programs has a positive effect on the retention of quality preschool teachers in Los Angeles County. In prior work, preschool teacher retention is associated with wages, program structure, program process, professional development, and…