On average, English language learners (ELLs) do not demonstrate the same academic achievement as their native English-speaking peers. The number of ELLs in U.S. schools has increased over the last several decades, as has the scholarly debate on how to best support ELLs in building foundational reading skills. The purpose of this study was to…

This single subject experimental design study used an adapted alternating treatment design to examine the effects of a synthetic phonics intervention and an analytic phonics intervention on oral reading accuracy, oral reading rate, and letter-sound correspondences among first grade students. Students who were reading at least two levels below…

The transition to virtual learning during the pandemic highlighted critical aspects of educational and teacher self-efficacy (TSE). Despite the challenges K-12 students historically faced in digital environments, recent shifts necessitated a deeper exploration of online teacher roles. This study examined the relationship between TSE in virtual…

The COVID-19 global pandemic caused the education world to shift to distance learning. Before then, technology usage in the classroom showed minimal implementation and surfaced level approaches. The shift to distance learning caused students to rely on parents and their home environment to continue learning. For many students, this expands…

The purpose of this experimental study was to examine the impact of English language learner (ELL) instructional extension strategies on African American K-2nd grade students with low-literacy proficiency. DIBELSO 8th edition literacy assessment for K-2nd grade was used to determine literacy proficiency during the study. The study included 74…

The purpose of this quantitative, comparative study was to examine if and to what extent, there are statistically significant differences in decoding and oral reading fluency scores between at-risk Title I students who receive multisensory phonics-based instruction in first grade and those who do not in the Western United States. Paivio's dual…

Reading motivation is an important contributor to reading achievement. Students with higher levels of motivation tend to outperform those with lower levels. Reading motivation is a dynamic, situational, context-dependent trait that can vary in children over time and across tasks. Teachers have a valuable opportunity to support students' reading…

English Language Learners (ELLs) are at an academic disadvantage with the rest of general education because they are linguistically challenged, especially in reading. Educators are recommended to use best practices to provide a good quality education to ELLs through the use of instructional tools. One instructional tool that is recommended to use…

READ 180 was adopted by a school district in Southern Alabama (SDSA) in response to students' low state reading and comprehension scores statewide. However, after years of implementation, it is unclear whether the READ 180 curriculum and the instructional practices characteristics of the READ 180 have been implemented with fidelity across district…

The purpose of this study was to provide data about the effects of early literacy instructional methods on later elementary reading performance. This study compared students who were introduced to reading through a synthetic phonics approach in contrast to students who were introduced to reading through an analytic phonics approach. Quantitative…

Gestures and other bodily movements are frequently used as instructional strategies in second language classrooms. Research has demonstrated that gestures are an effective strategy to improve L2 vocabulary recall. However, previous studies have only used vocabulary items that are known to participants in their native languages. Additionally,…

Despite ongoing efforts to reform schools, the longstanding racial/ethnic achievement gap still persists, particularly for boys of color; in many cases, the gap is widening, particularly for students transitioning from elementary to middle school. The focus of this study was to examine the impact of effective instructional practices for struggling…

The purpose of this single case design study was to examine the efficacy of a graphic organizer for improving the reading comprehension of middle school Spanish-English bilingual middle school students with learning disabilities. Students included two females and one male student. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, students were…

Due to barriers to kindergarten readiness, many kindergarten students do not enter kindergarten with the prerequisite skills needed for reading. A number of students do not leave kindergarten with adequate reading skills needed for future success. As a result, students are ill-prepared for first grade and are at risk for future reading failure.…

This research uses a descriptive quantitative statistical design to examine campus-level results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The focus is on describing the achievement disparities between campuses that implemented Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) programs and those implementing Dual Language (DL)…