While the extant literature emphasizes the role of Phonological Awareness (PA) and Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) in children's developing reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition skills, there has been a paucity of information on the contributions made by other factors such as Morphological Awareness (MA). Although evidence of a…

Reading proficiency levels among elementary-aged students in the United States have been alarmingly unsatisfactory for decades. The absence of basic foundational reading skills will induce struggles in every other subject area, causing students to feel exhausted, defeated, and fall behind. Intervention can be successful when instruction is…

Children living in poverty are in high need of mental health services, yet do not receive them (Allegria et al., 2010; Hodgkinson et al., 2017) due to barriers including cost of services, inaccessible location, and transportation issues (Allegria et al., 2015). Additionally, primary caregivers are important gatekeepers for children receiving…

Students at an elementary school in urban Georgia scored below grade level in comprehension on the state's end-of-the-year assessment. School leadership implemented Lexia Core5, a blended learning program. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effect of the Lexia Reading Core5 program on the reading comprehension skills of…

While research has been conducted on the importance of creating safe environments where LGBTQ+ students feel seen and respected (Hermann-Wilmarth & Ryan, 2019), little research has been completed on these spaces' impact on LGBTQ+-headed families. Understanding the impact belonging has on a sense of mattering (Strayhorn, 2019), it is essential…

This research examines the effects of Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) on elementary-aged students' social and emotional development. Public school systems are tasked with finding programs to help develop social and emotional skills in students to help promote overall success. This research provides insight into how PBIS can impact…

This study aimed to investigate the following questions: Does the use of thinking maps and semantic mapping during explicit vocabulary instruction affect content specific science vocabulary knowledge and comprehension in fourth grade students? and What are student perceptions of using thinking maps and semantic maps to learn new vocabulary? To…

Meeting the needs of students dealing with trauma-related behavioral challenges poses a significant challenge. Research has shown that childhood trauma affects a student's capacity to learn in academic, social, and emotional contexts and that educators are faced with significant challenges when trying to provide an educational path for each of…

Educators often observe differences in students' writing productivity, with some students stopping early while others continue to write for the given time. This study demonstrates how planning and goal setting are related to these written production patterns. A Growth Mixture Model identified three groups of writers: the "Early…

The problem is that fourth-grade students in the United States are not meeting reading proficiency benchmarks. Phonemic awareness is a strong predictor of reading success; however, few studies have investigated its effectiveness for intermediate elementary students who are at risk or struggling readers. The purpose of this quantitative…

There have been minimal studies on tutoring programs that pair elementary students with teenage tutors (Jacob et al., 2016). Innovative tutoring programs are important as student reading achievement has declined since the onset of COVID-19 and school systems face instructional staff shortages. Through the lens of Self Determination Theory, this…

Teachers are responsible for providing opportunities to use learning strategies in the classroom. The students' engagement shows an observable reflection of the educator's teaching practice. This qualitative case study highlights teachers' perceptions of student engagement in the urban elementary classroom. The research questions asked about…

This qualitative study aimed to understand how educators view aging and emphasized how educators' past experiences with older adults and personal comfort level with aging influenced their beliefs and desire to teach about aging topics. Ageism harms older adults by creating adverse physical, mental, emotional, and socioeconomic health risks.…

The problem addressed in this study was that there is a lack of influence of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics educational practices on the development and enhancement of STEM career interests for elementary-aged students who are enrolled in STEM programs. The purpose of this study was to explore how elementary school teachers…

In this mixed-methods convergent parallel database design study on the roles of the model professional learning communities (PLC), I explored the teacher's perceptions of the PLC process on teacher enhanced instruction and elementary student academic outcomes through interviews. I also examined archrival Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR)…