This study presents the qualitative results of seven parents who taught their preschool-aged children reading skills using a Direct Instruction book, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Siegfried Engelmann, during a 2-month time frame. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore the lived experiences of…

This collective dissertation contains the efforts of a group of curious, committed, and creative educators on the hunt for high-impact instructional approaches that empower and emancipate learners. Although each study within the dissertation is anchored in its own setting--and those settings represent a diverse collection of learning sites--a…

This collective dissertation contains the efforts of a group of curious, committed, and creative educators on the hunt for high-impact instructional approaches that empower and emancipate learners. Although each study within the dissertation is anchored in its own setting--and those settings represent a diverse collection of learning sites--a…

This collective dissertation contains the efforts of a group of curious, committed, and creative educators on the hunt for high-impact instructional approaches that empower and emancipate learners. Although each study within the dissertation is anchored in its own setting--and those settings represent a diverse collection of learning sites--a…

This collective dissertation contains the efforts of a group of curious, committed, and creative educators on the hunt for high-impact instructional approaches that empower and emancipate learners. Although each study within the dissertation is anchored in its own setting--and those settings represent a diverse collection of learning sites--a…

The enacted curriculum and classroom artifacts of a full unit of instruction from three subject areas (biology, chemistry, and physics) at two levels of instruction (regular and advanced) were analyzed for the presence and degree of mathematics and critical thinking. These characteristics were selected from a review of the literature on college…

Students with disabilities benefit from opportunities where skills learned through direct instruction can be practiced and experienced within nontraditional social contexts. Direct instruction methods are important in special education, however one of the challenges with it is that students with disabilities might not gain the understanding to…

Research in the past ten years has shown that there has been a lack of professionals to fill the jobs available in science. One possible reason for the lack of participation in science fields lies in students' beliefs in their ability to do science, or science self-efficacy, which is linked to interest and achievement. Their perceptions of science…

Students with emotional and/or behavioral disabilities (EBD) experience some of the greatest challenges among students with disabilities (Kern, Hilt-Panahon, & Sokol, 2009). These students with EBD need access to behavioral support throughout the entire academic setting in order to make progress (Gable et al., 2012), yet few actually receive…

Grounded in the theoretical framework of Moore's Theory of Transactional Distance and the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Theory, this dissertation sought to (a) examine the relationship between the three components of teaching presence and student satisfaction, (b) determine which component of teaching presence is most closely associated with student…

This study investigated the effects of a Direct Instruction (DI) reading comprehension program on the reading comprehension skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability. Although the effectiveness of DI programs has been well documented in disability and instructional literature, effectiveness of DI for…

Middle school students continue to fall below the Proficient level of state standards in the area of literacy. Response to Intervention (RTI) was introduced to provide teachers of all grades and subject areas the necessary steps to aid at-risk students in their classrooms. Due to the lack of specific guidelines for RTI, some teachers implement the…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to determine the perceptions of administrators, reading teachers, librarian, and campus reading specialist of the factors that contribute to reading development of African American male students in prekindergarten through third grade. Culturally Responsive Teaching theory was used to frame the…

"Language for Learning" ("LL") is an oral language curriculum that uses Direct Instruction (DI) methodology. DI is well researched, but only limited studies exists on the use of "LL" with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study used a multiple baseline research design, across four, four-year-old…

Recently, there have been many calls for an increase in instruction on the nature of science (NOS) in schools (i.e. NRC, 1996; NGSS Lead States, 2013). These calls recognize the importance of this topic at all levels of science education, but there is little guidance in terms of how to address it effectively in curricula. Similarly, there have…