The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Georgia's Choice reading curriculum on third grade science scores on the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test from 2002 to 2008. In assessing the effectiveness of the Georgia's Choice curriculum model this causal comparative study examined the 105 elementary schools that…

Professional learning communities (PLC) are one strategy aimed at facilitating teacher professional development, with a focus on increasing student achievement. This mixed methods study investigated the impact of professional learning on student achievement. A total of 6 teachers and 121 students recruited from the third and fifth grades of a…

Academic learning time (ALT) has long had the theoretical underpinnings sufficient to claim a causal relationship with academic achievement, but to this point empirical evidence has been lacking. This dearth of evidence has existed primarily due to difficulties associated with operationalizing ALT in traditional educational settings. Recent…

Only about half of new teachers report that they feel prepared to teach reading when they enter the profession. This research study focused on six elementary teacher candidates enrolled in a reading methods course combined with a reading practicum. The teacher candidates participated in an ongoing collaborative community discussion group…

This study examined whether a one-to-one laptop program had an effect on the reading-fluency and comprehension scores of fourth- and fifth-grade students over a half-year period. Pre- and post-test scores on the AIMSweb R-CBM fluency and Maze-CBM comprehension tests were collected for 1,048 students attending six diverse, high-poverty elementary…

The present study examined how elementary reading coaches interpreted their roles, how they allotted their time among various tasks, and their perceptions regarding the influence of their roles related to teacher knowledge and instructional practice in elementary schools receiving Reading First funding in one state Employing both quantitative and…

Basal reading series are used in a majority of classrooms in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of fiction and nonfiction genres included in four recently published first and second grade basal reading series and to compare the frequencies to studies of older basal reading series. Based on the work of…

This research explored the relationship of the Reading First Initiative (RFI) in terms of its impact on students' early reading development K-3 and teachers' delivery of instruction. Extant test data were used to establish quantitative data. Direct observation utilizing a checklist consisting of five categories--management, environment, setting…

Due to the paucity of research on struggling adult readers, researchers rely on child-based reading constructs and measures when investigating the reading skills of adults struggling with reading. The purpose of the two studies in this investigation was to evaluate the appropriateness of using child-based reading constructs and assessments with…

The purpose of this study was to identify (1) the effectiveness of the Intel Essentials model of project-based learning based on student Florida Comprehensive Assessment test (FCAT) reading scores; (2) the differences in student engagement between students in classes with teachers trained in the Intel Essentials model of project-based learning and…

This qualitative comparative case study identified factors that distinguish between high and low-performance on reading achievement in elementary rural Appalachian schools. This study determined the most effective instructional reading strategies, as well as other influential factors, implemented by school districts in the rural Appalachia area…

The purpose of this case study was to examine the experience of an early childhood teacher and her culturally and linguistically diverse students within a newly implemented RTI framework in a large urban district. The participant was a second grade teacher serving a large proportion (50%) of English learners. This case study included (a) extensive…

While animal assisted therapy (AAT) has been a successful part of treatment plans within the medical field for several decades, AAT has not been quantitatively researched as a viable instructional tool that can be used in conjunction with other reading intervention strategies. With over one-third of elementary school aged children experiencing…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the lived experience of integrating new literacies in math and science content by upper elementary and middle school teachers. This study highlights the lived experience of six teachers including two elementary math teachers, two middle school math teachers, and two middle school…

Purpose: Traditional school vision screening has focused on the examination of distance vision using screenings such as the "School Vision Screening" used in this study. No vision screenings for determining how well children can see print or pictures at close distances are administered on a regular basis. The purpose of the study was to…