Improving achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is essential for elevating individual success and solving societal challenges. Yet national and international assessments paint a poor picture of students' STEM competencies (NAEP, 2019; OECD, 2018). An untapped avenue to improve STEM education lies in developing…

Background: Prior research shows that teachers' working conditions are important for teacher and student outcomes, such as teacher retention and student achievement. Because National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) can be effective in the classroom and as instructional leaders, they are well positioned to create favorable working conditions for…

Physical educators often struggle to teach individual striking skills to upper level (3-5 grade) elementary students. Finding a developmentally appropriate striking activity with a high participation rate can be a challenge. And sports such as tennis, pickleball, and badminton are often not an option for a variety of reasons (e.g., space or…

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is committed to providing the highest quality of education to its students. One way to provide a quality education is with an effective curriculum that reflects high standards and expectations. Thus, DoDEA has developed rigorous content standards aligned with national guidelines and standards.…

The state of Oklahoma and the federal government have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade in pursuit of expanding the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) as a means of ensuring highly qualified teachers for every student. This study aimed to discover whether or not there was any relationship between…

Under the new federal No Child Left Behind law, state assessments must be aligned to grade-level standards/benchmarks, and every school in Indiana and other states will soon be judged based on its ability to raise the percentage of students achieving proficiency on these tests. This will no doubt lead to much greater scrutiny of states'…

The study analyzes the achievement trends of all third grade students in the state of Illinois who scored in the Exceeds category in reading and mathematics on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) in the year 2000. ISAT performance of this cohort group of students was followed through the eighth grade. Descriptive analyses were utilized…