This research study sought to determine whether pre-reading assignments have an impact on a student's academic performance. Learning a new topic which oftentimes seems foreign is never easy. However, reading a short article or reviewing a slide-show presentation on the lecture topic before the lecture happens (otherwise known as a pre-reading…

As federal mandates continue to emphasize the use of standardized tests, academic research is needed to determine if reading intervention programs are helping to close the achievement gap between struggling readers and their grade level peers. Although previous research indicated that reading intervention can be an effective tool for increasing…

The ability to read and interpret textbooks and other assigned material is a critical component of success at university level. Therefore, the aims of this study are twofold: to evaluate the reading levels of first-year students when they first enter the university to determine how adequately prepared they are for university reading. It is also to…

Literacy, the ability to read and write, is of great importance to the success of students throughout their lives. The problem the study addressed was low literacy achievement levels of third and fourth grade students. The information gained from this study was important because it helped staff members at the research site identify the impact of…

This article reports on an English for academic purposes course designed following the tenets of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) to address the needs of language minority (LM) high school graduates entering Canadian universities. The language used in and required of post-secondary study is challenging for many LM students,…

Executive functions (EF) can be promoted by classroom interventions. Our study investigated whether (a) an intervention conducted by teachers improves EF in children; (b) there are effects on behaviour and academic achievement; and (c) there are stable benefits in a one-year follow-up. Fifty-eight first-graders, divided into experimental (EG = 28)…

The need for accurate information about the achievement of students whose military parents are deployed to a war zone or whose military parents are eligible although not currently deployed to a war zone is important in order to ensure that we are providing for the educational wellbeing of these children as their parents defend our nations…

In this study, undergraduate students provided confidence ratings to predict future performance in answering questions drawn from the text before reading the text, after reading the text and after rereading the text. Self-reports of achievement goal orientations during reading and posttest scores were also collected. Student's calibration index…

The present study aims to contribute to the understanding of the effects of music education, in particular music composition as a classroom activity for fifth- and sixth-graders. The intervention (experimental condition) focused on a three-step-model for music composition, based on the Cultural Historical Activity Theory of education, and has been…

As part of state transitions to college- and career-ready (CCR) standards, including the Common Core State Standards in more than 40 states (NGA & CCSSO, 2010), states are for the first time administering new summative assessments aligned to those standards and aiming for a higher bar in assessment quality. For a majority of states, this means…

The purpose of this study was to find the effect of the use of assistive technology (CD ROM Interactive Liquid Books, the Interactive White Board, and Interactive Signed Stories) on English reading comprehension of students with learning differences, specifically with deaf and learning disabled students. The research questions that provided the…

Due to budget shortfalls, teacher furloughs were imposed in 2009 in Hawaii Public Schools. The furloughs resulted in a 2009-2010 school year of 167 days as opposed to the regular school year of 180 days. The purpose of this causal-comparative study with a pretest-posttest design was to examine the found effects of those furloughs on academic…

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a targeted programme that uses a tiered approach to identify the needs of low achieving pupils. The approach begins with whole class teaching (Tier 1), followed by small group tuition (Tier 2) for those who need more attention, and one to one tutoring (Tier 3) for those who do not respond to the small group…

Many Pennsylvania colleges and universities require that teacher candidates pass a standardized assessment in order to gain formal entry in to their education programs. Standardized tests are also required for Level I teacher certification within Pennsylvania. The initial assessment required of all Pennsylvania preservice teachers for…

"The Right Trajectory" brings to the forefront an often-overlooked voice in the debate about new state assessments developed in consortia: that of the best teachers in the country. This research suggests, despite challenges still to overcome, that these front-line experts believe that the new consortia tests are an improvement on the…