This study used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine the relationship of student, teacher, school, and district-level variables on students' mathematics achievement as measured on the Grade 5 end of year assessment in North Carolina. Analyses indicated that there were statistically significant relationships between gains in student…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact professional learning community (PLC) implementation and collegial trust have at the organizational level and the effect these elements have on the positive school culture that nurtures academic achievement in select rural Title I elementary schools located in southeastern North Carolina. An…

As the American economy has moved from a manufacturing emphasis to the digital age, its students have been found to be lacking academic skills necessary to compete in the current global job market. Education analysts have proposed various remedies to this, including the types of educational reforms outlined in documents such as "A Nation at…

The association between prosocial behavior and adolescents' social class--defined as one's parents' position in society assessed in terms of education, income, and occupation status--is far from conclusive and the moderators of the link have not been fully researched. Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development…

Nationwide, over half a million children live in households that report very low food security among children, meaning a child is not eating enough, going hungry, skipping a meal, or not eating for a full day because the household can't afford food. School meals fill an important gap in meeting household food demand during the week but cannot meet…

Introduction: The purpose of our study was to assess whether the Elementary School version of the MUSIC® Model of Academic Motivation Inventory was valid for use with elementary students in classrooms with regular classroom teachers and student teachers enrolled in a university teacher preparation program. Method: The participants included 535…

The longitudinal relations between teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ) and student achievement were examined to determine the directional associations between the quality of teacher-rated closeness and conflict with students, and measured math and reading achievement in a large, multisite sample of U.S. youth at first, third, and fifth…

Reading Horizons partnered with LearnPlatform by Instructure to investigate the relationship between teacher implementation of Reading Horizons Discovery (RHD) and student literacy outcomes. The study involved 83 educators and 1,242 students across seven elementary schools in North Carolina during the 2022-23 school year. Researchers used mCLASS…

A Vygotskian approach to assessment is proposed by invoking the distinction between the development of lower and higher psychological functions. Higher psychological functions are specifically human and develop with the use of cultural tools via mediation. Accordingly, a distinction is made between tests that are based on association, which have…

Background: Schools are important sites for interventions to prevent childhood obesity. This study examines how variables measuring the socioeconomic and racial composition of schools and counties affect the likelihood of obesity among third to fifth grade children. Methods: Body mass index data were collected from third to fifth grade public…

Witnessing violence can negatively affect students' outcomes, but their friendships may mitigate those effects. This study investigated the extent to which seeing someone shot in the last year related to seven school-related outcomes. Additionally, it examined the extent to which prosocial and deviant friends moderate these relationships. This…

Suicide is a leading cause of death of school-aged youth, with adolescent and young adult populations considered to be most at risk for suicide clusters and contagion effects. Suicide clusters have been documented in school districts across the United States, though the degree to which schools are prepared to provide postvention services in the…

There is fear that adolescents have limited control over their digital technology use. The current research examines longitudinal (Study 1) and daily (Study 2) associations between U.S. adolescents' self-control and digital technological impairment and use. Using a large sample (N = 2,104; Wave 1: M[subscript age] = 12.36, 52% female, 57%…

Research indicates that reflective practice has the potential to create a culture of continuous improvement and lead to lasting school change when it becomes the collective cultural norm in a school. However, few studies have examined how elementary principals strategically promote and sustain reflective practices from the individual level to…

The present study examined potential synergistic relationships between reading engagement and reading comprehension among 3,689 third and fourth graders across 59 schools in North Carolina. Using hierarchical regression analyses, we replicated previous findings that reading engagement explains unique variance in reading comprehension. Our results…