This research is part of a larger, IES-funded study titled: "Measuring the Efficacy and Student Achievement of Research-based Instructional Materials in High School Multidisciplinary Science" (Award # R305K060142). The larger study seeks to use a cluster-randomized trial design, with schools as the unit of assignment, to make causal…

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between the use of character education programming and school health. Measuring and improving school health is a process that supports social, emotional, ethical and civic education. Hoy, Tarter, and Kottkamp define this concept as a healthy school is one in which the institutional,…

This article describes how Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIUC) partnered with twelve rural schools with high percentages of students in poverty. SIUC provided faculty development activities featuring the adoption of Cognitively Guided Instruction, combined with activities to increase math content and to reduce math anxiety for groups of…

This two-year study (2007-2009), which examined teacher supply and demand issues in northern Canada--Fort Nelson School District (BC), the Fort Vermilion School Division (AB), the Yukon Department of Education (YK), and the Yellowknife School District (NWT)--comprised three research objectives: (a) to ascertain in which subject areas acute and…

Effective professional development training is essential to ensuring full technology integration in all classrooms by all teachers on a regular basis. Technology integration can greatly enhance the learning of all students. In particular students with disabilities and special needs benefit a great deal from the use of technology during…

In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with kindergarten and first-grade general education teachers to determine their perceptions of student behavior. This study describes the teachers' perspectives of and approaches to behavior management and intervention strategies (e.g., use of praise, rewards, implementation of classroom management,…

The purpose of this study was to address the problem of poor student achievement and high discipline referrals in a rural middle school in the southeastern United States. The theoretical foundations for this study were Bandura's social cognitive theory of self-efficacy and Glasser's choice theory. Research questions involved understanding the…

This study sought to obtain a current picture of special education teacher recruitment and retention in rural districts and to understand the professional development needs of rural special educators. Surveys, administered through telephone interviews with a national sample of special education administrators and teachers, confirmed the…

Students entering high school face many new academic challenges. One of the most important is their ability to read and understand more complex text in literature, mathematics, science, and social studies courses as they navigate through a rigorous high school curriculum. The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northwest conducted a study to…

The National Research Council's most recent report "Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8," (2007) has suggested a redefinition of science proficiency. "This framework rests on a view of science as both a body of knowledge and an evidence-based, model building enterprise that continually extends,…

The Collaborative Language and Literacy Instruction Project (CLLIP) is a model of professional development designed to help teachers incorporate research-based practices of literacy instruction, support mastery, and sustained use of these practices through coaching, and serve as a foundation for whole-school reform efforts. We describe the model,…

The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to investigate the impact of one-to-one student issued laptop computers on secondary campuses in four rural Texas school districts. Data were collected using focus groups which included 27 leaders in four rural Texas school districts that had implemented the one-to-one laptop initiative. The…

A new international partnership in southern Belize that provided ongoing mentoring, teacher development, and resource allocation in two rural schools was examined through interviews with key individuals. This research was implemented through a scholar-practitioner approach, which embraces the concept of researcher as change agent. The results…

Rural African classrooms are still practising discourses and pedagogies that contribute towards students' continued underachievement and marginalisation. The use of behaviourist-based pedagogical approaches and the exclusion of learners' socio-cultural experiences including their mother tongue (MT) still characterise most classroom practices. The…

This monograph offers an in-depth look at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiative (RSI) efforts, an investment of more than $140 million to reform mathematics and science programs in rural K-12 public education and tribal education. The authors seek to promote a foundation of contextual understanding for improving public…