This exploratory correlational study seeks to answer the question of whether a relationship exists between student average test score gains on state exams and teachers' rating of values on the Schwartz Values Survey. Eighty-seven randomly selected Kansas teachers of math and/or reading, grades four through eight, participated. Student test score…

There is a gap in academic achievement, as evidenced on standardized tests, between European American, Latino American, and African American students in the United States. In 2011, the United States average scale scores for 8th grade students on the NAEP mathematics assessment for European American, Latino American, and African American students…

Climate change science is a challenging topic for student learning. This quantitative study examined the effectiveness of a geospatial curriculum approach to promote climate change science understandings in an urban school district with eighth-grade students and investigated whether teacher- and student-level factors accounted for students'…

Observational methods are increasingly being used in classrooms to evaluate the quality of teaching. Operational procedures for observing teachers are somewhat arbitrary in existing measures and vary across different instruments. To study the effect of different observation procedures on score reliability and validity, we conducted an experimental…

The middle school concept provides recommendations for schools that teach adolescents. One of the components of this philosophy is the common team planning period, which is in addition to the teacher's individual planning period. This planning period was designed to have team teachers meet together to discuss curriculum, students, and…

This mixed method study examined the use of repeated reading with eighteen, eighth grade special education and regular education students. The purpose was to study use of repeated reading's structured, systematic, oral reading intervention while also seeking to further analyze LaBerge and Samuels' "Theory of Automaticity"…

Evidence suggests that middle school students are spending insufficient school time in reading and writing activities, with little comprehensive literacy training from their teachers. To address that gap in practice, this quasi-experimental study addressed the impact of a 12-week treatment program on the reading comprehension and vocabulary mean…

We analyzed two nationally representative, longitudinal data sets of U.S. children to identify risk factors for persistent mathematics difficulties (PMD). Results indicated that children from low socioeconomic households are at elevated risk of PMD at 48 and 60 months of age, as are children with cognitive delays, identified developmental delays…

Alaska's School Climate and Connectedness Survey (SCCS) is a statewide survey developed by American Institutes for Research (AIR) in partnership with the Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB) in 2006. Through student and staff responses, it measures positive school climate, how connected students feel to adults and peers, social and emotional…

Long hours of paid employment during high school have been linked to a variety of problem behaviors, but questions remain about whether and to what extent work intensity makes any causal contribution. This study addresses those questions by focusing on how 12th-grade work intensity is associated with substance use and educational attainment in the…

When in 2002 Maine launched its pioneering Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) that equipped every one of the state's 30,000 seventh- and eighth-grade public school students and teachers with their own Apple iBook, all eyes were on the endeavor. As the first statewide one-to-one deployment, MLTI's $37 million education experiment…

Many students feel that studying social studies is boring and not relevant to their lives. In social studies, the most common method of instruction is the transmission model in which the textbook becomes the curriculum and the teacher transmits knowledge through lecture. In the participatory model of instruction, the teacher facilitates…

Educational leaders are charged with making informed decisions regarding various aspects of schooling that affect the overall achievement of students. Numerous legislative ideas, funding initiatives, programming standards, and practicing guidelines for early childhood education programs have been introduced (Buyssee & Wesley, 2006). Early care…

The study examined the impact of Teach for America (TFA) and The New Teacher Project's Teaching Fellows (TF) programs on the mathematics achievement of students in grades 6-12. TFA and TF provide alternative routes to teacher certification and aim to provide high-quality teachers to schools in low-income areas. TFA and TF were studied separately,…

Disparities in educational outcomes exist between students in rural areas as compared to students in urban settings. While there is some evidence that these rural disparities are present in eastern Europe, little is known about young peoples' lives in the rural areas of this region. This paper presents an analysis of science achievement by…