The purpose of this study was to determine whether students with significant cognitive impairments make measurable gains in reading skills as measured by the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests--Revised when taught using Direct Instruction reading programs. Additionally, the study explored teacher perceptions of the effectiveness of Direct Instruction…

Virtual K-12 schools have rapidly become a popular choice for parents and students in the last decade. However, little research has been done on the instructional practices used in virtual courses. As reflected in the central research question, the purpose of this study was to explore how teachers provided instruction for Grade 7-10 students in…

This manuscript addresses a problem teachers of computer software applications face today: What is an effective method for teaching new computer software? Technology and engineering teachers, specifically those with communications and other related courses that involve computer software applications, face this problem when teaching computer…

International graduate students often face significant challenges with academic writing. These challenges create uncertainty about faculty members' roles as teachers of discipline-specific writing, especially in relation to the roles of writing specialists in other academic units. This qualitative case study explored faculty members' attitudes…

The goals of this research are two-fold: (1) to survey the literature comparing the effectiveness (as measured by student achievement on state tests) of scripted language arts/reading programs in low-performing schools, and (2) to compare middle school teachers' attitudes (measured in questionnaires, interviews and surveys) on implementation and…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the social studies teaching beliefs and the application of these beliefs into classroom practice of a group of elementary teachers who are part of a New York City alternative certification program. The teachers in this study are working in low performing New York City schools, are typically pursuing…

Before 1997, no formal curriculum on Chinese cultural education for primary schools was developed in Hong Kong although the education authority had started to introduce some items of Chinese cultural learning into the Chinese language syllabus when the Target Oriented Curriculum was implemented in 1996. However, such items were incorporated into…

In the targeted school in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, teachers focus on differentiating instruction with technology-based software. Differentiated instruction is the chosen teaching strategy over direct instruction because students and teachers alike prefer to work in cooperative groups while using technology in the classroom.…

Undergraduate engineering institutions are currently seeking to improve recruiting practices and to retain engineering majors particularly by addressing what many studies document as a major challenge of poor instruction. There is an undisputed need for instructional practices that motivate students in addition to facilitating the transfer of…

This paper illustrates an approach for Direct Instruction (DI) practitioners and researchers for enhancing the value of DI implementations beyond that obtained through student test performance alone. The importance of such enhancements is based on perspectives from scale-up research linking intervention value with sustainability. In this study,…

In a three-part study we explored implications for enhancing the role of "Corrective Reading" ("CR") in systemic school reform relating to teacher judgments of the high levels of student academic performance required by "CR" tasks in contrast to inappropriate instructional perspectives applied by teachers regarding…

The "East Asian learner paradox" refers to the apparent contradiction between the "teacher-dominated" learning environment in East Asia, which is generally perceived to be non-conducive to learning, and the outstanding performance of East Asian students in comparative studies. This study attempts to explain this phenomenon…