The problem addressed was that academic achievement gaps existed for low socioeconomic status (SES) family special education students among special education students in United States schools. This problem was important because it negatively affected equity in education as low SES community special education students lagged behind more affluent…

This study incorporated a modified gap analysis to evaluate a health and human service agency in developing qualified workers. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to evaluate the degree to which the agency prepared direct care workers to meet state required proficiency on Virginia's DSP Competencies Evaluation tool, Section One…

Young children's daily interactions with teachers are critical to the development of their social, cognitive, and self-regulatory skills (Hamre, 2014). But not all young children have access to the types of interactions that matter -- interactions that are warm, supportive, cognitively engaging, and rich in core academic areas such as literacy,…

This study describes the implementation and findings from a consultation process designed to enhance the professional development (PD) offered to teachers working in Virginia's state-funded preschool program. A PD Rubric was developed to translate research on effective PD (i.e., PD practices linked to positive changes in teacher practice and/or…

The purpose of this quantitative casual-comparative research was to provide educators data pertaining to reading and the influence of classroom instructional setting on reading test scores. This study investigated if learning in a departmentalized instructional setting had a subsequent positive effect on fifth grade students' reading achievement…

The importance of biodiversity to the health of our planet is increasingly being discussed, not only by scientists, but by the public at large. Therefore, an understanding of how human activities are affecting biodiversity is vital for informed participation in society, and thus it is an important topic for liberal arts education. Here, I present…

Heated battles over free speech have erupted on college campuses across the United States in recent months. Some of the most prominent incidents involve efforts by students to prevent public appearances by speakers espousing controversial viewpoints. Efforts to silence offensive speakers on college campuses are not new; in these endeavors, one can…

Critics of ethics education suggest that students need to learn about contextual pressures of workplace ethical decisions and develop skills to handle them. Thus, instructors are often challenged to integrate an ethics unit into organizational behavior courses in ways that complement, rather than duplicate, what may have been covered in their…

Often students have a difficult time when asked to use critical thinking skills to solve a problem. Perhaps students have a difficult time adjusting because teachers frequently tell them exactly what to do and how to do it. When asked to use critical thinking skills, students may suddenly become confused and discouraged because the teacher no…

In 2014, Virginia's Montgomery County school division adopted a place-based social studies curriculum titled "My Place in Time and Space" for fifth grade students. The curriculum promotes an awareness of the impact of place on local knowledge and disciplinary understandings in southwest Virginia, while also connecting local history to…

This publication is part of the Leading by Exemplar project, a multi-year study conducted by Bellwether Education Partners. In this project, every aspect of the Head Start exemplars' program design and practice was closely examined in an effort to understand each program's "secret sauce." Leading by Exemplar has three goals: (1) to…

This publication is part of the "Leading by Exemplar" project, a multi-year study conducted by Bellwether Education Partners. In this project, every aspect of the Head Start exemplars' program design and practice was closely examined in an effort to understand each program's "secret sauce." Leading by Exemplar has three goals:…

Google Earth is a powerful instructional resource for geoscience education. We have extended the virtual globe to include all terrestrial planets. Downloadable Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files (Google Earth's scripting language) associated with this paper include lessons about Mercury, Venus, the Moon, and Mars. We created "grand…

The purpose of the present study was to gather formative and summative data related to the FCPSOn initiative during its third year of implementation in the 2018-19 school year within Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). The present study documents program implementation in 15 Phase One schools and stakeholder feedback for future FCPSOn schools.…

This study looked at the impact of the integration of contemplative practices on foreign language anxiety, positive and negative affect, self-efficacy, classroom climate, and language learning in students enrolled in an advanced intermediate Spanish language course in the USA. Data included pre- and post-test surveys, exam scores to measure…