Although school-based preventive parenting interventions have been found to promote children's social-emotional skill development and behavioral functioning, it is important to understand potential barriers to engagement in such programs to ensure that intervention access is equitable and likely to reach those who could most benefit. In the…

Semi-structured interviews are used to gain insights into participants' lived experiences and perspectives on issues, but they are open to subjectivity. To address this issue our study explored the combination of timeline graphic elicitation tools with semistructured interviews as an approach to gain insights into teachers' experiences of…

In this quasi-experimental study involving 23 fourth grade teachers, we investigated the effect of implementing teacher-child dynamic mathematics interviews to improve mathematics teaching behavior in the classroom. After a baseline period of 13 months, the teachers participated in a professional development program to support the use of dynamic…

The objectives of this research were: 1) to study the elements and indicators of primary school teachers' critical thinking, 2) to study current situation, desirable situation, development technique, and need for developing the primary school teachers' critical thinking, 3) to develop the program for developing the primary school teachers'…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the conceptions of integrated STEM education held by in-service science teachers through the use of Photo Elicitation Interviews (PEIs) and to examine how, if at all, those conceptions were reflected in teacher-created integrated STEM curricula that include an engineering design challenge.…

A substantial body of research highlights the value of nature experience in supporting children's well-being and development. Given the growing interest in connectedness to nature (C2N), a better understanding of C2N measurement provides multiple opportunities, including consideration of the use of tools for research purposes and practitioner…

This is a pilot study to explore the classroom implementation of the Lions Quest Program in Turkey. Teachers of first through eighth grades at two elementary schools who applied the program were interviewed about the program and their classroom practices while they were also observed and their classrooms were also observed. Considerable program…

While the academic and social success of two-way immersion programs in the public school sector is widely documented, little research has been conducted on how US Catholic school leaders have managed this whole school reform. Through an exploratory case study, the motivations and perceptions of 28 Catholic school administrators and change…

Students flourish by having positive learning experiences at school. Here we describe an action research study undertaken in an Australian primary school that was intended to promote the development of students' positive learning identities and resources. We partnered with classroom teachers to devise pedagogical practices that explicitly targeted…

Life span developmental psychology proposes that the ability to create a coherent life narrative does not develop until early adolescence. Using a novel methodology, 10-, 12-, and 14-year-old participants were asked to tell their life stories aloud to a researcher. Later, participants separated their transcribed narratives into self-identified…

We examined the beliefs and experiences of three elementary school teachers who, over one school year, participated in bi weekly, guided discussions of attachment and care theories that introduced them to relational pedagogy as a way of supporting students? positive social, emotional, and academic growth. Teachers? beliefs about the aims of…

These are the appendixes for the report "Children's Knowledge and Skills at Kindergarten Entry in Illinois: Results from the First Statewide Administration of the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey." At least half of states administer or are developing kindergarten entry assessments. In fall 2017 the Illinois State Board of…

This study examines the effectiveness of the Lions Quest Program: Skills for Growing by employing a quasi-experimental design with a control group. The experimental and control group each comprises two primary schools--one public, one private. One classroom at each grade level, 1 through 4, in each school was selected by random sampling for a…

This study explores how six school leadership teams in a rural district in California responded to professional development (PD) designed to strengthen leadership practices and organizational conditions in schools for improving teaching and learning. Specifically, the PD was intended to address the problem of practice identified by the schools:…

This dissertation explores the contemporary educational construct known as Social and Emotional Learning, or SEL. It investigates how the child, the teacher and the relationship between children and teachers are figured in the SEL-managed classroom. The dissertation also examines the extent to which SEL is produced by, and productive of, culture,…