Over 90% of students with complex support needs are taught in self-contained (segregated) special education classrooms for most of their school day, despite accumulating evidence these classrooms are not associated with positive student outcomes. Yet placement in these segregated classrooms persists, in part because of assumptions about the degree…

Analysis of consistent Zearn Math users and a comparable group of non-users in District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) shows that students who used Zearn Math consistently had higher levels of academic growth than similar students with low- or no-usage. This analysis used two quasi-experimental methods, Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) and fixed…

Closing the achievement gap is critical to the future of the nation, but more importantly it provides economically disadvantaged students a learning experience equivalent to their peers. Many districts attempt to battle low performance in Title I schools through special programs or addressing issues such as class size instead of taking into…

Educational policies and practices have had a long-standing emphasis of conducting incoming literacy screenings to determine who is at risk for school failure. Response to intervention (RTI) is an intervention program designed to deliver educational resources to students who fall below what is deemed an acceptable level of proficiency as viewed…

This study examined the impact of Classworks® Individualized Learning math instruction on second-grade students performing below the 25th percentile in math. The research, conducted during the 2021-2022 school year, involved 1,367 students from 45 schools across seven districts. A quasi-experimental design compared 941 students who had any use of…

This paper presents an action research study as part of a Dissertation in Practice. Based on observations from the classroom of the participant-researcher, Problem of Practice is described: an over-reliance on teacher-centered instructional methods and the mismatch of these instructional techniques to the pedagogy endorsed by the International…

A recent study found that one in three Americans between the ages of 16 and 65 lack the skills needed to succeed in middle school math, let alone math at the high school or college level. In some instances, states or colleges have raised standards for developmental courses and routed students who score below the minimum skill level for…

Students with complex support needs frequently experience restrictive educational placements such as self-contained and separate school classrooms. Given the need to support students with complex support needs to experience positive outcomes and make progress in the general education curriculum, there is a need to investigate the characteristics…

Students with complex support needs frequently experience restrictive educational placements such as self-contained and separate school classrooms. Given the need to support students with complex support needs to experience positive outcomes and make progress in the general education curriculum, there is a need to investigate the characteristics…

Project-based learning is popular with many parents, students, and teachers because of its focus on problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and real-world application (Gallup, 2019). It encourages teachers to act as facilitators while students actively engage in teacherand student-posed learning challenges, working alone and in groups on…

Believe and Prepare is a teacher preparation reform implemented by the Louisiana Department of Education in collaboration with school systems and teacher preparation programs across the state. It was piloted in the 2014/15 school year and became mandatory in July 2018 for incoming teacher candidates in all 18 institutions of higher education that…

Background: Among the most contested topics within special education research concerns racial disparities in students identified with disabilities. This phenomenon, referred to as disproportionality in special education placement, is historically rooted in concerns surrounding the overrepresentation of Black students in special education across…

Students classified as English learners (EL) are a protected class of students with core legal rights. There are clear opportunities to strengthen education policies and practices to improve opportunities and outcomes for EL-classified students. This dissertation is comprised of three studies examining key issues in EL education with the goal of…

EMPOWER was an Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant awarded to Cabarrus County Schools by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. EMPOWER provided social-emotional, academic, and non-cognitive supports in magnet school settings to students from low-income families. Family engagement and teacher…

The study found that, on average, TFA corps members hired in the first two years of the scale-up period were as effective as other teachers in the same high-poverty schools in both reading and math. TFA teachers in lower elementary grades (prekindergarten through grade 2) had a positive, statistically significant effect on students' reading…