After the abandonment of the Gifted and Talented initiative and the recent developments in mathematics educational policy (i.e. the new national curriculum and the "mastery" initiative), this research project aimed to explore the current primary school situation regarding educating the "most able" children in mathematics, along…

Research indicates that many English learners (ELs) have not been effectively supported in meeting their academic learning goals. This explains, in part, the growing interest and corresponding research on the essential teacher knowledge-base for teaching ELs. Despite the attention paid to this issue, research on preservice teachers' reasoning and…

Dyslexia policy and practice have been rapidly outpacing research. Due to legislation and media attention, schools are under pressure to attend to dyslexia, but research provides few clear answers about characteristics, identification, or instruction. Most dyslexia research takes place outside literacy education, and teachers' perspectives are…

The purpose of this study is to explore the educational status of Syrian refugees in Turkish schools, and the perspectives of teachers and school principals regarding the needs of Syrian refugee students in two inner-city elementary schools in Istanbul, Turkey. A qualitative interpretive case study method was employed. Eight participants (seven…

This qualitative case study explored the operational curricula of an art teacher's responsive pedagogy that focused on the differentiation aspects for artistically talented students in an elementary school in Taiwan. Findings indicate that cultivating a "Jian Zi" is the heart of the value system embedded in the art teacher's responsive…

Purpose: Culturally and linguistically diverse students frequently do not receive equitable educational opportunities. Schools across public and private sectors that are striving to ameliorate this problem typically work in isolation, not collaboratively. This article examines how communities of practice emerge within a network of schools striving…

The purpose of this study was to understand the reasons, as perceived by elementary school teachers at the target Title I school, for low student achievement in reading. The conceptual framework that guided this study was the ecological theory that postulates that students' academic achievement is influenced by several subsystems that affect human…

Regular education teachers are sometimes at a disadvantage when required to instruct learners with a visual impairment or other special needs in the classroom. A problem exists with reduced support and training for regular education teachers responsible for meeting literacy needs of students with visual impairment. The purpose of this qualitative…

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to describe elementary level school teachers' experiences who worked with English Learners in a project-based learning model of instruction. The study focused on how teachers developed, planned, or utilized curriculum to support the language acquisition of their English Learners to meet state and…

This article synthesizes reading intervention research studies intended for use with struggling or at-risk students to determine which studies adequately address population validity, particularly in regard to the diverse reading needs of English language learners. An extensive search of the professional literature between 2001 and 2010 yielded a…

Inclusion teachers at the elementary level face challenges in differentiating instruction for all students. Despite inclusion teachers' willingness to use differentiated instruction (DI), many teachers struggle implementing DI because of teachers' understanding of DI, insufficient time for planning, and insufficient training and resources. The…

Beginning teachers leave the profession at alarming rates. On average, nearly 50 percent of teachers leave the profession all together within their first five years (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). With current policy discussions around alternative routes to teacher certification, there has also been debate about the impact of traditional…

This paper reports on one aspect of a descriptive multiple-case study which set out to explore the role of a learning management system (LMS) in personalising learning for students from the perspective of three teachers in one primary school in New Zealand. The intention was to provide insight into the role the LMS could play in classrooms when…

English language learner (ELL) mathematics students at a California middle school did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward state standards in 2010. The purpose of this project study was to examine 6th and 7th grade mathematics teachers' perceptions regarding differentiated instruction for ELL students' specific academic needs and to…

Students with varying backgrounds and learning disabilities enter today's classrooms. Teachers may not be prepared to recognize and handle the needs of these students. The purpose of this study is to examine the research on teacher preparedness with the goal of increasing public awareness of the needs of this student population. A review of the…