We discuss an original study and two replications conducted over 18 years examining the impact of Teacher Study Group (TSG) in Vocabulary, a professional development (PD) approach for improving pedagogy and student learning. Study 1 focused on the design and development of the PD and included a small-scale randomized controlled trial to assess the…

The current study examined teachers' perceptions with regard to the Guided Reading (GR) approach in elementary level education. Specifically, this study examined the following research questions: a) What are Alberta teachers' perceptions about the GR approach? b) What are Alberta teachers' perceptions about how they enact GR in the classroom? and…

In 2022, Ohio House Bill 436 went into effect. The law required Ohio reading teachers to shift their literacy instructional practices to be consistent with structured literacy based on The Science of Reading research. This large body of research may be in direct conflict with widely used instructional practices that are generally thought of as…

In a study examining the efficacy of Heggerty's Bridge to Reading program during the 2023-2024 school year, LXD Research measured the program's impact on kindergarten and first-grade students' reading outcomes on the NWEA MAP Reading Fluency assessment. Results indicated that first graders using the program demonstrated significantly greater…

This dissertation investigated the extent to which five dependent variables were included in the first-grade reading curriculum and whether district size played a role in their inclusion. This study's mixed-methods approach incorporated descriptive statistics, histograms, confidence intervals, and chi-squared analyses to assess curriculum patterns…

This action research study in a North Dakota public school addresses the need for effective professional development (PD) to enhance instruction and academic outcomes for mathematically promising learners. Despite annual PD investments, concerns persist regarding the limited efficacy of short-term workshops (Knight & Skrtic, 2021; Kraft et…

This study examined a professional development (PD) intervention that provided kindergarten-through third-grade teachers with drama-based pedagogy to improve student reading achievement. The PD consisted of collaboration between teaching artists and teachers to integrate drama into English language arts instruction for a school year. Twenty-six…

In 2019, declines in reading achievement across Texas motivated changes for teacher recertification, which required 60-hour professional development in the science of teaching reading (STR). The problem this study addressed was the challenges K-Grade 3 reading teachers encountered when implementing the recently adopted Reading Academy content at a…

When language is defined narrowly in mathematics classrooms, racially and linguistically minoritized students in classrooms could be systematically positioned as "learners of deficiency." Recent scholarship calls for expanding the notion of language to emphasize embodied expression of mathematical ideas. Taking a critical perspective to…

An increasing number of U.S. teachers of English Language Learners (ELL) across the nation are not receiving adequate in-service training to provide instruction within students' zone of proximal development (ZPD). Vygotsky's ZPD is the difference between what a person can achieve when acting alone and what the same person can achieve when acting…

Systemic barriers often prevent young Black boys from full development of their potential, including in the area of literacy. This systematic literature review seeks to better understand the landscape of literacy development of Black boys in kindergarten, first, and second grades by answering the question: What does previous literature indicate…

The teaching of English Learners, one of the fastest-growing subgroups in American Public schools, is a task American classroom teachers are ill-equipped to handle. As students from a variety of language backgrounds move from metropolitan areas of the country to more rural locales educational leaders must equip teachers to integrate language…

This mixed-method study examined the balance of narrative and informational text instruction in alignment with Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and teachers' professional learning opportunities in elementary classrooms. Surveys were sent to teachers in one midwestern state, and audio recordings of literacy instruction were collected in one…

Many teachers have strong beliefs about the way literacy should be taught, despite what the research shows about how students learn best. If an educator's existing beliefs about literacy clash with updated instructional understandings and methods about the science of reading, there's a likelihood that teachers may resist embracing change and…

Representation in science is anything that stands for something else--drawings, pictures, graphs, or other representational forms (Danish et al. 2020). Representations serve as public displays of phenomena that make aspects of those phenomena explicit (Gilbert 2008). They can serve to make the invisible visible, communicate ideas, display…