David Stephens, a 4th grade teacher in Washington State, was preparing a lesson plan about desert wildlife (all names are pseudonyms). He was planning on assigning his students the chapter book, "Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus." The students had divergent knowledge about the topic. For example, Maryam had grown up in…

Standardized testing and accountability are currently unavoidable components of Texas Public Education. Through years of push-back, parents and educators have demanded that Texas consider alternative testing options that would reduce the high-stakes testing burden on students and schools. In 2015, the State of Texas passed legislation requiring…

Turkish elementary mathematics program was revised in 2005. In 2011, Turkey participated in TIMSS at the 4th-grade level for the first time. 4th graders were educated using the new curriculum and thus their success rate on TIMSS can be considered as an evaluation of the new program. This study investigated Turkish 4th grade teachers' expectation…

Science IDEAS is an evidence-based model that reflects interdisciplinary research findings that support the integration of literacy (e.g., reading comprehension) within science instruction in grades K-5. Presented is a framework for planning integrated science and literacy instruction in which six elements (hands-on investigations, reading,…