Teaching linguistic aspects relevant to text construction is an essential component of any thorough writing instruction program, despite the conflicting evidence regarding its effectiveness. In this study, 889 second- and fourth-grade students were assigned to one of three conditions: Self-Regulated Development (SRSD), SRSD-connectors (SRSD-C),…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if a direct, explicit method of teaching vocabulary with the Vocabulary Scenario Technique -- General Education 16 Encounter (VSTGE16) protocol would yield gains in the vocabulary knowledge of fourth grade students in a general education classroom. Two research questions examined whether fourth…

The improvement of writing skills is one of the aims of the educational system. The present study implemented strategy-focused instruction through the Cognitive Self-Regulation Instruction (CSRI) program which included three instructional components: Direct Teaching, Modelling, and Peer-Practice. The aim was to explore the short- and long-term…

Little-to-no research examines the provision of targeted mathematical interventions to students struggling with mathematics in a virtual environment. And yet, the global pandemic of 2020--extending into 2021--found schools in such a scenario. This article reports two studies in which researchers explored the intervention package of explicit…

While the last two decades have witnessed a growing body of research on the quality of student writing, research on the impact of the socio-cognitive approach on young learners' writing has remained scarce. To fill this gap, this study investigates the effects of the socio-cognitive approach on the writing quality of 98 fourth graders in…

Experiences of failure can provide valuable opportunities to learn, however, the typical classroom does not tend to function from an orientation of learning from failure. Rather, educators aim to teach accurate information as efficiently as possible, with the main goal for students to be able to produce correct knowledge when called for, in the…

This article discusses use of a multicomponent intervention to develop the reading skill and performance of grades 4 to 8 students identified with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Reading intervention targets for this population are vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Reading intervention elements involve explicit vocabulary…

English Language Learners, such as my Hutterian students, struggle to overcome a variety of learning barriers. I examined a variety of instructional methods to determine what would help them. The first aspect I explored was how English Language Learners acquire literacy skills. I also investigated how to expand my students' background knowledge.…

The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) was grappling with several issues including: (1) A respectable rate of growth in student achievement for both fourth- and eighth-grade math in the state of Alabama, as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), but below the national average; and (2) A growing concern about…

There is limited research demonstrating Direct Instruction (DI) as an effective reading comprehension intervention for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and developmental disabilities (DD). Previous research has shown that DI, when portions of the program were implemented, resulted in increased skills (Flores & Ganz, 2007; Flores…

In this research, an experimental study was carried out in social studies 4th grade students to develop students' conceptual achievement and motivation to succeed academically. The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) in social studies. A quasi-experimental research design (pre- and posttest) was used in the…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) display severe social and academic deficits that can adversely affect their academic performance in mathematics and result in higher rates of failure throughout their schooling compared to other students with disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2005; Webber & Plotts, 2008).…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit direct instruction and cooperative learning on reading comprehension in fourth grade students. A quasi-experimental design was used. There were six cognitive and three affective measures used to collect quantitative data. Cognitive measures included California State Test scores,…

When a college professor who teaches research methods to graduate education students was approached by a local public urban elementary school to help them teach research skills to 4th-graders, it was thought that the process would be simple--take what we did at the college level and differentiate it for the childhood classroom. This article will…

"Spelling Mastery" is designed to explicitly teach spelling skills to students in grades 1 through 6. One of several Direct Instruction curricula from McGraw-Hill that precisely specify how to teach incremental content, "Spelling Mastery" includes phonemic, morphemic, and whole-word strategies. The What Works Clearinghouse…