A pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design was used to test the impact of a 30-week, theoretically-based social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, The RULER Feeling Words Curriculum ("RULER"), on the academic performance and social and emotional competence of 5th and 6th grade students (N = 273) in fifteen classrooms in three schools.…

Over the past few decades, service-learning has surged in popularity. Although most programs are implemented in high school and college classrooms, service-learning has the potential for great impact in middle school. The present article evaluates a pilot service-learning program for fifth- and seventh-grade (N = 86) children in a large, urban,…

Research indicates students who engage in music exhibit improved cognitive development. The quantitative study was conducted in a large suburban school district in Southeast Georgia. This study investigated the impact of music on student achievement when music is incorporated with the core academic subject of mathematics at the elementary level.…

After 10 years of No Child Left Behind standards-focused education, mathematics scores have improved only marginally for elementary-aged students. Students who developed a solid conceptual mathematics foundation at the elementary level succeeded later in higher-level mathematics courses; thus, educators have sought ways to increase mathematics…

The purpose of this dissertation is to characterize and analyze the specific implementation decisions made by teachers in Dominican primary schools. A new curriculum was developed in 1995 as part of a Ten-Year Plan to reform the educational system. Analyzing what teachers do and the factors that shape their instruction is relevant for improving…

How do educational opportunities influence students' academic achievement in the Dominican Republic? How do students grow, in knowledge and skills, as a result of their passage through the elementary grades? This study aims to explore and understand the differences between the implemented curriculum in public and private schools in 4th, 5th, and…

This presentation capitalizes on a three-year, longitudinal, school-randomized trial of the 4Rs Program, a comprehensive, school-based social-emotional and literacy program for elementary schools, to test intervention induced changes in features of classroom climate and key dimensions of teacher affective and pedagogical processes and practices…

This study focuses on how the treatment effects of a teacher professional development initiative in science differed by school capacity. In other words, the authors are primarily concerned with treatment effect heterogeneity. As such, this paper complements ongoing evaluation of the average treatment effects of the initiative over time. The…

This study addresses preservice teachers' perceptions toward online experiences, specifically, their perceptions about utilizing an online science methods curriculum versus a traditional methods curriculum. Thirty-eight senior level preservice teachers at a midwestern U.S. university completed surveys about their experiences during their methods…

The significant increase of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States raises complex questions about how to provide these students with access to high quality education that can improve both their content knowledge of school subjects and their English proficiency, particularly their academic English proficiency. The development of…

The authors were asked to find out whether "On Our Way to English" ("OWE"), a supplementary, text-based product to help elementary school students learn to read and speak English was more effective in a California and a Texas school district than the materials the districts already had in place. They conducted an experiment…