The authors outline the application of latent class analysis (LCA) to classroom observational instruments. LCA offers diagnostic information about teachers' instructional strengths and weaknesses, along with estimates of measurement error for individual teachers, while remaining relatively straightforward to implement and interpret. It is…

This case study reports on a student with special education needs in an inclusive seventh grade life science classroom using a framework of disability studies in education. Classroom data collected over 13 weeks consisted of qualitative (student and classroom observations, interviews, student work samples and video-taped classroom teaching and…

Background: Blending collaborative learning and project-based learning (PBL) based on Wolff (2003) design categories, students interacted in a learning environment where they developed their technology integration practices as well as their technological and collaborative skills. Purpose: The study aims to understand how seventh grade students…

Class-wide interventions have been effectively used as a primary level of support to increase student engagement, but the management of these interventions can quickly become burdensome for busy classroom teachers. To address this problem, this study combined a class-wide self-management intervention, in which the students were responsible for…

Observation measures of instructional quality tend to fall into two broad categories--those for use across subject areas and those intended for use in specific subject areas. The move toward content-specific measures is a result of research suggesting that effective teaching looks different across subject areas and that both content knowledge and…

In this study, we examined how the relationships between one observation protocol, the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observation (PLATO), and value-added measures shift when different tests are used to assess student achievement. Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project, we found that PLATO was more strongly related to the…

This mixed methods study describes the effects of a "minute contextual experience" on students' ability to solve a realistic assessment problem involving scale drawings and proportional reasoning. Minute contextual experience (MCE) is defined to be a brief encounter with a context in which aspects of the context are explored openly. The…

The concept of "implementation fidelity" is broadly used to capture the extent to which an intervention is executed as intended by the designers of the intervention (Century, Rudnick, & Freeman, 2010; Huntley, 2005, McNaught, Tarr, & Sears, 2010, Munter, 2010). Though implementation fidelity instruments are often used to assess…

Obstacles, and instructional responses to them, that emerged in two middle school science classes during a formative experiment investigating Internet Reciprocal Teaching (IRT), an instructional intervention aimed at increasing digital literacy on the Internet, are reported in this manuscript. Analysis of qualitative data revealed that IRT enabled…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was (a) to describe adolescents' use of the e-readers, (b) to discover if e-readers increase adolescents' intrinsic motivation to read and, if so, why, and (c) to examine the possibility of creating a learner-centered environment for students using e-readers. Five seventh and eighth grade…

By focusing on one student, this case study illustrated ways that successful teachers invited success and may help other teachers create connections with students. This study chronicled one student's responses to her teachers' efforts to engage her during a teaching activity. Data from interviews, observations, and work samples showed how the…

One-to-one laptop programs, where each student has their own laptop to use in classroom, are becoming popular in schools especially in Australia and the United States. The purpose of the study was to contribute to the limited knowledge base explaining the implementation of laptop programs specifically with English language learners. Four ESL…

This article presents findings from an investigation of the overall effectiveness of Michigan's Freedom to Learn (FTL) One-to-One initiative. The major goal of the FTL initiative was to help students to gain 21st century knowledge and skills while increasing their learning and achievement through the integration of over 20,000 laptop computers…

The current orthodoxy regarding computer use in schools appears to be that one-to-one (1:1) computing, wherein each child owns or has sole access to a computing device, is the most efficacious way to achieve a range of desirable educational outcomes, including individualised learning, collaborative environments, or constructivist pedagogies. This…

Methylphenidate (MPH) often ameliorates attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) behavioral dysfunction according to "indirect" informant reports and rating scales. The standard of care behavioral MPH titration approach seldom includes "direct" neuropsychological or academic assessment data to determine treatment…