This research examines the relationship between ethnicity, ethnic identity, self-efficacy, and academic achievement within a multi-ethnic mid-sized city in the US Midwest. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, middle and high school adolescents (Fall, N = 482; Spring, N = 392) were surveyed and interviewed over the course of one year to investigate…

To evaluate the influence of scientifically based curricula intended for the physical education (PE) classroom, researchers should consider fidelity, or the extent to which teachers who are implementing a PE curricular intervention adhere to the model of curriculum and instruction inherent in the research design. The purpose of this study was to…

Previous research has identified various factors that contribute to readers' comprehension of expository texts, including strategy expertise, language proficiency, prior knowledge, and more recently, readers' beliefs about knowledge. This study addresses the need to understand the relative contributions of these predictors to readers'…

The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods study was to investigate teacher and peer support for young adolescents' academic motivation, classroom engagement, and school belonging within one large, urban, ethnically diverse middle school. In the initial quantitative phase, associations among aspects of teacher support (autonomy,…

The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of teacher read-aloud on adolescent learning in science and variation according to individual reading ability. The study gathered both quantitative and qualitative data for analysis from 2 treatment procedures. All seventh and eighth grade students participated in 2 consecutive units of study:…

This mixed-methods study examined the relationship between middle level science students' perceptions of teacher-student interactions and students' science motivation, particulary their efficacy, value, and goal orientation for learning science. In this sequential explanatory design, quantitative and qualitative data were collected in two phases,…

The assessment of learning in large online courses requires tools that are valid, reliable, easy to administer, and can be automatically scored. We have evaluated an online assessment and learning tool called Knowledge Assembly, or Knowla. Knowla measures a student's knowledge in a particular subject by having the student assemble a set of…

Recent research has emphasised educating children about positive behaviours to overcome delinquency issues, but there is little clarification of what factors lead to positive behaviours. This study analyses factors that led to children's positive behaviours at a junior high school in Japan, which experienced a dramatic turnaround after…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects that high-stakes tests have on middle school teachers' morale and teachers' efficacy in the state of Mississippi. The participants in this study were teachers in the areas of language arts, mathematics, and science at the middle school level. The researcher used a correlational design,…

This mixed design study investigated the predictive and instructional uses of two different types of interim mathematics assessments given in two different districts. One district administered the same summative type of assessment three times a year, while the other district administered a different interim assessment after six-week intervals of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of high school transition strategies for ninth grade students in comparison to the traditional high school experience of first time ninth grade students. This study compared the English End-of-Course (EOC) test scores of first time ninth grade students in a traditional high school setting…

The purpose of this mixed method study was to examine if there is a predictive relationship among special education teachers' sense of teacher efficacy and intent to leave while accounting for job satisfaction and a special education teacher's perceptions of principal support. Electronic surveys were sent via Survey Monkey to a random sample of…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was twofold. First, the study assessed whether Davis' (1989) Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was useful in predicting instructional usage of the interactive whiteboard (IWB), as reported by K-8 teachers. Second, the study set out to understand what motivated those teachers to use the IWB for classroom…

The achievement gap between African American and White students continues to be an issue of great concern for educators. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of teacher characteristics on African American student math achievement: More specifically, the study examined years of teaching experience, campus teacher turnover, and the…