Purpose: Our purpose was to gather and evaluate accurate, up-to-date information on physical education (PE) policy implementation across multiple U.S. states and regions. Methods: A U.S. Physical Education and Physical Activity Policy questionnaire was developed and completed by 4,845 public-school PE teachers from 25 U.S. states. The U.S.…

While the science of reading offers a powerful approach to literacy, implementing it can be both beneficial and challenging. This Spotlight will help readers identify how state leaders have approached reading policy implementation; review districts' experience moving to a 'knowledge-building' curriculum; evaluate best practices for teaching…

In a flipped classroom, an increasingly popular pedagogical model, students view a video lecture at home and work on exercises with the instructor during class time. Advocates of the flipped classroom claim the practice not only improves student achievement but also ameliorates the achievement gap. We conduct a randomized controlled trial at West…

One challenge teachers of students with orthopedic and multiple disabilities face is providing sufficient time and opportunity to communicate. This challenge is universal across countries, schools, and settings: teachers want students to communicate because communication lies at the core of what makes us human. Yet students with orthopedic and…

The After-School Corporation (TASC) works to build education enrichment into an expanded school day because extra time spent in engaging learning activities leads to better outcomes in school and beyond. There's one month, however, when students in many schools lose learning time: June. In 2013, NYC elementary and middle schools saw their average…

Professional development workshops enable educators to increase their knowledge in an academic subject. With the publication of The Next Generation Science Standards, teachers are expected to be cognizant in science content and inquiry-based learning. This research study looked at workshops offered by New York Project Learning Tree®, an…

It is well-documented that students of color, and other historically underserved students, have had less access to an equitable and supportive learning environment, perpetuating school failure and, too often, a school-to-prison pipeline that is difficult to escape. This report shows how a number of states are taking advantage of opportunities in…

Research has shown that rooms with greater amounts of open floor space have higher test results. Four recent trends that have negatively impacted open space in classrooms: (1) storage of CCSS materials in the classroom, (2) storage of science kits in the classroom, (3) inability to remove unwanted material, and (4) inability to remove unneeded…

New York is poised to take an important step to improve student achievement by expanding learning time for students attending high-poverty, low-performing schools. Recent district- and state-level investments in expanded learning time--a promising strategy to close achievement and opportunity gaps--will give students more time to learn core…

Despite there being a significant amount of research investigating workplace learning, research exploring firefighter workplace learning is almost nonexistent. The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to explore how firefighters conceptualize, report, and practice workplace learning. The researcher also investigated how firefighters…

This study analyzed the impact of classroom based reading instruction ("direct instruction") on the standardized test scores of 6th grade students as measured by the New York State English Language Arts assessment (NYS ELA). It was hypothesized that the implementation of direct instruction in reading in grade 6 would improve NYS ELA…

This dissertation undertakes an analysis of 1,044 performance evaluations from New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Spring Festival solo adjudication ratings of student performers from a large suburban school district. It relies on results of evaluations of observed performances, and takes these evaluations as assessments of what the…

Policy Studies Associates (PSA) is conducting a five-year evaluation of the implementation and impact of the national demonstration of a model for expanded learning time developed by "The After-School Corporation" (TASC). This model, called "ExpandED Schools," aims to transform the educational experiences of students in ways…

Three experiments were designed to test whether perception and action are coordinated in a way that distinguishes sequencing from timing (Pfordresher, 2003). Each experiment incorporated a trial design in which altered auditory feedback (AAF) was presented for varying lengths of time and then withdrawn. Experiments 1 and 2 included AAF that…

The purposes of this research were (a) to understand the frequency with which K-5 teachers use informational text in their routine classroom instruction, (b) to understand the percentage of informational text in classroom libraries, and (c) to explore teachers' attitudes about informational text. Survey data of 318 participants indicated that K-5…