Novice special education teachers have become an integral part of the public and private school systems throughout Pennsylvania. This mixed-methods research study explored the expertise and preparedness of current novice special education teachers. A combination of an electronic survey questionnaire and phone and face-to-face interviews were…

Providing students and teachers with appropriate support is a pivotal component when it comes to improving student outcomes. Pre-Referral Intervention Teams (PIT) provide structured interventions and assistance for at-risk students. The purpose of this study was to answer the following research questions: (1) What are teachers' perceptions of…

This research report presents the final year results of a three-year research project on computational thinking (CT). The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, involved training teachers in grades four through six to implement Scalable Game Design and LEGO® EV3 robotics during afterschool clubs. Thirty teachers and 531 students took…

Nineteen students whose first language is not English (English Language Learners, ELL) participated in an action research study that focused on the marriage of an art education curriculum and literacy practice. The study introduced students to the consistent use of language in art education as a means to discuss, inform, explain, and demonstrate…

Over the last four decades, legislative mandates have increased both educational opportunities and accountability measures for students with identified disabilities in the public school setting. The intertwined relationship between those mandates and the processes used to monitor the progress of a student's individualized goals is complex. This…

Teacher educators have an obligation to prepare preservice teachers with the skills and dispositions necessary to promote a socially just world. Yet the results of this study uncovered that the majority of elementary preservice teachers in a national sample (N = 846) have a simplistic perception of good citizenship consistent with what Westheimer…

A variety of factors contribute to women's underrepresentation in educational administration, particularly in positions that traditionally lead to the superintendency. This study examines the career pathways of female superintendent aspirants from the elementary principalship. A conceptual framework based on career development and motivation…

In a time when discussions about information privacy dominate the media, research on Cybersafety education reveals that K-12 teachers and staff are concerned about information privacy in schools and they seek to learn more about the protection of their students' and own personal information online. Privacy topics are typically introduced to the…

Teacher candidates in one Professional Development School did make a difference in children's academic growth. This paper describes a mixed-methods study that investigated student achievement of elementary children after receiving interventions from teacher candidates and identified the perceived benefits and challenges of a new Professional…

This mixed-methods pilot study extends researchers' understandings about elementary teachers' (K-6) perceptions of design, engineering and technology. In the first phase of the study, a reliable and valid survey was given to thirty-five participants in a teacher professional development academy sponsored by the Institute for P-12 Engineering…

The purpose of this study was to see if students made gains in reading achievement in the area of reading comprehension by having used a computerized reading instructional program entitled "READ 180RTM." The researcher included a qualitative component to gather teacher and parent perceptions of the use of this program. The theoretical…

Problem: Teacher migration and attrition are costly to educational institutions and negatively impact students' education. Teachers migrate to other positions and/or leave the profession for different reasons. Research of literature indicated that one influence on the teacher's decision to migrate to another position or to leave the profession is…

There have been a limited number of studies on the short-term influence of environmental and earth education programs, however, not much information is available about the long-term influence of these programs on participants' environmental attitudes and actions. This mixed methods study explores the long-term influence of the earth education…

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a South Central Pennsylvania public school's pre-kindergarten program in preparing young children for the transition to kindergarten. Despite the growing interest in pre-kindergarten education, no researcher had yet seriously examined the efficacy of providing a minimal amount of…

Improving reading comprehension and fluency in students with mild disabilities has long been a challenge for educators. Technology has provided a host of new possibilities for working with students with mild disabilities. This study incorporated a mixed method to investigate the potential of using E-Readers as an instructional tool. Three features…