The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental study was to explore the impact of targeted social and emotional learning (SEL) strategies on academic achievement at the middle school level, specifically in the area of mathematics. Three middle schools in a large Southern California K-12 school district were used in this study. This study…

A Faculty Learning Community comprised of four faculty members evaluated their work of implementing collaborative learning techniques (CoLTs) into their graduate and undergraduate courses that included different teaching modalities (traditional classroom, hybrid, and online). Two research questions were examined: (1) Did students perceive that the…

NGSS Early Implementers is a six-year initiative created to help eight California school districts and two charter management organizations, supported by WestEd's K-12 Alliance, implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Administrators need learning opportunities if they are to adequately understand the substantial shifts of the Next…

Through an analysis of students' reactions to transcription exercises, this exploratory study examined some of the differences between two forms of written help enhancing listening passages--second language (L2) captions and transcripts. This primarily qualitative analysis highlighted the role that student proficiency levels may have played in…

We investigated whether the social cognitive theory constructs of self-efficacy and self-regulated learning apply to academic advising for measuring student learning outcomes. Community college students (N = 120) participated in an individual academic-advising session. We assessed students' post-intervention self-efficacy in academic planning and…

In this study I examine the construct of aptitude in learning Chinese as a second language (L2) to an advanced level. I test 2 hypotheses: first, that L2 aptitude comprises 4 components--working memory, rote memory, grammatical sensitivity, and phonemic coding ability--and second, that L2 aptitude affects learning both directly and indirectly…

C-LERN (California Local Education Reform Network) is the application of failure avoidance technology in California schools with a high concentration of at-risk students. Aimed at total school improvement, C-LERN was piloted in various Sacramento area schools before being launched as a joint venture of the State Department of Education and Sage…

School Readiness profiles measured countywide at kindergarten entry provide important, population-based information about the developmental capacities of children as well as the capacity of families, pre-schools, and communities to support children's school readiness. These profiles enable key stakeholders to plan, evaluate, and improve programs,…