This pretest/posttest nonequivalent groups study explored the relationship between classroom-based creative writing instruction and the figurative language abilities of fourth grade students. Figurative language is widespread within the oral and written discourse of K-12 classrooms and is an essential component of higher-level language and…

Expectations have been placed upon elementary teachers from the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts to guide students through close readings of informational and literary texts. This content analysis examined online close reading lesson plans to determine common objectives in elementary close reading lessons using literary text…

In "Images of Leadership" (1991), Bolman and Deal identified four "frames" that school administrators use when making decisions: structural, symbolic, human resource and political. They discovered that the latter two frames, which focus on relationships, partnerships, and communication, were most frequently identified as…

In "Reading First" schools throughout the United States, literacy coaches administer the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) as the sole measure of fluency and then offer instructional recommendations for students with reading difficulties based on those results. However, critics of DIBELS question its accuracy for…

This conceptual study asks how a Christian public elementary school teacher might go about teaching in a classroom in ways that reflect or draw upon said teacher's personal Christian beliefs while also maintaining the secular character required of a public school classroom in a pluralistic democracy. In other words, I ask how a Christian educator…

This study investigated the types of instructors who teach local history, factors affecting their instruction in the community's past, and instructional practices employed to educate students about a locality's history. It examined teachers' implementation of items from "The Making of Milwaukee" (MOM) project which included a book, DVD…

In response to test-based accountability (No Child Left Behind, 2001), schools and districts across the country are adopting a variety of supplemental assessments aimed at improving student performance. These interim assessments are administered more than once during the school year for the following purposes: (1) predicting student performance on…

In an era of reductionist approaches to teaching and assessment, this dissertation returns to the fundamental question: "What is the value of writing, particularly poetry writing, in our society today?" The poet's central task, to abstract reality through symbols, requires profound cognitive and emotional work (Vendler, 2004; Steele,…

This study investigates how preservice teachers make sense of student-centered instruction with existing traditional beliefs about teaching. Teacher educators assume that university instruction translates directly into practice, yet, research is clear that beginning teachers revert to traditional teaching practice. For elementary teachers, one…