Elementary school teachers struggle to collect and use reading progress data to make instructional decisions. Collecting and interpreting reading progress data when making instructional decisions allows districts to identify and support students who need early reading intervention and may protect districts from Free Appropriate Public Education…

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…

Education today is inseparable from the accumulation of human capital. "The New York Times" called human capital the most important asset in our portfolio. In my dissertation, I analyze the effectiveness of different educational policies and programs in Mexico and the United States. In the first chapter of my dissertation I study the…

The Southern Regional Education Board established the Technology Centers That Work (TCTW) in 2007. Since that time, the TCTW has sought to help Career and Technical Centers (CTCs) improve both the academic and technical skills of their students. By integrating academic concepts in the context of Career and Technical Education (CTE), learners…

Response to Intervention has the potential to help schools reach the goals of both the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) 2004. The course of action with the Response to Intervention model is to apply instructionally sound practices based on students' needs, monitor students'…

The purpose of this research study was to examine leadership behaviors of middle school principals who have been successful in stimulating and sustaining African-American students' mathematics achievement on the California Standards Test. Specifically, this research sought to answer the following questions: 1) How do middle school principal…

The purpose of the study was to examine the circumstances and practices that led to OCR and DOJ investigations in seven selected school districts, and to determine the emerging themes from the details of the settlement agreements between the school districts and the United States. The themes developed through this study were aimed at providing a…

School leaders must ensure the schools meet U.S. federal and state guidelines; thereby increasing test scores, as stipulated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates (Sloan, 2007). Increased student achievement continues to be the focus of state education departments because the number of students graduating from high school decreased and…

The purpose of the study was to provide a data-based description of West Virginia special education teachers' roles, responsibilities, and practices relevant to their participation in selected components of the Response to Intervention (RTI) process. Special educators' practices related to assessment, tiered instruction, decision making, and…

A national report by The Teaching Commission (2004), entitled "Teaching at Risk: A Call to Action", highlighted the significance of professional learning by teachers. Requirements outlined by the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) component of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) have emphasized the demands for high-quality professional…