Majestic County Schools (pseudonym), a large southeastern school district, has implemented changes in instruction to align with more rigorous state and national mathematics standards. The rigor of the new standards has led to changes in instruction to help students master the standards with evidence from the state-wide standardized test. Although…

Early and explicit vocabulary instruction is one important way teachers can support early readers for later reading comprehension success (Duncan et al., 2007; Marulis & Neuman, 2010; Neuman & Dwyer, 2011; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2000); however, some observations indicate that early childhood and…

The problem that the researcher addressed through this study was that third- to fifth-grade teachers found it challenging to incorporate explicit comprehension strategies to reading in an elementary school in southeastern Virginia. The purpose of the study was to examine third- to fifth-grade teachers' perceptions of and experiences when…

Public school teachers are responsible for their students' academic achievement. Their primary role is to deliver academic material in a structured and safe learning environment. One thing that hinders their ability to execute this, however, is having to intervene on behaviors that interfere with optimal learning. These interfering behaviors,…

For this dissertation, I had the opportunity to investigate a well-established university-based intensive English program in the northeastern United States as it transitioned from an integrated-skills to a paired-skills approach. My goal as a researcher was to investigate in what ways "listening," the second language (L2) skill…

This dissertation sought to understand the evolution of four elementary teachers' (grades 1-3) teaching of science with representations over the course of one year of participation in a multi-structured professional development (PD) project referred to as RepTaL. The notion of learning to teach science using a range of representations is a…

Academic vocabulary is one of the most important skills needed in language learning, but it may be difficult for students whose native language is not English. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate how classroom core subject teachers at Middle School 55 (pseudonym) perceive their ability to implement specific instructional model…

This qualitative case study examined the contribution a year-long professional development in the science of reading had on 10 first-grade teachers' knowledge of how reading develops and their instructional practices. Data for this research study was collected through a longitudinal interview process, from pre- and post-knowledge inventory…

This study aimed to provide professional development in vocabulary instructional practices and analyze the impact on student achievement. This one group pretest-posttest research design study evaluated the effectiveness of direct vocabulary instruction on eighth-grade students' academic achievement, identified the academic achievement gained in…

A highly proficient Direct Instruction (DI) teacher is a teacher who is able to demonstrate the effective use of Direct Instruction curriculum and teaching practices, resulting in sustainability and high student achievement. In this qualitative case study investigation, I describe and, when possible, explain how two teachers reflected on the…

Special education teachers often have limited opportunities to learn from similarly trained professionals because of the low incidence of some students with moderate and severe disabilities and the amount of classrooms serving these students per school district. Moreover, the long-standing shortage of special education teachers in the nation…