Character education programs in elementary schools are believed to be important for fostering moral development and preparing children to thrive in civil society. Character develops through social relationships across contexts. However, transgressions, such as school bullying, threaten the relationships that foster character development.…

This dissertation reports the results of a research project that examined the effects of varying rates of reinforcement on students' math performance and assignment preference. The relationship between students' instructional level and the rate of reinforcement threshold for influencing assignment preference was also explored. Participants were…

New Mexico's Every Student Succeeds Act state plan set the goal for all English learner students to attain English proficiency within five years. The Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest English Learners Research Partnership conducted this study to better understand progress toward English proficiency among American Indian English learner…

Theory of Mind (ToM), as a relevant aspect in children's socio-cognitive development, has been widely studied. Some results have suggested that bilingual children have an advantage over their monolingual peers in development of ToM. However, there is less research regarding the predictive role of ToM in performance of oral and reading…

This study investigated the complexity of leveled passages used in four classroom reading assessments. A total of 167 passages leveled for Grades 1-6 from these assessments were analyzed using four analytical tools of text complexity. More traditional, two-factor measures of text complexity found a general trend of fairly consistent across-grade…

Well-designed game-based learning can provide students with an innovative environment that may enhance students' motivation and engagement in learning and thus improve their learning performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among elementary school students' flow experience and learning performances. We also…

This study investigates, through a cluster randomized trial, the impact of "Math in Focus," a core mathematics program modeled after instructional approaches used in Singapore, on third- through fifth-grade students' achievement in mathematics. The program is currently being used in more than 400 school districts in the United States.…

The purpose of this research study was two-fold. The first purpose was to investigate the impact of looping on academic achievement of students in selected public schools in Mississippi. The students' results on the 2010 and 2011 Mississippi Curriculum Test, Second Edition (MCT2) were used to determine whether looping students score differently in…

This article reports the findings from a comparative analysis that examined several mathematical content strands, reasoning processes, and emphasis on technology in prior K-8 state mathematics standards and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM). Various methodological tools were utilized to compare and contrast CCSSM with prior…

This study surveyed current third-, fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in two small school districts in the southeast. One school district has initiated a technology initiative in its elementary schools. The other school district involved in the study incorporates technology but does not have a specified technology initiative. This dissertation was…

This case study addresses two major priorities of the Boston Foundation--health and education. Since the 2007 publication of the "Understanding Boston" report "The Boston Paradox: Lots of Health Care, Not Enough Health," the Boston Foundation has worked to draw attention to the epidemic of preventable chronic disease that not…

This study examined relations between students' psychological engagement and academic achievement, as well as between students' psychological engagement and growth in academic achievement. The study also examined if relations between students' psychological engagement and academic growth varied by grade level (elementary school compared to middle…

The 2012 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 48th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The "Digest" has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field…

The 2011 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 47th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The "Digest" has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field…