The purpose of this observational study was to examine the amount and type of writing instruction and practice in kindergarten classrooms. Participants included 78 kindergarten teachers from 34 elementary schools across three states in the US. Classroom teachers were videotaped three times (fall, winter, and spring) during the academic year. We…

Canines can provide emotional support, create a nonjudgmental environment, facilitate positive social interactions, and shape student behavior. This study investigated the impact of a canine-assisted reading program on four second-grade students' reading fluency and attitudes toward reading. Oral reading fluency (ORF) was measured using ORF…

Background: The threat of a disaster or potential for a disaster is something that may be experienced by individuals globally. Schools are places of daily mass gatherings which make them an ideal target for mass casualty, natural disasters, and biological incidents. Methods: An integrative review using Whittemore and Knafl's model was conducted to…

More research attention and implementation support are needed for mathematics intervention as student achievement in this area continues to fall below desirable levels. Incremental rehearsal is an intervention to help students build reading, vocabulary, and math fluency. Research supports the use of incremental rehearsal for improving math fact…

We examined the math facts fluency growth of students receiving explicit timing practice in either a massed, short-distributed, or long-distributed fashion. In a repeated measures group design, 43 Midwestern third-grade students completed four 1-min math probes each day for 20 days. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that students who received…

The threat of an active shooter is something early childhood educators need to prepare for, but a literature review regarding active shooter drills indicated a gap in the research focused on the perceptions the early childhood educators. Using a conceptual lens based on developmentally appropriate practice and the developmental theories of Piaget…

A skill-by-treatment interaction (STI) isolates skill deficits and manipulates conditions to match them to student needs. Based on the learning hierarchy, preintervention scores can help predict which intervention will be most successful for an individual student. This study compared the efficacy of a modeling and practice-based decoding…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives of preschool teachers regarding crisis preparedness in independently funded childcare centers. This study was based on the integrated model of school crisis preparedness and intervention proposed by Jimerson, Brock, and Pletcher. This study examined how preschool teachers describe the…

Teaching English to first-grade elementary school children presents its own challenges for teachers. This is because children at this age have characteristics such as having a short attention span, enjoying playing, and learning more effectively when they are having fun. On the other hand, children in this group are still learning to read and…

We examined the math facts fluency growth of students receiving explicit timing practice in either a massed, short-distributed, or long-distributed fashion. In a repeated-measures group design, 50 mid-western 3rd grade students completed four one-minute math probes each day for 20 days. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that students who…

The utility of homework and its impact on academic achievement has been an ongoing debate for more than 100 years. To date, there is no rigorous experimental research to show whether, and the extent to which, variations in the amount of homework assigned can impact the academic performance of elementary school students. In this study, 440…

Mass shootings in schools raise important questions about how best to keep individuals safe and increase survivability in such situations. One of the most common techniques used is lockdown drills, which train individuals to build time and space between them and the threat. Despite their use in 95% of public K-12 schools nationwide, their efficacy…

Deliberate practice is essential for acquiring a wide range of skills that have been central to humans' adaptive success, yet little is known about when and how children develop this capability. The current study examined 4- to 7-year-olds' (N = 120) ability to selectively practice a skill that would be useful in the near future, as well as their…

Opportunities for practice play a critical role in learning complex behaviors. In the context of explicit mathematics instruction, practice facilitates systematic opportunities for students with mathematics difficulties (MD) to learn new mathematics content and apply such knowledge and skills to novel mathematics problems. This study explored…

Opportunities for practice play a critical role in learning complex behaviors. In the context of explicit mathematics instruction, practice facilitates systematic opportunities for students with mathematics difficulties (MD) to learn new mathematics content and apply such knowledge and skills to novel mathematics problems. This study explored…