This study surveyed 45 selected primary and secondary schools in Botswana which aimed to identify how parent and community involvement in the governance of schools affect teacher effectiveness and improvement of learner performance. The study started from January 2005 to December 2006. Literature review, administration of questionnaires, interview…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation and public pressure to prepare students for the twenty-first century has put increasing demands on schools to improve student performance. This action research study examined the efforts of an elementary school principal and her third and fourth grade teachers to improve students' performance in math. The…

This article reports the progress of 13 learning-disabled students after 1 year of planning and 1 year of implementing the "Mainstream Experiences for the Learning Disabled" (MELD) model in an urban elementary school. Students made no significant progress in reading or math and earned lower grades during the implementation year. (DB)

A chemistry outreach program to enthuse students of elementary school levels through employing popular children's literature Harry Potter is presented. The outreach activity performance found the students discovering new skills, learning more about science, and participating enthusiastically in the program without any added incentive from their…

This report summarizes results from three large-scale reviews of research on the impact of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs on elementary and middle-school students--that is, programs that seek to promote various social and emotional skills. Collectively the three reviews included 317 studies and involved 324,303 children. SEL programs…

This action research project sought to decrease the number of late or missing homework assignments among fourth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders in two schools near large urban communities. Survey data showed that over 75 percent of teachers polled considered late or missing assignments to be a problem. Several strategies were implemented,…

Investigated the impact of the 14-week Purdue Creative Thinking Program on learning disabled intermediate grade children. Found pupils in the experimental group made significantly higher scores on the creativity variables of the verbal subtest of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. (Author/JAC)

With the passage of the Reading Excellence Act, states and their schools have increasingly emphasized the implementation of research-based literacy interventions, and both parties are eager to know the effectiveness of their efforts. However, the evaluation of the impact of any reform is complicated by the presence of other types of interventions…

This action research project devised and implemented an intervention for increasing student engagement in the learning process. The targeted population consisted of elementary students in an urban area in north central Illinois. The problem of non-engaged learning was documented by means of observation of class participation, a student attitude…

To determine the relationship between particular reading materials used most frequently with students in grades one through six and the amount of progress students made during the 1982-83 school year, a study was conducted by the District of Columbia Public Schools. Nine of the ten reading materials on the approved textbook list were assessed, and…

This action research project implemented and evaluated a portfolio program for assessing student performance. The targeted population consisted of elementary and middle grade students in two schools. The inadequacy of traditional evaluation methods was documented by means of parent and staff surveys. Common discrepancies were found in student…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program to improve writing performance across the curriculum. The targeted population consisted of students (n=73) from the elementary sector of a middle-class community in a south suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The problem of deficiencies in student writing throughout content areas was documented through…

Data on characteristics and accomplishments of the Highline Public Schools' Excellence in Education Grant Program at Gregory Heights Elementary School are reported. The program, which involves second through sixth grade students, was implemented to increase academic learning time, mathematics and reading scores, and total volunteer time. Factors…

Research on elementary school-based programs for increasing the educationally stimulating qualities of the home environment was statistically synthesized in a qualitative analysis of 29 controlled studies. Of 121 comparisons made in the analysis, 91.1 percent favored treatment over control groups, thus pointing to the effectiveness of these…

This report presents an evaluation of the 1984-85 Hartford (Connecticut) Project Concern program, an education intervention for children from Title I schools. The report focuses on two areas: (1) monitoring the cognitive and affective impact of Project Concern over the current school year; and (2) examining the extent to which the reading and…