Background: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, American students have demonstrated substantial losses in achievement (Amplify, 2021; Domingue et al., 2021; Dorn et al., 2020; Storey & Zhang, 2023), while chronic absenteeism doubled after the pandemic, with the largest increase among low-income students (Chang et al., 2022; Dorn et al., 2021). Among…

In order to promote effective learning, individuals must feel fully appreciated within their own unique identities (i.e., ethnicities, language differences, socioeconomic status, gender, religions). Culturally competent educators employ practices that acknowledge and build on cultural diversity and that identify students themselves as resources…

Black girls represent a unique subpopulation of science learners. Black girls are unique because they consistently outperform Black boys in science. Despite this trend, Black girls often face dual marginalization in STEM classrooms and professions. Racial and gender marginalization can inhibit the success of Black girls in science if researchers,…

Recent efforts to motivate parents' involvement in their child's literacy development involve informing parents about how to incorporate literacy development into daily routines. Teacher leadership and communication are critical--the more teachers encourage and assist parents and caregivers in supporting their child's literacy development, the…

The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) presents, alongside the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy at Penn State University, these proceedings from the research strand at the 22nd National Conference on Family Literacy. Through these sessions, NCFL's conference continues to provide the latest research in family education…

To be effective, thinking skills interventions are likely to require specific fine-grain changes in the quantity and quality of teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil dialogue in the classroom, but these are difficult to establish. This study investigated the effects of collaborative philosophical enquiry over time on quantity and quality of interactive…

This document describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a 10-week parent effectiveness training program to improve black elementary school student attitudes and participation in extracurricular activities by improving the attitudes of their parents towards school. The program was developed in consultation with teachers and…

A study was conducted to examine young children's ideas about a psychology study in which they had participated, and to assess their perceptions about the voluntary nature of their participation. Subjects were 28 third-grade students and 28 fifth-grade students. Findings indicated that while no significant grade level differences existed in…

Explores use of historical fiction in elementary social studies curriculum. Examines the value of historical fiction for children and social studies goals it supports. Offers suggestions for using historical fiction in primary and intermediate grades and recommends specific books. (RWB)

This report describes the analyses of student participation in two school nutrition programs, the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Data were collected from students and their families during the 1983-84 school year as part of the National Evaluation of the School Nutrition Programs (NESNP). Each program…

This theme issue of "Educational Foundations" contains five articles that utilize an array of foundational perspectives that give reader insight into the organization of schools, the viewpoints of children and parents, the ideological and political nature of community organizing, and mathematics instruction in the Soviet Union. In…

An ethnographic study was made of a student-led speech event in an ethnically mixed combined first- and second-grade classroom. In an activity called "Sharing Time," general rules governed appropriate ways of behaving, but no teacher rules governed ways of speaking, topic, or amount of time at talk. Collected over a 5-month period, data…

The aim of this small-scale study was to investigate the effect of pupil-generated ground rules on peer group learning in a class of 9-year-old boys. The study examined the type of talk used by participants working in a group before the introduction of ground rules and compared this with that used after the introduction of ground rules. It was…

The goals of this research were to: (1) develop instruments useful in profiling the characteristics of teaching manuals used with grade 4 science textbooks and the effects of those manuals on teacher and pupil activities; (2) look at both high and low inference perspectives in making these profiles; (3) develop two instruments, one for elementary…

The behavior and rehearsal habits of elementary level instrumental music students were addressed by the implementation of a behavior contract and computer managed recordkeeping system. A contract was developed following the principles of the "Assertive Discipline" system. Rewards and incentives were used to reinforce positive student behavior.…