Objective: Executive Function (EF) is thought to be a core component of various cognitive processes. Two common ways to measure EF are through report-based measures that assess EF by collecting informant(s) reports on children's behaviors, and performance-based measures that assess EF through the completion of a task related to EF dimension(s).…

Around the globe, young students are expected to learn about time, yet how is it that they themselves make sense of this topic? From a sociocultural perspective, sense-making about time emerges in relation to properties of available tools and representations, such as analog clocks or digital notation. Such interactions with the symbols and…

Purpose: We examine the content, context, and management of literacy learning opportunities in a large, diverse sample in the US and whether these opportunities were differentiated by children's oral language and decoding skill levels. Method: A total of 1,404 children in 153 preschool-through-third-grade classrooms were observed for several…

Chronic absenteeism is a critical issue that has been linked to many adverse student outcomes. The current study focuses on improving a key system already in place in many school districts--early warning systems (EWSs)--in order to decrease chronic absenteeism in students' earliest schooling years. Using a demographically diverse population of…

Like many states, Massachusetts has intensified efforts in recent years to improve literacy outcomes, particularly in the early grades. Initiatives have focused on providing guidance and resources for implementing changes in curriculum, instruction, and additional screening and support for struggling students. In September 2022, the Board of…

This paper investigates the interplay of words and expressions with students' efforts to indicate times on a clock. We consider how elementary students interpret precise times (e.g., 2:30, 4:30) as compared to relative times (e.g., half past 11) as they describe this intangible quantity using a clock. Interviews with students in grades 2 and 4 (n…

Most teachers report wanting more training and support to teach autistic students. Individual, autism-focused coaching is a promising approach for improving teacher self-efficacy and autistic student outcomes. Given the high workload demands of coaching, it must be feasible and acceptable. This study considers coaches', teachers', and autistic…

Field trips have long been a part of the elementary student experience, and through the years a great deal of research and work has been done around how field trips best support and facilitate learning. When new earth science unit was being rolled out across the Burlington (MA) Public Schools' second grades, the opportunity to shake up the…

Most teachers report wanting more training and support to teach autistic students. Individual, autism-focused coaching is a promising approach for improving teacher self-efficacy and autistic student outcomes. Given the high workload demands of coaching, it must be feasible and acceptable. This study considers coaches', teachers', and autistic…

The purpose of this article is to promote a deeper, more complex understanding of the challenge that "recess time" poses to elementary school educators and to thereby understand the practices in which they are currently engaging. Because teachers are expected to shepherd students through a vast array of learning standards while remaining…

This brief provides information about student literacy performance of students with different background characteristics and learning environments. It draws from data collected and analyzed in the report "A First Look at Early Literacy Performance in Massachusetts: Results of Initial Analysis Based on State Grantee Literacy Screening…

Family separation policies' impacts on children's education are one of the critical issues of our time. In this article, I draw on ethnographic data collected over two years in one Northeastern town in the United States. More than fifty im/migrant children were observed inside kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms. For this article, I…

Few public schools in Massachusetts offer a sex-positive, inclusive sexuality education curriculum at the elementary school level. One Massachusetts public elementary school identified the need for such a program that addresses communication, sexuality, gender, and consent. The LETS! Teach, Affirm, Learn, Know (T.A.L.K.) curriculum was developed,…

Beginning with the 2020/21 school year, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) began collecting literacy screening assessment data from schools and districts participating in certain state grants. Screening assessment benchmark scores were available for just over 35,000 unique students across 2020/21 and 2021/22,…

Time is an area of measurement that is difficult for children. This interview study addresses the question: What are children's solution approaches to position the hands of an analog clock? To explore this, we investigated problem solving when using a clock manipulative with mechanically linked hands. We compare overall success rates among…