This qualitative case study examined teachers' perceptions of fourth-grade departmentalized science instruction at Title I schools. Three theoretical frameworks were used as a lens for the study: Model of School Learning (Carroll, 1963), Theory of Mastery Learning (Bloom, 1968) and Curriculum Ideologies (Schiro, 1992). The three theories were used…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that all school districts provide a free appropriate public education to students with Individualized Education Plans in their least restrictive environment. Co-teaching in inclusion classrooms is a collaborative effort, with a general education teacher and a special education teacher, to…

The Common Core State Standards, released in 2010, were rapidly adopted by more than 40 states. Champions maintained that these rigorous standards would transform American education, but the initiative went on to encounter a bumpy path. A decade on, what are we to make of this ambitious effort? What kind of impact, if any, has it had on the…

This study investigates whether adequate yearly progress (AYP) status, locale, and sector--common variables used to judge the quality of schools--accurately signal true differences in instructional practices in high school mathematics and science. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS), we find the school-to-school variation in…

The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) requires that all students, including those with disabilities, to make adequate yearly progress in the general education curriculum. To ensure that this occurs, effective practices are needed that fit the classroom needs of teachers and result in improved academic gains. One practice that shows promise as an…

In an age where more people place emphasis on global competition, it only seems right to have students meet achievement in all subjects equally. However, that is not the case with the content area of social studies. In recent years, many people have been alarmed at social studies test scores as measured by student achievement. It is the goal of…

The current literature indicates a need for quality studies on how best to close the achievement gap between elementary English language learners (ELLs) and their English speaking peers. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods research study was to determine the relationship between standards-based differentiated instructional…

The critical role of accountability on schools has intensified the need to understand the impact of intervention strategies and best practices on literacy. Of particular concern is the underachievement of boys and identifying the learning differences between boys and girls. Examined in this quantitative study were the strategies and practices…

This study investigated the role of the amount, content, and implementation of reading instruction provided by 17 kindergarten teachers in eight "Reading First" elementary schools as it related to students' progress (n = 286 students) on early reading assessments of phonological awareness and letter naming-decoding fluency. Children's…

This dissertation study employed quantitative methods to investigate the impact of adult questioning styles on children's novel vocabulary acquisition during shared storybook reading. In an effort to examine adult qualitative variations in shared storybook readings, two experiments were conducted to assess the effect of noneliciting questions…

Research in the field of special education often incorporates single-subject designs to investigate the effectiveness of educational practices for students with disabilities. As such, it is important that educators and educational professionals understand the characteristics of single-subject research methodologies and how those characteristics…

The papers presented at this conference review current research on effective educational practices for low-achieving students and identify those that might be applied to programs funded under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 (the successor legislation to Title 1 of the Elementary Secondary Education Act of…

Past studies of compensatory education programs in mathematics show that they have not addressed mathematical concerns, have not had clear program goals, have had a narrow view of what constitutes evaluation, and have taught little that would improve students' mathematical abilities. In the future, compensatory programs for mathematics should…

The papers presented at this conference review current research on effective educational practices for low-achieving students and identify those that might be applied to programs funded under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981. A function assumed by several conference participants was to act as reactor to papers…

In December 1989, the school district in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and Research for Better Schools, Inc., with the support of the Pennsylvania State Department of Education, initiated a collaborative 2-year study of the district's Chapter 1 schoolwide projects. This report presents findings from the study of Taylor Elementary School (currently…