Asthma is an inflammatory disorder (Koterba & Saltoun, 2012) and a common chronic condition of childhood (McCowan, Bryce, Neville, Crombie, & Clark, 1996) that can cause children to experience poorer academic outcomes (Stingone & Claudio, 2006), a lower quality of life (Everhart & Fiese, 2009), hospitalizations, and in some cases…

Language-reduced (nonverbal) ability tests are the primary talent identification tools for ELL children. The appropriate use of such tests with low-SES and minority children is more nuanced. Whenever language-reduced tests are used for talent identification, nonverbal tests that measure more than figural reasoning abilities should be employed. For…

At one Title I K-4 elementary campus located on the Gulf Coast of Southeast Texas, there seemed to be a prevalent problem of minority students, particularly male students, receiving office referrals at a higher rate than their non-minority counterparts in past years. Research from a 2010 Children's Defense Fund report indicates that…

Previous studies have reported that children from single-parent households fare worse behaviorally than those from two-parent households. Studies examining single-parent households often fail to distinguish between single-mother and single-father households. Further, there are inconsistent findings regarding the effect of family structure on boys…

A challenge that professional development coordinators and instructional leaders face is designing and implementing professional development that is the most effective for improving teaching and learning in their school. To determine what is the perceptions and beliefs of elementary teachers' value of and responses to their professional…

Most studies focusing on the relationship between physical activity and obesity have been conducted in middle class Caucasian adults and children and few such studies are available concerning minority children in physical activity settings (Johnson, Kulinna, Tudor-Locke, Darst, & Pangrazi, 2007; Rowlands et al., 1999; Tudor-Locke, Lee, Morgan,…

Systematic research into bullying has a short history of about 40 years. Investigations on school bullying within a multicultural context are especially limited. As schools in the 21st century grow more culturally diverse due to globalization and immigration, there is a need to look into bullying within this changing population. Specifically, the…

Results from experimental and nonexperimental studies have shown that teachers differ in their effectiveness. In addition, evidence from nonexperimental studies has indicated that teacher effects last for 3 years in elementary grades. This study uses data from Project STAR and its follow-up study, the Lasting Benefits Study, to examine whether…

The cross-sectional study of factors predicting teacher self-efficacy involved surveys of 473 third- and fifth-grade, predominantly White female teachers in 196 schools. The schools served, on average, a relatively high proportion of students living in poverty and students of color. The findings indicate that the proportion of minority students in…

This study investigated the effects of the concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) instructional sequence on the subtraction performance of students identified as at-risk for mathematics failure. Although the CRA sequence has been demonstrated as effective for teaching a variety of mathematical skills and processes its effects when used to teach…

Teachers at a Title I elementary school in South Carolina implemented the scripted Reading Mastery© program (RMP) to improve students' comprehension. Comprehension scores did not increase, despite teachers receiving RMP professional development (PD) prior to implementing the program. Administrators were unaware if the teachers were adequately…

The shared and unique effects of teacher and student reports of teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ) in second and third grade on academic self-views, behavioral engagement, and achievement the following year were investigated in a sample of 714 academically at-risk students. Teacher and student reports of teacher-student support and…

Background: Media use is associated with an increased risk of chronic disease and reduced quality of life among children. This study examined the relationship between media use during discretionary hours after school and psychological and physical assets among preadolescent girls. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from a…

This study reports on an examination of the factor structure underlying reading performance in a sample of urban, dysfluent children. Participants were 140 second and third graders identified as exhibiting reading difficulties stemming from inefficient word and/or nonword reading. Consistent with a more complex view of reading, the results of…

This article examined the efficacy of a primary-level, standard-protocol behavior intervention for students with externalizing behavioral disorders. Elementary schools were randomly assigned to treatment (behavior intervention) or control (business as usual) conditions, and K-3 students were screened for externalizing behavior risk status. The…