Teacher accountability and test scores currently drive many practices within the field of education. At the same time, student populations have become increasingly diverse, causing classroom teachers to feel pressured to teach to the test. Differentiated instruction has emerged as a best practice to help maximize learning for all students.…

The research problem addressed in this study was the low reading achievement scores of fourth grade students and fourth grade reading teachers' struggles raising reading achievement. The purpose of the study was to explore fourth grade reading teachers' experiences of finding strategies and interventions to improve reading achievement. The…

Pacing guides are commonplace yet controversial in American public schools. For teachers who question their usefulness, one means to circumvent them is to exercise autonomy in pedagogical decision-making, though doing so comes with challenges. Through interviews, we examined how 87 gifted and general education 4th and 5th grade math and…

Pacing guides are commonplace yet controversial in American public schools. For teachers who question their usefulness, one means to circumvent them is to exercise autonomy in pedagogical decision-making, though doing so comes with challenges. Through interviews, we examined how 87 gifted and general education 4th and 5th grade math and…

This research aims to determine the teachers' reading style, determine their reading speed, and determine which reading methods are the teachers' strengths and weaknesses utilizing a thorough evaluation of reading techniques from Hawker Brownlow Education. Using pre-determined reading materials. Using Google Forms, this study utilized the…

The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to determine if there were statistically significant differences between 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-grade reading teachers in the Northeast Unites States, defined as participants and nonparticipants in the LETRS® professional development, in terms of teachers' self-efficacy in student…

The purpose of this study was to examine the reading experiences of Black boys in grades three through five, gain insight into what they felt contributed to their reading success, explore the relationships that influenced their reading lives, the challenges they faced, and their perspectives of the relationship they had with their reading teacher.…

LXD Research was engaged by 95 Percent Group to conduct a third-party, mixed-methods efficacy study of their 95 Phonics Core Program (95 PCP) to evaluate the impact on fourth and fifth grade literacy outcomes over the school year 2023-2024. LXD analyzed the formative assessment data from i-Ready, focusing on overall scale scores, subdomains, and…

The authors share an activity in which two fifth-grade teachers and one sixth-grade teacher received book talk videos via Flipgrid from preservice literacy teachers and watched the videos with their students. Students responded with feedback and suggestions for how to better represent each book. The authors compiled and coded students' comments…

This study was designed to highlight how students best learn to learn to read, best practices of reading instruction, innovative resources, and effective instructional strategies. The aim of this dissertation was to address the problem of kindergarten through fourth grade students in the United States not reading on grade level. The purpose of…

Helping English learners and students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds read and perform academically as well as their more advantaged peers remains a struggle for many schools seeking equitable outcomes for their students. Research suggests that an increased focus on learning of academic language--the formal language used to read,…

The study reported on here was designed to investigate the challenges faced by teachers when teaching reading in Grade 4 English First Additional Language (EFAL) in East London, South Africa. This research study was framed by the socio-constructivist theory of reading. A case study design that corresponds with the constructivist paradigm was used…

Elementary school teachers are expected to teach reading 'inclusively' to children with diverse learning needs. Yet, teachers face challenges in enacting inclusive practices that socially support children while academically engaging and challenging them. The purpose of this study was to examine the opportunities for engagement with reading…

Education researchers have documented that first-year teachers are often less effective at reading instruction than their more experienced peers. Accordingly, this qualitative, comparative case study was designed to assess the instructional skills and strategies utilized by first-year and experienced teachers using Danielson's Framework for…

Although the majority of elementary school teachers are in self-contained classrooms and teach all major subjects, a growing number of teachers specialize in teaching fewer subjects to higher numbers of students. We use administrative data from Indiana to estimate the effect of teacher specialization on teacher and school effectiveness in…