This dissertation investigated the extent to which five dependent variables were included in the first-grade reading curriculum and whether district size played a role in their inclusion. This study's mixed-methods approach incorporated descriptive statistics, histograms, confidence intervals, and chi-squared analyses to assess curriculum patterns…

Research Findings: This study provides psychometric validation of the Classroom Engagement Scale (CES), a 14-item, teacher-report, formative assessment of behavioral engagement. It is currently used for all kindergarten children in a large, urban school district where it is embedded in the report card. Multi-level factor analysis revealed two…

Background: Breakfast after the bell (BAB), an alternative way to deliver breakfast after the school day begins, has been shown to increase participation in the School Breakfast Program. However, BAB occupies time that could otherwise be used for instruction and may affect academic performance. This study examined whether BAB affects math and…

The professional identity of school counselors has changed and adapted in significant part due to the empirically supported American School Counselors Association (ASCA) National Model. The roles of school counselors within the P-12 school setting have been ruled by job descriptions (describing the expectations of the position) and performance…

Concerns over the teaching workforce have been rising across Wisconsin in recent years, particularly since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. A series of Forum reports have raised warning flags about declining graduates from schools of education, record turnover among state and local government employees, and the rising use of emergency K-12…

Emotional intelligence is a crucial and key ingredient of great leadership and can be seen as a transformational part of leadership that can bring unparalleled leader, member, and organizational success. While a plethora of research and data exists on emotional intelligence, deficiencies in evidence exist to understand the relevance in school…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of extrinsic motivational factors on upper elementary students who are reading at least two grade levels below their current grade. Research was conducted using a mixed methods approach to examine the perceptions of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students who have difficulty in reading. A purposeful…

This mixed-methods study is an evaluation of the Reading Recovery program utilized to support first grade student achievement levels in a small, rural, South Carolina school district. This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative data in order to analyze the perceptions of Reading Recovery teachers, first grade teachers, and principals in…

California requires each school district to belong to a Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) for special education planning and governance. The California Department of Education (CDE) and the State Board of Education (SBE) are interested in the impact on the surrounding small and midsized districts when large districts become single-district…

Latinos comprise a significant portion of the total school enrollment in the U.S., and an increasing share of Latinos are pursuing higher education today. However, Latino students still face many educational barriers, and research has repeatedly demonstrated that Latino children lag their peers in terms of their academic achievement. In addition,…

Student learning objectives (SLOs) have become an increasingly popular tool for teacher evaluations as an alternative to Value-added Models (VAMs). However, the use of SLOs faces two major challenges. First, the target setting is mostly subjective and arbitrary. Second, there is little evidence on the reliability and validity of the tool. In this…

Levels of governance (the nation, states, and districts), student subgroups (racially and ethnically minoritized and economically disadvantaged students), and types of resources (expenditures, class sizes, and teacher quality) intersect to represent a complex and comprehensive picture of K-12 educational resource inequality. Drawing on multiple…

This study examines how a PD program to promote teachers' shift toward a student-adaptive pedagogy impacts students' multiplicative reasoning. We describe the underpinnings of this pedagogy and main components of the PD program. Then, we present key features of participants, data collection/analysis methods, and the written assessment used to…

This report presents the findings from the Kansas Association of School Boards' (KASB's) 2017-18 Enrollment Projections for the state of Kansas as a whole, and also provides instructions on how these projections can be accessed at the district level. Findings include: (1) The projected enrollment is expected to increase 0.4 percent next year,…

This study was designed to test the relationships between the level of implementation for instructional rounds and various instructional outcomes in grades 3-6 in a large suburban Texas school district. From the population of teachers in the district, a random sample of teachers ( n= 200) who taught in grades 3-6 were invited to participate in the…