The ongoing literacy crisis in the U.S. highlights an urgent need for effective, scalable literacy instruction. REED Charitable Foundation (RCF) is a non-profit organization that provides structured literacy training informed by Orton-Gillingham, along with ongoing professional coaching and comprehensive implementation support to help all students…

Adjunct faculty have become the new majority faculty on campuses across the country. There are two theories why adjunct faculty are so relied upon: cost or contingency. Some institutions may employ adjunct faculty for cost-savings reasons. In contrast, other institutions may depend on the contingent, temporary nature of the employment contracts to…

The Florida College and Career Readiness Initiative (FCCRI) was a statewide policy requiring college readiness testing and participation in college readiness courses for high school students. We used regression discontinuity to compare outcomes for students scoring just above and below test score cutoffs for assignment to FCCRI. We also examined…

The Florida College and Career Readiness Initiative (FCCRI) was a statewide policy requiring college readiness testing and participation in college readiness courses for high school students. We used regression discontinuity to compare outcomes for students scoring just above and below test score cutoffs for assignment to FCCRI. We also examined…

The Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) has completed an analysis of the performance of students who participated in the Teamwork USA Program, administered in FY2014 at three District schools. Teamwork USA hopes to improve student achievement at select Title I elementary schools via its Instrumental Music Program grant. This memorandum to…

In recent years, a number of colleges and universities have made the decision to pursue membership in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) with the idea that participating in higher profile intercollegiate football can help attract students to their institution. This belief, however, has not been empirically examined. Using…

Extension educators face challenges as they strive to keep up with critical issues in their communities, such as those surrounding water. A growing population and a diminishing water supply necessitate that Florida residents become more knowledgeable about water issues. We conducted research to determine how confident both the general public and…

Background: Developing and implementing policies to curb and prevent youth tobacco use is of the utmost importance. In Florida, public school districts were authorized to develop tobacco-free school policies through an amendment to the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act in 2011. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of tobacco-free school…

This study investigates second language acquisition of learners enrolled in a dual language/two-way bilingual immersion program. Two groups of third-grade students participated in this study. The first group was composed of Spanish-dominant participants learning English, and the second group was composed of English-dominant students learning…

Mathematics anxiety typically involves apprehension toward activities that require computation, which can lead to complications in every-day-life activities (Ashcraft, 2002). Mathematics anxiety also has become accepted as an issue associated with academic success for both children and adults (Ashcraft, 2002; Ashcraft & Moore, 2009; Beilock,…

Research indicates the primary difference between strong and weak readers is their phonemic awareness skills. However, there is no consensus regarding which specific components of phonemic awareness contribute most robustly to reading comprehension. In this study, the relationship among sound blending, sound segmentation, and reading comprehension…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a relationship between transformational principal leadership style, a safe school climate, and school safety (specifically, the number of reported fights and reported bullying incidents) in Broward County, Florida's middle schools. This study also investigated if a relationship…

This research explores the differences in revenue reported after accounting for charter funds passing through district budgets between Florida's traditional schools and charter schools at both the state level and the individual district level. Differences in the percentage of the revenues the schools are expending on instructional services are…

This longitudinal study examined the professional perceptions of educational leaders as to the fairness and impact of teacher evaluation and compensation reforms under Race to the Top. The study surveyed graduate students in education and educational leadership programs to assess changes in their perceptions from prior to RTTT implementation…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of incorporating mathematics teaching and integration strategies (MTIS) in a teaching methods course on preservice agricultural teachers' mathematics ability. The research design was quasi-experimental and utilized a nonequivalent control group. The MTIS treatment had a positive effect on the…