Ensuring consistent student attendance is pivotal for academic achievement in elementary education. An observed decline in attendance among elementary students in the United States, particularly in Georgia, signifies a pressing educational problem that requires effective interventions. The research addresses the gap in the literature concerning…

Learning to read by the end of third grade is a pathway to a successful life (Keesler, 2019). Research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that students who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school and are ineligible for a majority of jobs in the United States (Hernandez,…

Using a verbal protocol, this study investigated how 38 second-grade students identify, describe, and interpret five types of commonly used visual graphics in science texts (i.e., cut-away diagrams, maps, captioned photographs, flow diagrams, and hybrids). Additionally, we explored the challenges students encountered when interpreting these…

This qualitative research study investigates teachers' perceptions of school safety and their adherence to specific safety procedures in a small, pre-K-eighth-grade school district in a small, suburban school district in Illinois. Data were collected through anonymous open-ended surveys distributed to teachers with varying experience levels. The…

This instrumental mixed methods case study investigated Grades 3-5 classroom teachers' perceptions of teaching for creativity and the effects of a researcher-developed, one-day, online professional development creativity module intervention within a suburban school district in south-central Pennsylvania. Creativity has been identified as a…

This case study involves one public school in a suburb of a major metropolitan area, focusing on one classroom of first grade students selected from a pool of volunteer classrooms. The first grade class of students, during their regular mathematics instruction, were given three tasks by their teachers designed to elicit a productive struggle…

The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to explore kindergarten teachers' perceptions of student readiness. The factors that impacted readiness when students entered kindergarten had not been clearly and consistently identified. The study extended research on factors associated with kindergarten student readiness and included…

Using qualitative research methods, this phenomenological study examined the impact of instructional coaching on teachers' perceptions of teacher self-efficacy, stress and anxiety, and instruction. Kindergarten, first, and second grade classroom teachers from a small suburban school district who worked with an instructional coach in a coaching…

Technology's rapid development is changing how educators plan lessons and incorporate these digital resources into classrooms with the expectation of impacting student academic performance. The problem is that teachers need professional development related to blended learning implementation to improve student achievement in elementary (An, 2021;…

On average, English language learners (ELLs) do not demonstrate the same academic achievement as their native English-speaking peers. The number of ELLs in U.S. schools has increased over the last several decades, as has the scholarly debate on how to best support ELLs in building foundational reading skills. The purpose of this study was to…

This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine content-area literacy instruction in comparison to a science-infused literacy instruction (SILI) to determine how these two approaches influenced 2nd grade students' ability to read and write science informational text and the students' attitude and motivation towards reading. After professional…

Background: This dissertation examines the pervasive influence of the white and colonial imaginary in shaping educational narratives that promote neoliberal success and capitalism, impacting the minds of successive generations. Contemporary youth perceive these narratives as detrimental, contributing to racial violence, climate-induced…

We examined the efficacy of a Technology-Based Early Language Comprehension Intervention (TeLCI) designed to teach inferencing in a non-reading context. A group of Grades 1 and 2 students from 2 elementary schools in the U.S. Midwest identified as at risk of comprehension difficulties were assigned randomly to a business-as-usual control group or…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how teachers of kindergarten through second grade describe students' socialization opportunities during online learning and the supports needed for effective fostering of socialization during online learning in southeastern Pennsylvania. The theoretical foundation for this research…

For schools implementing Response-to-Intervention, it is important to understand how to efficiently intensify interventions. Treatment intensity, or intervention design, is a critical yet overlooked and understudied aspect in math. More frequent dosage results in greater student gains. However, questions remain regarding how teaching episodes…