The purpose of the current qualitative study was to determine the professional needs of new teachers as identified by stakeholders using educational design research (EDR) methods and determine the content and structure needed to further develop the current mentoring program into a high-quality teacher induction program (TIP) with a mentoring…

The purpose of the current qualitative study was to determine the professional needs of new teachers as identified by stakeholders using educational design research (EDR) methods and determine the content and structure needed to further develop the current mentoring program into a high-quality teacher induction program (TIP) with a mentoring…

There is continued concern over the inequitable distribution of highly experienced and effective teachers among historically marginalized student populations. Using longitudinal data from Tennessee, this study assesses whether students of racially/ethnically minoritized and economically disadvantaged backgrounds have unequal exposure to teachers…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if a statistically significant difference existed in student growth and proficiency scores between students receiving gamified math instruction compared to those receiving non-gamified math instruction in a suburban middle school in Tennessee. This investigation is based on the theoretical…

This retrospective cohort study explores the effect of STEM integrated instruction on student academic outcomes in elementary reading and mathematics. Teachers and students in a Middle Tennessee suburban school district participated in this study to analyze these relationships. The two participating schools were similar in demographics and were…

This mixed-methods study explored teacher pathway routes in a suburban Middle Tennessee school district. The researcher examined first-year teacher job competency, perceptions of preparedness, and first-year teacher self-efficacy in traditional and alternative preparation routes. Job competency evaluations and a first-year teacher survey was…

The Pell Grant is the foundational need-based student aid program in the United States, providing students of lower socio-economic status a pathway to afford college costs and educational expenses. Currently, over one-third of all U.S. undergraduate students receive Pell. This paper examines federal Pell assistance and institutional costs for…

The purpose of this study was to explore the behaviors and characteristics of school leadership, specifically principals' behaviors, that lead to increased student achievement. This study examined (a) what type of information is available to principals, (b) how they use the information, and (c) what factors determine a positive or negative impact…

This non-experimental, quantitative study was completed to determine if Tennessee high school students who take an online, asynchronous course better their digital literacy through the environment of online learning. The study focused on the pretest and posttest scores of Niswonger Online students during the spring and summer semesters of 2021. It…

Numerous studies document the inequitable distribution of teacher quality across schools. We focus instead on the distribution of principal quality, examining how multiple proxies for quality, including experience, teachers' survey assessments of leaders, and rubric-based practice ratings assigned by principals' supervisors, vary by measures of…

This research study addressed the impacts guided reading instruction had on reading achievement in third, fourth, and fifth grades in two suburban schools in a school district in east Tennessee. The researcher examined the differences in reading achievement between two schools. One school implemented guided reading for more than two years and the…

This technical appendix provides additional information about the sample, data, and estimation strategy used for a series of American Educator Panels (AEP) Data Notes published by the RAND Corporation in 2019. The Data Note series is intended to provide brief but incisive analyses of teacher and school leader survey results that may be of…

Data from a large suburban school district in Tennessee (N = 910) were used to examine the effects of the Kindergarten Readiness program as measured by third grade End of Year (EOY) benchmark performance assessments in reading and math. The groups of students studied included kindergarteners with summer birthdays ("SK"), kindergarteners…

It appears that schools and families are at a crossroads when it comes to testing. High-quality assessments generate rich data and can provide valuable information about student progress to teachers and parents, support accountability, promote high expectations, and encourage equity for students of color and low-income students. But it is…

This research study was conducted to examine the effects of the academic achievement of elementary level general education students in the inclusion classroom setting versus the general education students in the non-inclusion classroom in a large suburban school district in Tennessee as measured by third, fourth, and fifth grade mathematics and…