The Research Sprints program offers faculty partners the opportunity to collaborate intensively and exclusively for one week with a team of librarians to achieve significant progress on research or teaching projects. This longitudinal study extends previous immediate and short-term assessments by interviewing Research Sprints participants at two…

The options for Artificial intelligence (AI) tools used in teacher education are increasing daily, but more is only sometimes better for teachers working in already complex classroom settings. This team discusses the increase of AI in schools and provides an example from administrators, teacher educators, and computer scientists of an AI virtual…

To help state boards of education and other policymakers learn how to communicate most effectively on policies related to social and emotional learning (SEL), the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) commissioned Edge Research to conduct a survey of community influ­encers in Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, and…

Visible Learning has been one of the most influential research initiatives conducted in education in the past few decades, and at the same time, instructional coaching is becoming one of the most popular forms of professional development. This paper considers how the implementation of Visible Learning may be supported through instructional coaches…

In October 2015, the Kansas State Board of Education announced a new vision for education in Kansas. The Kansans CAN Vision - "Kansas leads the world in the success of each student" - became the branded theme for Kansas education. This initiative motivated the creation of this document. Kindergarten Readiness is one of five Kansas State…

This exploratory phenomenological research study describes the experiences of U.S. Army soldiers going through the mandated Structured Self Development (SSD) online courseware. Multiple findings are presented covering soldier participants' experiences with the process, content, and culture/environment of SSD. Additionally, findings dealing with…

The discretion provided to states under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers new possibilities for policymakers to determine how best to allocate resources and support policies to provide students with a well-rounded education. As states begin to examine new strategies for improving student outcomes and developing the next generation of…

In October 2015, the Kansas State Board of Education announced a new vision for education in Kansas--the Kansans CAN vision. "Kansas leads the world in the success of each student" became the branded theme for Kansas education. The Kansans CAN vision for education calls for a more child-focused system providing support and resources for…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine building and district administrators' perceptions of the Kansas Dyslexia Initiatives. Their awareness and experiences may influence how administrators understand, plan for, and align the current approach for reading instruction within their respective buildings or district in relation to the…

A strong value system and work ethic have always been a part of the schools in the community in northeast Kansas, but it was not until 2012 that the school staff began to initiate an organized comprehensive plan and approach to teaching character education and making it a viable part of the school culture at Nemaha Central Elementary and Middle…

This qualitative study explored how teachers describe their sense of preparedness in working with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. The concern is from a Kansas licensure policy change in 2007 where teachers have two options of taking the coursework or testing only to add-on the English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)…

The purpose of the CASEL State Scan is to support the development of high-quality standards for social and emotional learning (SEL), preschool through high school, across the country (Dusenbury, Zadrazil, Weiss-berg & Mart, 2011). This brief summarizes recent findings from CASEL's State Scan (Dusenbury, Newman, Weissberg, Goren, Domitrovich…

Since pairing the classics with young adult literature can increase reading comprehension and spark interest amongst our students, this essay explores a unit plan for connecting Will Hobbs's "Downriver" (1991) with William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" (1954). Both works espouse significant and timely themes: the importance of…

Teaching technical writing without formal training can be daunting. However, there are many resources available that can provide background and materials for teaching. My approach involved reading textbooks and articles not only on approaches to technical writing but also on what students can expect once they complete their education and are…

School readiness occurs within a broad context that includes the four components of community, educational environment, family and the individual child. These four components function as interdependent systems of support that have multidirectional influences. Early childhood experiences, from birth through age 8, are necessary for school success…