Background/Context: Math education remains a critical focus for national education improvement. As a solution, districts in the U.S. are investing in math education technologies. Research has demonstrated the potential of these technologies to close achievement gaps (e.g., Pape et al., 2012; Roschelle et al., 2016). Student math achievement is…

This study extends prior research by manipulating both intervention and skill difficulty using a multiple baseline across participants design with changing phases in a virtual tutoring environment. Participants were four U.S. students from third and fifth grades for whom appropriate and challenging instructional targets were selected following…

Using longitudinal data for a nationally representative sample of fifth-graders from the Korean Educational Longitudinal Study of 2013, this study examined the effect of shadow education -- referred to as academically oriented extracurricular activities mainly aimed to prepare for examinations -- on students' creative thinking. To estimate the…

This study examines the impact of educational robotics and cross-age peer tutoring in primary education and focuses explicitly on the outcomes for tutors and tutees. Forty students from a public school in a European country participated, with fifth graders as tutors and fourth graders as tutees. Using the LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Set, both…

Because large-scale studies repeatedly indicated low reading literacy for many students, a need for interventions fostering reading literacy, such as extracurricular tutoring, has often been emphasized. Several reading promoting programs, suitable for extracurricular tutoring, were developed and shown to be effective in recent years. Moreover,…

Reading nonfiction texts with understanding is important to school success, yet many students struggle to do so. This randomized controlled trial extends previous research by contrasting an earlier iteration of a comprehension tutoring program (Comp) against a variant with strategies for transferring learning (Comp+Transfer). Participants were 189…

Reading nonfiction texts with understanding is important to school success, yet many students struggle to do so. This randomized controlled trial extends previous research by contrasting an earlier iteration of a comprehension tutoring program (Comp) against a variant with strategies for transferring learning (Comp+Transfer). Participants were 189…

Struggling math students often have difficulty developing a sense of self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation to learn math, which has been found to predict future math achievement (Pitsia et al., 2017). Conventional methods of math instruction and assessment may provoke elevated levels of math anxiety for many students, which has been found to…

The current study evaluates effects of teaching factors and extended day programs regarding both average achievement and socioeconomic achievement gaps. Analyses are based on data from the National Educational Panel Study in Germany. The sample comprises 1523 students in 120 classes in 71 secondary schools. The investigation period covers fifth…

Following a massive wave of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, educators found the need to be hyper-critical of how they spend their instructional time with students. Almost all students are expected to return nearly a full grade-level behind and would likely have to learn to navigate a completely new school environment. As a result,…

During semester-long courses in inclusive methods and beginning reading instruction, pre-service teacher candidates participate in weekly tutoring sessions with elementary students in grades K-5. We outline principles identified for effective service-learning and describe how to embed them to integrate community service. We discuss…

Satellite laboratories, designed to ignite interest in technical and computer science topics, employ cross-age peer tutoring and physical computing platforms. Catering to students from 5th grade onwards, these laboratories are led by tutors from 9th grade onwards. Employing a design-based research approach, the project aims to comprehensively…

This qualitative study explores the English learning experiences of 30 Grade 5 students from three mainstream schools in Kazakhstan during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was informed by Benson et al.'s (2011) four-dimensional model of language learning beyond the classroom: (a) location (physical vs. virtual), (b) formality (formal vs. informal…

This dissertation consists of three papers. In each paper, I leverage a different quantitative method to study a downstream effect of technology on educational outcomes. In the first paper, I study the impact of an online math learning program on 3rd through 5th grade math achievement in Louisiana. Employing Zearn Math usage metrics and…

Cignition delivers virtual tutoring in math and ELA, led by experienced educators. Their approach focuses on data-informed instruction and collaborative learning that encourages student-to-student interaction to build students' conceptual understanding. After a 2020 efficacy study of its 1:1 math tutoring offering, Cignition developed a group…