Successful education of young students is a demanding task that requires attention to adaptive teaching methodologies, and physiological learning systems described in neuroscience. This dissertation evaluated correlational relationships between cerebellum motor coordination, and academic proficiency in mathematics and English language arts (ELA)…

The purpose of this interpretive, qualitative multi-case study (Merriam, 2001; Stake, 1995) was to describe the experiences of three elementary classroom teachers as they integrated literacy and social studies during their literacy instruction. This study was grounded in an interpretivist paradigm and a theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism.…

Federal and state mandates for public education have a long history of changes that have occurred over the past thirty-four years since the publication of "A Nation at Risk" in 1983. Since then, educators have continued to raise student achievement levels to meet the growing demand to compete in a global society. Research has shown the…

Informational text writing is a complex task requiring multiple literacy skills, such as reading and comprehending source material, identifying important information, and transforming ideas to meet the goals for the new writing task. The "Structures Writing" intervention was developed to improve the informational text writing skills of…

As a condition of receiving federal funds, the Every Student Succeeds Act requires state education agencies to implement statewide assessments in mathematics and English language arts every year in third through eighth grade and once in ninth through 12th grade. The federal law also requires a science assessment once in each of three grade spans:…

Practicing teachers as well as researchers, mathematicians, and teacher educators have offered opinions and theoretical critiques of the multiple models used to teach integer arithmetic. Few studies, however, have investigated what students learn with models or empirically compared affordances and constraints of integer models. This led me to…

This case study shares the process of a research team at a mid-sized college in the Midwestern United States. The research team consisted of three faculty members, a graduate research assistant, and five undergraduate student workers. The goal of the project was to increase the use of physical activity in classrooms from Kindergarten to sixth…

This case study investigated the practiced language policies of a French elementary school educator, Catherine, as she implemented the French National Cycle of instruction for the early elementary grades with a culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) class of students. The findings revealed that macro-level policies--such as curriculum and…

This study examined the effectiveness of a literacy-infused science (LIS) intervention on science learning of ELs from rural schools in the U.S.-Mexico border area. The intervention consists of teacher-level virtual professional development (VPD) and virtual mentoring and coaching (VMC), as well as a student-level LIS curriculum. Results from…

This brief explores findings on the relationship between student demographics and experiences, including experiences of exclusionary discipline, and sense of belonging data from the Student Educational Equity Development (SEED) Survey. Key takeaways include: (1) Sense of belonging is positively connected to both the experience of learning and the…

The present cross-sectional study aimed to (a) expand our understanding of the role of risk and resilience factors for adolescent adjustment during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and (b) examine personal resilience, peer and teacher-student relationships as protective factors against mental health difficulties. A total of 3,662 students from 4th…

Storytelling is universal and is popular in many cultures where it is a medium people use to preserve their beliefs, social values, wisdom, and cultural experiences as well as transfer them from one generation to another. In American Samoa, over 90% of students are classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) and literacy rates are very low,…

Elementary teachers can help students develop a critical literacy lens and learn how to question, analyze, and challenge assumptions. In turn, this can develop an inclusive classroom. My teacher action research looks at how critical literacy impacts both me, the teacher, and my fifth-grade students, in a predominantly White suburban public school…

Believe and Prepare is a teacher preparation reform implemented by the Louisiana Department of Education in collaboration with school systems and teacher preparation programs across the state. It was piloted in the 2014/15 school year and became mandatory in July 2018 for incoming teacher candidates in all 18 institutions of higher education that…

Believe and Prepare is a teacher preparation reform implemented by the Louisiana Department of Education in collaboration with school systems and teacher preparation programs across the state. It was piloted in the 2014/15 school year and became mandatory in July 2018 for incoming teacher candidates in all 18 institutions of higher education that…