This study investigated the effects of different versions of Web-based instruction focused on text structure on fifth- and seventh-grade students' reading comprehension. Stratified random assignment was employed in a two-factor experiment embedded within a pretest and multiple posttests design (immediate and four-month delayed posttests). The two…

An increasing number of K-12 school teachers have been using handheld, or palmtop, computers in the classroom as an integral means of facilitating education due to the flexibility, mobility, interactive learning capability, and comparatively inexpensive cost. This study involved two experiments in handheld computers: (a) a comparison of the…

This textbook is a fifth reader. In this series, all the new words contained in each reading lesson, are placed at the head of the lesson, divided, pronounced, accented, and defined, with the part of speech designated. The scholar will thus have an opportunity to become acquainted with the spelling, pronunciation, accentuation, part of speech, and…

The present research tested whether children's responses to help-giving and help-seeking friendship tasks predicted how many friends they had and the quality of their best friendship. Fifth-grade children (N=511; typically 10 or 11 years old) responded to vignettes in which they could either give help to a friend or seek help from a friend.…

This study entailed the implementation and evaluation of a Web-based technology designed to support the writing performance of fourth- and fifth-grade students with learning disabilities (LD). The technology, Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments on the Web (TELE-Web), was implemented in a resource room setting involving 12 students with LD in…

Five groups of children were identified using friendship nominations from the fall and spring of their fifth-grade year: (1) children with a stable best friendship with the same child ("same-stable"); (2) children with a mutual best friendship at Times 1 and 2, but the best friend was a different child at each time ("different-stable"); (3)…

This technical report provides an overview of the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA), including a description of the purpose of the NYSAA, the processes utilized to develop and implement the NYSAA program, and Stakeholder involvement in those processes. The purpose of this report is to document the technical aspects of the 2013-14 NYSAA.…

National educational groups have recommended the use of universal screening to assist in the early identification of reading problems. One of the most widely used measures used for the universal screening of reading is oral reading fluency (ORF) (Fewster & Macmillan, 2002). However, ORF is somewhat time consuming to administer and has been…

Do students perform better on statewide assessments in years in which they have more school days to prepare? We explore this question using data on math and reading assessments taken by students in the third, fifth, and eighth grades since 1994 in Maryland. Our identification strategy is rooted in the fact that tests are administered on the same…

In this commentary, assumptions about the nature and development of children's false memories as described in a recent article by C. J. Brainerd, V. F. Reyna, and S. J. Ceci (2008) are reviewed. Specifically, questions are raised about what drives the development of false memories in fuzzy-trace theory (FTT). Recent studies that challenge a core…

Background: Constructivist epistemology offers an explanation of the nature of knowledge and how people learn that has emerged as a prominent approach endorsed by schools of teacher education. This perspective stands in direct contrast to the understanding of knowledge and learning based on behaviorist epistemology. These opposing epistemological…

Many recipes for elementary science activities suggest making carbon dioxide from baking soda and vinegar; however, they often do not give exact measurements of the ingredients. The author was able to turn this "drawback" into a plus by challenging her fifth-grade students to find the "ultimate fizz"--i.,e., "What amount of baking soda added to a…

This article presents a snapshot of the authors' first restoration project with young children which grew out of a fourth- and fifth-grade forestry curriculum. The restoration project was part of a long-term plan for enhancing the wild areas of the campus for wildlife habitat and for educational use. It is a native oak woodland and riparian…

This cross-sectional study examined the daily discretionary time experiences of 246 (107 boys, 139 girls) fifth through eighth grade urban African American adolescents using the Experience Sampling Method. Relations between the types of activities (i.e., active structured, active unstructured, passive unstructured) engaged in during discretionary…

This study investigated the effects of an expository writing strategy implemented using the Self-Regulated Strategy Development model on the writing skills of four, 4th- and 5th-grade students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Instruction had a pronounced positive effect on students' writing. Student essays were longer and more…