A formative design experiment methodology was employed to investigate the acquisition of early reading skills for high school English language learners (ELLs) beginning to read English. A fundamental challenge facing high school ELLs entering schools in the United States for the first time is learning how to read. While there is considerable…

A flexible schedule allows teachers to change group size, group composition, and class length according to the purpose of the lesson. This pamphlet presents various "master" schedules for flexible scheduling: (1) Simple block schedules, (2) back-to-back schedules, (3) interdisciplinary schedules, (4) school-wide block schedules, (5) open-lab…

STUDENTS IN EXPERIMENTAL LARGE GROUP-SMALL GROUP CHEMISTRY CLASSES WERE COMPARED TO STUDENTS IN CONVENTIONALLY ORGANIZED CHEMISTRY CLASSES FOR GAIN IN KNOWLEDGE OF CHEMISTRY AND OTHER LEARNING OUTCOMES. THE 1,241 STUDENTS INVOLVED IN THE INVESTIGATION WERE ENROLLED IN 14 URBAN, SUBURBAN, AND RURAL SCHOOLS. EXPERIMENTAL CLASSES RANGED IN SIZE FROM…

At large universities, optional seminars that dovetail with large-enrollment courses can provide meaningful small-class experiences for students who want them. Describes a course offered in conjunction with a large-enrollment Geology of the National Parks course that allows in-depth discussion of course materials and related topics as well as…

The on-line tutoring system, LON-CAPA, was implemented in Introductory Calculus-Based Physics-II course at Colorado School of Mines in fall 2008 and spring 2009. In this paper, the features and the case study of the LON-CAPA implementation were described. The performance data obtained from the scores of students enrolled in the course represented…

Word boxes and word sorts are two phonic approaches that help children make connections between sound and print by gaining an awareness of the phonological and orthographic features of words. This article provides step-by-step procedures for using these approaches in small-group and whole-class settings. The use of peer tutors is discussed.…

In large lecture courses, it can be challenging for instructors to address student misconceptions, supplement background knowledge, and identify ways to motivate the various interests of all students during the allotted class time. Instructors can harness instructional technology such as screencasts, recordings that capture audio narration along…

As part of a grant-funded project, the authors have designed an alternative certification program, E = mc[superscript 2], funded by U.S. Department of Education under its Transition to Teaching Program. Before beginning their student teaching, participants conduct observations, interviews, tutoring, small group instruction, and isolated whole…

Problem: Some students are failing to develop acceptable reading skills; however, instructional time allocated to reading fluency can increase reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to compare students who received repeated reading with pairs of students in a large-group setting with those who did not in terms of reading fluency,…

This "Informed Educator" examines the use of small learning communities to address the disadvantages of large, comprehensive schools in a cost effective manner. The different types of small learning communities are described, and the research on both small schools and small learning communities is discussed. Lastly, issues that should be addressed…

Response to Intervention (RtI) is a comprehensive early detection and prevention strategy that identifies struggling students and assists them before they fall behind. RtI systems combine universal screening and high-quality instruction for all students with interventions targeted at struggling students. This guide offers five specific…

Which elementary reading approaches have been proven to help struggling readers to succeed? To find out, this review summarizes evidence on six types of programs designed to improve the reading achievement of children having difficulty in learning to read: (1) One-to-One Tutoring by Teachers (TT) such as "Reading Recovery," "Auditory…

This article reports findings from a qualitative case study whose main focus was on how four 10-11-year-old dyslexic pupils coped with the demands of classroom reading during their final two years (Years 5-6) at a primary school in the north of England. Data were also collected on more general issues associated with the pupils' experiences of…

The present study employed an alternating-treatments design to compare the differential effect of group contingencies on the improvement of homework completion and accuracy of students with disabilities in a self-contained fifth-grade classroom. Generally, past investigations have indicated a positive association between homework performance and…