This report presents the 5th Edition of Scholastic's biannual study of children's and parents' attitudes and behaviors about reading. The latest research touches on reading aloud to children of all ages, the impact of reading independently for fun at school and at home, the importance of frequent reading, and the books children want most to read.…

With continually increasing enrollment, and colleges and universities struggling to meet the demand, leaders in education are turning to the web instruction to deliver instruction to students. In order to meet the needs of these online students, institutions of higher education need more data concerning the factors that influence students'…

This study examined longitudinal data by multiple regression analyses to determine personal and institutional characteristics associated with students' openness to diverse perspectives. Students' openness was positively associated with (a) feeling that the university was committed to diversity issues, (b) taking diversity courses, and (c)…

Drawing upon two ethnographic studies of affluent and elite co-educational secondary schools in the United States, Weis and Cipollone spotlight the explicit "class work" of a now highly insecure middle/upper middle class, as they attempt to maintain advantage via entrance to particularly located post-secondary destinations. Affirming the…

This paper presents the findings of the qualitative component of a combined methods research study that explores a range of individual and school factors that influence the uptake of chemistry and physics in post-compulsory study in England. The first phase involves using the National Pupil Database to provide a sampling frame to identify four…

Although the Gender Achievement Gap is closing in mathematics, the "interest gap" in pursuing STEM fields is not. Mathematics education research has discussed constructivist, student-centered and inclusive methods of teaching that have been found to encourage students that have underachieved and been underrepresented in STEM fields. One…

Many secondary schools in Utah have adopted the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) pre-engineering program. Little research has been conducted in Utah to show how successful these programs are or what factors are perceived to contribute to that success. This research is about defining PLTW program success and identifying factors perceived to improve…

As the reauthorization of NCLB looms on the horizon, many states have made the decision to re-evaluate the teacher role in the classroom as it relates to student achievement. The accountability era in public education has evolved over the last decade to encompass broad changes, some good, some questionable. In education it takes time determine the…

Despite claims that the use of corpus tools can have a major impact in language classrooms (e.g., Conrad, 2000, 2004; Davies, 2004; O'Keefe, McCarthy, & Carter, 2007; Sinclair, 2004b; Tsui, 2004), many language teachers express apparent apathy or even resistance towards adding corpus tools to their repertoire (Cortes, 2013b). This study…

The author was on the academic job market in English eight years in a row. The first four times, he applied all over the place, searching for his first tenure-track job. The next four times, he applied selectively, searching for a position more closely aligned with his academic and personal interests. Although each year on the market was…

Like all school leaders, charter school leaders want to hire talented and passionate teachers. At the same time, they know talent and passion aren't enough. As the quote above suggests, charter school leaders want to hire teachers whose talents and passions "fit their schools." An experienced teacher with strong skills and knowledge might struggle…

The underrepresentation of women in physics has been well documented and a source of concern for both policy makers and educators. My dissertation focuses on understanding the role self-efficacy plays in retaining students, particularly women, in introductory physics. I use an explanatory mixed methods approach to first investigate quantitatively…

Teacher selection, retention, and evaluation form a contentious policy knot. This paper: (1) reviews the recent history of teacher labor markets; (2) describes the teacher selection, preparation and retention policies of three countries that successfully reformed their systems; (3) proposes a different theoretical guide; and (4) reviews key…

Literature study groups help promote critical thinking and improve reading skills. These groups, in general, are characterized by: (1) a flexible grouping--usually determined by a reader's choice of a given book at a given time; (2) participant-centered dialogue, where the teacher takes on the role of facilitator and expert participant rather than…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report innovative research aimed at ascertaining whether standards for school leaders could be applied to the process of selecting senior secondary school principals for appointment. Specifically, psychometrically robust measures of performance are sought that would sufficiently differentiate performance to…