The research to practice gap continues to be a prominent concern among professionals in the field of education. Traditional staff development in which teachers attend presentations and workshops for a few days each year has been one method for attempting to bring empirically validated instructional practices into the classroom. Unfortunately,…

The study addresses the need for after-school programs in urban communities, especially those in low, poor economic areas. Its purpose is to evaluate a three part after-school program in determining the effect on academic and social behaviors. This program design includes homework help, recreation and a multi-cultural component. The study seeks to…

This dissertation examined the status of data-based research in applied linguistics through an analysis of published research studies in nine peer-reviewed applied linguistics journals ("Applied Language Learning, The Canadian Modern Language Review / La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, Current Issues in Language Planning, Dialog on Language…

This chapter summarizes ten selected issues and common problems that arise in most assessment research projects. These include: (1) the uses of grades in assessment; (2) institutional review boards; (3) research design as a compromise; (4) standardized testing; (5) self-reported measures; (6) missing data; (7) weighting data; (8) conditional…

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of Brain-based learning (BBL) on the academic achievement of students with different learning styles. The study group consists of students from the department of Social Sciences Teacher Education in the Faculty of Education at Mugla University (N=68). In the study, a pre-test-post-test…

This article provides practical guidance for researchers who are designing studies that randomize groups to measure the impacts of educational interventions. The article (a) provides new empirical information about the values of parameters that influence the precision of impact estimates (intraclass correlations and R[superscript 2] values) and…

Len Barton is acutely aware of the power of the academy to either enhance critical thinking or to depress it. He is a true academic, never accepting the received wisdom or perspective of any given sociological standpoint, no matter how powerful or fashionable it was at the time. He has encouraged and promoted a unique blend of professional and…

Poverty-related factors place children at higher risk for disabilities and also serve as barriers to families accessing services for their children and themselves. Early childhood practitioners can play a critical role in supporting families by providing services to overcome these obstacles and by working in partnership with specialized early…

The author believes that a unified theory might provide ideas helpful for improving research; professional training and practice; and therefore, student achievement. Little attention was paid to how several variables might work together and there is little discussion regarding how they might work together. The author stresses that there are…

Purpose: This study makes a distinction between a school having high attrition and one having difficulties in hiring. It does so by exploring the relationship between definitions of hard-to-staff schools, school demographics, and school conditions that are often associated with a school being hard-to-staff. Research Design: The study relies on a…

A pre-post experimental design with 6-week delayed posttest was implemented to investigate the effects of reading comprehension strategy (RCS) instruction with and without attribution retraining (AR) on reading outcomes for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders with learning and other mild disabilities. Students were randomly assigned to one of three…

Objective: South Asians living in western countries have increased risk for developing diet-related chronic disease compared to Caucasians of European heritage. To increase understanding of social and cultural factors associated with their food habits, this study examined the meanings of food, health and well-being embedded in the food practices…

Child maltreatment affects 900 thousand children in the U.S. every year and impacts all areas of daily functioning. Behavioral parent training (BPT) programs have effectively taught parenting & demonstrated externally valid outcomes (i.e., lower recidivism rates). Skill maintenance assessments for BPTs have mixed results. The Behavior Management…

This study investigates the recruitment and retention challenges, facing municipal government IT organizations in Southern California, by examining the relationships between worker demographics, competencies, experience levels, tenure, and training within the organizations. Utilizing a mixed method, non-experimental design, the study examines…

This study examined the relationship between reading achievement and achievement in other subject areas. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a correlation between reading scores as measured by the Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR) and academic achievement in language arts, math, science, and social studies…