Adapting support contingently to student needs by first diagnosing their current understanding, that is, scaffolding, is considered a key aspect of excellent teaching. The use of classroom scaffolding is rare, however. We therefore investigated the benefits to teachers of a professional development program that was based upon a model of contingent…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were created in response to the shortcomings of No Child Left Behind era standards and assessments. Among those failings were the poor quality of content standards and assessments and the variability in content expectations and proficiency targets across states, as well as concerns related to the economic…

What happens when local school leaders sit down to talk with teachers, parents, and other members of the community about the ends and means of local education? Can people bringing different perspectives and experiences to the issue agree on top goals for their communities? Can they settle on needed changes and decide what signifies genuine…

The commentary and overview explored how curriculum and assessment reforms are being used by a small university and small country to improve the quality of education and gain international recognition. Although the reforms are potentially beneficial to the students, university, and country, there are dilemmatic factors that may either enhance or…

"Evidence-centered design" (ECD) is a comprehensive framework for describing the conceptual, computational and inferential elements of educational assessment. It emphasizes the importance of articulating inferences one wants to make and the evidence needed to support those inferences. At first blush, ECD and "educational data…

E-learning is an educational approach that combines different types of multimedia technologies to ensure better education experiences for students and teachers. Today, it is a popular approach among especially teachers and educators. In this sense, this paper describes a web based e-learning system that was designed and developed to be used in the…

The primary focus of this study was to examine the attitudes of the secondary mathematics teachers toward the inclusion of students with learning disabilities in the general mathematics classroom. Specifically, this study was concerned with the influence of selected demographic variables and school variables on the attitudes of secondary…

The Middle College High School (MCHS) is an optional high-school format, typically co-sponsored by community colleges and local school districts. Students complete core high-school graduation requirements while concurrently completing college courses. This dissertation presents an analysis of the academic achievement and educational plans of the…

If you've upgraded to the second edition of the landmark book "Classroom Instruction That Works," you need this companion guide to help you use technology to support research-based instruction. The authors follow the revised Instructional Planning Guide that makes it easier for you to know when to emphasize each of the instructional strategies,…

Approximately half the students who enroll at an institution will complete a bachelor's degree within six years (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie, & Gonyea, 2008). The majority of the students who decide to leave their initial institution do so during their first year (Tinto, 1993). Tinto reported that the withdrawal rate is highest during the first…

In this dissertation, I aim to clarify the factors affecting a consumers' choice between the Internet and a financial planner for making saving and investment decisions, based on household production theory. Moreover, I explore the likelihood of an individual being an Internet user (vs. a non-user), a financial planner user (vs. a non-user),…

The purpose of this researcher was to develop an understanding of how parents are involved in their special education child's learning and to explore possible differences in parental engagement across age or grade levels (kindergarten through fifth grade) and cultural backgrounds. This researcher focused on Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and African…

Late and limited organisational differentiation is a characteristic which has, until now, distinguished the structure of education -- including teacher education - in the Nordic countries from that of the rest of Europe. However, this tradition is now challenged by utilitarian ideologies, supported by international comparison tests such as PISA…

This study assessed whether and how self-explanation reading training, provided by iSTART (Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking), improves the effectiveness of comprehension processes. iSTART teaches students how to self-explain and which strategies will most effectively aid comprehension from moment-to-moment. We used…

Five studies document the validity of a new 8-item scale designed to measure "positivity," defined as the tendency to view life and experiences with a positive outlook. In the first study (N = 372), the psychometric properties of Positivity Scale (P Scale) were examined in accordance with classical test theory using a large number of…