<p> Education policy and mandates have changed drastically over the last 40 years. As politicians began adopting educational platforms as part of their political agenda, the educational standards of the United States have risen. Politicians have specifically targeted underserved populations as the focus of their educational reforms. Programs such as Race to the Top, FERPA, and No Child Left Behind are examples of politicians attempting to provide all students with equitable educations, regardless of ethnicity, gender, and economic background. </p><p> Just as it is na&iuml;ve to believe that all students learn the same, it is also na&iuml;ve to believe that there is one perfect program that will meet the needs of all students in all areas of the country. Under the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2009, the US Department of Education strove to close the education gap with the introduction of School Improvement Grants. The SIG provided federal funds to underserved schools through a rigorous application process. The funds were available to approved schools for 3-year period. The purpose of this grant was to help underserved schools create and implement a program that was tailored to meet the needs of their students, while promoting academic growth. </p><p> This study focused on urban, public New England schools who received SIG funds between 2010 &ndash; 2016. Through semi-structured interviews with administrators at identified successful SIG schools, a list of best practices has been compiled as a reference for future urban, public New England schools who receive SIG funding. The key findings of this study indicated that communication, strong leadership, collaboration, and good staffing choices played a significant role in the success of the SIG programs. The conclusion of this study indicated that while schools and students have a vast range of needs and difficulties, there are several common shared experiences that could possibly help other administrators in their quest to implement a successful SIG program.</p><p>

<p> National assessments have shown that the majority of students in the United States cannot read at grade level by fourth grade. These results are alarming because students who are not proficient readers by third grade suffer long-term consequences and are more likely to drop out of high school. Feeling pressure to improve reading outcomes, schools have responded by implementing a wide range of interventions. One approach is ability grouping, a system in which students of similar ability levels are grouped together for instruction. </p><p> This study consisted of a quantitative program evaluation of a literacy program designed to accelerate reading achievement. The literacy program placed students reading below grade level into ability-grouped classrooms with reduced class sizes. Quantitative analyses were conducted on secondary student assessment data. First, the performance of students in the literacy program was compared against the performance of a pair-matched group of their peers not in the literacy program via an independent-samples <i>t</i> test. Then, the students&rsquo; performance during the literacy program was compared to their performance in the previous school year via a dependent-samples <i> t</i> test. Finally, a chi-square test of independence was conducted for disproportionality of student subgroups. </p><p> The program evaluation found that, when students in the literacy program were compared to the pair-matched comparison group, the literacy program either had no effect or small, but statistically significant, negative effects. In contrast, the literacy program had positive effects when students in the literacy program were compared to their own prior performance. However, post-hoc analyses showed that all students, regardless of instructional placement, experienced significant growth during the same period. Therefore, it was not possible to attribute the growth to the literacy program. Finally, results showed that English learner students and students in special education were overrepresented in the literacy program. The study concluded that the literacy program was not substantively effective. The findings suggest that ability grouping did not improve student outcomes, concurring with existing literature. This conclusion, combined with potential implications for students, urges school leaders to reexamine ability grouping interventions.</p><p>

<p> There is an evidence base supporting the use of positive behavior supports in schools; however effectively and efficiently transferring these interventions into classroom settings remains a challenge. Precorrection is a highly-regarded behavior support strategy that relies on antecedent prompting to reduce problem behavior and teach socially appropriate skills. This study examined how a brief training in precorrection and praise paired with regular feedback impacted the behavior of four Title I elementary school teachers and students. As a result of the intervention, the four teachers increased use of precorrection and praise, while concomitantly reducing their use of reprimands. Limitations and suggestions for future research are provided. </p><p>

<p> Many educational researchers have advocated for the inclusion of prosocial behavior instruction and practice in K5 public schools along with rigorous academic knowledge. Empathy is considered a foundational social emotional skill, vital for school and life. There is positive correlation between the inclusion of empathy instruction and practice in the classroom with increased prosocial skills, school climate, and engagement. The purpose of this qualitative interpretative phenomenological study was to explore working elementary teacher perceptions of empathy instruction and practice in K5 classrooms in the Northwest United States to better understand the essence of what teachers believed to be the current situation regarding administrative support, resources, and teacher skill and knowledge related to empathy instruction and practice in the classroom. The problem was that many K5 teachers did not include explicit instruction of empathy in the classroom, even though effective empathy instruction and modeling has been shown to improve academic achievement scores, improve teacher measures of positive social emotional behaviors, and decrease negative antisocial behaviors. This qualitative interpretive phenomenological study explored practicing teacher perceptions of empathy instruction and practice in K5 classrooms in Northwestern Oregon through in-depth interviews, non-verbal communication observation notes, and researcher reflection journal. NVivo 11 software was used to analyze themes, with validation of data collection and analysis by member checking of individual data and analysis offered to participants. Study results may advance the understanding of factors that inhibit or enhance teachers&rsquo; ability to teach and practice empathy in the classroom, and aid in the development of empathy instruction and practice methods, designs, and professional development.</p><p>

The purposes of this study are to determine the level of growth by reading improvement students when metacognitive skills are taught and to determine which instructional approach is the most effective in maximizing reading comprehension.

<p> There is a gap in the research regarding structured collaborative processes and experiences that draws a parallel to the disconnections discovered between what is needed to be a successful teacher candidate in the field and what is taught through coursework and the lack of authentic experiences in teacher preparation programs such as collaboration. This qualitative case study seeks to expand the extant research by understanding and identifying perceptions and comfort with collaboration, as well as its impact. The study outlined one universities approach to strive to meet the competencies for accreditation and prepare highly effective professional educators with a focus on collaboration. This qualitative case study investigated the perceptions of novice teachers regarding ways in which collaboration impacted them and their teaching experiences and examined the perceptions of these novice teachers and their comfort with collaboration during their induction period.</p><p>

<p> This study investigated the relationship between flexible learning environments and student attitudes about reading. Flexible learning environments are spaces wherein learners can choose from different seating or standing options, locations within the learning space, and the size group with which to work. This allows the learner to find the environment that he or she learns best in. The researcher sought to understand if flexible learning environments and the autonomy to choose from the aforementioned criteria improved student attitudes about reading. </p><p> To evaluate the relationship between flexible learning environments and student attitudes about reading, the researcher interviewed and surveyed teachers, and observed and surveyed fourth graders at a St. Louis County public elementary school. The fourth-grade classrooms consisted of varying degrees of established flexible learning environments, yet the students had experienced traditional style classrooms prior to fourth grade. Given this dynamic, these students had a solid perspective of both classroom styles and were able to accurately reflect on and articulate personal feelings about reading and their learning environments. Teachers surveyed and interviewed had, at some time in their career, designed traditional and/or flexible learning environments in their classrooms. </p><p> The researcher utilized qualitative analysis to examine the relationship between flexible learning environments and a change in student attitudes about reading, investigated the relationship between teacher experience and the influence on perspectives regarding style preference of learning environments, and analyzed student perspectives about the relationship between their learning environments and their attitudes about reading. </p><p> The results of this study indicated that in the study school, teachers&rsquo; professional experiences influenced classroom design, and student attitudes about reading were improved as a result of being provided opportunities to choose where and how to sit, and having the autonomy to choose the text they read during independent reading periods. The relationship was not solely related to the environmental features often found within a flexible learning environment. </p><p>

<p> Educational reforms have created a climate of accountability and high academic pressure that has resulted in a pushing down of the curriculum into early childhood education. Once a prominent pedagogical feature, play is disappearing from kindergarten. The following is a doctoral dissertation that studied administrator, teacher, and parent perceptions of play and its role within the kindergarten curriculum at a Catholic elementary school in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Using a qualitative case study method, the study noted how play was utilized in transitional kindergarten and traditional kindergarten classrooms at the school site. Interviews, classroom observations, and document review of school publications contributed to the following findings: play was used as a reward for classroom management, adults did not commonly see the connection between play and learning, and academic achievement was valued over play. These findings were placed in the larger context of kindergarten, play, and curriculum by using a theoretical framework built on Early Child Education theories and Epstein&rsquo;s (2011) Parental Involvement framework. This case study highlighted factors that influenced curriculum design and implementation in kindergarten. It contributes to the effort to inform parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers of the importance of defending play within kindergarten in light of social pressures that favor a didactic kindergarten setting.</p><p>

<p> This was a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional research study that surveyed California homeschooling parents with children in grades K-6 during the 2016&ndash;17 academic year. The purpose was to discover the methodologies and activities California homeschooled K-6th grade students received and experienced in the four arts disciplines: music, dance, theater and fine art. The data was collected through an online survey and a random representation of the research participants. The data collected included collecting specific information regarding arts activities and lessons, the approximated time and hours of instruction, and the locations or places where the lessons and activities were conducted. There were a total of 178 responses collected from the research participants. The overall participation rates within the four arts disciplines for this sample population of California homeschooling students in grades K-6 during the 2016&ndash;17 year in music was 80.34%, dance was 48.32%, theater was 52.81% and visual arts was 94.39%. The specific activities, lessons, time and locations were analyzed and discussed. This research concluded that the sample population participates in visual arts activities and lessons mainly in the home, and music, dance, and theater activities and lessons are experienced at private studios or theaters. It was additionally noted that just over 11% of the California homeschooling parents participating referenced the VAPA standards.</p><p>

<p> This non-experimental correlational quantitative study was designed to explore the effects of specialized professional development, age, gender, and years of teaching experience on the successful integration of iPads into classroom literacy education among K-6 students. The study uses the teachers&rsquo; Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) scores to measure the successful integration of the iPads. Much research has been completed exploring the implementation of various technologies into the classroom. With the advent of the iPad in 2010, and Apple Inc.&rsquo;s eagerness to include their product in the classroom, it was inevitable that mobile tablet technology would be added to the public school classroom. The researcher chose to study K-6 teachers at three elementary schools in the Coachella Valley Unified School District (CVUSD). The CVUSD implemented a 1:1 iPad integration program throughout in 2012, providing an iPad for every student at every grade level in the district. CVUSD was the first district in the United States to implement such a program. The K-6 teacher population was narrowed to teachers who teach age-appropriate literacy skills regularly in the classroom, removing Art, Music, Physical Education, and English Language Learner (ELL) instructors from the population. The repeatedly validated instrument, The Survey of Preservice Teachers' Knowledge of Teaching and Technology, was used to find the TPACK of the teachers in the final sample. This instrument has been repeatedly validated for both pre- and in-service teachers. The scores were analyzed using the Pearson&rsquo;s ? correlation coefficient to discover whether or not there was a significant positive or negative correlation between the TPACK score and its subdomains and the amount of specialized professional development, the age, the gender, and the years of teaching experience of the teacher. Using the Spearman&rsquo;s ? and the Two-Tailed test to cross-check the results, the researcher found no significant positive or negative correlation between the teachers&rsquo; TPACK scores and the studied variables. One research and one practical recommendation have been suggested by the researchers. A follow-up study using a school or district that has not instituted a 1:1 iPad program wherein the research team would implement a program and follow the progress of the program for 1 to 3 years and improving professional development programs to include detailed and immersive modules for integrating technology into the classroom and into the lessons.</p><p>