<p> Conventional wisdom strongly supports that people&rsquo;s behavior is affected by the weather in many ways. But while the correlation between weather and student behavior if often accepted as popular fact amongst parents and educator&rsquo;s alike, very little research exists to support this correlation and educators may be at risk for making teaching decisions based on inaccurate understandings. This correlational study investigated the relationship between barometric pressure and the behavior of third grade students in a rural setting. Results indicated no relationship between these variables. Implications for educational practice is discussed.</p><p>

Over the past 20 years, State Education Agencies have expanded their traditional role, focused on distributing federal funds and compliance monitoring, to become responsible for developing state-level standards, measuring student progress and, in some cases, intervening directly in low performing schools. In Massachusetts, the state’s lowest performing schools are placed into Level 5 receivership, and the state’s education Commissioner selects school operators to run the schools on the state’s behalf. However, the availability of school operators is insufficient to meet the state’s needs and expanding current efforts is not financially sustainable. The Gateways to Achievement (GtA) Initiative attempts to catalyze school improvement efforts by: 1) increasing the supply of school operators able to successfully operate low performing schools, and 2) using the state’s authority of Level 5 receivership to incentivize districts to develop aggressive, voluntary school turnaround strategies. The goal is that the districts’ aggressive turnaround strategies, which include partnerships with school operators, will improve struggling schools such that Level 5 receivership is not required. The GtA Initiative was developed by Massachusetts education reformer Chris Gabrieli and Commissioner Mitchell Chester. My strategic project focused on building awareness and support within the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for the GtA initiative, and aligning it to the most important problems the agency was trying to solve. The GtA Initiative’s first manifestation was The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP), an innovative partnership between Springfield Public Schools and DESE that utilizes many of the Level 5 authorities, but allows the target schools to remain under the control of local education officials. In a time of declining federal and state funds, the SEZP provides an example of how DESE may approach school turnaround efforts moving forward. However, DESE will first need to decide how the initiative, and indeed the naming of Level 5 receivers, fits within the state’s current theory of action guiding school and district turnaround efforts. Additionally, the agency will need to determine if it wants to bring the necessary capacity to identify and execute these types of innovative partnerships in-house, or continue to partner with outside groups.

<p> The focus of my study was to explore if teachers think handwriting should be included as part of the core curriculum. The aim of the project was to observe and discuss if handwriting instruction is beneficial in the second grade. For my research, data was collected from observations, surveys, and interviews. The benefits and disadvantages of handwriting instruction were also researched. In recent years, each year that I taught, the handwriting of the students has become more and more illegible. Students had difficulty putting their thoughts onto the paper. It was taking them longer and longer just to write simple sentences, especially my students who were identified with learning disabilities. They could verbally come up with great ideas to discuss but as soon as I informed the students that it was time to put those thoughts to paper, the struggles began. Students would ask me how to form letters, spacing was nonexistent, and I could not read what they wrote. Moreover, the students could not even read their own writing. The study began with a survey of the teachers&rsquo; beliefs and experiences with handwriting instruction. Observations of teachers&rsquo; instruction and lessons were conducted. The findings were astounding. Manuscript handwriting instruction took place in kindergarten as students spent a week on each letter. There was no formal handwriting instruction, manuscript or cursive, in first grade and in second grade cursive handwriting instruction began in the last six weeks of school. If students did not master how to write a letter of the alphabet in kindergarten then it was up to the students to figure it out unless a teacher caught it and provided some type of instruction. Only 2 out of 6 teachers had any formal training or instruction on how to teach children to write.</p><p>

<p> This thesis examines whether or not a newly implemented Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) system is working in a middle school during its first year. The school used for this study is a middle school that serves students from fifth to eighth grade. The research conducted looked into the positive and negative thoughts staff and students had in regards to the PBIS system. During the school year, teachers who worked at the school for more than two years were surveyed on their viewpoints of the effectiveness of the PBIS system. Students in fifth grade were also given a survey to gain an understanding of their viewpoints on how the system is working in the school. Observations and personal interviews with teachers and students were also conducted to discuss their thoughts on the PBIS system and how they believe it has worked in its first year. The results from the surveys showed that the staff and students in the school felt that the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports system did not work in its first year.</p><p>

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The results of recent research show that post-secondary school outcomes of individuals with disabilities lag behind those of non-disabled individuals in employment, residential independence, and post-secondary education (Blackorby & Wagner, 1996; Benz et al., 1997; Colley & Jamison, 1998; Reis et al., 1997; Madaus et al., 2003; & Baer et al., 2003). Despite the disappointing outcome results among individuals with disabilities, those with learning disabilities (LD) as opposed to other disabilities tend to achieve higher post-secondary school education and employment outcomes (Blackorby & Wagner, 1996). Some studies show that for those with learning disabilities, involvement in academic programs in high school is related to post-secondary academic success (Blackorby & Wagner, 1996; Baer et al. 2003). Likewise, involvement in school-to-work programs while in high school increased the opportunities for attainment of competitive employment (Benz et al. 1997; Baer et al. 2003). However, there are also some studies that have shown that school programs did not contribute to successful adult outcomes and that factors related to the environment and to the individuals themselves were better predictors of post-secondary school success for those with learning disabilities (Raskind et al. 1999; Gerber et al. 1992). Gerber et al. (1992) created a 'Model of Success' which states that success is a function of the degree of control attained by the person with learning disabilities and that individual and environmental factors predict success for individuals with learning disabilities. This qualitative study used a constructivist conceptual framework. A constructivist conceptual framework refers to the social construction of knowledge by participant and researcher. To understand the participants experience through their own perspective, it becomes the researcher's responsibility to dissolve personal preconceptions and to try to understand the experience from the participants' point of view. A phenomenological strategy was used with a case study method. The phenomenon under investigation was the experience of living with a learning disability and four case studies were employed to investigate this phenomenon. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate the experiences of individuals who have learning disabilities who received accommodations while in school. Emphasis was placed on the participants' school experiences and reflections on those experiences as well as the individual characteristics and environmental conditions, all of which have acted as facilitators or barriers to their post-secondary school outcomes. Specifically, inquiries into employment opportunities, post-secondary education and independent living outcomes helped to determine the conditions related to success among individuals with learning disabilities in adult life. The findings from this study show that early identification and remediation are important in enabling the individual: time for advocacy, remediation, accommodations and general adjustment to their learning disability. Progress was made during elementary school but the lack of services offered in secondary school produced negative experiences for the participants. University offered the individuals control over what and how they learned. As well, the support available to them enhanced their university experiences and facilitated successful outcomes. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This qualitative study explored four Eastern Ontario public school teachers' experiences of implementing inclusion through collaboration. The framework for investigating these experiences was Nonaka's (1994) theory of organizational knowledge creation, the crux of which is the mobilization and conversion of tacit (or experiential) knowledge. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed inductively. The findings showed that these teachers wanted to collaborate to implement inclusion, but the organizational structures and culture were not in place to promote this activity. Although Nonaka's (1994) theory has the potential to describe how teachers create knowledge through collaboration, it did not occur in this research. Practical implications and future research are discussed. Keywords: inclusion, collaboration, Nonaka, tacit knowledge, knowledge creation

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of teacher collaboration and co-teaching on the response to literacy intervention of elementary-aged students with learning disabilities. The study utilized a multiple-baseline approach. The participants in this study included three second-grade students identified with learning disabilities, their special education teachers, and their classroom teachers from a north metro school district in Colorado. During the baseline phase, students received traditional pull-out literacy interventions and classroom instruction. During the intervention phase, the general education teacher and special education teacher collaboratively planned and co-taught the student's small group reading lesson. Students' literacy skills were monitored weekly using a variety of progress monitoring assessments. Students' oral reading fluency was monitored using the DIBELS Test of Oral Reading Fluency (Good & Kaminski, 2002). Sight word fluency was monitored using the Easy CBM word reading assessment (Alonzo & Tindal, 2007). Decoding fluency was measured using the DIBELS Test of Nonsense Word Fluency (Good & Kaminski, 2002). Overall reading levels were assessed using the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS; Invernizzi et al., 2003). Results were analyzed based on a visual analysis and the percentage exceeding the median (PEM). Results varied among participants. Overall results for oral reading fluency indicated that two students had a moderate response while the third student had a questionable response. The EasyCBM Word Reading assessment results resulted in two of the three students falling in the questionable range while the third student demonstrated a high effect size. A higher level of response was illustrated on the DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency assessment with two out of three students falling in the high range and one student falling in the moderate range. Overall changes in reading level varied for each student. Student One regressed, Student Two increased his reading level, and Student Three remained the same. Teachers filled out a post-study Intervention Rating Profile (IRP) and participated in a teacher interview to measure the social validity of the intervention. The teacher interview and IRP indicated that teachers perceived the use of the co-planning and co-teaching intervention as beneficial for students with academic difficulties. Benefits of the co-planning and co-teaching intervention included the opportunity to learn from each other and the ability to create a bridge from the classroom to intervention setting. Teachers identified scheduling co-teaching opportunities and finding time to co-plan as barriers to the co-planning and co-teaching intervention.^