<p>The study used an embedded qualitative, historical, explanatory, case study design with a dominant quantitative, quasi-experimental pre-post, longitudinal, retrospective design. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of Ludus Reading&mdash;a new reading program&mdash;in terms of kindergarten students&rsquo; reading perceptions and performance between the control and experimental group addressing the problem of illiteracy and aliteracy. Study participants included 73 kindergarten students. The results of the study were statistically significant (alpha = .05). The null hypothesis H1 was rejected (<i>F</i> (1,70)=15.01, <i>p</i> &lt;. 001). Consequently, the experimental group had higher means on KDRA2 (<i>M</i>=9.25, <i> SD</i>=5.11) than the control group (<i>M</i>=5.07, <i> SD</i>=4.25). The null hypothesis H2 was rejected (<i>F</i> (1,69)=6268.69, Wilks Lambda=0.68, <i>p</i> &lt; .001). Therefore, the experimental group had higher means on KDIBELS NWF-CLS (<i>M</i>=53.31, <i> SD</i>=21.51) than the control group (<i>M</i>=32.20, <i> SD</i>=18.99). The sub-null hypotheses were retained, signifying that moderating factors, gender and speech language services, did not influence the students&rsquo; reading performance. Qualitative data from learning profiles were explored, and emerging themes indicated that the experimental group enjoyed reading more than the control group because students from the experimental group used more descriptive emotion words to describe reading, and expressed a higher intensity level of enjoyment. </p>

<p> Elementary teachers educating both students with and without disabilities require access to effective, easily implemented classroom management techniques to address challenging behaviors. One such intervention is a contingency contract. A review of literature suggests that contracts are implemented for students experiencing challenges with academic and social behaviors both with and without formally diagnosed disabilities in general and special education settings. However, there was little consideration of the social significance of behaviors, and contract goals were not often set according to behaviors of comparison peers. The purpose of the current study examined the effects of contingency contracts on engagement for three students in an elementary general education classroom for three participants exhibiting high rates of disengaged behavior during instruction. Contingency contracts were written with consideration of social significance and function of behavior, preference surveys, observation of comparison peers to set goals, and reinforcement for desired behaviors. Using an ABAB withdrawal design, duration of engagement and frequency of instances of engagement were both recorded. Experimental effects were observed when participants&rsquo; duration of engagement increased and frequency of engagements decreased while under contract. The results suggest that contingency contracts can successfully be implemented to increase a desired behavior (engagement) with students in the general education classroom. Implications and future research directions immediately follow a discussion of the results.</p>

<p> The academic achievement gap between African American and Caucasian students continues to be a major concern for policymakers and educators. This gap started to shrink in the 1970s and 1980s with integration, but the 1990s showed the achievement gap was on the rise again. The characteristics of the neighborhoods where children live and attend school have a great impact on their academic performances. This research study examined the relationship between poverty, community violence and the academic performance of elementary school age children, especially African American students. Seventy-eight public elementary schools were randomly chosen in Los Angeles County that had at least 10% African American students who completed the reading achievement test in each primary grade level (2-5 grade levels) in April 2012. The results showed that poverty and community violence had a significant negative impact on reading achievement test scores for African American students. Furthermore, the impact of community violence was twice that of poverty on academic performance. On the other hand, Caucasian students&rsquo; test scores were significantly impacted by poverty and not community violence. One explanation for this difference was that African American students experienced twice as much community violence in their neighborhoods as compared to Caucasian students. Since educators cannot change neighborhood characteristics, they need to focus on developing educational models that mitigate the impact of community violence and trauma on African American students.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2416. Adviser: Sarah McCarthey. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-175) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta (Canada), 2006. / (UnM)AAINR13979. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-04, Section: A, page: 1227.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0446. Adviser: Paul Thurston. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 308-338) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2783. Adviser: Ian D. Westbury. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-101) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2877. Adviser: Sarah McCarthey. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 276-286) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2880. Adviser: Arlette Willis. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-241) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Also available in print.