The schema activating instructional strategy of Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) has been demonstrated as an effective way of teaching vocabulary and comprehension. This study compared the SFA to three other strategies of Direct Instruction (DI), Vocabulary Look Up (VLU), and Read Only (RO) for their effectiveness to help students clarify prior misconceptions. Student responses on multiple choice pre and post tests and their written recalls were the dependent variables in this study. Subjects were four classes of 127 normal seventh and eighth grade students. The classes were randomly assigned intact to the four instructional strategies: SFA, DI, VLU, and RO. Students were pretested and then instructed using a passage on the Fourth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution according to their assigned strategies. They then took the posttest and wrote recalls. Students misconceptions in the pretest were tabulated and compared to those in the posttest to determine which of the four strategies was most effective in helping students clarify their prior misconceptions about the Fourth Amendment. Then students' written recalls were analyzed according to various conceptual categories to learn which strategy helped the students to recall the reading passage. The structure of the students' writing was also examined to find out which of the four strategies helped the students the most in integrating the new information and writing most coherently. The SFA group clarified and corrected significantly more items on the multiple choice test than any of the other groups. This finding suggests that an interactive strategy such as SFA facilitates student memory and learning of content area material. The results also demonstrated that students taught through the strategy of semantic feature analysis recalled more conceptual units than the other groups. They also wrote more cohesively with clearer structure than the others.

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of teacher teaming in school improvement efforts as reflected by teachers' expressions of their sense of efficacy and collaborative efforts. The exploratory, descriptive study involves 37 teachers in a Southwestern elementary school. Three instruments were used to gather data on teachers' sense of efficacy, team planning activities, and teacher perceptions and attitudes about collaboration in the major site: Teacher Efficacy Survey, a collaboration questionnaire, and voluntary interviews. The major findings show that: (1) Teachers express fairly high confidence in efficacy, especially with regard to their potential to impact student progress. (2) Teachers disagree with statements that the home is the sole determiner of student learning and progress. (3) Teachers report a high frequency of collaboration. This tendency was especially strong in the area of communication with other teachers and actual planning/teaching activities. (4) Variations in satisfaction levels are expressed by teachers in relation to collaborative team planning. (5) Teachers express a medium satisfaction level toward collaborative team planning. (6) Teachers perceive a feeling of empowerment based on involvement in decision making and communication. (7) Teachers do not perceive a positive or negative relationship with the district's organizational demands for teaming and express feelings of powerlessness and irrelevancy. (8) Teachers' perceptions toward student learning are positively influenced by collaborative team planning. (9) The evolution of the collaborative team planning project at the major site has progressed in four distinct phases. The major implication of this study is that it is necessary to foster and promote teacher collaboration in collegial activities to enhance their sense of efficacy toward student learning during school improvement or restructuring processes.

Grade retention continues to be a common educational practice in the United States. Educators have typically used this procedure as a means of addressing academic deficits demonstrated by students. Although numerous research studies have been conducted to examine the efficacy of grade retention, conflicting results are reported at the first grade level. Few studies have addressed the issue of ethnicity and grade retention, although retainees are typically minority students. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of first grade retention on second grade achievement in a predominately Hispanic population. In addition, this study examined the effects of retention based on gender. Seventy-three students who were retained in the first grade served as the subjects in this study. Each subject was matched with two promoted control students based on reading achievement, math achievement, language achievement, ethnicity, sex, birthdate, socioeconomic status and primary language of the home. Academic achievement was compared at the end of the students' second grade years. Results indicated that the reading, language and math scores of the retained subjects and the reading, language and math scores of the nonretained counterparts did not differ significantly. Differences of retention benefits based on ethnicity and gender were not evident. The results were discussed in relation to results obtained from previous research studies. Investigation of alternative strategies to address student academic deficits was indicated.

Literature-based reading instruction is a current method being used in elementary schools today. A growing body of research on such programs used within the regular education classroom suggests that such programs improve students abilities to critically construct meaning. Yet, despite this movement, little has been documented on how such programs might effect learning disabled students mainstreamed in the regular education classroom for reading instruction. The main focus of this study then, was to examine the strategies and possible teaching modifications that would be necessary for learning disabled students to participate in a literature-based reading program along with their regular education peers. Three learning disabled students within the researcher's fifth grade classroom were voluntary participants in this study and received all of the same reading instruction as their non-labeled classmates.

Reading instruction in a self-contained classroom of deaf and hard-of-hearing elementary school students was observed. Videotapes were made of two complete units of study and analyzed using an interval recording system. Interviews were conducted with the teacher. The results of the study indicate the teacher utilized approximately 75% of the allotted instructional time in reading instruction. The teacher spent a good portion of this time eliciting student participation. Students engaged in reading related activities a greater proportion of the time than actually reading. Discussion was the dominant student activity.

<p> In this qualitative study, I sought to open a space where previously marginalized fifth and sixth graders - those identified for remedial reading classes - could become agents of their own reading. Rather than using mandated or scripted reading programs, I co-created an apprentice program with my intermediate students by which they became teachers of reading to first graders. My teacher-researcher stance allowed me to explore agentic acts among the students involved and identify classroom conditions which supported school-productive literacy. </p><p> The Apprentice-Teaching Project drew on sociocultural perspectives of literacy, apprenticeship theory, and a view of agency which connects students' agentic actions with the various identities they enacted. Data, including field notes, audio and video recordings, and student work, were analyzed using a combination of thematic and narrative methods. </p><p> In their roles as apprentice-teachers, participants learned new Discourses and remade their identities from school-identified "struggling" readers to Readers and Teachers, thereby joining the "literacy club." In general they exerted school-productive agency when confronted with difficult reading tasks, rather than remaining marginalized from school literacy communities. </p><p> I argue that students marginalized by the teaching practices fostered by recent educational policy initiatives are best served by knowledgeable, professional teachers who are free to create <i>responsive curricula </i> in light of needs observed among students. I further argue that the educational community needs to examine the ways we have approached the teaching of metacognitive reading strategies. The apprentice-teachers did not take up these strategies as tools to deepen their understanding; instead, they perceived the strategies as "tasks" to be done after reading. Furthermore, to foster <i>engaged reading</i>, this study demonstrated the efficacy of a curriculum that provides students with <i>voice</i> and <i> choice</i> in selecting texts and <i>socially-interactive environments </i> in which to construct meanings around those texts.</p>

<p> Creativity is considered to be an essential life skill that should be fostered throughout the educational system. However, public elementary school classrooms in the USA generally do not appear to be creativity-fostering places. A better understanding of teachers' beliefs about creativity would provide valuable insights into their practices in the classroom and facilitate the planning and evaluation efforts to foster creativity in all classrooms. </p><p> Using a validated survey instrument, adapted from the Teachers' Conceptions of Creativity Questionnaire (TCCQ), the researcher collected beliefs from 120 public elementary school teachers from six schools within one mid-sized public unified school district in the Los Angeles area. The survey included 25 forced choice and seven open ended items. Participating teachers taught in kindergarten through fifth grade and possessed teaching experience from 3 to 40 years. </p><p> Major conclusions include that the teachers believe creativity is primarily expressed in the form of originality of product, behavior or thought. However, these teachers were not aware that creativity should also be appropriate for the situation, an aspect critical to scholars. The teachers believe creativity to be connected mainly with the arts and school subjects in the arts. These teachers support that creativity can be developed in all students but that only a small percentage of students are highly creative. When describing creative students, teachers reported only the positive traits of creative students. The teachers believe that creativity is essential in academic learning, however, teachers expressed an ambivalence regarding their training and capability to effectively promote student creativity within the classroom. The teachers feel impeded to promote student creativity in the classroom by the emphasis on testing, standards, and expectations of the school system. Some implications for practice are that pre-service teacher education and in-service staff development should provide courses, workshops, and activities that assist teachers with knowledge and skills to foster creativity in all students within the classroom. Policy makers and educational authorities must establish creative thinking as an essential learning goal in the educational system so that all children can develop their full personal and work creative potential.</p>

<p>The purpose of the study was to develop and implement a new reading intervention with fifth grade struggling readers that included reading across multiple texts, constructing arguments from the texts, engaging in oral argumentation, and writing argumentative essays. A Convergent Mixed Methods design incorporated both quantitative and qualitative data to determine if teacher collaboration influenced the implementation of the new intervention and its subsequent effect on students&rsquo; reading and writing outcomes. The intervention focused on a 10-week argumentative unit based on the American Revolution War. Group 1 teacher implemented the intervention in a whole-class setting, plus collaborated with the researcher on implementation issues; Group 2 teacher implemented the intervention in a small pullout group, but did not collaborate with the researcher; and Control Group teacher did not implement the intervention. All student groups took a pre and post reading comprehension assessment, and Groups 1 and 2 students took a pre and post essay writing assessment. The reading comprehension scores showed no significant improvement for any group. The pre and post essay writing scores for Groups 1 and 2 showed significant improvement (<i>p</i> = .000), yet there was no significant difference between the two intervention groups (<i>p</i> =.66). The qualitative results indicate student achievement in the intervention groups may have been affected by five implementation factors: (1) implementation fidelity, (2) short duration, (3) size of group, (4) task complexity, and (5) aligned assessments. </p>

<p> This research was designed as an autoethnographic study using the researcher's own reflections, observations, and experiences to determine if smaller high schools are better for inner-city students than a large high school learning environment. Autoethnography is increasingly used as a research method, pushing the boundaries of qualitative inquiry by focusing on a phenomenon in the life of the researcher as the central aspect of study (Fetterman, 2010). Based on interviews, student and teacher surveys, and personal journals and diaries, the study focused on my work as a teacher in a large inner-city high school in a California school district. The large high school was converted to three smaller schools in 2003. Told in vignettes that describe my perceptions and the perceptions of the other participants in my study regarding the conversion from large to small schools, selected stories document the factors that led to my conclusions. The key issue in this study, then, involved the perception of the stakeholders as to whether small schools were more advantageous for student success. </p><p> My study revealed some interesting facts about small schools. Small schools foster closer relationships between the adults and students and among the students themselves. As a result, students feel more engaged with the school community, and these close relationships are accompanied by greater mutual respect. It seems that it is difficult to be abusive to others who you know and value which the students themselves recognized. </p><p> For years, before the implementation of the small school concept, Clark High School's campus was riddled with crime. The student body lived in California, in an area plagued with violence and poverty and all the social ills that accompany this environment. Safety has always been an issue for parents, teachers, and students. I have clearly demonstrated that, when it comes to small schools, students in urban areas benefit from a safer environment. For example, I did not witness the number of fights or shootings that I did when Clark was a large school. Also, after Clark High School converted into three small schools, there was a decrease in student suspensions.</p>

<p> Researchers have stressed the importance of addressing the social/emotional needs of early childhood (EC) children, including the development of resilience; however, some U.S. school personnel focus more on academics than on these needs. When young children possess these skills, they can handle social/emotional challenges later in life. The purpose of this qualitative bounded case study was to explore school social workers&rsquo; (SWs) perspectives about resilience in EC settings. Research questions focused on knowledge of existing programs, participants&rsquo; perceptions of the successes and challenges of working with EC students, and their recommendations to improve EC students&rsquo; education. Bronfenbrenner&rsquo;s ecological systems theory and O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s and Gopnik&rsquo;s work on needs of young children informed this study. Five elementary school SWs with at least 6 years&rsquo; experience from 5 districts in the U.S. Midwest participated in 2 semistructured individual interviews. Interpretive phenomenological analysis, involving first-cycle, transition, and second cycle coding, was used to identify themes. SWs&rsquo; experiences indicated a need for a clear definition of resilience, and needs of young children, including EC programs that develop psychological resilience of children&rsquo;s thoughts and an increase in adults to promote resilience. Additional research may expand and enhance educators&rsquo; and families&rsquo; understanding of resilience and help develop research-based preventive programs and strategies to foster psychological resilience in young children. These endeavors may enhance positive social change by adding components of psychological resilience to EC programs for school personnel and students and in parent/family workshops, which may result in sound mental health practices that enable them to become productive members of society.</p>