<p> This quantitative causal-comparative <i>ex post facto</i> research study aimed to investigate if a particular literacy approach impacted third grade English Language Arts (ELA) Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores in Missouri school districts. Specifically, the approaches examined included: A balanced literacy instructional framework with teacher instructional decision-making based on student needs; a balanced literacy instructional framework with district prescribed or scripted curriculum; and/or a curriculum-centered instructional framework with use of a published text (e.g. basal reading program). Additionally, the study analyzed the impact of intervention approaches (such as Reading Recovery and expert tutoring) and embedded professional development (such as literacy coaching and Professional Learning Communities) on third grade ELA MAP scores. </p><p> Survey responses from 61 districts were analyzed using district 2016&ndash;2017 ELA MAP scores. The findings showed a significant difference between MAP scores of districts using some type of balanced literacy approach to teach literacy and those relying on a scripted (e.g. basal reading program) approach. Therefore, the data indicates that balanced literacy approaches may be more effective for achieving higher ELA MAP scores than the basal approach.</p><p>

De nos jours, les classes d'immersion française à niveaux multiples dans les écoles élémentaires au Canada sont de plus en plus répandues. Malgré ce fait, aucune recherche portant sur ce type de classes n'a été menée. Par contre, il existe des recherches au sujet des classes de langue première à niveaux multiples. Ces recherches montrent que les élèves dans les classes à niveaux multiples réussissent aussi bien et parfois mieux que ceux qui sont dans les classes à niveau simple. Cependant, les parents, les enseignants et les directeurs d'écoles ont tendance à se plaindre de la création des classes à niveaux multiples. Ce phénomène se retrouve aussi dans le contexte des classes d'immersion française à niveaux multiples. En effet, les parents, les enseignants et les directeurs d'école trouvent qu'il y a une surcharge de travail liée aux nombreuses attentes du curriculum jumelées à l'enseignement d'une langue seconde. Afin de mieux connaître et comprendre ce phénomène, cette étude tente de répondre à la question de recherche suivante: Quelles sont les perceptions des parents, des enseignants et des directeurs d'école à l'égard des classes d'immersion française à niveaux multiples à l'élémentaire? Un sondage par questionnaires écrits a permis de recueillir de l'information quantitative et qualitative auprès de parents, d'enseignants et de directrices d'écoles ayant de l'expérience avec de telles classes. Les résultats ont montré que les perceptions des participants sont diverses et dépendent de plusieurs facteurs. Cette étude a souligné le besoin de recherche à ce sujet afin de créer des ressources et d'offrir de la formation portant sur les classes d'immersion française à niveaux multiples à l'élémentaire au Canada.

<p> <b>Purpose:</b> The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the behaviors that exemplary elementary school principals practice to lead their organizations through conversation using Groysberg and Slind&rsquo;s (2012b) four elements of conversational leadership: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality. </p><p> <b>Methodology:</b> This study followed a qualitative, phenomenological methodology to describe the lived experiences of exemplary elementary school principals. A sample of 10 principals was selected from the target sample that included Mono, Inyo, San Bernardino, and Kern Counties in California. Interviews were conducted following a protocol developed by a group of peer researchers. Data from artifacts and observations were used for triangulation. NVivo coding software was used in the analysis of data. </p><p> <b>Findings:</b> Analysis of data resulted in 23 themes and 291 frequencies among the four elements of conversational leadership. From these 23 themes, seven key findings emerged. </p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> The study identified the behaviors that exemplary elementary school principals practice within their organizations to create intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality as identified by Groysberg and Slind (2012b) in their organizational conversation framework. The researcher drew four conclusions from the data and findings. Exemplary elementary school principals create conditions for school reform by (a) using personal stories and valuing relationships to build trust, (b) being accessible and implementing systems for two-way dialogue, (c) gaining commitment by listening, and (d) consistently communicating goals and keeping the mission at the center of the school culture. </p><p> <b>Recommendations:</b> Additional research in conversational leadership is necessary. Research to identify specific behaviors that principals practice to listen, develop trust, and communicate objectives to all members of their organizations should be conducted. It is also recommended that research be conducted to determine the behaviors teacher leaders use to engage colleagues in organizational conversation. In addition, research should be conducted to identify and describe the principal behaviors that have the greatest positive impact on teachers from the millennial generation. This study should also be replicated in other regions with different cultural values.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how college and career readiness teachers describe their lived experiences as they guide students from a K-12 district in Phoenix, toward their postsecondary aspirations. This study was derived from the funds of knowledge theory, status attainment theory, and social capital theory. Using these theoretical foundations collectively provided a stronger foundation for the study. Through interviews with 10 teachers, that taught a combination of fourth-through eighth- grade students, this study is an attempt to understand their lived experiences. This study was not an attempt to develop a new theory. However, this study was able to understand the perceptions and perspectives of college and career readiness teachers as they guided students toward their postsecondary aspirations. The results of this study present an analysis of the data in a non-evaluative, unbiased, organized manner that relates to the lived experiences of college and career readiness teachers. This study had five themes. The themes were: The idea that the structure of the schedule influences relationships; the influence of school support in relation to curriculum for the college and career readiness program; the influence of the socioeconomic status of the students in relation to the teacher&rsquo;s instructional outcomes; the importance of postsecondary education; and parental influence in relation to student aspirations. Given that at the time of this study the researcher was unable to find any literature related to elementary students postsecondary aspirations, this study potentially opens the door to additional future research in the area.</p><p>

<p>ABSTRACT Autism continues to be an intriguing condition, and perhaps the most efficiently researched of all child psychiatric disorders (Wolff, 2004). Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are multifaceted neurodevelopmental disorders that entail vital social focused deficiency and behavioral obstinacy. Autism is the ultimate form of ASD and includes substantial deficiency in interaction skills. Treatment of ASD is intricate and comprises an inclusive instructive interventional plan (Cauffield, 2013). The history of autism yields numerous lessons regarding both effective and ineffective teaching strategies for addressing autistic students. Initial beliefs viewed autism as possibly a result of bad parenting and secondly, as an early form of childhood schizophrenia (Rutter, 2001). Rutter (2001) initially purported the symptoms of autism as secondary to developmental receptive language disorder. Research focus eventually transitioned to developmental issues, clarifying similarities and differences between the developmental process distortions (Wolff, 2004). The overarching question for this study is: What are common experiences of teachers in addressing the needs of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

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The current trend in Ontario toward greater educational accountability through standardized curriculum and testing appears to be based largely on the hope that compliance with external standards will lead to a more transparent, uniform, and predictable educational system. Through a focus group and individual interviews, this case study explores the experiences and perceptions of three elementary school teachers from one school who are required to implement the Ontario curriculum, as well as to provide annually administered standardized tests to their students in reading, writing and mathematics. The research conducted suggests how specific aspects of the tension between teachers' localized perceptions of classroom life and provincial curricular requirements and Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) testing are redefining the educational realities experienced by students and teachers in one contemporary Ontario school and its classrooms.

Elementary teachers' spontaneous (unaided) and cued identifications of key concepts in narrative prose were examined. Measures of the influences of exposure to research and attitudes toward the importance of prior knowledge on their cued identifications were investigated. Data were analyzed to determine the degree to which elementary teachers identified cued key concepts and primary teachers' identifications were compared to those of intermediate teachers. Separate and combined measures of teachers' exposure to reading research and attitudes were compared to their cued key concept identifications. A post hoc exploratory content analysis of the spontaneous key concept identifications was undertaken to discover possible patterns or phenomena in the data. Results of the analyses of cued concept identifications indicated: a) teachers were unable to successfully identify key concepts in narrative prose; b) there were no significant differences between primary and intermediate teachers' identifications; and c) exposure to reading research and attitudes towards the importance and use of prior knowledge and concept development influenced teachers' ability to identify key concepts. An examination of spontaneous key concept identifications showed that: a) there was a lack of teacher consensus as to definition of a key concept; and b) teachers were unable to identify passage-relevant key concepts when left to their own resources. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate