High-stakes testing has increased since the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Many teachers are using teacher-centered activities with memorization and testing coach books instead of creating student-centered higher-order thinking activities. Some school districts are eliminating subjects that are not tested on state assessments. The purpose of this study was to collect information regarding the teaching experiences of 9 elementary teachers from the same school within one public school district. Teacher interviews were utilized in this case study to explore the perceived effects of high-stakes tests on elementary curriculum and instruction. The theoretical foundation for this study was based on the theories of behaviorism and constructivism. The study research questions addressed teachers' perceptions of the effects of high-stakes testing on curriculum and instruction. Qualitative coding was used to identify patterns and themes in the data through the systematic analysis and constant comparison of data sets. Data from interview transcripts were analyzed to determine factors, events, conditions, personal perspectives, and concerns of the elementary teachers. Teachers felt that high-stakes testing has resulted in a rigid, unbalanced and narrow curriculum. Teachers described that high-stakes testing has resulted in clear expectations for teachers which have helped them to know exactly what they have to teach within their classrooms. Implications for positive social change include providing teachers with necessary professional development relating to the effects of high-stakes testing; this can lead to curricular and instructional change that provides more instruction in higher-order thinking.

Students' performance on standardized tests continues to dominate the discourse in the educational arena as it reflects student growth and teacher performance. The low performance index scores of 5th grade students at 2 elementary charter schools in urban southwestern Ohio has been a major concern of the school district. Guided by social constructivism, the purpose of this research study was to identify curricular practices that influence student academic achievement. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 4 reading teachers and 2 administrators; curriculum maps, tests scores, and lesson plan documents were also reviewed. Interview, test score, and lesson plan documents were analyzed through an open-coding process and constant comparison of data to ensure trustworthiness. The findings revealed that 5 th grade reading teachers and principals used teacher-centered instructional practices that did not connect with students' backgrounds. Based on the findings, a capstone project was developed that provided a content-specific professional development training for reading teachers that would expose them to student-centered instructional practices related to students' backgrounds. The implications for positive social change include engaged classrooms with student-centered instructional practices that could increase student achievement in urban schools.

The implementation of professional learning communities is a professional development practice that uses collaborative interactions within a constructivist framework to increase teacher and student learning. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the question of how the dialogue of grade level meetings within professional learning communities impacts the professional development of teachers using the constructivist theory of learning as the conceptual framework. The researcher gathered data through hour-long interviews over a 4-week period with 6 learning community participants, one from each of the 6 grade levels at the elementary school research site. A thematic analysis of the dialogical interactions revealed the following: (a) Professional growth is contingent upon the presence of focused dialogue, (b) Dialogue creates a feeling of acceptance that results in professional growth, (c) Dialogue results in learning opportunities that are prescriptive to the needs of the participants, and (d) Dialogue increases the content knowledge of teachers while providing them opportunities for the acquisition of instructional strategies. These dialogues offered opportunities for teacher examination of school data and focused efforts to improve weaknesses for greater student academic achievement. The results also revealed the qualities necessary for productive interactions to occur within professional learning communities that lead to professional growth and student success. Implications for positive social change include fostering the growth of teachers by revealing how conversing with others facilitates the acquisition of effective teaching practices and providing research based strategies and guidelines that promote the facilitation of productive collaborative and dialogical interactions within learning teams that result in improvements for the entire school community.

A recent trend in schools has been to reduce or eliminate recess. The assumption behind this elimination is that less recess time provides more opportunities for learning and hence, better learning outcomes. However, little research has examined the effects of this assumption, and little is known about the relationship between recess and learning. The purpose of this mixed method quasi-experimental study was to test the massed versus distributed practice theory and the cognitive immaturity theory, and to gain a better understanding of recess and its implications for learning. The quantitative question was designed to determine whether segmenting instructional time with a recess break had an influence on second grade students' oral reading fluency (ORF). Based on an independent-measures t test and a chi-square test of significance, no significant difference was found in ORF gain scores between the second graders who did and did not have a morning recess break, suggesting that segmenting instructional time did not have a significant impact on the student ORF. The qualitative question was designed to examine the connection between recess and learning. After data were coded and an interpretive analysis was conducted, a positive connection was found indicating that recess enhances learning. It was also noted that factors other than the timing of recess may influence children's learning. Results provide support for the inclusion of recess for every child for the development of their psychomotor, affective and cognitive needs. Results also indicate that the long-term effects of providing recess may outweigh the short-term effects of reducing or eliminating recess.

It is vital for future generations to clearly grasp what it means to be global citizens in order for them to be successful and for America to maintain its status as a world leader. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to measure and describe the growth of global attitudes and intercultural sensitivity that fourth-grade students acquire through reading and discussing globally significant children's literature which honors and celebrates diversity worldwide, in terms of culture, race, language, religion, and social status. According to Rosenblatt's transactional theory, readers experience aesthetic transactions with the text leading to an understanding of the world around them. The research question involved whether the use of globally significant children's literature created aesthetic transactions and would result in significant changes in fourth-grade students' intercultural sensitivity and global attitudes. Using literature as a catalyst for group discussions and personal responses related to global issues, 23 fourth-grade students participated in a 12-week study. Qualitative data included participants' personal reading response journals and audio taped group literature circle discussions, which were reviewed and coded for evidence of growth in intercultural sensitivity based on Bennett's developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. Two surveys were developed by the researcher to gather quantitative data. A dependent samples, two-tailed, t test at the p < .05 level was used to test the hypothesis that students' global attitudes and intercultural sensitivity would increase after participating in these literature circles. The statistical data gathered showed gains in both areas. It is recommended that teachers at all grade levels utilize globally significant literature and encourage literary exchanges to promote cultural understandings among their students. Developing a mindset of cultural sensitivity in elementary students can have a positive impact on the relationships between individuals and groups representing diverse cultures.

The implementation of the Common Core State Standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics into the kindergarten through 12th grade curriculum in the United States presents a unique opportunity for teacher preparation programs to realign their curriculum with the curriculum of the primary and secondary schools. However, it is unknown how teacher preparation programs are approaching this possible change. This qualitative descriptive case study examined the organizational change process that was employed by one teacher preparation program to incorporate the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) into their curriculum. The change was examined through the organizational development lenses of Kotter and Rogers. Interviews and a focus group with key stakeholders in the change process ( N = 13) along with analysis of documents such as syllabi, research plans, and curriculum provided data to answer the research question. Data were initially coded into 5 main organizational categories, establishing, defining, implementing, refining, and finalizing, then further coded based on emergent themes. The last 2 categories, refining and finalization, were not clearly evident in the data, and therefore it was more difficult to use a priori coding. The data revealed that the leaders of the organizational change developed and delivered professional development activities to train faculty and aligned syllabi of general education and teacher education classes with the CCSSM. The results of this study can be used to help other teacher preparation programs plan organizational change and provide motivation for programs that have yet to address the CCSSM.

The purpose of this project was to investigate the effect of studying higher-level thinking skills on fifth grade students with high language ability. The researcher compared the test scores of students in an elementary enrichment program with test scores of students enrolled in the same program the following year to which materials emphasizing higher-level thinking skills were added. The researcher also included analysis of student performance on the Ross Test of Higher Cognitive Processes and its component parts of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation as well as each of the eight subtests. It was determined that analysis of Ross Test raw scores and percentile data would be made by the Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Signed Ranks Tests. Comparisons of the raw score results revealed gains in favor of the posttest for each set pf data. The results favoring the posttest are not considered statistically significant and are attributed to the increase in cognitive development inherent in chronological aging. There is no discernible pattern in the areas of significance on the section percentile scores. This researcher has determined that the study of higher-level thinking skills does not have a significant effect on fifth grade students. The comparisons of test data did not yield results favoring the addition of selected thinking skills materials to a language arts enrichment program.

Personal efficiency is an increasing problem before the American public. Every agency that will aid in the successful accomplishment of any desirable goal should become a matter of thoughtful consideration. Success, as defined by a lexicographer, is a favorable end or result; therefore it may become an ever advancing goal toward which an individual moves. Failure by the same authority, is the set of falling short of success. There is a divine principle within the heart of man that responds to the rhythmic progression of success; while the most callous individual retires to the sanctity of his private world to grieve over an unattained citadel. Education in a changing world is attempting to keep pace with the march of time. Life moves fast; therefore education too must hurry. Some traditions are being done away with in favor of new ideas, but so far only in the dreams of some modern Aladdin is the school-room equipped with a loud-speaker to replace the teacher’s voice, a motion-picture to supplement or supplant the textbook, and a mechanical robot to bind the youthful ---- of grammar, hearts, and ideals. As long as schools are a fundamental necessity to public welfare, so long is the success or failure of the teacher a matter of public concern. Too long have the cant phrases of “molders of human clay” or “weavers of destiny” been applied to teachers. The time is ripe for a recognition of the teacher as an entity within himself. Clay is an inanimate mass that remains as the potter’s wheel leaves it; cloth is a dead matter of dyes and cellulose. The child is neither an inanimate mass, nor dead matter. He is an individual who respects clean dress, clean school rooms, and clean morals, and responds to them in direct proportion to their appeal in presentation. He knows intuitively whether the teacher is a success or not, and appreciates him just that far. Possibly through no one of the paramount initiatory experiences of life is there more lasting mental pattern than the teacher is responsible for, but tied very closely to these influences are the personal successes or failures of these same teachers. In this belief, the present study has been undertaken with the hope of showing that many of the things that make a teacher poor are of such a nature that improvement lies wholly within the power of the individual in question.

There is a need for a clearer understanding of the methods by which vocabularies can be enlarged most effectively. Results of experiments indicate that pupils are unable to recognize their own deficiencies and needs in respect to the meanings of words; consequently they need some type of guidance in enlarging their meaning vocabularies. Teachers are agreed that word lists are a non-effective device. They are agreed, too, that not one or a few techniques are being used to teach the meanings of new words, but many techniques. The two most effective seem to be (1) relating the word to former experiences and (2) studying the context in which the word appears and the environment surrounding it. Incidental attention to words results occasionally in vocabulary growth and in correspondingly improved comprehension. There are many words, however, which are not mastered in this way and for which direct instruction in their meaning, recognition, and use is necessary. By its very nature direct instruction concerning the meaning, recognition, and use of words brings out essential relationships and promotes good organization of ideas. Direct instruction on words taken from the context promotes greater accuracy in word recognition in oral reading, more fluent and orderly habits of recognition in silent reading, and more detailed and accurate comprehension of the meaning of what is read in both oral and silent reading.

There was a need to determine the recreation needs of girls in the pre-adolescent age range of nine through fourteen years old so that municipal recreation professionals may program activities to meet the desires of this specific population. In order to do this, a testing instrument was developed. The test, a recreation preference schedule, used closed questions exclusively, unlike many of the available checklist surveys. The recreation preference schedule was modeled after the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule that was used in counseling. The new test, containing one hundred questions, utilized ten recreation activity categories. It was checked for reliability and validity, then administered to one hundred and forty-eight pre-adolescent girls enrolled in three elementary schools. A trend appeared that indicated pre-adolescent girls have a strong preference to engage in outdoor and nature activities that provide aesthetic qualities. They also desire social activities and sports activities that allow their individual abilities to surface. There was a marked rejection of non-active games and crafts and hobbies and a similar disinterest in dramatics. There appeared to be a middle-of-the-road attitude towards music, team sports and athletics, special events and active games.