The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of school library access on student reading comprehension as measured by the Easy CBM universal screener test. The population consisted of 5th and 6th grade students enrolled in one intermediate school in an urban school system in East Tennessee. Data were analyzed for the population of the 2016-2017 academic school year. Specifically, this study considered the impact of school library access on students who qualify for free or reduced meals. A quantitative study was used to find correlations and differences in the reading comprehension data and library checkout data for fifth and sixth grade students who do or do not qualify for free or reduced meals in an urban East Tennessee school district. A quasi-experimental design was selected because preexisting data were collected on 1,003 fifth and sixth grade students enrolled and assessed during the 2016 – 2017 school year. The reading comprehension levels from the Easy CBM universal screener were collected for each of the students in the study. The number of class library visits for each student’s language arts teacher as well as the total checkout numbers for each student were also collected for each student in the study. The results of the study indicated a significant positive correlation in the number of checkouts and class library visits for all students. Results also indicated a significant positive correlation in the number of checkouts for students who qualify for free and reduced meals when these students are taken to the library as part of their language arts instructional block. Additional results of the study indicated a significant positive correlation between the number of books checked out and reading comprehension scores when all students are considered. There was significant difference in the number of books checked out by students who did not qualify for free or reduced meals, with those students checking out approximately one more book than students who do qualify for free or reduced meals. Finally, results of the study indicate a significant difference in reading comprehension scores for student who students who do not qualify for free or reduced meals and students who do qualify. Students who do not qualify for free or reduced meals scored significantly higher than students who do qualify.

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The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) requires schools to increase academic performance and close the achievement gaps between sub-groups of students. As schools work to increase student performance in all academic areas, educators must identify the needs of each sub-group of students they services and determine which instructional practices meet their unique needs. Students living in poverty enter school with a distinctive set of needs and therefore require instructional practices that meet these needs. The researcher in this study strived to identify instructional practices that were being used in high and low performing Title I schools and compared the similarities and differences between the practices. Data reported from the study might inform school leaders regarding what instructional practices are effective when working in schools with high concentrations of students living in poverty. This qualitative study of four Title I eligible schools in an urban district in southeastern Virginia, involved interviews and focus groups. Interviews and focus groups focused on instructional practices (strategies, programs, and other factors) that influence academic achievement of students in high and low performing Title I eligible schools. Findings revealed that high performing Title I schools used student performance data to drive instruction; focused on teaching students enriching vocabulary; used the strategies of note taking, explicit instruction, similarities and differences, nonlinguistic representation, graphic organizers, and cooperative learning; conducted mentorship programs for teachers and students; utilized computer based instructional programs with fidelity; believed in their students and cared about their students; provided professional development to teachers; and implemented student reward/recognition programs. / Ed. D.

The purpose of the study was to identify the internal and external protective factors found in family, school and community as perceived by rural elementary students who experienced poverty and demonstrated academic resilience in a Virginia school division. By identifying the common protective factors among the academically resilient elementary students, school leaders and educators can implement practices that foster a learning climate that cultivates and supports resilience in students who are at risk of academic failure. A qualitative approach was used to analyze a purposefully selected group of academically resilient elementary school students living in rural poverty. The research questions were: 1. For students purposefully selected as meeting the criteria for academic resilience, what are their self-identified protective factors regarding academic achievement? 2. What are the similarities and differences in protective factors among these purposefully selected students? Ten fifth grade elementary students, a boy and girl from each of the elementary schools in the rural school division meeting the definition of academic resilience and living in poverty were eligible to participate in the study. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with twenty-one questions related to family, community and school environments. The results of the study indicated that the support of extended family, specifically grandparents of the participants was perceived to have had the greatest impact on the academic success of the academically resilient students living in rural poverty. Other protective factors revealed were lack of mobility in the rural community, peer influences and relationships with school staff. The academically resilient elementary school participants, in the study, all possessed close relationships with their family to include extended family members and had at least one desired content area taught in school. / Ed. D.

Although there are strong opinions both for and against identifying exceptional children, it is important school divisions as well as schools ensure that student sub groups are not overrepresented in special education. The purpose of this study was to determine the representation of students in special education by category (SWD, ED, SLD, and ID) and by demographic identifier (Ethnicity, Gender, SES) for 2008-2009 and to determine changes in representation between 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 in the 132 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The 2013-2014 data reported in the Casey (2017) study were used in this study. In addition, this study examined specific disability categories by race, gender, and socioeconomic status from all 132 Virginia public school divisions and compared data from 2008-2009 to data from 2013-2014. Data for the study were retrieved from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) related to specific categories. Findings included a comparison of the data for 2008-2009 and 2013-2014. In 2008-2009 some data were missing, which may have contributed to the limited findings. Overrepresentation was determined through the use of the standard 10 formula for overrepresentation. Findings for 2008-2009 revealed that Black students were identified as over represented in the area of Intellectual Disabilities (ID) in 2% of the school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In the school year 2008-2009, 0% of school divisions identified Hispanic students as disproportionate in the areas of ID, Students with Disabilities (SWD), Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), and Emotionally Disturbed (ED). In the 2008-2009 school year, 2% of the school divisions in Virginia identified economically disadvantaged students as disproportionate in the disability category SWD, and 20% of the school divisions identified economically disadvantaged students as disproportionate in the disability category SLD. Additionally, 17% of the school divisions identified economically disadvantaged students as disproportionate in the disability category ED, and 38% percent of the school divisions in Virginia identified economically disadvantaged students as disproportionate in the disability category ID. The 2008-2009 data, when compared to the 2013-2014 data, were less disproportionate. / EDD / The accurate identification of students for special education is necessary both for school divisions and for students. Thus, it is important that school divisions as well as schools ensure student sub groups are not overrepresented in special education. The purpose of this study was to determine representation of students in special education by category (SWD, ED, SLD, and ID) and by demographic variables (Ethnicity, Gender, SES) for 2008-2009, and to determine changes in representation between 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 in the 132 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The study utilized 2013-2014 data reported in the Casey (2017) study. Data from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) were used for the study. Analysis of the data revealed less disproportionate representation in each of the groups examined in 2008-2009 when compared to the data reported by Casey (2017). In 2008-2009 some data were missing, which may have contributed to a lack of over representation in several areas. While Blacks were overidentifed in ID in a few divisions in 2008-2009, Economically disadvantaged students were overidentified in a larger number of school divisions in SLD, ED, and ID. However, the 2008-2009 data, when compared to the 2013-2014 data, indicated less disproportionality.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess the ways current higher education approaches to career education, counseling, and preparation models served, or disserved, economically marginalized first-generation Latinas (EMFGL) and their career identities. In centering EMFGL-identifying college graduates, this study used interviews to glean an understanding of what the EMFGL career education experience was like and how forms of career preparation in college equipped, or unequipped, students’ career pathways. Driven to assess how higher education institutions can come to eradicate the generalization of their career counseling and education practices and ideologies, this work further uncovers how EMFGL graduates use their career counseling and education realities as a faculty—a sensibility—to (a) critique and question the dominant forms and depictions of career success operating under Western and capitalistic paradigms and (b) to (re)define the spaces that constrain, define, and drive EMFGL steps beyond the collegiate space.

Objectives: Poor knowledge of eye health, concerns about the cost of spectacles, mistrust of optometrists and limited geographical access in socio-economically deprived areas are barriers to accessing regular eye examinations and result in low uptake and subsequent late presentation to ophthalmology clinics. Personal Medical Services (PMS) were introduced in the late 1990s to provide locally negotiated solutions to problems associated with inequalities in access to primary care. An equivalent approach to delivery of optometric services could address inequalities in the uptake of eye examinations. Study design: One-way and multiway sensitivity analyses. Methods: Variations in assumptions were included in the models for equipment and accommodation costs, uptake and length of appointments. The sensitivity analyses thresholds were cost-per-person tested below the GOS1 fee paid by the NHS and achieving break-even between income and expenditure, assuming no cross-subsidy from profits from sales of optical appliances. Results: Cost per test ranged from £24.01 to £64.80 and subsidy required varied from £14,490 to £108,046. Unused capacity utilised for local enhanced service schemes such as glaucoma referral refinement reduced the subsidy needed. Conclusions: In order to support the financial viability of primary eye care in socio-economically deprived communities, income is required from additional subsidies or from sources other than eye examinations, such as ophthalmic or other optometric community services. This would require a significant shift of activity from secondary to primary care locations. The subsidy required could also be justified by the utility gain from earlier detection of preventable sight loss. / Yorkshire Eye Research, NHS Leeds and RNIB

This study explored teachers’ beliefs, values, and expectancies impacted their practices in relation to the intersection of contextually relevant and cognitively demanding elementary mathematics tasks. Using a critical ethnographic approach, the study examined the instructional practices and beliefs of elementary teachers serving this demographic. The study explored the characteristics of tasks that emerged when participants used a layered rubric approach, applying two rubrics to enhance cognitive demand and contextual relevance. It also investigated how teachers' expectancy-value beliefs, as outlined by the Expectancy Value Theory, influenced their application of these rubrics. Data were gathered through interviews, artifact analysis, and task evaluations. The findings revealed that Subjects' perceptions of the layered rubrics’ benefits and challenges influenced their task selection and modification processes. Subjects with asset-based beliefs followed the rubric guidelines and produced modified tasks that could enrich the mathematical experiences for students, characterized by heightened cognitive demand and contextual relevance. In contrast, those influenced by deficit-based beliefs deviated from the rubric guidelines, resulting in tasks that did not effectively enhance the desired task characteristics. This study contributes to the field of mathematics education by highlighting the profound impact of educators' beliefs on the quality of mathematics instruction for economically disadvantaged students. It offers recommendations for professional development focused on assessing teachers’ beliefs, values, and expectancies to promote asset-based views and facilitate sustainable, equitable mathematical practices through the application of a dual rubric approach.