The purpose of the study was to determine the nature of the historical role played by the International Reading Association (IRA) from 1900 to 2006. The methodology used in this qualitative study was based on grounded theory in which information was located, examined, coded, and recoded until themes, patterns, and categories could justifiably be formed. The themes that emerged from an analysis of historical events related to IRA, the United States, United States' education, and United States' reading instruction. The study complements an earlier study of the history of IRA conducted by Dr. Douglas K. Hartman and Lou Ann Sears in which oral histories were conducted with IRA staff, officers, and members both past and present, and document analyses were conducted of materials archived at the IRA Headquarters in Newark, Delaware. Three research questions guided this study. In what ways has the International Reading Association been able to react to the forces that have affected its goals and members? In what ways has IRA been an initiator throughout its history? What political themes were prevalent in United States' history, educational history, and reading-instruction history from 1900 to 2006 that seem to have been reflected in the way IRA promoted sound literacy practices? Three conclusions were drawn based on the analysis of the themes that emerged from the study. First, IRA intentionally reacted to internal and external forces. Second, IRA has initiated connections among and beyond its membership in the way that it structured its many groups. Finally, IRA has reacted to and been affected by themes that emerged from historical events in the United States, United States' education, and United States' reading instruction.

Reading First coaches in Pennsylvania were interviewed in order to gain a better understanding of the problems and possibilities of coaching. Thirty coaches volunteered to be part of the study. The coaches represented twelve districts across the state of Pennsylvania. Data collection consisted of an interview created by the researcher. The interview instrument asked questions in the following areas: background and preparedness, time spent on "explicit coaching" activities, such as modeling and demonstrating, factors within the organization that helped or hindered the work of the coach, what coaches perceived their responsibilities to be, and what problems and possibilities there were with the jobs they performed. Analysis of the interview data revealed that over half of the coaches did not feel prepared for the role when they first began coaching. An overemphasis on content knowledge in the professional development coaches received prior to coaching and the lack of consistency in schools of the expectations of coaches may have led to these feelings of unpreparedness. Coaches complete a myriad of tasks during a typical week. The work is seen as necessary and as requiring a long-term commitment on the part of the coach to build relationships with all staff members. Over time, the coach became an accepted part of the school culture. The way the principal embraced or did not embrace the role was instrumental in how quickly the coach was seen as valuable within the school. Experiences, both positive and negative, have been good teachers for each coach. Although coaching is a challenging position, it is one that has many rewards.

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of and potential factors associated with utilizing high-school-aged students as on-site tutors to assist elementary students in a Spanish distance education program. The study focused on the qualitative and quantitative exploration of the participants' affective attitudes toward learning Spanish, mode of instruction, high school tutors, and Spanish culture. To document the achievement, attitudes, and motivation of the elementary and high school students, a combination of quantitative and qualitative data was collected through five methods: student questionnaires, self-assessment, prochievement interview, journal entries, and final exam. The distance education foreign language program randomly divided fifth-grade classrooms into two equal groups. One-half was exposed to the high school tutors and the other half was not. Thirty-six fifth-grade elementary students participated in this study; nineteen were tutored students and seventeen were nontutored students. Three high school seniors served as tutors. The findings indicated that the presence of cross-age tutors in a distance education setting does not seem to make a difference in either attitude or achievement. Although the tutors provided useful assistance and benefits in terms of motivation and increased interest in learning a foreign language, the most important finding in this study is that learning occurred in both the tutored and nontutored Spanish distance education classroom.

This study investigated the effects of three different approaches to vocabulary instruction on students ability to learn initial meanings of new words: traditional definitions, friendly definitions, and parsing. Fourth and fifth grade students enrolled in a rural elementary school were introduced to new vocabulary terms in traditional, friendly definitions, and parsing conditions. Tasks to assess students understanding of the new terms included sentence generation, and responses to open ended questions about each term. Results indicated that across all three conditions no significant differences were found for sentence generation tasks. For open ended question tasks differences were found indicating students performed significantly better with traditional and friendly definitions than parsing. Qualitative analysis indicated that parsing was not only inadequate, but detrimental to learning new words from definitions. It was hypothesized that the design of the study may have influenced results. Implications for instruction and further research were discussed.

This study describes and analyzes the process by which teachers, support personnel, and administration developed homegrown implementation strategies that resulted in an enhanced character education program, improved student behavior, and a strengthened community of practice empowered to find its own solutions. The Review of Literature provided an historical and a theoretical background for this investigation. This researcher became a catalyst introducing participants to the action research cycle of observe, reflect, and act. Teachers observed student behavior in relation to the simple character education directives that had been grafted onto the daily announcement form, e.g. We come to school on time. School is important. Focus groups reflected upon a variety of teacher strategies, selecting three for implementation by the entire staff. Visuals, additional announcements, and student recognition brought the improvement necessary to upgrade the character education program, energized the people using it, and facilitated a change in student behavior. The results of the study were analyzed by comparing data from the January interviews to responses found in the June interviews. From principal to five-year-old kindergartener, the empowered community of practice developed a school identity by hearing Hear at Amadeus every day and following the desired behaviors that comprised the character education program. It was simple, doable. Qualitative methodology was also used to analyze the field notes. The NUD*IST N6 software program codified data pinpointing the evidence of the beneficial changes in both the character education program as well as in student behavior. A descriptive narrative told the story of how the character education program traveled through the daily life of the elementary school. Then a numerical analysis answered the six research questions. Recommendations for further study include investigation of how changes in administration, staff, especially the catalyst, and student population might affect the efficacy of the action research cycle and the character education program itself. A longitudinal study of these factors is recommended to investigate long-term impact. Research could also give voice to students perceptions of the program. The study of these questions could open new venues for a practitioner looking for solutions to the problems facing todays learning communities.

Background: The current mode of stoichiometry instruction employs a passive pedagogy that consists of students reading, listening, watching, and memorizing disembodied facts, procedures, and principles in preparation for future application. But chemistry students are often subsequently unable to apply this stoichiometry knowledge in equilibrium and acid-base chemistry problem solving. Cognitive research findings suggest that for learning to be meaningful, learners need to actively construct their own knowledge by integrating new information into, and reorganizing, their prior understandings. Scaffolded inquiry in which facts, procedures, and principles are introduced as needed within the context of authentic problem solving may provide the practice and encoding opportunities necessary for construction of a memorable and usable knowledge base. The dynamic and interactive capabilities of online technology may facilitate stoichiometry instruction that promotes this meaningful learning.</br></br> Purpose: To compare students' performance after studying one of two cognitively informed sets of stoichiometry instructional materials in order to determine if the dynamic and interactive capabilities of online technology promote greater learning outcomes than studying from text-based materials alone.</br></br> Setting: Requests for volunteers, collection of background data, treatment assignment, and a post-treatment assessment were all delivered online. A second parallel assessment one-week post-treatment was administered in a proctored classroom on the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) campus.</br></br> Participants: Volunteers of at least 18 years of age were solicited from incoming CMU freshman affiliated with either the Mellon College of Science (MCS) or the Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT). Forty-five (out of 426 solicited) participants completed one of two sets of stoichiometry instructional materials within a six-week period in July and August, 2005.</br></br> Intervention: Volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two treatments--a text-only or technology-rich, dynamic and interactive stoichiometry review course.</br></br> Research Design: Randomized posttest-only controlled trial.</br></br> Data Collection and Analysis: Background data included participants' SAT scores, number of chemistry courses taken, and gender. Parallel posttests of stoichiometry concepts and procedures were administered two times post-treatment--upon completion of study materials and one week later. Participants' interactions with the technology-rich treatment were recorded in log files. Exploratory data analysis was performed to look for patterns in the data. Modeling of the data was executed by single regressions of posttest scores on treatment, background characteristics, and log files to determine the contribution of each variable to learning. A multiple regression of posttest scores on the variables significantly correlated with them revealed what proportion of the variability in posttest scores could be attributed to specific variables or interactions among them.</br></br> Findings: SAT scores and gender were stronger predictors of posttest performance than either treatment. Examination of the statistically significant correlation between SAT score and gender revealed a differential in the SAT scores of females and males admitted to MCS and CIT with males having higher scores overall. The mean SAT score for female volunteers was significantly lower than that for the female population. There was no such discrepancy between male volunteers and the male population. Within the technology-rich treatment group, participant interaction with the Virtual Lab simulation, but not SAT scores, is related to posttest performance. Whether this interactivity can offset possible gender effects is uncertain because of the small number of females in the technology-rich treatment group.</br></br> Conclusions: Future users of the online course should be encouraged to engage with the problem-solving opportunities provided by the Virtual Lab simulation through either explicit instruction and/or implementation of some level of program control within the course's navigational features. The variability of students' prior knowledge levels in quantitative areas points to a need for rigorous support systems during first-year courses in order to curtail poor performance that could result in increased attrition rates. One type of support system could be supplemental instruction grounded in findings from the learning sciences and facilitated by the dynamic and interactive features of online technology.

This study examined whether the Turkish high school social sciences major students would feel adequate and fit in a technology-enhanced educational environment, particularly in history classrooms. To this extent, this study investigated high school students level of proficiency in technology-use and their attitudes toward the use of educational technologies in classrooms. The study also examined the level of technology-use in social sciences courses and social sciences major students learning style preferences. The data for this study was collected using Kolbs Learning Style Inventory (LSI Version-3) and a 27-item Technology Questionnaire. These instruments were administered to 1350 Turkish high school students from 15 schools located in 13 different cities. The results showed that Turkish high school social sciences major students have the essential technology skills and knowledge to feel adequate in a technology-enhanced learning environment. They also have positive attitudes toward the use of educational technologies in history classrooms. Therefore they seem to be ready for technology-enhanced instruction. Unfortunately the level of technology-use in social sciences courses is very low. The study results revealed the need for an extensive reform in curriculum and instructional methods that focused on increased technology-use and better technology integration in classrooms. The study also found that any related reform proposition should be constructed to address different learning style preferences, since all the learning style preferences described by Kolb exist among Turkish high school students.

The main objective of the current study was to investigate how the Arab ESL readers read and respond to American literature. It attempted to determine the role of the Arab readers attitudes in responding to ESL literature. It also aimed to acknowledge the special place that the aesthetic aspect should hold in current ESL classes. This study also sought to analyze the readers misinterpretations in order to determine its sources. To achieve these objectives the study used a mixed methods research design. The study first examined the attitudes of Arab readers towards the American culture and towards reading the American literature. It also examined the responses of those readers towards four literary texts. The study investigated the relation between each of the participants attitudes and the way they responded to the selected readings. Finally, the study investigated the misinterpretations of the participants of the literary texts. Results indicated that participants had in general a positive attitude towards reading American literature and towards the American culture. The responses of the participants were analyzed on the aesthetic vs. efferent continuum. The responses of the participants to the four texts varied in range between aesthetic and efferent. Besides the response types used for analyzing, the researcher has identified four themes in the participants responses. Results also indicated that the participants drew heavily from their own culture when they responded and that they engaged their personal attitudes and perceptions about the culture of the literary texts. It also appeared that the participants who had positive attitudes towards reading the American literature and towards the American culture responded aesthetically to the four reading texts. Whereas, the participants who had negative attitudes towards the American culture and towards reading the American literature responded efferently to the four reading texts. Results also showed that the participants misinterpretations were attributed to the inability of the readers to activate the appropriate schemata that gives the text coherence. In general, the misinterpretations were in the two modes of processing: bottom-up and top-down processing. The findings of the study highlight the importance of attitudes when learning a second language.

This mixed-method study examined the extent to which content knowledge of instructional approaches and strategies, knowledge of the five Scientifically Based Reading Research (SBRR) components, and knowledge of the student learner were factors associated with teacher instructional decision making when implementing a new core reading program. Twenty six kindergarten through third grade teachers responded to a detailed questionnaire regarding use and perceptions. Twelve teachers were interviewed to further investigate factors that influenced teacher instructional decision making. Analysis of data showed that teachers made meaningful and thoughtful instructional decisions for reading instruction when implementing a new core reading program. Teachers most often based their instructional decision making on their knowledge of instructional approaches and strategies emphasizing differentiated instruction, flexible grouping, comprehension strategy instruction, and guided reading. Teachers made instructional decisions based on students need to develop critical thinking skills, be engaged and motivated to learn, and acquire necessary skills for future success. Teachers level of experience instructing at their present grade level, the amount and quality of professional development, and the support of the school administrator were found to influence implementation and instructional decision making when using a new core reading program.

This study analyzed changes in high school teachers ability to identify and create questions that support mathematical understanding as they were participating in a professional development program focused on planning, teaching and reflecting on lessons featuring cognitively challenging tasks. The 35 participants were a subset of nearly 100 high school mathematics teachers from a large urban district participating in the professional development program. Data related to questioning abilities was collected via a pre- and post-test that situated questioning within the practice of teaching Algebra. To account for changes in teachers abilities related to questioning, demographic data describing the participants was collected. In addition, attendance sheets, agendas and materials from the professional development sessions and responses to two prompts at the conclusion of the program were collected Analysis of data related to questioning indicated that participants significantly increased their abilities to identify and create questions that promote understanding of mathematics, particularly questions that prompt students to explore mathematical ideas and connections. Asking this type of question has been linked to increased student achievement. However, most teachers rarely, if ever, ask this type of question. An analysis of demographic data showed that the significant changes in teachers questioning abilities were not associated with years of teaching experience or the high school or sub-district at which the teacher taught. In addition, analysis of data from the professional development program indicated that changes in teachers questioning abilities were not associated with any one of the four facilitators of the professional development sessions. Participants in the study, as well as teachers not participating in the study but participating in the professional development program, had a high attendance rate for the professional development sessions. During these sessions, teachers had a variety of opportunities to learn about and discuss aspects of questioning, including solving and discussing challenging mathematics tasks; analyzing and discussing episodes of teaching Algebra; analyzing and generating questions for student work from Algebra classrooms; and analyzing and planning lessons related to the Algebra curriculum.