The applied dissertation was designed to investigate the three models of grade span configurations of sixth grade and the effects grade span configuration has on results of the standardized achievement scores of sixth grade students in private, Florida schools. Studies that have been conducted on sixth grade students and grade span configuration have provided mixed results on the impact of standardized scores. Exploration of the topic that supports the connection is outdated and current research has yet to examine the impact on students who are in private, parochial schools in Florida. The use of data from the TerraNova, Third Edition on grade span configuration has not been evaluated. The correlation between grade span configuration and the results on the sixth grade student standardized achievement scores examines the following three models: kindergarten to sixth grade model (K6), kindergarten to eighth grade model (K8), and the sixth to eighth grade model (6-8, MS). The researcher will use one standardized collection instrument to obtain data in the study and will collect data from Florida schools that administer the TerraNova, Third Edition to sixth grade students in the spring of 2015. Three grade span configuration models will be evaluated by the mean score of sixth grade student performance on the test. Mean scores will be requested by the researcher from the school administrators of private schools in Florida.

The purpose of this action research study was to evaluate my own practice of teaching writing word problems with fraction subtraction and fraction multiplication using appropriate context. I wanted to see how focusing my instruction on the use of the area model and manipulatives could develop students’ understanding of fractions when writing word problems. I chose this topic because Florida has adopted the Common Core State Standards and will be implementing them in the coming years. These standards encourage the development of deeper understanding of mathematics, including fractions. I hoped this research would give my students the opportunity to make sense of fraction subtraction and fraction multiplication word problems on a deeper level, while giving me insight into my own practice in teaching context within word problems. Through this study, I learned that my students continued to switch the context of subtraction with multiplication within word problems. Students did make clear gains in their writing of fraction subtraction and fraction multiplication word problems. Although there is a limited amount of research on students mixing their context within fraction word problems, this study offers additional insight into a teacher’s practice with writing fraction word problems

During the fall 2017 and spring 2018 semesters, I investigated what 3 6th grade social studies teachers knew and believed about disciplinary literacy and how that knowledge and belief shaped their instructional practice. Descriptive case study design allowed me to investigate the 3 participants in order to develop a descriptive understanding and interpretation of the group. I collected the following data sources from each participant: a concept map illustrating ideas of literacy and social studies, 3 interviews, 4 observations, and teacher lesson plans and texts. I chose descriptive coding for the within-case analysis and pattern coding for the cross-case analysis. Through cross-case analysis, five interconnecting themes arose. All 3 teachers 1) believed social studies teachers should be well-versed in the content of social studies and should be passionate about teaching social studies content, 2) believed the role of civics was the main reason for social studies instruction, 3) believed social studies instruction should require students to engage, read, and comprehend varying types of text, 4) believed social studies teachers should be teachers of reading because literacy and social studies were strongly connected within an intertwined relationship, and 5) believed vocabulary development in social studies was necessary. 3 differences emerged among the participants. All 3 teachers 1) gained varying educational experiences which influenced their pedagogical choices in the social studies classroom, 2) demonstrated varying instructional routines when structuring the instruction of social studies, and 3) demonstrated varying levels of efficacy in teaching writing in social studies. Recommendations for teacher education are 1) preservice teachers need exposure to the term disciplinary literacy and practice in using disciplinary literacy; 2) leaders, curriculum specialists, and reading coaches should receive professional development on the incorporation of both content-area literacy pedagogy and disciplinary literacy pedagogy; 3) teachers need to refine disciplinary literacy pedagogy through supportive work in a professional learning community. Recommendations for future research are to 1) describe how teachers implicitly and explicitly teach literacy strategies within the different disciplines, 2) describe how teachers instruct using literacy skills and what specific literacy strategies are used, and 3) explore how teachers teach students to transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.”

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretically-based social studies curriculum that incorporated research related to schema theory, reading to learn theory, and writing to learn theory. Learning principles and instructional principles were derived from each theory to serve as guidelines for selecting instructional strategies from the research to be included in the curriculum. The content of the Heath Social Studies text (1985) and the instructional strategies together constitute the curriculum for this study. A preparation phase, a guidance phase, and an independence phase was developed for each chapter of the curriculum based on Herber's (1978) instructional framework. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

Skills of argument have attracted the attention of educators but remain challenging to both assess and develop. In contrast to the traditional essay, dialogic argument requires reflection on and coordination of one’s own claims with those of an interlocutor. Investigating a tool for assessing an individual’s dialogic argument skill is an objective of the present work. Building on an earlier study by the author and colleagues, and informed by philosophical writings on objectives of argumentation, undertaken here is a conceptual analysis of instances of dialogic argumentation by skilled arguers in order to discern its essential characteristics. The identified set of characteristics is then used as a basis for evaluating the argumentation skills exhibited by a sample of sixth grade students. A practical purpose is development of an assessment tool for use in educational contexts, identifying the range and variation of argumentation skills individuals bring to dialog. A value of the individual instrument referred to as a constructed dialog and developed and employed here, is that it overcomes the statistical problem created by lack of independence between participants in a dialog which requires that the unit of analysis be the pair-- thereby defeating the objective of assessing the skill of an individual. Empirical results document that young adolescents display competence in some basic skills of argumentation but, even following an intervention designed to build and exercise such skills, they continue to use these sparingly and to lack other equally fundamental ones. Discussion addresses implications for education, as well as the potential for use of the constructed dialog as an assessment tool for evaluating an individual student’s skill in argumentation and the associated understanding it reflects regarding the nature and objectives of argumentation.

The problem under consideration attempts to answer the question: Will an original comic cartoon story used in classroom study of sixth grade arithmetic influence the amount of learning as much as the use of the ordinary text book?

The problem undertaken in this survey was to determine the value of motion pictures in the social-studies program of the elementary school, with special emphasis upon the learning and retention of facts and general information related to the social studies at the sixth-grade level.

The investigator undertook to make an analytical study of boys in the sixth and seventh grades in the Trinity Heights Elementary School of Dallas, Texas, who tend to be non-participants in playground activities and, on the basis of the study, to draw implications for the future guidance of such boys in group participation in such activities.

The problem of this study is to determine whether or not superior reading ability in a given reading skill is significantly related to successful achievement in each of the three areas of arithmetic, social studies, and science, and to determine whether or not the different reading skills are related to areas of achievement in different ways.