Elementary Education Commons^™

Iranian Students’ Experience Of K-12 And Higher Education: Use Of Drawings To Convey The Difference Between Ideals And Reality, Iman Tohidian, Abbas Abbaspour, Ali Khorsandi Taskoh

The Qualitative Report

The focus of education during K-12 and Higher Education (HE) in Iran is on theoretical empowerment of students; therefore, our students get an illusion of knowing. In fact, what happens is not learning and understanding; rather, it is verbatim transfer of available information in the textbooks into the students’ minds. It might be because the students and teachers (as the main stakeholders of the education) are the least powerful parties within the pyramid of power amongst educational practitioners and policymakers. It means their voice, feedback, needs, and ideologies have no place in the educational decisions and policies. In alignment with …

Efficiency Of Teaching Sight Words In Similar Vs Dissimilar Sets, Jensen Chotto

LSU Master's Theses

Early reading intervention can decrease the likelihood that children who struggle with reading develop long-term reading problems. Due to the prevalence of words that cannot be read phonetically in the English language, sight word instruction is required to supplement phonics instruction. In this study, we compared the effects of creating sets of sight words with the same starting letter (3 words per set, 3 total sets) versus distributing words with the same starting letter across sets when assessing acquisition of the combined set (9 words) in five 4-to-6-year-old children using a combined adapted alternating treatments design and pre-posttest design. All …

High-Growth Elementary Schools In Arkansas Based On Performance On The Act Aspire Examinations, Charlene A. Reid, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

This section highlights elementary schools across the state whose students demonstrated high growth on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire was administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in April 2021 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.

Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject.

The level of the schools, …

The Effect Of Increased Recess Time On The Academic Achievement Of Elementary Students, Mark A. Taylor

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Arkansas lawmakers enacted Act 641 of 2019, which increased recess time during the school day from 30 minutes to 40 minutes per day. Recess is defined as unstructured free play for students outside when possible. Recess is an important part of the school day. Recess improves social skills, time on task, positive attitudes towards school and increasing physical activity. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if increasing recess time for third, fourth and fifth grade elementary students had an impact on ACT Aspire tests results. This study was a quantitative study using a series of independent t-tests. …

An Interview With Alice Ensley: District Literacy Coordinator At Dalton County Schools, Shannon Tovey

Georgia Journal of Literacy

Alice Easley was identified as a top curriculum leader in Georgia for her exceptional work in her role as Curriculum Specialist for Literacy and Social Studies at Dalton Public Schools in creating digital content and methods during the Covid-19 period.

"Read It Again!": Storytelling To Imitate The Great Teacher, Kate Whatley

Senior Honors Theses

The student’s mind is bent on stories, asking mothers around the world to ‘read it again’. These stories preserve information and emotions for centuries. In the classroom, stories enliven motivation and empathy in ways that result in higher academic achievement and social awareness. Learning to use stories as a key instructional strategy will allow for more equitable opportunities in classrooms, encourage mental health and truth telling for the teacher and the student collectively, and allow the academic community to imitate Christ by contributing to the bigger story taking place across time. In application of using stories as teachers, this thesis …

Using Machine Learning Approaches To Explore Non-Cognitive Variables Influencing Reading Proficiency In English Among Filipino Learners Final Report, Rochelle I. Lucas, Macario O. Cordell Ii, Jude Michael M. Teves, Sashmir A. Yap, Unisse C. Chua, Allan I. Bernardo

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Filipino students ranked last in reading proficiency among all countries/territories in the PISA 2018, with only 19% meeting the minimum (Level 2) standard. It is imperative to understand the range of factors contributing to low reading proficiency, specifically variables that can be the target of interventions to help the students with poor reading proficiency. We used machine learning approaches, specifically binary classification methods, to identify the variables that best predict low (Level 1b and lower) vs. higher (Level 1a or better) reading proficiency using the Philippine PISA data from a nationally representative sample of 15-year-old students. Several binary classification methods …

Difference In Reading Fluency Among Fifth Grade Students Attending Traditional, Stem-Related, Or Dli Programs During Soft School Closures, Patricia Daun Blanton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to raise awareness of the effects of soft school closures on student reading fluency in traditional, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-related, or Dual Language Immersion (DLI) schools. There is little research on which type of school, whether traditional, (STEM)-related, or (DLI) program is the most effective at helping students retain or improve upon their reading fluency once those students have been in an extended soft school closure. The study used Acadience reading fluency scores from the students' fourth grade mid-year scores as the covariate and their fifth grade mid-year scores as …

Perceptions Of Classroom Management Coaching At District A Independent School District, Ashley L. Brittain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed teacher retention and research-to-practice gaps in the literature related to classroom management coaching and what types of teacher support are the best and why. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of teachers, campus administrators, and campus intervention coaches regarding District A Independent School District’s campus intervention coach model. This study attempted to understand better the perceptions of how the campus intervention coach model influences teachers’ decisions to remain in the profession; how teachers, campus administrators, and campus intervention coaches perceive the campus intervention coach model’s effectiveness in reducing the percentage of …

Using Extension As A Vehicle To Reduce Elementary Student Food Waste, Rebecca Koetz, Rod N. Williams

Journal of Extension

Extension can play a key role in providing food waste education nation-wide. This study is the first to evaluate the effects of environmentally focused lesson plans on elementary student knowledge and perceptions regarding food waste. Herein we provide suggestions on concepts to teach students for the greatest impact on food waste reduction. We also provide avenues to incorporate food waste education into existing Extension programming. We hope the study can inspire and inform further food waste program development, assessment, and implementation through Extension.

Fighting For Justice In Education: How Schools Can Lead The Change Towards A More Equitable World, Tara Kirton

Occasional Paper Series

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine the world anew. This one is no different” (Roy, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has had tremendous implications for every aspect of life. School, work, celebrations and everyday social interactions have all felt the repercussions of the pandemic. While the shutdown called for an immediate pivot from our everyday ways of being, it has also provided opportunities for stillness and deep reflection. This moment of pause has provided an opportunity to think, speak and act differently. As a parent my hope is that educators will lead the change.

Black Parents Matter, Too: Identifying And Overcoming The Barriers To School Participation For African American Parents, Alycia Benson

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine how African American parents of school age children identify and describe the factors that need to be present for African American parents to become engaged in their children’s’ local school and in their children’s education.

Methodology: This qualitative study identified and interviewed 12 African American parents from four school districts in Riverside County in Southern California in order to determine their barriers to school participation. Respondents were chosen using purposeful, convenience and snowball sampling based on specific criteria. The researcher collected data and determined themes in order to report findings …

National Chemistry Week: From Irl To The Web, Ilayda Kelley, Daniela Mesa Sanchez

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

National Chemistry Week, an outreach program initiated by the American Chemical Society (ACS), encourages scientists to bring their love of chemistry to their community. Celebrated nationwide, ACS invites businesses, schools, and individuals to organize and participate in community events to promote the value of chemistry in everyday life. The Purdue graduate student chapter of Iota Sigma Pi, a national honor society for women in chemistry, annually organizes one such celebration. On a normal year, this event is a large logistical undertaking in which 100+ volunteers go directly to over 70 local elementary school classrooms and perform a series of activities …

The Young Black Girl: A Narration Of Stem Identity Through Science Origin In Elementary School, Heather F. Lavender

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

An ethnographic qualitative case study was conducted by examining the perceptions of two 5^th grade Black girls at an independent school about their involvement with school science, the impact of race and gender towards their perception, and the influence of teachers, peers, and family on their science identity. Black girls are often relegated to outsider status within the classroom, lacking power and authority, which results in Black girls being denied a rightful presence in their learning community (Dumas & Ross, 2016). Additionally, their presence in STEM careers does not reflect their presence nationwide (Graves et al., 2014). The proposed …

The Privatization Movement Is Not Dead! A Book Review Of A Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling Of Public Education And The Future Of School, Jeffrey Frenkiewich

Democracy & Education

In January of 2020, Diane Ravitch published Slaying Goliath, in which she claimed the movement to privatize America’s public school system was dying. While this might be true, the movement is not dead, and this review looks at Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire’s A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, which examines the history of school privatization and calls for renewed vigilance by those who oppose it. Schneider and Berkshire argued that defenders of public education need three conceptual frames to fight privatization efforts: (a) a clear presentation of the aims and objectives of the privatization movement; (b) knowledge of the …

Collaborative Metaphor Analysis Research Methodology: A Retrospective Self-Study, Donita Shaw, Sue Christian Parsons, Sheri Vasinda

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this manuscript is to explicate the metaphor analysis process we employed in a recent study to make this methodology more accessible to future researchers. To explain and demystify metaphor analysis as a method, we describe in detail the three rounds of data analysis leading to findings. We seek to make transparent the messiness and thoughtfulness of the refining process as well as the methodological rigor and trustworthiness. In the discussion that follows, researchers share experiences with and resulting insights into the methodology in hopes of providing future researchers with support for their own metaphor analysis work.

Three Questions From Cctm Teachers About Mathematical Modeling, Robyn Stankiewicz-Van Der Zanden, Rachel Levy

Colorado Mathematics Teacher

This article shares three questions and answers about mathematical modeling in the classroom from an April 2020 online conversation with participants of a CCTM webinar. We hope that the answers to these questions will motivate teachers to embrace the value of implementing math modeling tasks, help students see the math all around them in the world, and empower future professionals to reach for the mathematical tools in their pockets to make data-driven decisions.

Health And Nutrition Club, Ashley Mcrae, Maggie Osborne

Honors Program: Expanded Learning Clubs

These lesson plans outline a Health and Nutrition Club for kindergarten to second graders. The lessons aim at educating today's youth about their health through fun, interactive activities. Feel free to use the lesson plans exactly or to adapt the lessons to your own needs.

Up And Atom, Emily Plotnik, Elizabeth Struwe

Honors Program: Expanded Learning Clubs

"Up and Atom" is a hands-on and creative afterschool club geared towards fourth and fifth graders. Through conducting a variety of science experiments, the goal of this club is to inspire a creative and immersive perspective of the sciences for the younger generation.

Principals’ Perceptions Of The Importance Of Teacher Certification In Rural Christian Schools, Ronda L. Dry

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The literature associated with principals' perceptions of certified/uncertified teachers within private Christian schools is limited, specifically in rural communities. Therefore, little is known about principals’ perceptions of the importance of teacher certification in rural Christian schools. The purpose of the study was to evaluate principals’ perceptions concerning the pedagogical practices of certified teachers as compared to the pedagogical practices of teachers who are not certified. Specific to this study, teacher certification was defined as certification earned through the state or certification through a school-accrediting organization. A total of 82 principals were surveyed and asked to identify their perceptions of the …

Solving The Problem Of Limited Parental Involvement For Reserve Component Military Families During Deployment, Jolene Marie Trout

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this applied study was to solve the problem of limited parental involvement for military-connected students of reserve component (RC) military-connected families during periods of deployment at a small elementary school in rural Pennsylvania and to formulate a solution to address the problem. A multimethod design, consisting of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, was used. Five teachers who had a military-connected student, whose parent deployed while a student in their class participated in semistructured interviews. Five non-deployed parents and five teachers participated in a focus group. Fourteen teachers completed surveys. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the …

The Intersection Of School-Based Leadership Practices And School Grades In The State Of Florida, Wendelynn A. Mcpherson

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to examine to what degree 12 self-reported leadership behaviors were associated with and predictive of school grades in the state of Florida. The study participant sample was exclusively comprised of educational leaders from elementary schools located in Florida. In this descriptive study, elementary principals were surveyed to determine the frequency of leadership behaviors (independent variable) and school grades (dependent variable). Two research questions and hypotheses were posed to address the study’s research problem. Research question one utilized a simple linear regression to assess the predictive variable of the overall leadership practices for …

Enhancing Engineering Identity Among Boys Of Color, Jerrod Henderson, Virginia Snodgrass Rangel, James Holly Jr, Rick Greer, Mariam Manuel

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Black and Brown men continue to be underrepresented in engineering. One explanation for the dearth of Black and Latino men in engineering is that engineering (and STEM) identity often is not inclusive of People of Color. As a result, Black and Brown boys may be less likely to become interested in STEM subjects. The purpose of this study, then, was to investigate how the components of one afterschool engineering program tap into engineering identity formation among fourth- and fifth-grade Black and Brown boys. Leveraging research on the STEM and engineering identity, we argue that the program and its key components …

Law School News: Announcing The 2nd Annual Rbg Contest For K-12 Students 10-27-2021, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Heroes Like Harvey Milk: Using Lgbtq-Themed Literature To Promote Critical Literacy And Social Justice In Fifth Grade English Language Arts And Social Studies, Jamie Carmack

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of this curriculum development project is to help practicing English Language Arts and Social Studies teachers in grade 5 construct and develop content-area curriculums that reinforce and support both critical literacy and social justice pedagogical frameworks for teaching and learning. This particular curriculum development project also addresses the ways in which English Language Arts and Social Studies teachers in grade 5 can use LGBTQ-themed curricular materials to not only promote critical literacy and social justice frameworks for teaching and learning but to also meet the Common Core State Standards (CCSS, 2010) for English Language Arts, Ohio’s Learning Standards …

Teacher Stress In The Current Covid-19 Pandemic, Allison H. Anderson

Journal of Research Initiatives

The Covid-19 infection drastically altered the 2019-2020 school year, shortening and preventing its completion. As a result, we do not know if the school will return as normal in the fall or not. This uncertainty causes stress for parents, students, and teachers. We need to recognize these stresses and develop a strategy to deal with them.

Historias Americanas: Implementing Mexican American Studies In K-12 Social Studies Curriculum In The Rio Grande Valley, Maritza De La Trinidad, Stephanie Alvarez, J. Joy Esquierdo, Francisco Guajardo

Mexican American Studies Faculty Publications

This essay contributes to the growing literature on Mexican American Studies in K-12 within the broader field of Ethnic Studies. While most of the literature on the movement for Ethnic Studies within Texas and across the nation mainly focuses on the impact of Ethnic Studies courses on students’ academic success, this essay highlights a professional development program for K-12 social studies teachers in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas entitled Historias Americanas: Engaging History and Citizenship in the Rio Grande Valley, funded by a federal grant. This essay provides an overview of Historias Americanas, the objectives and structure of …

A Velvet Rope Of Exclusion: The Delmar Divide, Madison Beirne

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Many reports have been published about the complex topic of segregation in the Greater St. Louis area. However, the effect of years of systemic segregation on education has not been adequately discussed in a modern context. This report studies the root causes of the Delmar Divide in an attempt to understand the impact it produced in the educational community. St. Louis is a classically divided city and the public-school system has suffered as a result of educational inequities. This work focuses on how the Delmar Divide created pockets that continue to marginalize residents, particularly students. The effect that purposeful segregation …

Research Snapshot: Unicef Philippines Early Childhood Education Kindergarten To Grade 4 Longitudinal Study, Rachel Parker, Jacqueline H. S. Cheng, Prue Anderson, Dan Cloney, Adeola Monty

Early Childhood Education

The Philippines Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Longitudinal Study was a major research investment by UNICEF, the Philippines Department of Education, and the Australian Government. It was designed to investigate the impact of one of the most significant education reforms in Philippines history: the introduction of the Kindergarten year as part of the K-12 Basic Education System. It offers useful insights into the impact of Philippines Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) and key language transition points for students from Kindergarten to Grade 4. This longitudinal study measured not only the impact of Kindergarten, but also the contribution that preschool …

Pandemic Schooling: Lessons In Equity, Advocacy, And Racial Justice, Donna Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It was my fourth year of teaching at a Brooklyn elementary school when the COVID-19 pandemic forced school buildings, and the entire city, to enter a world of lockdown and quarantine. New York City was an early epicenter of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and the virus quickly revealed severe racial and socioeconomic disparities across the city. A disproportionate number of cases, serious illnesses, and death has been experienced by low-income Black and Latinx communities. At the same time, 2020 also ushered in a national racial reckoning following the May murder of George Floyd.

In this thesis, I will provide a …