This article reports the findings from a year-long study of 6 writing teachers in an urban elementary school who also received intensive professional development in writing instruction from a nonprofit organization. Repeated observations demonstrated that the teachers displayed consistency in their use of the core instructional elements associated…

In this grounded theory study, 19 teachers were interviewed and then, in constant comparative fashion, the interview data were analyzed. The theoretical model that emerged from the data describes novice teachers' tendencies to select and implement differing strategies related to the severity of student behavior. When confronting mild student…

This article examines the achievement effects of a prosocial classroom and instructional management program--Consistency Management & Cooperative Discipline (CMCD)--implemented at 14 elementary schools in a single geographic feeder pattern of a large, urban school district. State reading and mathematics achievement data were collected over 2 years…

Observations of instructional practices, teacher interviews, and classroom artifacts were collected in 9 sixth-grade classrooms in 2 middle schools to determine teaching practices associated with student engagement (i.e., being on task, doing thoughtful assignments). The teachers used a variety of instructional practices, with some teachers…

The American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Science have emphasized the need to design curriculum such that students do not simply learn about science, but also do science. Although obviously the knowledge-building practices among scientists and children in elementary school science classrooms will always be…

This study investigated the relation of teacher characteristics, including ratings of teacher quality, to classroom instructional variables and to bilingual students' literacy and oral language outcomes at the end of the kindergarten year. Teacher characteristics included observational measures of oral language proficiency, quality, and classroom…

In this article we examine the development, over 1 year, of mathematical discourse communities in 2 eighth-grade mathematics classes in a suburban public middle school. The curriculum topics included probability, functions, graphing, data analysis, and pre-algebra. The 50 students were heterogeneously placed; most were from upper-middle-class…

The present article examined 2 questions about the relation between kindergarten classroom processes (setting and quality) and children's engagement in activities, compliance with teachers' requests, and interactions with peers. First, how do children's engagement, compliance, and cooperation vary as a function of teachers' use of classroom…

We observed 6 primary-grades teachers in public and private schools in this study. Based on mid-year observations, 2 of these teachers were much more effective compared to the other 4 in producing greater student engagement and literacy progress, as determined by video and observation data of multiple content areas and as rated by the Classroom…

In this study we examined the ways in which experience with a relational approach to education, the Responsive Classroom (RC) Approach, related to teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and teaching priorities. Questionnaire and Q-sort data were collected for a sample of 69 teachers in grades kindergarten through 3 at 6 schools (3 schools in their first…

This ethnographic study compared the classroom practices of low, moderately, and highly engaging third-grade teachers in eight Catholic schools. Findings indicated that in low engaging classrooms, teachers used many practices that undermined motivation. Moderately engaging teachers used many potentially motivating practices but assigned tasks that…

This study examined where, how often, and how effectively vocabulary instruction occurred in 23 ethnically diverse upper-elementary classrooms in Canada. Data revealed that only 6 percent of school time was devoted to vocabulary knowledge development, with 1.4 percent devoted to vocabulary development in academic subjects. Most instruction…

Effects of reading instruction maximizing students' cognitive engagement on Grade 1 to 5 reading achievement were examined over a school year for students in 9 high-poverty schools. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that several teaching variables explained substantial variation in reading achievement growth. The most consistent finding was that…

This study assessed the influence of emphasizing historical investigation with fifth graders through documentation of classroom activities and students' analysis of historical documents and images before and after the design experiment. Data suggested that the investigative approach holds promise for teaching fifth graders how to analyze…

Investigated characteristics of cooperative learning (CL) lessons among experienced elementary school teachers. Found considerable variation in the extent to which lessons incorporated major features of CL. Lesson success based on student engagement, performance, and cooperation was associated with higher levels of individual or group…