In the early 1800s, the U.S. President Thomas Jefferson assembled a team of explorers led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to forge a waterway connecting the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. How has this environment changed in 200 years and how do elementary students make sense of those changes? This study looks at the impact of…

As an aspect of the confluence between schooling and lived experiences, children develop literate identities and build personal theories of literacy. The purpose of this study was to explore the construction or children's literate identity in different contexts. Four children, two from Canada and two from the United States, were interviewed…

Educational policy is often developed using a top-down approach. Recently, there has been a concerted shift in policy for educators to develop programs and research proposals that evolve from "scientific" studies and focus less on their intuition, aided by professional wisdom. This article analyzes several national and international educational…

The purpose of this study was to examine the executive function of 4th- to 6th-grade students in three distinctively different private school environments: a Montessori school, a classical school, and a Catholic school. Using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, parent-teacher dyads rated the executive function of 112 students.…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) on the reading fluency (RF) of students from traditionally underrepresented groups. The study included 86 participants attending 1st through 4th grade within an inner-city charter school located in a high-poverty, urban…

Some literature exists on children's real-life interracial and interethnic friendships. However, a scarcity of research exists on children's perceptions of these relationships. This cross-sectional study investigated children's perceptions of interracial friendships by employing the Perceptions of Intergroup Friendships Questionnaire. A total of…

Over the past 30 years, writing workshops have been implemented in classrooms around the world. Students are being asked to write across multiple contexts and genres and to use digital technologies. At the same time, high-stakes writing tests are increasing even though the time teachers spend teaching writing is decreasing. This study examines…

Many childhood educators are attempting to shift from the dominant "recitation" format of discussions found in today's classrooms. This study draws on reader response, and sociocognitive and sociocultural theories to investigate children's perceptions of social skills and leadership moves after participating in small-group discussions of…

Partnerships where preservice teachers work with children have been found to be effective in providing real world field experiences for university students. However, little is known about what children gain from these collaborations. This research attempts to rectify this by analyzing a year-long literacy partnership in which 30 children and 55…

Although widely adopted, the efficacy of the Six Traits Analytic Writing Model for raising student writing achievement is uncertain. This comparison group study investigated teachers' perceptions of the efficacy of professional development in the model and students' writing gains. Data included teacher surveys and writing samples of 4th-graders…

Children's perceptions of gender are greatly influenced by the illustrations/text they encounter in picture books. While transacting with authentic literature, children build gender schema that guide processing of subsequent information. This knowledge can bias memory to a point where children misremember or distort information to make it fit…

The purpose of this study was to compare the academic achievement of 543 urban 4th- (n=291) and 8th- (n=252) grade students who attended Montessori or traditional education programs. The majority of the sample consisted of minority students (approximately 53 percent), and was considered low income (approximately 67 percent). Students who attended…

We examined the influence of reading strategy instruction on self-efficacy, interest, and comprehension by 4th-graders from at-risk environments. Previous research indicates that reading strategy instruction can improve reading comprehension; however, few studies have examined the link between strategy instruction and self-efficacy and interest in…

Self-regulated learning is an important aspect of student learning and academic achievement. Certain parenting styles help children develop self-regulated learning and encourage them to exert control over their own learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Chinese parenting style and children's involvement in…

Recent research indicates that young girls are preoccupied with their body size and that the media may be a contributing factor. This study aimed to discover the impact of an interdisciplinary media literacy intervention curriculum on 4th-grade girls in an urban elementary school. The authors developed and implemented a series of lessons that…