There is an increasing need to address children's social development in the midst of academic initiatives for early childhood curricula. A study was conducted to make visible and support children's social interactions within inclusive preschool classrooms through documentation from the Reggio Emilia approach. Findings demonstrated that children's…

Western investigators assume that caregiver sensitivity takes similar forms and has similar outcomes in all cultures. However, cultural research suggests that sensitivity in the West has more to do with responsiveness to children's explicit expression of need, and that sensitivity in non-Western communities has more to do with anticipation of…

In an effort to document the responsibilities and professional activities of itinerant early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers, five teachers were asked to participate in an observational study in which they were observed and their behaviors coded. Observations occurred at three different times during the year, during three-week cycles.…

This research examines 480 current event-explanation units using the CAVE technique (Schulman, Castellon, & Seligman, 1989) to note the relationship between positive and negative explanatory style and achievement of prospective early childhood and upper elementary female teachers. This study found a significant positive relationship between…

What teachers believe and the practices in which they engage are often not consistent, as they face accountability demands and a return to more structured approaches. Data were collected from 34 kindergarten teachers on their beliefs about instructional practice and the forces that shape the education. Findings indicated that regardless of…

Seven-year-olds who had difficulty understanding 1st-grade work received one of two forms of small-group instruction. Half of the children were randomly assigned to receive four months of instruction in recognizing, comprehending, and reproducing both logical and arbitrary patterns (sequences) involving numbers, letters, shapes, colors,…

In order to address the federal "No Child Left Behind Act", the state of Oklahoma required that all public schools address the problem of bullying. Although numerous anti-bullying programs exist, few have been evaluated to determine their effectiveness. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of one such program, "Bullyproof," in a sample of…

This Brief Report describes a secondary analysis of the solutions written by 306 second-year algebra students to four constructed-response items representative of content at this level. The type of solution (symbolic, graphical, or numerical) used most frequently varied by item. Curriculum effects were observed. Students studying from the second…

In this article we describe gender gaps in mathematics achievement and attitude as measured by the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) from 1990 to 2003. Analyzing relationships among achievement and mathematical content, student proficiency and percentile levels, race, and socioeconomic status (SES), we found that gender gaps…

The framework of Tharp and Gallimore (1988) was adapted to form a ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) Model of Mathematical Proficiency that identifies two interacting kinds of learning activities: instructional conversations that assist understanding and practice that develops fluency. A Class Learning Path was conceptualized as a classroom path…

This research project examined student performance in middle schools with a grade configuration of six through eight. Schools were categorized into two groups: high-performing middle schools--middle schools making adequate yearly progress for two consecutive school years, and low-performing middle schools--middle schools not making adequate yearly…

This study takes up the challenge of middle level researchers to investigate the extent to which schools prepare young adolescents to commit themselves to serve the public interest. One way of assessing the orientation of children and adolescents to the public good is through their emerging self-understanding. This study analyzes middle school…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Science, Technology, and Society (STS) learning increases student concept mastery, general science achievement, use of concepts in new situations, and attitudes toward science in middle school classrooms. The study involved two teachers and fifty-two students in grades 6 through 8. Two sections of…

Adolescent academic achievement is closely linked to numerous health outcomes. Studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between parental academic monitoring and adolescent academic achievement. Less is known about factors associated with parental academic monitoring, and research is particularly lacking with low-income, African American…

This longitudinal study followed students (n = 265) from kindergarten through seventh grade and examined early social and academic predictors of school performance at two normative school transitions. Questions addressed include: (a) are there changes in students' school performance over time, especially at school transition points; (b) are…