Research Findings: The present study examined the extent to which instructional practices, including curriculum, in pre-K through third grade are vertically aligned. Attention was directed to teachers' grouping practices, academic content, and pedagogical methods given their importance for students' learning. Variable- and person-centered analyses…

Child-directed speech (CDS), which can help children learn new words, has been rigorously studied among infants and parents in home settings. Yet, far less is known about the CDS that teachers use in classrooms with toddlers and children's responses, an important question because many toddlers, particularly in high-need communities, attend…

The Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) model for instructional delivery is well supported by research evidence and is often identified as a critical element of instruction for students with learning difficulties. However, there are challenges associated with effectively releasing responsibility to students. This may be especially true during…

Adoption of online resources to support instruction and student performance has amplified with technological advances and increased standards for mathematics education. Because teachers play a critical role in the adoption of technology, analysis of data pertaining to how and why teachers utilize online resources is needed to optimize the design…

Although high-quality early care and education (ECE) is widely accepted as one of the most effective means for promoting early learning and development, many ECE programs have limited impact perhaps because of issues with how ECE quality is defined and measured. This study seeks to expand definitions of ECE quality by asking which preschool ECE…

Interest continues to be high in technology-based interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Understanding the preferences and challenges of technology use among individuals with ASD can inform the design of such interventions. Through 18 interviews with parents, we used an iterative inductive-deductive approach to…

The purpose of this paper is to describe what we know and what we still need to learn about literacy intervention for children who experience significant difficulties learning to read. We reviewed 14 meta-analyses and systematic reviews of experimental and quasi-experimental studies published in the last decade that examined the effects of reading…

The ability to automatically assess the quality of paraphrases can be very useful for facilitating literacy skills and providing timely feedback to learners. Our aim is twofold: a) to automatically evaluate the quality of paraphrases across four dimensions: lexical similarity, syntactic similarity, semantic similarity and paraphrase quality, and…

Historically, learning for young students has occurred in formal, in-person classroom environments. But in just a matter of weeks, children were mandated to transition to a completely new mode of learning, facing new learning challenges with heightened anxieties. To this end, we aim to better understand how our learning experience design (LXD)…

Purpose: This study investigates the reasons teachers seek instructional assistance from their colleagues. By examining both the reasons why teachers seek assistance and considering which reasons for seeking assistance predict shifts in teaching practice, this analysis provides new insights into how schools can leverage teachers' social networks…

The present study used a focus group methodology to qualitatively explore elementary writing teachers' attitudes and experiences using an automated writing evaluation (AWE) system called MI Write as part of a districtwide implementation of MI Write in Grades 3-5 in 14 elementary schools. We used activity theory as a theoretical framework to answer…

This study synthesized impacts of integrated literacy and content-area instruction (i.e., science, social studies) on vocabulary and comprehension outcomes in the elementary years (i.e., kindergarten through fifth grade). A systematic search of the extant literature identified 35 (quasi)experimental studies. Random-effects models were used to…

Measures of teacher mathematical knowledge are notoriously difficult to develop (e.g., Orrill et al., 2015). This is in part because of the multidimensional nature of teacher knowledge. As part of two separate projects being undertaken by this research team, we have attempted to write assessments of teacher pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in…

nstruction has forced teachers to navigate unexpected constraints while providing meaningful learning experiences for their students. This transition has drastically changed how teachers orchestrate learning for their students. To explore these unique orchestration challenges, we used needs finding and validation activities to explore middle…

Limited research has explored mothers' perceptions of teachers' pedagogical practices that may or may not support the learning and development of their child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Mothers of children with ASD were asked to describe their perspective regarding three questions: (1) How do teachers structure the classroom environment…