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This descriptive study provides an overview of research-based benefits and challenges of attending online conferences, in addition to participant feedback data from one online education conference conducted in February 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is grounded in adult learning theory. The purpose of this study was to explore conference participant perceptions (n = 51) of their learning at this virtual education conference with the goal of contributing to future best practices in online professional learning experiences. Post-conference survey data indicated that 98% of participants reported that the sessions were of high quality and the presenters were prepared. However, there were statistically significantly (p = 0.043) more participants who enjoyed face-to-face conferences compared with online conferences. Additionally, over 90% of participants agreed that the content from the conference would benefit their students and improve their own research practice. Recommendations for facilitating effective online conferences include: 1) Organize and communicate consistently and with clarity; 2) Utilize technological platforms that are familiar to participants; 3) Consider the sociopolitical context in which the conference occurs. This research can inform virtual conference organizers in effective planning and facilitating of online professional development experiences that align with adult learning theory components.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of supplemental word recognition strategies on students receiving intensive (Tier III) remedial reading instruction. Two-hundred and thirteen middle school students with reading difficulties received an intensive reading intervention (i.e., Corrective Reading Decoding strand) delivered by trained school staff (n = 21) at three middle schools. The 213 fifth through eighth grade students (121 males, 92 females) enrolled in three northwestern school districts (two rural and one urban). Of the 213 students, one-hundred and seven also received supplemental word recognition instruction using Reading Excellence: Word Attack and Rate Development Strategies (REWARDS). Using a pre-post quasi-experimental design, the effects of the Corrective Reading Decoding (CRD) program was compared to CRD combined with the REWARDS program. The REWARDS program produced statistically and educationally significant changes in the basic reading skills of students over and above Corrective Reading Decoding alone. Students in the REWARDS condition demonstrated statistically significant mean changes on the WJ-III Basic Reading Skills cluster and associated subtests and the DIBELS ORF probe compared to those in the comparison condition. Results, implications, and limitations are discussed.

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the experiences of practitioner-scholars as they conducted their dissertations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; the methodology utilized surveys at four time points across a 1-year span. Findings indicated increased impacts as the pandemic progressed, as well as both negative and positive pandemic impacts related to flow, as measured by the Work-Related Flow Inventory (WOLF). These impacts largely depended on the doctoral students' personal and work life situations, indicating a need for doctoral programs to provide individualized support as students progress through their dissertation journeys, particularly during times of crisis.

This longitudinal qualitative study investigated the impact on teacher participants of using a unique laboratory approach to professional development: the Team Teaching and Learning (TTL) framework, which integrates five traits from Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, and Yoon's (2001) empirical research on teacher professional learning, including content knowledge, active learning, coherence, collective participant, and duration. Participants included 24 teachers in one high-poverty school district in the Northwest United States who participated in a three-week summer professional learning experience. Results indicated seemingly high implementation of professional development content, which also appeared to be sustained over the two-year time frame of the study. This pilot study of TTL contributes to literature on collaborative teacher learning and provides school leaders with numerous recommendation strategies that make implementation successful. The TTL framework is founded in empirical research and utilizes best practices for teacher and adult learning.

This research investigates teacher implementation of the Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD) model over time and after teachers received a unique combination of additional GLAD training, coaching, and collaboration. Teachers who took part in this in this study had previously received an initial full-week, intensive GLAD training; however, they struggled to implement GLAD accurately. This study, therefore, investigates the effects of implementing a new model of supplemental professional learning for teaching GLAD within an existing threeweek summer school program. Teams of teachers instructed English Learners in the morning and then had planning, reflection, and professional development time each afternoon. Although this experience was designed to both teach teachers about GLAD and instruct students, this particular research study focuses on the experience of the teachers. This two-part qualitative research study includes observations and interviews during the summer, in addition to followup interviews during the school year to investigate the sustainability of the experience. Results suggest that the overall effects of participation are positive; however, the effects are largely individualized, depending on the participant's expectation of the experience and characteristics of their specific collaborative team. Recommendations for improving the sustainability of the approach are also provided.

University-community partnerships have gained popularity in the United States as a means of extending university research resources and collaborative opportunities. However, research-driven partnerships between universities and K-12 school districts that prioritize the research needs of K-12 schools are unique. Recently, education scholars have been exploring partnership models with potentially greater benefits for various school district stakeholders. To date, there is limited research on how these partnerships can be leveraged as a pedagogical approach to effectively support the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) students who are emerging as practitioner-scholars. This qualitative study helps fill that gap by examining the impacts of one newly formed research-practice partnership that utilized a service-learning model. Our findings suggest that conducting authentic K-12 district-driven research projects may be one avenue for providing transformative learning experiences to practitioner-scholars while also meeting the needs of the school district partners in the community through the production of public scholarship.

This study investigates the use of screening assessments within the increasingly popular Response to Intervention (RTI) framework, specifically seeking to collect concurrent validity evidence on one potential new screening tool, the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) framework. Furthermore, this study builds on existing literature by disaggregating the validity evidence across grade, program, and race/ethnicity to better understand how the assessment functions amongst varying demographic categories. We add to the limited research base of evidence that the IRLA tool may be an important instrument for bridging the gap between screening and providing intensive, systematic instruction as detailed by the What Works Clearinghouse (Gersten et al., 2008).

We sought to extend instrument validation research for the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD) (Walker & Severson, 1990) using convergent validation techniques. Associations between Critical Events, Adaptive Behavior, and Maladaptive Behavior indices of the SSBD were examined in relation to syndrome, broadband, and total scores of the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher's Report Form (TRF) (Achenbach, 2001). Both measures were conducted with 65 students with emotional disturbance in grades 6 through 12. Overall convergent validity of the SSBD and TRF was strong, particularly for TRF externalizing problems and associated syndromes. Results provide further support for use of the SSBD in the assessment of behavioral functioning of students with emotional disturbance and extend validation for use of this instrument with secondary students. (Contains 1 table.)

Elementary school students often exhibit a variety of conceptions associated with algebraic thinking that their teachers fail to recognize or understand. It is crucial that elementary school teachers possess knowledge of the variety of student conceptions and also have abilities to address varying states of conceptions. Otherwise, students who are not provided with opportunities to think algebraically may continue to struggle with algebra throughout school. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to develop and provide initial validity evidence for an assessment tool of algebraic thinking for the elementary grades. In the development of the tool, validation efforts were pursued, including multiple rounds of pilot-testing and think aloud interviews. Evidence for reliability of scores and validity of score interpretations of the overall score were collected. Results suggest that the assessment is a potentially valuable tool for teachers to elicit and learn about students' algebraic thinking knowledge.

The authors report findings of a best-evidence synthesis of the effects of mathematics instruction on the mathematics skills of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The goal of the synthesis was to extend previous research by (a) detailing independent variables, instructional components, and outcome measures for each study; (b) analyzing study outcomes using improvement rate difference and percentage of nonoverlapping data; and (c) summarizing literature on mathematics interventions conducted with students with emotional and behavioral disorders over four decades (from 1968 to present). Highly effective mathematics intervention studies conducted with students with emotional and behavioral disorders, limitations, and future research directions are presented and discussed.

In our previous research (Benner, Nelson, Sanders, & Ralston, 2012), elementary schools were randomly assigned to either a primary-level behavior intervention directed at externalizing behavior (treatment, n = 7 schools) or to business-as-usual condition (control, n = 6 schools). A screening procedure was used to identify K through 3-grade students who exhibited externalizing behavior. The results showed that treatment students (n = 44) exhibited lower levels of problem behavior (ES = -0.99) and higher rates of on-task behavior (ES = 0.61) compared to controls (n = 26). The results also suggested that individual baseline behavior and school context as measured by free and reduced-priced meal rates moderated the findings. Given this latter finding, our interest in the current study was to test whether individual and school aggregate baseline behavior levels moderate students' response to two years of the behavior intervention. Schools originally assigned to treatment continued to implement the intervention during the subsequent academic year; schools in the control condition continued with their business-as-usual behavior management approaches. During the winter of the second year, students who remained in their schools were re-assessed on their behavior (n = 35 and n = 19 in treatment and control conditions, respectively). Analyses involving multilevel context modeling showed that students with relatively high initial baseline behavior levels (pretreatment) were more responsive to the intervention if they were in schools with higher school aggregate baseline behavior levels. Conversely, students tended to be less responsive to intervention if they were in schools with lower school aggregate baseline behavior levels. Limitations and practical implications are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

This article examined the efficacy of a primary-level, standard-protocol behavior intervention for students with externalizing behavioral disorders. Elementary schools were randomly assigned to treatment (behavior intervention) or control (business as usual) conditions, and K-3 students were screened for externalizing behavior risk status. The final sample included 7 treatment schools (n = 44 students) and 6 control schools (n = 26 students). Results of multilevel models showed that students with externalizing behavior in the treatment schools had significantly lower levels of problem behavior than those in the control schools. A positive but statistically nonsignificant treatment trend was observed for increased on-task behavior. No effects were observed for academic skills. The positive effects of the behavior intervention were smaller in schools serving higher proportions of students with low socioeconomic status and for students who had higher baseline levels of externalizing behavior. The discussion includes the results, practical importance, and limitations. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Processing speed plays an important role in numerous facets of life functioning. Language, academic achievement, and behavior are all associated with processing speed; however, researchers have yet to investigate the effect of interventions, particularly language-based interventions, on the processing speed and the behavioral functioning of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. This study examined the effects of a language-based intervention program, Language for Thinking, on the processing speed and emotional and behavioral functioning of students with emotional and behavioral disorders served in self-contained settings. At posttest, the authors found significant reductions on the Child Behavior Checklist: Teacher's Report Form, along with statistically significant gains on the Woodcock-Johnson III NU Tests of Cognitive Abilities Processing Speed Cluster. The authors discuss the limitations and present the implications for future research. (Contains 2 tables.)

The findings of a meta-analysis of the effect of reading instruction on the reading skills of students with or at risk of behavioral disorders (BD) are reported. The goal of the synthesis was to extend the work of Coleman and Vaughn by (a) detailing independent variables and outcome measures for each study, (b)including studies sampling from students with or at risk of BD, (c) analyzing study outcomes using average effect size estimates as a common metric, and (d) summarizing literature on reading interventions conducted with students with or at risk of BD over nearly four decades (from 1970 to present). Results of the review suggest that effective literacy instruction has a positive effect on the reading skills of students with or at risk of BD. Limitations and future directions are presented. (Contains 4 tables.)

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of four types of language disorders among public school students (N = 152) classified as Emotional Disturbance (ED). We also examined the association of the types of language disorders experienced by these students with specific learning disabilities and clinical levels of specific types of psychopathology. Nearly 66% of the students with ED experienced a language disorder, with combined receptive-expressive disorders being the most common (35.5%). Students with a language disorder, particularly combined receptive-expressive disorder, showed significantly poorer achievement and more learning disabilities (LD) in all areas compared to students with no language disorder. Furthermore, 91.3% of the students with any LD also had a language disorder. Types of language disorders were not significantly distinguished by psychopathology, although severity was serious in both students with and without a language disorder. These findings have implications for the identification and treatment of language disorders in students classified ED. (Contains 4 tables.)

Building on research showing the interdependence of language skills and reading proficiency, this study examined the effects of using the "Language Arts" strand of the "Reading Mastery Signature" 2008 series program as a supplement to non-Direct Instruction reading programs with English Language Learner (ELL) students. Seventy-six kindergarten through fifth-grade ELL students received the intensive intervention delivered by trained school staff (n = 5) at three elementary schools. Multiple classroom-based fidelity of implementation monitoring demonstrated that the Language Arts strand was well taught on a consistent basis by all teachers and paraprofessionals. Statistically significant gains were made in the word recognition, oral reading accuracy, silent reading comprehension, spelling, and word meaning percentile ranks of participants from pre- to posttest (p less than 0.01). Absolute change and effect size estimates (see Gresham, 2005) indicated reliable changes in the reading and language skills of participants. Results, implications, and future research priorities were discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

This article examined the efficacy of a primary-level, standard-protocol behavior intervention for students with externalizing behavioral disorders. Elementary schools were randomly assigned to treatment (behavior intervention) or control (business as usual) conditions, and K-3 students were screened for externalizing behavior risk status. The final sample included 7 treatment schools (n = 44 students) and 6 control schools (n = 26 students). Results of multilevel models showed that students with externalizing behavior in the treatment schools had significantly lower levels of problem behavior than those in the control schools. A positive but statistically nonsignificant treatment trend was observed for increased on-task behavior. No effects were observed for academic skills. The positive effects of the behavior intervention were smaller in schools serving higher proportions of students with low socioeconomic status and for students who had higher baseline levels of externalizing behavior. The discussion includes the results, practical importance, and limitations., Many U.S. schools are using multitiered or response to intervention (RTI) instructional models to improve the academic outcomes of their students. A recent national survey conducted by the American Association [...]

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of supplemental word recognition strategies on students receiving intensive (Tier III) remedial reading instruction. Two-hundred and thirteen middle school students with reading difficulties received an intensive reading intervention (i.e., Corrective Reading Decoding strand) delivered by trained school staff (n = 21) at three middle schools. The 213 fifth through eighth grade students (121 males, 92 females) enrolled in three northwestern school districts (two rural and one urban). Of the 213 students, one-hundred and seven also received supplemental word recognition instruction using Reading Excellence: Word Attack and Rate Development Strategies (REWARDS). Using a pre-post quasi-experimental design, the effects of the Corrective Reading Decoding (CRD) program was compared to CRD combined with the REWARDS program. The REWARDS program produced statistically and educationally significant changes in the basic reading skills of students over and above Corrective Reading Decoding alone. Students in the REWARDS condition demonstrated statistically significant mean changes on the WJ-III Basic Reading Skills cluster and associated subtests and the DIBELS ORF probe compared to those in the comparison condition. Results, implications, and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal qualitative study investigated the impact on teacher participants of using a unique laboratory approach to professional development: the Team Teaching and Learning (TTL) framework, which integrates five traits from Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, and Yoon's (2001) empirical research on teacher professional learning, including content knowledge, active learning, coherence, collective participant, and duration. Participants included 24 teachers in one high-poverty school district in the Northwest United States who participated in a three-week summer professional learning experience. Results indicated seemingly high implementation of professional development content, which also appeared to be sustained over the two-year time frame of the study. This pilot study of TTL contributes to literature on collaborative teacher learning and provides school leaders with numerous recommendation strategies that make implementation successful. The TTL framework is founded in empirical research and utilizes best practices for teacher and adult learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates teacher implementation of the Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD) model over time and after teachers received a unique combination of additional GLAD training, coaching, and collaboration. Teachers who took part in this in this study had previously received an initial full-week, intensive GLAD training; however, they struggled to implement GLAD accurately. This study, therefore, investigates the effects of implementing a new model of supplemental professional learning for teaching GLAD within an existing threeweek summer school program. Teams of teachers instructed English Learners in the morning and then had planning, reflection, and professional development time each afternoon. Although this experience was designed to both teach teachers about GLAD and instruct students, this particular research study focuses on the experience of the teachers. This two-part qualitative research study includes observations and interviews during the summer, in addition to followup interviews during the school year to investigate the sustainability of the experience. Results suggest that the overall effects of participation are positive; however, the effects are largely individualized, depending on the participant's expectation of the experience and characteristics of their specific collaborative team. Recommendations for improving the sustainability of the approach are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the use of screening assessments within the increasingly popular Response to Intervention (RTI)framework, specifically seeking to collect concurrent validity evidence on one potential new screening tool, the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) framework. Furthermore, this study builds on existing literature by disaggregating the validity evidence across grade, program, and race/ethnicity to better understand how the assessment functions amongst varying demographic categories. We add to the limited research base of evidence that the IRLA tool may be an important instrument for bridging the gap between screening and providing intensive, systematic instruction as detailed by the What Works Clearinghouse (Gersten et al, 2008). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University-community partnerships have gained popularity in the United States as a means of extending university research resources and collaborative opportunities. However, research-driven partnerships between universities and K-12 school districts that prioritize the research needs of K-12 schools are unique. Recently, education scholars have been exploring partnership models with potentially greater benefits for various school district stakeholders. To date, there is limited research on how these partnerships can be leveraged as a pedagogical approach to effectively support the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) students who are emerging as practitioner-scholars. This qualitative study helps fill that gap by examining the impacts of one newly formed research-practice partnership that utilized a service-learning model. Our findings suggest that conducting authentic K-12 district-driven research projects may be one avenue for providing transformative learning experiences to practitioner-scholars while also meeting the needs of the school district partners in the community through the production of public scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We sought to extend instrument validation research for the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD) (Walker & Severson, 1990) using convergent validation techniques. Associations between Critical Events, Adaptive Behavior, and Maladaptive Behavior indices of the SSBD were examined in relation to syndrome, broadband, and total scores of the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher's Report Form (TRF) (Achenbach, 2001). Both measures were conducted with 65 students with emotional disturbance in grades 6 through 12. Overall convergent validity of the SSBD and TRF was strong, particularly for TRF externalizing problems and associated syndromes. Results provide further support for use of the SSBD in the assessment of behavioral functioning of students with emotional disturbance and extend validation for use of this instrument with secondary students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which two specific elements of fidelity of implementation (i.e., adherence and quality of delivery) enhanced or constrained the effects of a reading intervention for middle school students experiencing reading difficulties. A total of 281 middle school students with reading difficulties received an intensive reading intervention (i.e., Corrective Reading Decoding strand) delivered by trained school staff (n = 21) at three middle schools. Although students receiving the Corrective Reading Decoding strand made statistically significant (p < .001) improvements in their basic reading skills and passage comprehension overall, variations in student gains were found. Overall fidelity of implementation accounted for 22% and 18% of the variance in the gains in basic reading skills and passage comprehension of middle school students with reading difficulties, respectively (p < .05). Two teacher actions, following the lesson format as designed and reteaching lessons when needed, predicted student basic reading and passage comprehension skills above and beyond other teacher actions (p < .05). Results, implications, and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]