Exploring the Relationship Between Fidelity of Implementation and Academic Achievement in a Third-Grade Gifted Curriculum: A Mixed-Methods Study

This study used sequential mixed-methods analyses to investigate the effectiveness of a research-based language arts curriculum for gifted third graders. Using analytic induction, researchers found that teachers’ beliefs and expectations (time, sense of autonomy, expectations for students, professional expertise) influenced the degree to which they implemented the research intervention with fidelity to its design. Next, maximum variation sampling and quantitative analysis of student outcomes determined that postassessment achievement test scores are higher for students in classrooms with teachers who show high fidelity or adherence to the intervention

Effects of State Testing Programs on Elementary Schools with High Concentrations of Student Poverty - Good News or Bad News?

In school districts across the country, accountability enacted through testing initiatives is beginning to play a more important role in documenting student attainment of high academic standards. Critics of the testing movement have argued that standardized testing is narrowing the curriculum resulting in instructional practices ineffective in promoting meaningful student learning. Using a nationally stratified random sample, public school teachers were surveyed on the effects of state testing programs on their practices. Results indicate that classroom practices were affected, most of these effects afflicted teachers in impoverished schools. Findings suggest that increases in test scores is not necessarily a result of student academic attainment but more of test preparation, calling into question the validity of such outcomes

Literacy Teachers’ Beliefs About Data Use at the Bookends of Elementary School

The purpose of this investigation was to explore elementary teachers’ beliefs about data and data use. Archived data from 2 research projects were used to address the following research questions: What are kindergarten and fifth-grade literacy teachers’ beliefs about data and data use? What functions do the beliefs serve in teachers’ actual use of data? Using a multicase study approach, 2 research teams carried out qualitative data analysis. Findings revealed that kindergarten and fifth-grade teachers held similar “macro” beliefs, and these beliefs were shaped and contextualized in response to their settings. The study’s implications suggest that teachers’ beliefs about data are influential in what teachers actually view as data and in the ways they put data to use to address students’ learning needs

Preservice Teacher Preparation in Meeting the Needs of Gifted and Other Academically Diverse Students

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. This report presents findings of a three-year study to examine how preservice teachers develop an awareness of the needs of academically diverse learners, including gifted students, and implement and/or modify instruction to meet those needs. Preservice teachers were assigned to one of two treatment groups: either participation in an interactive full-day workshop on differentiation (n=22) or participation in the workshop and work with a curriculum coach during student teaching (n=23). Both groups and a comparison group who received neither treatment were followed through their first year assignments as regular class teachers. Qualitative analysis revealed several themes: (1) preservice teachers used ambiguous criteria for identifying student differences and needs; (2) preservice teachers expressed limited knowledge concerning differentiating instruction and demonstrated limited strategies for differentiation; (3) preservice teachers were influenced by factors, such as the structure of the school curriculum, which complicated and discouraged understanding and addressing student differences and needs; (4) participants in both intervention groups expressed a consistent concern with differentiation as part of their teaching goals and the intervention provided a starting point for changing practice. The curriculum coach was most effective when the coaching was compatible with the practices of the cooperating teacher or the university supervisor. Contains approximately 150 references. [Abstract taken from ERIC