Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/jiae/

List of Papers (Total 139)

Testing the Knowledge of Early Childhood Educators

Teacher certification exams are supposed to assess if a student is likely to succeed in teaching. What if an exam seems to be inappropriate? This article is an inquiry of the New York State Content Specialty Test for Early Childhood Candidates, particularly the math section. It raises the issue of whether we are asking the right questions and ascertaining the right data to decide...

A Failure of Imagination

In the wake of increased behavioral issues in the peri- and post-COVID environment, schools have resorted to zero-tolerance policies that imposed uniform and predetermined punishments for even the slightest infraction. In this article, the authors argue that these policies represent a failure of imagination that installs punitive policies that do more harm than good. Further...

Goal Setting in Kindergarten: Motivating Young Learners to be Successful in Learning Sight Words

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of goal setting as a motivator for kindergarten students in learning grade-level sight words. This study was conducted over a 6-week period in two Midwestern kindergarten classrooms. The participants in the experimental group were trained in self-setting goals and participated in weekly check-ins and bi-weekly...

Individualized clinical coaching with bug-in-ear: Enhancing fidelity of implementation of behavior specific praise among novice teachers of students with developmental disabilities in rural classrooms

Five novice special education teachers in rural classrooms received individualized clinical coaching (ICC) via the Internet to increase their use of behavior specific praise (BSP) with their students who had developmental disabilities (DD) during clinical supervision. Web cameras provided opportunities for the teachers to be observed during their regularly scheduled classroom...

Reinforcement Practicality for Middle School Students: A Meta-Analysis

The need for evolving support interventions that can help students in a wide range of settings is an ongoing requirement for middle schools today. Token reinforcement, which is a form of extrinsic motivation and incentivization, is studied within this meta-analysis to determine if significant treatment effects exist overall and if there are studies that show more gains than...

Pilot Study of the Dynamic Early Literacy Framework for Implementation of Science of Reading Aligned Instruction

A growing, research-based consensus supports addressing our nation’s literacy crisis through instruction aligned with the Science of Reading (SoR). We recognize, however, that the complexity of SoR content, alongside the multiplicity of instructional decisions and practices, and the unique features of each classroom and school, make simple implementation designs unlikely to...

Conflicting Perspectives: a Comparison of edTPA Intended Outcomes to Actual Experiences of Teacher Candidates and Educators in New York City Schools

The edTPA is a performance-based assessment of teacher candidates created by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE) and nationally scored by Pearson Education. It is also promoted by American Association of Colleges of Teacher Educators (AACTE) as a “standards-based assessment.” As of the spring of 2018, the edTPA is used as a requirement for program...

Data Diving into “Noticing Poetry”: An Analysis of Student Engagement with the “I Notice” Method

This paper explores students’ engagement in reading poems, examining data on their self perceptions of their confidence and competence in reading poems before, during, and after using the “I Notice” methodology as adapted from The Academy of American Poets’ unit plan, “Noticing Poetry” (Slaby, 2017). The data was collected over the course of a month from January 9 through January...

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) in a Field Course: Preservice Teachers Practice SEL-Supportive Instructional Strategies

This action research study examined social-emotional learning (SEL) strategies taught during a year-long elementary teaching credential field course to examine (a) what SEL strategies look like in practice, and (b) what training effects might be seen among twelve preservice student teacher (PST) participants. Part of a two-course clinical practice study, this paper focused solely...

Using the Cornell Note-taking System Can Help Eighth Grade Students Alleviate the Impact of Interruptions While Reading at Home

A large group of eighth-grade social studies students (N=-101) received instruction and practice using the Cornell note-taking system and were assigned to one of three note-taking groups or one non-note-taking group. Students were asked to read an article about persuasion and use their assigned note-taking system to take notes at home. A 10-question multiple choice reading...

John Dewey in the 21st Century

John Dewey was a pragmatist, progressivist, educator, philosopher, and social reformer (Gutek, 2014). Dewey’s various roles greatly impacted education and he was perhaps one of the most influential educational philosophers known to date (Theobald, 2009). Dewey’s impact on education was very evident in his theory about social learning; he believed that school should be...

Dialogic Ground: The Use of 'Teaching Dilemmas

This article describes a method of storytelling that can assist novice teachers in moving toward “re-seeing” their stories of teaching not just as narratives of experience, but as sites for work to be done. The assignment novice teachers undertook as part of a methods class in the teaching of English language arts has the potential to be a catalyst for problem solving and...

The Impacts of Preservice Action Research in a Rural Teaching Residency

Preliminary data was collected as part of the program assessment of a yearlong teaching residency program in rural California where preservice teachers conducted action research as the culminating activity for a Masters degree. Focus groups and survey data from program graduates were analyzed and compared to findings from the research literature. Themes from the data indicate...

Reading with Understanding: A Global Expectation

Abstract: This article outlines the complexity of reading with understanding, what is required for full and deep comprehension, the state of affairs with regard to reading comprehension in developed countries, possible etiologies for low performances, and suggestions for instruction in specific skills and strategies to improve students’ demonstrated achievement in daily lessons...

Pre-Service Teachers’ Use of Multicultural Literature

This qualitative study examines how pre-service teachers in urban elementary classrooms develop student literacy with multicultural literature. By evaluating the action research reports of three pre-service teacher candidates, the authors determine how reading experiences with texts align to Bloom’s Taxonomy and expectations for Common Core State Standards. Findings indicate that...

Visual Thinking Routines: A Mixed Methods Approach Applied to Student Teachers at the American University in Dubai

Visual thinking routines are principles based on several theories, approaches, and strategies. Such routines promote thinking skills, call for collaboration and sharing of ideas, and above all, make thinking and learning visible. Visual thinking routines were implemented in the teaching methodology graduate course at the American University in Dubai. The following study used...

Assessing Teacher Concerns Regarding Response to Instruction and Intervention

All individuals go through a process of change when implementing a new innovation. This descriptive study determines there is a difference in the stages of concern regarding Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI2), Tennessee’s design model for Response to Intervention, (RTI) for 87 teachers from 8 different schools in a county in Middle Tennessee. The Concerns Based...

The Meaning of Place and Community in Contemporary Educational Discourse

Place and community are terms used with ever more frequency in discussions, reports, and research related to education, yet there is little agreement related to what these terms mean. This article examines the concepts of place and community in an attempt to bring more clarity to the role they may play in educational theory and, ultimately, educational policy.

The Narrowing of Knowing: What It Means to be Literate and Learned in Today's Society

Currently, the idea and definition of learning and literacy is being pushed and pulled in competing directions. Current governmental policies, most notably embodied in the No Child Left Behind law, are pushing the definitions to mechanical enterprises aimed at the lowest common denominator. At the same time, the technology race is working to open access to being learned and...

3 Strikes and You’re Out: Reasons to Eliminate Sports in School

The overgrowth of sports in our society and has resulted in a host of potential problems for the young people who associate with the sports culture found in schools. Although the positive elements of sports are routinely touted, the negatives are far more insidious to youth. Most of the positive aspects of sports are unproven, overstated, or subverted by the culture of sports as...

Homeless Education: Analyzing the Problematic Legal Remedies Available to Homeless School Children

Given the extent to which our society values education, it is perplexing to learn that we continue to struggle to provide all children, especially homeless children, an adequate education. This troubling issue is the focus of this paper. Specifically, this paper will center around two basic questions; 1) what has the legal system done to ensure that homeless children receive an...

Deconstructing the NCLB Impact on the Instructional Goals and Practices of Urban School Teachers: A Case Study

With the enactment of the NCLB mandates, emphasis on high-stakes testing became more prevalent than ever. Some argue that high-stakes tests can be a driving force behind fundamental change in schools. Whether or not this type of test-driven change leads to school improvement is an empirical question. What we do know is that high-stake testing can affect teachers’ disposition of...

Human Relations: Assessing the Affect of Cultural Awareness Curriculum on Preservice Teachers

Human relations training is intended to prepare teachers to be more culturally sensitive to an increasingly diverse population. There is a growing trend in teacher education to train preservice teachers more effectively to meet the demands of multicultural society. However, limited research is available to guide the future design of human relations training courses. This research...

The Holocaust to Darfur: A Recipe for Genocide

All too often, social studies teachers present the cruelty of the Holocaust as an isolated event. These units focus on Hitler, gas chambers, and war crimes and end with a defiant and honorable “Never Again!” While covering mass murder in this way is laudable, it ultimately might not go as far as it could. For as teaches if we really want to empower our students to prevent...