Description: This paper discusses Action research. Abstract: Action research is the inquiry part of a Professional Development School (PDS) model that all UNT elementary education, pre-service teacher/student interns complete with mentor teachers during student teaching. Approximately 300 projects were completed across four years in the Denton PDS. The 300 projects were examined to determine the trends in action research. Due to the qualitative nature of the study, there were no hypotheses, only assumptions that there were trends. The method used to examine the projects employed qualitative analysis techniques using the electronic program NVIVO. The results indicated that there were trends in questions that tended toward behavioral and transition issues in the classroom. The major research conclusion is that the Denton PDS follows the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) PDS Standards in the categories of "At Standard" and "Leading" in the area of action research implementation.

Description: This paper discusses a research project on the relationship between African American parent volunteer involvement and student reading scores. Abstract: In this research project, the school counselor and the student teacher investigated the relationship between African American parent volunteer involvement and student reading scores. The parents involved were chosen based on their child's Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) score, which were low in all cases. The parents received a newsletter each month that contained information on ways to help their child at home and school and how they could volunteer at school. Before the study began, the parents were not required to volunteer. The study hypothesis was that parent involvement would help the children academically. During the study, the parents were required to volunteer at least three times during a given time period. Volunteerism was tracked using the electronic sign-in system in the school office. By that the end of the school term, the student's reading SRI scores showed improvement in all cases.

Description: This articles discusses Amish teacher dialogues with teacher educators. Abstract: This dialogical project is framed within critical inquiry methods to bring an Amish teacher's voice to the forefront. Henry, an Amish middle school teacher, and two university teacher educators in northeastern Indiana collaboratively critiqued educational literature written about the Amish culture from the past 15 years. Building on critical ethnography and narrative methods, the authors used dialogue as a medium for inquiry. The intersubjective, collaborative project democratized the university researchers' research role and allowed an Amish voice to gain a place in the academic field of research.

Description: This presentation discusses research in assessment guided instruction. Abstract: All educators know that assessment evaluates and guides instruction. The authors had the opportunity to determine the effectiveness of their instructional methods on student achievement. The authors carried out their research with two classes of fourth grade students in a Title 1 elementary school. One class of 15 general education students and one of 13 Spanish bilingual education students were given pre- and post-tests before and after mathematics instructional units. The pre-assessment scores indicated the success of whole class introductory lessons and amount of student prior knowledge. The post-assessment scored indicated the effectiveness of the small group interventions given throughout the unit. The authors hypothesized that post-assessment scores would significantly correlate with District Benchmark scores at the p < .05 level. The authors also believed that mastery observed on weekly post-assessments would also significantly correlate with district benchmark evaluations of mastery at the p < .05 level. Preliminary data are inconclusive, however data collection will continue until April 5, at which time a final analysis will be conducted.

Description: This presentation discusses research on becoming a teacher of mathematics to elementary students. The research is an auto-ethnography of a pre-service teacher during the first semester of Professional Development School, documenting the journey as a learner and teacher of mathematics for this pre-service teacher.