The following published studies (listed with most recent first) were completed by various researchers in partnership with FFCA. Click on the title to view the full
article.
Reading is not just Something, It is Everything: Using
Collaborative Inquiry Twinned with Generative Dialogue for School Improvement
in Elementary Classrooms
Joan Burke & Marilyn Chaseling (2022). This paper
reports on a four-year study where campus leaders used collaborative inquiry
twinned with generative dialogue to facilitate teacher growth in order to
improve the teaching and learning of reading in a school where reading results
were already strong. The paper contributes to the school improvement literature
by capturing the two main cycles-of-inquiry that emerged during the study. It
also found that teachers improved their teaching and assessment of reading
through: their intentional teaching of phonemic awareness, fluency and
comprehension; offering students choice in their reading materials; and
ensuring their assessment practices were based on standard criteria applied
across all classrooms. This study concluded that when visionary leaders
facilitate collaborative-inquiry twinned with generative dialogue, school
improvement can occur.
Reducing the Object
Control Skills Gender Gap in Elementary School Boys and Girls
Dwayne P. Sheehan, Karin Lienhard, & Diala
Ammar (2020) conducted this study aimed to understand the effect of a
customized physical education (PE) program on object control skills (OCS) in
third grade female students, and to compare their skills to their male
counterparts. This research suggests
that a six-week all-girls intervention program reduces the variance in OCS
proficiency in pre-adolescent boys and girls.
Gross Motor Competence
and Peak Height Velocity in 10-14 Year-olds
Dwyane Sheehan & Karin
Leinhard (2019), in a longitudinal research study involving FFCA, evaluated
gross motor competence and growth spurts in Canadian youth. Peak height
velocity (PHV) occurred at a significantly younger age in the girls than the
boys and growth rate during PHV was significantly greater in the boys than the
girls. Gross motor competence outcomes were significantly above the North
American normative scores over the measured time period. After the occurrence
of PHV, strength, strength/agility, and gross motor skill significantly decreased
in girls, and running speed/agility significantly decreased in boys. This
finding emphasizes that motor competence in pre-adolescent children may
suddenly decrease after their growth spurt.
An Evaluation of
Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in an Elementary School QDPE Program -
Dwayne Sheehan
Dwayne Sheehan (2017), in
partnership with FFCA’s Southwest Elementary Campus, conducted a study to
determine if elementary school students could attain 50% MVPA (moderate to
vigorous physical activity) during PE class time when led by a kinesiology
trained Physical Education specialist.
From Thought, to Words,
to Print: Early Literacy Development in Grade 2
Hetty Roessingh & Susan
Elgie (2014), in partnership with FFCA’s elementary campuses, undertook a study
exploring how printing, spelling and vocabulary choices influence the quality
of writing at the end of Grade 2.
A Look at Grade 2 Writing:
Successes and Challenges in Early Literacy Development
Hetty Roessingh (2013), in
partnership with FFCA’s elementary campuses, explored how a strong foundation
in the skills of printing and spelling are found to be key components in early
literacy development to the end of Grade 2.