School nurses are indispensable for students' educational success. They are often the only healthcare professional a child will see who can care for immediate health needs, coordinate care for students' chronic health conditions, and promote healthy behaviors. This qualitative study is the first to investigate the experiences that influence the…

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2013), more than 29 million people fall under the UNHCR's mandate, which includes "all persons outside their country of origin for reasons of feared persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed public order and who, as a…

As of 2022, more than 400 students serve as members of state boards of education or state advisory councils in 33 states. Over the last five years, eight states have added at least one student member on their board, a state student advisory council, or a combination of board membership and advisory council. Although the number of students engaged…

In 2014, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation began funding three projects that together comprise the Grassroots Portfolio: Civic and Family Engagement, Community Organizing, and Amplifying Student Voice and Leadership. This work was part of the Public Understanding and Demand component of NMEF's grantmaking strategy. Following a Foundation-wide…

Despite decades of research that points to the importance of family and staff engagement, the average school district in the United States is not designed to empower families and teachers to shape school improvement. The COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to change that. Pandemic-fueled disruption helped seed ideas with families and educators…

A tension in designing classroom learning involves balancing the questions and interests of students with the goals of teachers and standards. One approach to navigating this tension in science classrooms is to simultaneously support and constrain students' questions about an observable natural phenomenon in the classroom and then take up those…

The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of a flexible classroom environment, including the teacher and student relationship, and its role in fostering creativity in middle school students. The case study design included gathering data through interviews and observations. It was determined that democratic, workshop-based classrooms are…

This article describes an experiment in collaborative course design in a midlevel sociology course. Unlike most of the literature on collaborative teaching and learning, which often deals with collaboration among students, this article discusses collaboration between the instructor and students. The students in this course collaborated with the…

Researchers have found that middle school students undergo developmental changes that require unique educational structures and support. As a result, experts have suggested a number of specific strategies for organizing middle schools in order to best meet students' needs. This Information Capsule summarizes middle school redesign initiatives that…