Since its founding 34 years ago, Teach For America has prepared nearly 70,000 recent college graduates and career-changers to teach in high-poverty schools across the United States. Unlike traditional teacher-preparation programs, it places "corps members" in short-staffed public schools after an intensive summer seminar, before they are…

The purpose of this mixed methods, longitudinal Improvement Science study was to examine the conditions that influence teacher capacity to engage in continuous improvement using data to guide curriculum and instructional changes. This study took place during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We Can Do It Academy, a pseudonym, was a designated priority…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe how teachers perceive the value of professional in-service training and whether this training improved their self-efficacy when teaching ELL students in elementary schools in the Eastern School District in New York State. Utilization of Bandura's social cognitive theory occurred in…

The focus on using the courts to abolish tenure is a distraction from the important work of improving teacher quality. Unfortunately, the recent decision of Vergara v. California has only perpetuated the mistaken notion that only after tenure is abolished can underperforming teachers be removed. But the authors contend that administrators,…

Just a few years ago, tenure appeared low on the reform list for state policy makers and district administrators, viewed as too hot an issue politically to challenge. But it was front and center in the 2014 landmark "Vergara v. California" lawsuit, which challenged teacher tenure and related policies. Yet whether to grant tenure or not…

This article describes the New York City Community of Adult Math Instructors (CAMI), a math teachers' circle founded in November 2014. The authors share details about their own participation in CAMI to show the professional growth that research-based, peer-led professional development can offer for adult educators.

The present study is a wait-list controlled, randomized study investigating a teacher coaching approach that emphasizes formative assessment and visual performance feedback to enhance elementary school teachers' classroom practices. The coaching model targeted instructional and behavioral management practices as measured by the Classroom…

Susana Velasco always thought she designed lessons for her kindergarten students to help them meet the academic standards for their grade. But now she feels better equipped to adapt instruction to meet the needs of all the children in her class--a skill she has developed through her school's participation in the Literacy Design Collaborative…