School leaders Lydia Cochrane and Ayesha Hoda have struggled to meet the increasingly complex needs of the students in their schools. As students' needs increase, schools are asked to do more and more, while continuing to have strong academic results. Cochrane and Hoda believe the current system is untenable and needs to change. With Linda Nathan,…

This study explores the ways that youth make sense of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and how context informs the scope and nature of youth-led local civic action. Using an embedded case study approach, this study focuses on the Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability project, which engages scores of young people in the state of…

Over the past decade, personalized learning has emerged as a major aim in the contemporary education systems of many countries. This qualitative case study examined middle school educators' perceptions of how their school's collective experimentation with Genius Hour supported the broader implementation of personalized learning. Teachers in the…

Math anxiety can have an extraordinary impact on middle level students' ability to learn. However, certain classroom practices may be able to mitigate this impact. In terms of assessment practices, proficiency-based learning, also called competency-based learning or standards-based grading, may help establish a learning environment that either…

Background: Food insecurity (FI) is a significant predictor of feelings of isolation in children, as well as suicide ideation and depression. Using a census of public middle school-aged children, we seek to determine whether FI is associated with suicide ideation and feelings of hopelessness and how individual and school community factors can…

In this study, research centered on the degree to which principals felt knowledgeable about basic generic leadership as well as special education functions. Current principals were selected from the 2018 state DOE databases from five states--Georgia, New York, Michigan, Vermont, and Oregon representing a wide demographic base. Ten (10) functions…