Formative Assessment (FA) is a promising teaching practice for supporting students' learning at school. However, implementing FA into teaching (mathematics) is challenging, effects of implementation of FA vary between empirical studies. Therefore, recent studies additionally consider instructional quality of teaching when analyzing effects of FA…

Opportunity to learn (OTL) is a ubiquitous measure of the likelihood of learning in educational research, which typically has been characterized by three dimensions: time, coverage of content, and quality of instruction. The last dimension has been defined in highly divergent ways, which gives it a double-edged nature. While it may be…

Cognitive demand is a crucial dimension of instructional quality. Its heterogenous operationalizations call for refined investigations, with respect to discursive richness (generic conceptualizations) and conceptual richness (subject-related conceptualizations). Considering not only teachers' intended cognitive activation (operationalized, e.g.,…

The purpose of this dissertation is to identify quality indicators for visual based learning material for technology education classes for grades 6th to 9th. This is a three round Delphi study aimed in answering the following research question. RQ: What are the quality indicators that contribute to the successful selection of visual-based learning…

This study aimed to examine multilevel models posited to predict student perceptions of teacher feedback quality. A cross-sectional survey design was used, involving 1072 middle school students. We incorporated two clusters of variables: (a) student characteristics (gender, prior knowledge, parent education, homework expectancy, homework value,…

Despite the long-time call for change in mathematics instruction, there are several barriers to change, and instruction has remained stagnant overall, taking the form of traditional lecture. Instructional coaching has many of the attributes of effective professional development from the literature and could be a major support for instructional…

Montessori is a highly individualized pedagogy that prioritizes following each child's individual interests over standardized test scores. This quasi-experimental study compares groups of Montessori students (treatment groups, N = 535-710) with control groups of non-Montessori students, matched through the simple matching method, which controls…

This study examined the effectiveness of an eight-week Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) coaching cycle on improving instructional strategies for English Learners (ELs) in seventh-grade classrooms. The goal was to enhance the literacy performance of ELs by 15% on the LAS Links literacy subtest. The coaching cycle aimed to integrate…

Curriculum-based professional learning is not just having teachers read curriculum materials, but rather includes carefully crafted experiences to support their sensemaking, deep understanding of the curriculum and its pedagogy, and ability to transfer that knowledge into practice. This instructional model requires that teachers be responsive to…

Although several studies underline the importance of a successful opening of a school lesson to spur students' interest and facilitate learning, we have limited knowledge about how openings are enacted in classrooms. This study contributes to the sparse research by asking: "What characterizes the openings of 58 reading lessons in Norwegian…

Five groups rank state charter school environments according to their laws, regulations, funding, and other characteristics, but none rank states by charter student performances on a national test. We rank states by demographically adjusted math and reading performances of charter students in 4th and 8th grade for the period 2009 to 2019 on the…

With the demands on student learning and school accountability, school leaders and teachers must be provided with high-quality structures and conditions for effective and meaningful school improvement. This, coupled with highly effective leadership, is crucial. This qualitative study examines Illinois's current state comprehensive school…

The importance of the role of teachers as agents of change and understanding the relationship between the level of student independence and the quality of religious teachers in schools. However, in fact, there are differences between expectations and reality on the ground, religious education has decreased among students. So, it is necessary to…

The objectives of this research were to: (1) Investigate the current problems in achieving balance in urban and rural basic education in Shaanxi Province, (2) Develop a strategy to improve this balance, and (3) Evaluate the adaptability, feasibility, effectiveness, and fairness of the proposed strategy. The study involved 175 teachers from urban…

Using the comparative case study (CCS) method, this article compares the findings from a longitudinal ethnographic research project of rural children in Northwest China (2005-2012) and a second longitudinal study of migrant children in eastern China (2015-2019). It examines rural and migrant students' and educators' (re)interpretations and uses of…