We extended research on social skills training to determine if the activities first-grade students were engaged in while Tootling would influence their performance of two recently trained social skills: complimenting and encouraging peers. After receiving social skills training, students engaged in two experimental small-group activities, a…

The literature on play and learning attests many developmental benefits for children. The Australian curriculum endorses play-based learning (PBL) as an age-appropriate teaching pedagogy. However, what enables or prevents PBL in the classroom is not well documented. The present study examined the responses of 334 teachers currently employed in…

The purpose of this study was to seek to understand and describe current educators' perceptions of building relationships in education. Thirty-five K-12 educators completed reflective writing responses as part of this phenomenological study. The thematic analysis constructed four themes: (a) "students are motivated to learn when strong…

Throughout the past decades, the profession of school leader has become more complex. To deal with these increasing complexities and the challenges school leaders encounter, it is important that school leaders are provided with effective professional development. However, research on school leaders' learning and professional development, and…

Trauma is not a new term or concept, however, the integration of trauma-informed practices within the school setting has been a recent focus for many districts across the nation. School systems no longer focus solely on academics. Schools are charged with developing the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional competencies of students to help…

Research indicates that establishing collaborative partnerships between educators and families and using complementary strategies to promote learning in school and at home create optimal conditions to promote student's academic, social, and emotional skill development (Albright et al., 2011). As reflected in the Collaborative for Academic, Social,…

The historical roots of what is now a modern Swedish school-age educare (SAEC) were formed from a social pedagogical starting point in which children's social development, freedom and well-being were prioritized. SAEC has now become more focused on an educational pedagogical assignment and has been incorporated into the Swedish curriculum. SAECs…

Developmental research suggests that peer rejection has negative spillover effects which strain parent-child relationships and parent attitudes toward the child's school. This study tested whether a school-based social skill training program could reverse these effects and improve parent-child closeness and parent attitudes toward the school.…

Education for sustainable development (ESD) has for decades been a focus internationally and has been embraced in the Japanese curriculum since 2008. Given UNESCO's emphasis on teacher training for ESD and well-established in-service teacher training programmes in Japan, the aim of this study is to explore whether ESD teacher training could help…

Science teachers struggle to implement and sustain new curricular ideas from professional development (PD) experiences. These PD opportunities are crucial for enacting real-world changes to teaching practice and address pressing global challenges, such as the teaching and learning of socioscientific topics nested in school communities.…

This paper describes the different elements of a Professional Development School (PDS) partnership between a Community College in New York City and a public elementary school in a low-income neighborhood that serves predominantly children of color and low-income families. A major component of the partnership was a school-wide comprehensive…

This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the emotional intelligence (EI) of K-12 school principals with student outcomes that included: student achievement, student growth, and student attendance. The participants in this student included principals form various schools in the state of Tennessee. The data from this mixed method…

Using autoethnographic, arts-based, and embodied methods, this postformal dissertation study establishes the first of a two-part research-as-community-building template designed with racially and socioeconomically diverse school communities in mind. Imagined as a double helix in an echo of human DNA, it describes an arts-based, embodied self-study…

Early adolescence is a time of rapid cognitive, psychosocial, and physical development, and an array of contextual factors, such as systemic racism, exert significant influence. Universal behavioral health screening data of 4,234 middle school students were examined to explore the influence of demographic (e.g. ethnicity, race) and contextual…

With the growth of blended teaching comes a need to support teachers that are shifting their instruction to this mode of teaching. Coaching is a form of professional development that is growing in K-12 institutions. However, research of coaching specifically intended to support blended teaching practices is lacking. This phenomenological…