This study examines equitable grading practices in secondary mathematics from the student perspective. Youth participatory action research (YPAR) provided a vehicle for high school students to investigate equitable grading, research impacts grading had on their collective, and develop solutions to inequitable grading. It provided opportunities for…

Inspired by Freire's principle of dialogue, in this article we present a series of dialogues and critical syntheses between a science teacher-researcher with 35 years of experience and an early-career science teacher-researcher. We explore being in-between academic research in science education and high school teaching. Following Anzaldúa's…

The authors examine the functions of literacy in three accountability-driven English language arts classrooms. To explore the interplay between transmission-oriented, standards-based instruction and local interpretations and uses of literacy, they employed Pennycook's (2010) notion of relocalization. The authors examine how accountability…

Three decades of reform aimed at improving disadvantaged student achievement have not substantially narrowed achievement and graduation gaps. This article reviews the research around eight essential components of effective high schools emerging from a review of the effective schools and high school reform literature, and provides a framework for…

This paper identifies a nascent trend in several countries regarding increased collection, public availability and use of destination data for graduates of secondary education, with policy ambitions to support pupil-level decision-making and drive provider-level accountability. This trend mirrors the previous development of such data for higher…

Three decades of reform aimed at improving disadvantaged student achievement have not substantially narrowed achievement and graduation gaps. This article reviews the research around eight essential components of effective high schools emerging from a review of the effective schools and high school reform literature, and provides a framework for…

While performance assessment (PA) is well aligned to project-based learning (PjBL), teachers find it challenging to design and implement PA that is faithful to the authentic context of their projects and viewed externally as rigorous. In contrast to standardizing PA tasks--thereby diminishing authenticity--we formed a research-practice partnership…

This conceptual model introduces a process to help school counselors use data to drive decision making and offers examples to implement the process. A step-by-step process is offered to help school counselors and school counselor supervisors address educational issues, close achievement gaps, and demonstrate program effectiveness. To illustrate…

Throughout 2015, there have been 52 school shootings within the United States that have left 30 individuals dead and another 53 injured (Reuters-USA, 2015). Since Friday, December 14, 2012, the date of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 26 people lost their lives, there has been on average one school shooting per week. It is…

This paper reports on evidence from five school principals regarding leadership practices that work in multiple deprived contexts. The South African educational landscape is complex, often described as a cocktail of first and third world institutions. Looking at the schooling system on a continuum, on the one end there are first class schools…

The state of Kentucky mandated College and Career Readiness as a part of the revised education accountability system. The new system is known as Unbridled Learning assessment and accountability. As a result of this mandate high schools in Kentucky are trying to understand the steps necessary to implement a successful College and Career Ready…

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between involvement in agriscience research SAEs and student's perceptions of 21st century skill attainment. Tenth through twelfth grade students enrolled at three purposely selected high schools were surveyed to assess their current level of perceived 21st century skills attainment.…

Using qualitative data collected from three high schools in Shanghai, this study explored the barriers to the development of professional learning communities (PLCs) in Chinese schools from the perspectives of school leaders and teachers. Results indicate that the barriers identified by teachers in the development of PLCs include insufficient…

Over the last two decades, our nation has seen an array of reform initiatives that support lofty goals for student achievement. An underexplored issue in the literature is how this school reform set against the backdrop of high-stakes testing has impacted the students it is designed to assist. Now armed with years of student data, critics of…

Accountability agendas are influencing the secondary education sector in Australian schools. Analysis of student achievement, student feedback mechanisms and personal reflection are forming part of these agendas as methods of teacher evaluation. Additionally, and more recently, teacher evaluation through "peer review" is emerging as a…