When Nia Thornton became an assistant principal at Central Gwinnett High School in Georgia, one of her responsibilities was to lead professional learning for the school staff. She and the school leadership team were excited engage the staff in meaningful, day-to-day learning. They knew that their work needed to be rooted in current research and…

Executive functions, which begin developing in early childhood, are necessary for the tasks of daily life, such as decision making and planning. Despite their early development, often without teaching, many teens with disabilities need explicit instruction to acquire and apply executive functions each day. Gaps in executive functions directly…

This series of evaluation briefs explores the relationship between (a) school climate (as measured by the Brief School Climate Survey for elementary and secondary students), (b) student-level demographics, and (c) PBIS Fidelity (as measured by the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI). All briefs in this series include the same introductory information…

Youth who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming (TGNC) are at greater risk than their peers for mental health concerns. School staff knowledge and training on supporting the mental health of these students may have a significant effect on this population. To better understand where school staff are provided such training, we conducted a…

The case study explores the adoption and implementation of personalized, competency-based learning at Yuma Union High School District (YUHSD) within the broader context of the Arizona Personalized Learning Network (AZPLN). The study reveals that YUHSD has made notable strides in aligning district-wide systems with personalized learning principles,…

Purpose: School improvement planning has been a central part of school improvement initiatives for decades. Evidence suggests, however, that traditional planning processes are regularly superficial. In the USA, some principals have begun developing short-cycle planning designed to encourage school leadership teams and staff to develop, monitor and…

Many studies claim the importance of goal-setting for school improvement but few outline specific practices. This study highlights specific goal-setting practices associated with successful school improvement efforts. It reports on a 2-year collaborative research project, which closely examined three principals' goal-setting practices in the…

Research shows that Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) are associated with school climate and student well-being, but it is unclear what school characteristics may account for some of these findings. The current study describes characteristics of schools with and without GSAs. Using a population-based sample of 1,360 California public high schools,…

This memo from James F. Lane Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, announces the supplemental grant awards under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and provides recommendations for how to support evidence-based practices intended to increase attendance and engagement of students in the middle…

High school college advisors have a crucial role in providing college access for underserved students, yet there is little known about how they are prepared and supported in their positions. A multiple case study (Baxter & Jack, 2008) was conducted to examine the varying ecological factors that directly and indirectly impact college advisors'…

Purpose: This article investigates goal pursuit practices in a sample of 31 New Zealand high schools. It examines goal knowledge of middle and senior leaders, the alignment of this knowledge and factors related to improvement. Design/methodology/approach: Goals from schools' annual improvement plans were identified and counted at the beginning of…

The parent-teacher system is influential in promoting students' career development. Guided by the systems theory framework of career development and spillover theory, this study examined the direct association between parent-teacher relationships and high school students' career development. Furthermore, it analyzed the indirect effect of…

The notion of inclusive education has multiple meanings and the precise definition remains contested. In particular, the debate rages as to whether it is appropriate for some schools to offer specialised provision to particular cohorts of students rather than to educate everyone within a common school. This manuscript foregrounds rich empirical…

The purpose of this study was to understand a school-based mentoring model that uses school staff as adult mentors. This study presents existing literature on school-based mentoring models along with a case study of one teen parent high school. The report also includes step-by-step guidance for implementation. At the case study school, all school…

Recent conceptualizations of L2 motivation have regarded target language learners' goal-directed visions as the core feature of directed motivational currents; that is, a period of intense and enduring motivation in pursuit of a favorable personal vision. This study reports on a multiple-case study designed to explore the effective factors on…