The authors interviewed Black and Latino students from five high-poverty high schools as they attempted to make the transition into college. Their ability to exert individual agency with regard to their entrance exams and their college transition was circumscribed by the messages and behavioral norms that dominated their low-performing high school…

This dissertation seeks to understand how teachers learn through interactions in newly formed workplace communities by examining how mathematics teachers engaged in equity-oriented reforms frame problems of practice. It examines how teachers' framings develop over time, and how teachers' shifting frames connect to their learning in a community of…

This study aimed to build a professional learning community collaboratively among high school teachers for lifelong growth to minimize teacher isolation, discomfort, and fear. The study was driven by a compelling desire to extend personal learning in ways to impact the school learning community. The foundation for this study was the body of…

There are 21 schools in the Harrison County School District (HCSD), located in southern Mississippi, in the Gulfport/Biloxi metropolitan area. Of those, only Harrison Central 9th Grade (HC9) and Harrison County High School (HCHS) participated in the Cisco 21S Initiative--therefore, this summary will focus on only administrators, teachers,…

This article represents a study in two parts, conducted by two researchers who were interested in learning about the level of implementation of Professional Learning Community (PLC) principles at six high schools. The researchers asked the basic questions: What is being learned about the early days of transition to a PLC? What are the changes that…

This study is a qualitative analysis of data collected during a yearlong series of teacher learning community meetings and classroom observations. The participants are middle and high school mathematics teachers from 2 school districts. Teachers were introduced to the research behind formative assessment and how to apply that research to their…

This handbook was developed for high school teachers looking for new sources of timely information and ways to make courses more engaging and relevant to students. The American Community Survey (ACS) provides a wide online array of social, economic, and demographic information about the nation, states, and local communities. These data can be…

The California State University (CSU) requires entering freshmen to be proficient in English reading and writing, as demonstrated on proficiency measures. Currently, approximately 46 percent of incoming college freshmen need remediation in English reading and writing. To assist these students, CSU instituted an Early Assessment Program (EAP),…

In this article, the authors address a high school's need for an updated technology policy that would allow educators to move from confiscating technology to teaching students how and when to use it. By replacing their technology policy with a courtesy policy, the authors describe how they made a huge step toward teaching students to do the right…

Despite increasing interest in the role of community involvement in school improvement, few studies have examined motivations for, or results of community partnership development in high schools. To fill this gap, the authors conducted case studies of three high schools with successful community partnerships. The authors found that case high…

This article features the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools. Social studies educators emphasize the civic mission of schools, and the need to provide students with citizenship education of the highest quality. As National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) members are well aware, the focus of recent educational reforms has…

Volunteer rates vary tremendously across states and age groups. In recent years, young people have exhibited rising volunteering rates, particularly high school students and college freshmen, but 2006 witnessed a drop in the volunteering rate among. When comparing the volunteer rates for different age groups from 2002 to 2006, 16-18 year olds…

This tool was designed to deepen the understanding of what it takes to develop a system of excellent high schools. It provides a framework and guidelines for district leaders, community stakeholders, educators, administrators, parents and students to discuss, assess and map out the process of transforming their high schools to meet the needs of…

Father Bruce Wellems didn't know the dropout statistics when he came to Back of the Yards in 1990 to serve as a parish priest. Born and raised in New Mexico, Wellems initially had only vague notions of what an inner-city ministry might look like and little commitment to the neighborhood's struggling youth. But after some prodding from a local park…

This article investigates the metaphorical duality that exists when school subject departments are concurrently conceptualized as both communities and organizations. Employing a narrative methodology, we use the metaphorical duality to examine the manner in which science teachers negotiate two key aspects of their work; professional learning and…