Many students rely on rote algorithms that have been recently taught as they look for a direct way to tackle challenging problems. Especially for students who have not succeeded in the typical high-school curriculum, problem-solving in a novel situation is complex, and students ask for a direct way to solve rather than persevering. The purpose of…

Educator leadership requires continuous development, including extended professional learning opportunities for principals in the field. This is also true for district leaders who likely have even fewer robust opportunities to grow professionally. We conducted a comparative interrupted time series of publicly available student achievement data…

New Mexico is home to more than 28 cultures and ethnicities that deserve to be recognized, celebrated, respected, and accepted (NMDCA, 2019). In 2022, 318,613 students enrolled in New Mexico public schools, with the demographics breakdown of 22% of students reported as White, 61% Hispanic, 9% American Indian, 1% African American, 1% Asian, and 2%…

Co-teaching is a popular service delivery option for students with learning disabilities (LD), yet its overall efficacy is questionable. Variance in teachers, students, quality of instruction, and types of co-teaching make it challenging to meet criteria for quality group experimental study. Schools must determine the effectiveness of their…

Middle school brings rapid developmental changes for adolescents, and parent engagement is as essential as ever. However, what worked for parent-teacher partnerships in elementary school doesn't fit so well in middle school. Adolescents are building their autonomy, and teachers must help empower parents' efforts to bolster students as independent…

The purpose of this case study was to explore administrator, teacher, and parent perceptions about the resources needed to increase parental involvement. Leveraging three theoretical frameworks of Epstein's overlapping spheres of influence, the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model, and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, this study utilized qualitative…

Researchers Martha Abele Mac Iver, Joyce Epstein, and Steven Sheldon summarize the outcomes of their four-year partnership with an urban district aimed at improving the ways schools engage families during the critical transition to high school. They describe how schools put into practice the strategies learned in ongoing professional development,…

This qualitative dissertation aimed to understand if an after-school kinesiology service-learning program changed the relationship between a large Research I institution and a local public school. Eight 7th- and 8th-grade students, three classroom teachers, and one administrator participated. Data collection methods included semistructured…

Since at least 2001, an emphasis has been placed on the use of evidence-based practices in schools to close achievement gaps. Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) emerged during this time as a framework of evidence-based practices adopted by nearly all U.S. states including Georgia. When implemented with fidelity, MTSS has the potential to close…

Effective leadership preparation includes meaningful, experiential opportunities. This article details an effort to provide these opportunities through a school-university partnership. Through involvement in a semester-long action research project, a cohort of teacher leaders increased academic growth for selected students at their middle school…

Under the traditional English learning context, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners have few opportunities to apply their knowledge to a real-life setting. According to situated learning theory, different contexts hold different concepts related to learners' real experiences. The researchers, therefore, integrated drama activity into EFL…

The purpose of this paper is to examine principals' instructional actions in rural, high-poverty schools and the perceived impact on student achievement. For this qualitative case study, research questions were: What principals' instructional leadership practices are being demonstrated in rural, high-poverty schools based on the literature and…

This study was designed to explore strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats driven by teacher-parent communication (TPC, henceforth) from the perspectives of teachers and students based on teacher views. A phenomenological design was adopted in the study of which sampling was constituted by 10 Turkish teachers of different subject areas…

Many school systems ask teachers to assess and report upon aspects of student performance beyond academic achievement. In Ontario, K-12 teachers assess a common set of six Learning Skills and Work Habits. How well teachers are able to undertake these assessments is not well studied. This study examines Grade 9 and 12 report card data from two…

Collaborative problem solving (CPS) is an important 21st-century skill for academic and career success, and as a result, there is increased interest among businesses and educational institutions in the assessment and development of CPS skills. CPS skills are difficult to measure using traditional forms of assessment, and that difficulty has led to…