School-based mental health screening has been identified as a major component of social, emotional, and behavioral multitiered systems of support models, and a promising practice that can be used to address unmet mental health needs of children and adolescents. However, there are frequently noted concerns about the feasibility of implementing…

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…

The Atlanta Schools Critical Education Network for Distinction (ASCEND) is an ongoing interdisciplinary coalition supporting the critical consciousness of social justice educators. ASCEND partners include: (1) activist faculty from two university departments: Middle and Secondary Education and African American Studies; (2) a justice-oriented…

The current study describes the process of a participatory consultation framework, the Participatory Culture Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM), to plan and implement a data-based decision-making framework. The framework integrates proactive and systematic identification of emotional and behavioral needs as well as cognitive psychology techniques…

This case study describes a pilot professional development project in which school leaders met regularly in a community of practice to clarify each other's identification of a problem of practice followed by development and implementation of a school improvement plan. Findings indicated positive perceptions of and engagement in the community of…

A critical part of implementing a new instructional program is professional learning. Multifaceted training was planned and delivered to teachers in a Midwestern urban school district prior to and during implementation of an online accelerated English language arts curriculum in four middle schools. Working in partnership with two universities,…

The purpose of this study is to determine how home visits conducted by teachers from a diverse, urban high school impacted student success and relationships between parents and teachers. Participants were high school teachers who were invited to conduct home visits for rising ninth graders and the students visited at home. In this mixed methods…

Students with disabilities are entitled to attend a school of their choice. In order for the rights of students with disabilities to be honored during the high school choice process, principals must create school structures and systems that are alignment to federal policies to lead in the best interest of students. This mixed methods, qualitative…

Scaffolding ensures multilingual learners (ML) are adequately challenged and supported at school while learning English and subject area content. Due to the dynamic nature of language development, teachers may struggle to anticipate how to adequately scaffold lessons or reflect on their practice to identify areas for improvement. This paper…

Project OCCAMS is an accelerated English language arts curriculum and delivery model for high ability middle school learners. This program was initially developed in a research-practitioner partnership with two universities and a state department of education. Over 6 years, it was implemented in Columbus City Schools, Ohio's largest urban school…

In this study, I explored how (a) a team-based instructional method rather than a one-teacher-one-classroom, traditional teaching model and (b) an inquiry-based learning approach affected teachers attitudes and self-efficacy for teaching and students attitudes, self-efficacy, engagement, and connections to school. The study was conducted within…

Despite the rhetoric, establishing effective home-school partnerships remains a puzzle for Turkish educators. Extant literature in Turkey provides some guidance, but these studies focus heavily on problematic cases and merely request educators' and parents' perceptions about existing problems. The current study focuses on an exemplary literacy…

This study was a yearlong investigation over writing instruction with one class of ninth grade students in an urban, "underperforming" high school. Using qualitative methods with embedded quantitative features, findings revealed students benefited little from the writing instruction they received. In fact, most students showed virtually…

An urban middle school goes through the transformation of becoming a university-supported lab school. Drawing upon design thinking principles, the planning team cultivates a sense of shared empathy, creative problem-solving, and an ethos of curiosity and learning in a collaborative environment.

Substantial, involved, and expensive efforts to promote the dissemination of scientific knowledge and career interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are enthusiastically supported by many scientific, federal, and local organizations. The articulated underlying goals for these efforts include an enhanced public…