This study investigated the middle school preservice mathematics teachers' conceptualization of what it means for a problem to be mathematically rich and contextually realistic and how their conceptions evolved during a series of professional development activities. Fifteen middle school preservice mathematics teachers were involved in this…

Studies on Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) have been widespread globally for three decades. However, it has not been discussed in the context of Nepali schools' education. A positive sense of belongingness to schools among the students is essential to foster their good academic achievement as well as their mental health.…

Despite recognized gains in student achievement in the United States, the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and non-economically disadvantaged students expands. Understanding the larger context of student learning is incumbent upon school leaders who must consider the impact of socioeconomic status, residency, and social…

How can youth become leaders in their communities' resilience efforts? The Lentes en Cambio Climático (LECC) filmmaking program aimed to empower students to investigate how a changing climate affects their lives and use their own findings to inspire local resilience. Secondary students in LECC created films that explore the experiences of…

Urban community leaders describe their perceptions of critical issues in education and offer recommendations for the creation of a college-going culture (CGC). This qualitative study employed a maximum entropy analysis. Results demonstrate critical issues with increasing educational attainment including complexity of the urban school system,…

Students and their families living in poverty need support to reach their potential through education. In small, rural communities, such as the Appalachian area of Ohio, strong partnerships work to mutually support educators, families, and students. Educational service centers work with governmental agencies, state grants, local community…

The underlying assumption of this study is that writing as a process has profound implications for success and fulfillment both in and beyond the classroom. A second assumption is that electronic portfolios provide students a space to write, revise, reflect, share, and explore themselves as writers. Students who engage with and embrace the writing…

This study piloted a survey to determine possible use in a future study that would assess teacher efficacy, the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and the implementation of professional learning communities, and how perceived leadership support impacts that relationship in an urban school district. The data collection process included…

Standardization has been part of teaching and learning in the United States since the late 19th century. This technocratic approach has gained more traction in the past two decades beginning with the passage of the landmark No Child Left Behind law in 2001 and continuing through the recent standardization movement to restrict content and…

Students' prosocial behavior is linked to their own and their classmate's engagement in the classroom. This raises the question of through what pathway prosocial behavior is linked to engagement. This study investigates whether early adolescents' peer belonging mediates the relationship between prosocial behavior and classroom engagement. The…

This dissertation examines the effects of neighborhood characteristics on Detroit Public School Community District students' attendance rates for the 2018-19 school year. First, I analyze the effects of daylight savings time, relative to school start time, on absences for elementary and middle school students. By observing the natural change in…

The barriers to school attendance that affect young Aboriginal people in Australia are diverse, immense and well documented; however, except for a handful of studies, Aboriginal students' voices receive no platform for policy makers to hear them. In this paper, we present results from yarning circles about barriers to school attendance conducted…

While school systems have the arduous task of educating a plethora of diverse students from different backgrounds and social economic status, the task is multifaceted. Epstein (1995) argued that to successfully meet the goal of improving education for all children, there must be considerably more involvement from parents, the community, and other…

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between high school students' school belonging and classroom engagement. Dependent variable of the study is school belonging and independent variable of the study is behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagement. The study was conducted in cross sectional research design. In the study…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the sense of community experienced by teachers who worked at a middle school in a central southwestern state that employed the middle school concept. The middle school concept was introduced in 1963 as a specific way to meet the needs of students in grades six through eight. The Sense of…