As middle school teachers, the authors want their students to develop voice and agency because they want them to be able to make productive decisions about how to approach mathematics, communicate mathematics, and use mathematics to interpret and transform the world in which they live. They use this article to present two vignettes that examine…

Formative assessment is a tool for learning that virtually every educator uses in the classroom to some extent. While teachers may be motivated to use formative assessment for a variety of reasons, its intended purpose is to be a tool for both teachers and students for teaching and learning, respectively. However, many teachers, even those with…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to inquire into the effectiveness of authentic writing instruction embedded in a critical service-learning project in a middle school English Language Arts curriculum. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes middle school students' survey responses before and after their participation in a critical…

Some of the most effective innovations in education have allowed fundamental changes to how individual students are being taught and assessed. Personalized learning models tailor learning to individual needs, accommodating students with diverse learning styles.

A tension in designing classroom learning involves balancing the questions and interests of students with the goals of teachers and standards. One approach to navigating this tension in science classrooms is to simultaneously support and constrain students' questions about an observable natural phenomenon in the classroom and then take up those…

Democratic education focuses on developing students using democratic principles and processes in the classroom. In this study, we aim to understand how self-identified democratic educators practice democratic education in public-school classrooms. Nine participants, teachers in K12 schools, were interviewed for this qualitative study. In…

Much of the special education research on writing has focused on skill acquisition and remediation. However, a significant problem with this approach is that it does not account for the sociocultural nature of writing or the importance of culturally sustaining pedagogies in writing instruction. In this article, the author uses practitioner…

Theoretical and empirical support for the benefits of elaborative strategy instruction for middle level students is highlighted. Consistent with the "Keys of Educating Young Adolescents," teaching elaborative strategies enhances academic achievement, engages learners, and empowers students' future independent learning. A transactional…

Personalizing learning with technology in secondary schools is a way to empower students to take control of their learning. The more learners can direct their own learning experiences, including path, pace and instructional approach, the more they may learn what they want and need to learn. In a quasi-experimental design, data about the…

The authors examined the dimensions of reading engagement for rural ninth-grade students who participated in a supplemental literacy intervention for students who struggled with school-based reading. Using a comparative case study approach, researchers investigated the ways in which engagement was characterized and undermined within the context of…

This article presents a conceptual School-Community Group Model for working with African American adolescents. The model stems from a group conducted with urban, male, African American, adolescents co-facilitated by a White female school counselor and an African American male community leader. The article describes the theoretical underpinnings…

Drawing on two multi-site ethnographic projects in Beijing and Shanghai, we explore how teachers in both public schools and schools for migrant children have responded to state policies that restrict educational opportunities for migrant students. We argue the importance of political context in re-conceptualising empowerment by raising the…

This paper tests a new theoretical framework for engaging students by evaluating two project-and-design-based pedagogies: "Arts Integrated Collective Creation (AICC) and Educational Social Enterprise (ESE)." Findings provide statistical support for benefits with middle school students when instruction is designed around Socially…

In this article, the author proposes that students who led their Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings were better informed about their own disabilities, rights, and accommodations, and that the act of leading the meeting resulted in improved self-advocacy and self-confidence. Also, in understanding their list of accommodations and…

Despite decades of education reform, the US school curricula remain virtually unchanged. Multi-billion dollar initiatives such as "No Child Left Behind," "Common Core State Standards," "Race to the Top," and "Every Student Succeeds Act" have not resulted in significant academic gains or curricula change. The…