As K-12 education undergoes rapid evolution to meet the demands of a changing world, educational leaders must navigate complex challenges to drive meaningful transformation. This article delves into the imperative for change in educational systems globally and explores tailored strategies for fostering a culture of change within K-12 schools.…

Awareness-raising efforts regarding the climate crisis in schools have gained momentum in recent years. However, increased awareness of the climate crisis has also led to a rise in eco-anxiety, which threatens the well-being of young people. Therefore, it is becoming important to be sensitive to eco-anxiety in climate crisis awareness education…

Within middle schooling philosophy student voice is identified as a way to engage young adolescent students with learning and feelings of belonging at school. Teachers are encouraged to co-construct responsive pedagogy and curriculum with their students. However, locating student voice in classrooms, governed as these are by entrenched student and…

This essay explores the place of debating, talk and group work in the Secondary English classroom. It discusses the ways in which pupils in one student teacher's year 7 class thrive in the dialogic classroom against the backdrop of curricular and attitudinal change. It considers the importance of talk and debate amongst the 'communities of…

In an era of global climate change, intertwined with social and ecological predation, there is growing recognition of the importance of building socially, environmentally, culturally pluralistic, just and sustainable futures. Yet many of the calls for reform and discourses around sustainability are authored and defined through top-down approaches,…

In U.S. school systems, anti-Blackness and ableism are organizing principles that constitute a system of exclusion through which to dismiss complex intersectional identities of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students with and without disabilities. Racialized outcome disparities in the identification of disability and school…

This article develops an emergentist theory of children's agency. To make this claim, it first identifies the following two predicaments that scholars have faced in children's agency research: (1) social ambiguity in distinguishing children's learning from adults' guidance; and (2) causal uncertainty between children's cognitive development and…

There is a serious need to reconsider the adult-led, grade-centered parent teacher meetings which are standard school practice. Schools and students would benefit from elevating PTMs with student voice and formative assessment that celebrates students' efforts and motivates them to continue learning. Under a reinvented framework for meetings,…

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…

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…

This article examines the power of composing images as students construct identities and shape their own worlds. It illustrates student empowerment through agency, intellectual engagement, and community investment and suggests that composing with images forms a bridge back to alphabetic-centric composing.

Failure to improve achievement in K-12 science for racially minoritized students and students living in poverty continues to challenge the inclusionary rhetoric of "science for all." Science education researchers, teacher educators, and educators must consider the racialized and classed inequalities that continue to limit students'…

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), in the state of North Carolina, has gone through considerable recent effort to revise, support, and assess their seventh-grade social studies curriculum in an effort to serve three goals: comply with the Common Core State Standards (Common Core), comply with the North Carolina Essential Standards…

This paper describes high quality teaching practices in two schools that produce exceptional growth for all kinds of students. These practices focus on making the most of instructional time and exposing students to high quality content in a variety of contexts. They prove teachers don't need to choose between differentiating to meet students'…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the third in its latest series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This brief explores afterschool and parent engagement. There is little dispute…