In 2019, the four authors were teaching mathematics at the same public middle school in a suburban district of the mid-atlantic. They had been seeking ways to make adjustments to assessment and grading practices to support students in their learning, and after reading Joe Feldman's "Grading for Equity" (2018), they were inspired to make…

Calls for engineering integration in pre-collegiate science courses are being made across the globe. The success of such efforts depends heavily on science teachers changing their instructional practices to include engineering. We conjecture when a science teacher chooses to make instructional change, including a change to integrate engineering…

The article is based on reforms in the Danish educational system, encouraging a new focus on learning goals. The use of learning goals is investigated with a teacher in one mathematics class. Inspired by categories from goal theory, different types of students are described regarding their understanding of the usefulness of visible learning goals…

This study highlights how principal leadership of goal-directed practices impacts outcomes. Over 2 years, three academics partnered with three principals and a small "project team" comprising one or more teachers, and one or more middle or senior leaders. In this report, the authors reflect on some of the key changes that occurred from…

This qualitative study examines teacher orientations and technology-enhanced tools for student learning within a science literacy framework. Data for this study came from a group of 10 eighth grade science teachers. Each of these teachers was a participant in a professional development (PD) project focused on reformed and technology-enhanced…

View through a power perspective, this article critically evaluates tensions involved in China's school-based curriculum development (SBCD) in middle schools: the state's concern about control, accountability, and schools' eagerness to struggle for more decision-making power. This article examines how a Chinese school and its teachers go beyond…

Background/Context: Despite the tremendous amount of effort devoted by many mathematics educators to promote, defend, and implement reform-based mathematics education, procedural mathematics, which locates mathematical correctness in the procedures learned from textbooks and teachers, persists. Many researchers have identified school and classroom…

As elementary and middle school teachers and students face standards, high-stakes testing, accountability, and one-size-fits all curricula, concerns have arisen that these practices limit the relevance and efficacy of teaching and learning. In this paper, we argue that such practices exact personal costs on students and the teachers expected to…

A changing, economically competitive world has necessitated reform in mathematics education. Yet mathematics anxiety has been a prevalent concern among educators and others in our society for decades. Some students tend to be more anxious about the testing process and can often freeze up, others just cringe when they are confronted with any form…

School improvement efforts often focus on students who perform below grade level. These improvement efforts typically focus on improving instruction, often through a framework and professional development. The question remains, how do students who are gifted and talented respond to this type of instruction? We observed 48 students in their…

During the 2008-2009 school year, faculty members at New Fairfield (CT) Middle School examined relevance and student engagement in relation to student achievement. Subtle clues indicated that students were not fully engaged in their learning: many students did not relate their classroom experiences to their personal reality or to their vision of…

"Webster needs an extreme makeover," students told Principal Joan Brixey upon her arrival at Daniel Webster Middle School in Waukegan, Illinois, three short years ago. The message came in a student-produced video that highlighted things that needed repair at Webster. Brixey was already a firm believer in the proposition that students…

The network of relations between Physical Education (PE) teachers' self-efficacy, goal orientations, attitudes, intentions and behaviours concerning the implementation of a new PE curriculum was examined. Participants were 290 Greek junior high school PE teachers. Two years after the introduction of the new curriculum, participants responded to…

In the next decade, more than half of all new American jobs will require some postsecondary education, yet the current college attainment rate for the nation is 39 percent. The challenges appear well before students begin college: one in four public high school students fails to graduate on time, and of those who graduate, one-third need remedial…

An account is given of the importance and role of trust in motivating teachers to understand students and develop instructional approaches. Three examples of student actions, teacher learning, and instructional change that resulted from understanding students' goals are presented, as well as guidelines for teacher reflection. (Contains 3 figures.)