Customary practice in schools is that educators work in silos, often neglecting the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues to truly meet all students' needs. As students transition from middle school to high school, a clear bridging process is vital to set students up for success. Conventional parameters will need to be dismantled, and…

This study reports the results obtained from the implementation of an educational program for primary education in relation to the development or enhancement of students' learning motivation. The publication of a school journal by 24 6th grade students at a public primary school in Greece and their teacher was the main project of the project. The…

The current study examined the effects of an intervention developing Futures Thinking Literacy (FTL) among middle school gifted and regular students. Study participants (N = 877) were divided into gifted students studying in separate classes, gifted students studying in pullout centers, and regular students. The quantitative research applied a…

The effectiveness of SEL programs in promoting students' social-emotional competencies is well documented in North American and European countries; however, evidence is more limited for other cultural and educational contexts. This dissertation examines the perceptions and experiences of teachers and students, cost of implementation, and…

Purpose and Method of Study: The purpose of this mixed-method case study program evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of a middle-level career exploration program to determine whether any program adjustments should be implemented for overall student success. From a population of 152 core classroom teachers, 55 teachers responded to a survey…

Service learning has been established as a promising method of teaching and learning that engages youth as change agents in their schools and communities. But service learning has not been widely implemented or studied in rural K-12 schools. This study explores the case of a service learning curriculum, the Working Together Project (WTP), in a…

Prosocial and Active Learning (PAL) Classrooms is a year-long teacher professional development program designed to increase students' prosocial behavior and engagement in 5th grade mathematics and science classrooms that use active, team-based lessons by altering the way that teachers interact with students using research-based strategies. The…

This study aimed to investigate the influences instructional coaching had on middle school math teachers. Accountability demands have impacted teaching and learning, and the push to use high stakes tests to measure teacher quality and effectiveness has limited teacher autonomy, agency, and efficacy. Teachers need professional learning that…

SWLD are often underperforming in STEM courses compared to their peers without learning difficulties. Furthermore, how students perform in 9th grade is found to be a strong predictor of high school success, graduation, enrolling, and persisting in college (Easton et al., 2017). The study aimed to investigate whether the use of PBA, a…

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…

Purpose: The paper identifies and explores the perspectives of middle school educators regarding the benefits and challenges of an ongoing, emerging school-university partnership. Over five years, professors at one comprehensive, Midwestern university, formed a partnership with a local middle school. While progress has been made to develop the…

Exploring the intersections of CTE and STEM education may foster interest in critical rural healthcare careers beginning in elementary school. Starting early to develop career awareness may be essential and best take advantage of the possible flexibility that rural schools can provide. This study provides a theoretical foundation for rural…

In education, the term "living contradictions" refers to "holding educational values whilst at the same time negating them" in practice (Whitehead, 1993, p. 17), and self-study research often begins with a question surrounding such living contradictions. In this self-study, I implemented an instrumental case study design to…

This applied dissertation was designed to study the relationship between the participation of teachers in a collaborative professional development program, Lesson Study, and their self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Lack of structure and time to effectively implement and reflect upon collaborative professional development programs create a sense…

Study abroad (SA) professional development (PD) programs for teachers of English as a foreign language have been key to the implementation of student-centered practices in rural China. This study uses a qualitative approach to examine the experiences of a group of English teachers from Yunnan Province who received PD training in Canada in 2016.…