Over the past few decades, organizations, researchers, and professional developers have noted the potential for using classroom discussions to improve student learning in mathematics classrooms. Yet, for teachers, managing the often-competing demands that arise while attempting to plan for and enact these discussions can be challenging. To better…

Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs), an effective strategy to promote students' college and career readiness, are increasingly used in US school systems as a mechanism to encourage students' career exploration and identification of career goals. After describing features of ILPs, we provide an example of the ILP process developed and implemented…

Niamh McQuillan, development and instructional coach at Windsor Mill Middle School in Baltimore County Public Schools, Maryland, writes here that, as a teacher, she always liked new learning, but more often than not, it was like a barnacle on her practice. She attended professional development sessions and took the handout back to the to-do tray…

This article presents a formative intervention study, called "Learning Lab" that facilitated the collective design of a culturally responsive behavioral support system at an urban middle school in the United States. Learning Lab united parents, teachers, support staff, education leaders, and researchers, specifically those who have been…

Studies have documented widespread academic disengagement in middle and high school students. This disengagement has been tied to a myriad of negative outcomes, including failure to graduate from high school and transition into college and meaningful vocations. Supporting adolescents in cultivating a sense of beyond-the-self purpose is one factor…

There is wide recognition that supporting social-emotional learning (SEL) is a critical task for schools as they emerge from the pandemic, but implementation is challenging and SEL programs can easily turn into isolated and disjointed initiatives. When schools treat SEL as an isolated initiative, implementation can be uneven and difficult to…

This study was designed to examine relationships between student perceptions of school effectiveness and student achievement in mathematics and reading. Data were collected from over 350 middle school students in a large southeastern school district in the United States. The results revealed statistically significant correlations among the…

The schools in the United States undergo reforms that involve the integration of data-intensive improvement process known as strategic improvement plans (SIPs). This process requires digital systems to set goals, create interventions, use and analyse student data, monitor and report SIPs. A challenge with digital systems is the integration of a…

This report uses data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). HSLS:09 is a nationally representative, longitudinal study of more than 23,000 students who were first surveyed in fall 2009, when they were in the ninth grade, and then again in spring 2012, when most were in the eleventh grade. The 2012 administration also included…

In the past several decades, Boston has been a proving ground for new strategies such as mayoral control, charter schools, and expanded access to early childhood education. Located in a state known for rigorous standards and accountability, Boston Public Schools (BPS) has consistently ranked among the top-performing large public school districts…

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a huge effect on adolescents' health and learning. Health promotion strategies should be valued, and life skill education is a potential approach in this direction. This study aimed to investigate the implementation of an evidence-based life skill education programme during the COVID-19…

In Winter 2021-2022, the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) assessments are administered in ELA and mathematics in Grades 3-8. In Spring 2021-2022, the NSCAS assessments are administered in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in Grades 3-8 and in science in Grades 5 and 8. The purposes of the NSCAS assessments are to…

Co-teaching is one approach for providing instruction in the general education classroom for students with and without disabilities. In this approach, two licensed teachers (usually one general educator and one special educator) teach a diverse group of students. Researchers have confirmed that often co-teachers do not experience parity; that is,…

When Okema Owens Simpson, the sixth-grade Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL) for English language arts (ELA) at Ranson IB Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina, plans her schedule for the coming week, she provides what her teachers need most: daily, on-the-job coaching; lesson planning; practice in delivering lessons; co-teaching or modeling a…

Instructional strategies are important components for facilitating active engagement in reading text. This comparative case study sought to determine what instructional strategies three sixth-grade science teachers used, and how these teachers planned for, used, and scaffolded the instructional strategies in their classrooms to facilitate…