Teachers who have inadequate training often feel unprepared to teach English language learners (ELLs). This qualitative case study's purpose was to reap a rich understanding of middle school teachers' perceptions, perspectives, and prior teaching experiences concerning their capacity to instruct ELLs in the mainstream setting. The overarching…

The study reported in this article is based on the premise that listening to the voices of students with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) and reflecting and acting on student views is essential within inclusive education. Six primary grade students and six teachers participated in this action research project. Data was gathered…

The purpose of this study was to examine the High Tec Middle School teachers' and administrators' knowledge of the service learning model upon which the school's service learning program has been based, their views regarding their role in student character formation through service learning, and the teachers' feelings of ownership regarding the…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of middle school, technologically proficient, or digitally-wise teachers, regarding how they defined, prevented, recognized, and handled incidences of cyberbullying in four middle schools located in Southern Virginia. Data was collected using an open-ended questionnaire,…

Since the last decade of the 20th Century, there has been an effort to integrate technology into classroom instruction. The success of this effort has been uneven, as teachers have resisted this change. There has been a great deal of recent research on the importance of teacher-to-teacher interactions and successful organizational change. This…

The problems addressed by this study are (a) the significant rise in specific learning disabilities referrals and identification and (b) the inability to identify effective strategies for reducing the number of referrals and identification using Rtl models in fifth and sixth grades. A review of the literature indicated a compelling need to study…

Social Studies can be understood, or theorized, in a number of different ways as a consequence of its history (Evans, 2004). This paper presents the findings of a research study of high school students' and teachers' conceptions of Social Studies in relation to four philosophical orientations, labeled the Classicist/Traditionalist, Essentialist,…

The lack of strong literacy skills and practices among students is perhaps the clearest indicator that the education system continues to leave millions of children behind. To advance the reading, writing, and speaking skills of middle and high school students, this study examines a professional development model that brought trained…

In this article, the authors examine the effect of a National Writing Project professional development model on a group of middle school writing teachers. The authors examine how contact with other professionals in intensive week-long sessions as well as mentoring from the professional development coach affected the teachers’ concept of themselves…

"Louisiana Believes" embraces the principle that all children can achieve at high levels, as evidenced in Louisiana's recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). "Louisiana Believes" also promotes the idea that Louisiana's educators should be empowered to make decisions to support the success of their students.…

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' current and retrospective perceptions of empowerment within the context of the No Child Left Behind Legislation. Much of the empowerment research to date was conducted prior to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act which was signed into law in January, 2002. The legislation mandates that K-12 public…

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, standardized test scores have revealed that the U.S. public education system has been unable to adequately address improvement of academic achievement. For 20 years, educators have been promoting professional learning communities (PLCs) as a solution to improving K-12 academic achievement.…

The literature on teacher retention is abundant, yet the focus on new teachers themselves is limited. This research study provides a detailed description of what beginning teachers reported made them want to stay at one middle school with a 100% teacher retention rate over four consecutive years. This study employed qualitative methodology.…

A collaborative school-based intervention aimed at modifying relationships among administrators and teachers was implemented in three middle and junior high schools. Across the intervention schools, teachers were active collaborators in identifying problems and then articulating and implementing customized interventions to redress those problems.…

There were two purposes of this dissertation. The first purpose was to determine the level of physical educator empowerment who teach in an inclusive physical education environment compared to the level of physical educator empowerment who teach in a noninclusive physical education environment. The second purpose was to compare the level of…