The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe how middle school mathematics teachers "make meaning" of proofs and the process of proving in the context of their classroom practices. A framework of "making meaning," created by the researcher, guided the data collection and analysis phases of the study. This framework…

If we are to fully understand the demand side of school choice, we have to understand geography. But geography is not simply distance and commute time. It is also neighborhood and community. Using two conceptions of geography--space and place--I investigate how and when geography factored into parents' thinking. Drawing on spatial analyses of…

In this paper we review different methods for teachers to recommend accommodations in large scale tests. Then we present data on the stability of their judgments on variables relevant to this decision-making process. The outcomes from the judgments support the need for a more explicit model. Four general categories are presented: student…

Parent involvement has been the focus of many educational research studies since the release of "Equality of educational opportunity" (1966), which concluded that parents and home environment determine students' academic success. Since that time, educators have worked toward identifying effective strategies to increase home-school collaboration in…

When former chef and food broker, Tony Geraci was invited by his district superintendent to review New Hampshire's largest school food service program, he never imagined that he would be responsible for running one of the nation's most successful sustainable food service programs. The CONVAL District sustainable food program, create by Geraci and…

Educational efforts to incorporate ethical decision-making in science classrooms about current science and technology issues have met with great challenges. Some research suggests that the inherent complexity in both the subject matter content and the structure and dynamics of classrooms contribute to this challenge. This study seeks to…

The relationship between specific parental behaviors and the career development of young adolescents was assessed. Regression analyses revealed that parental behaviors did relate to the career development of middle school students, after controlling for student grade level and gender. Parental behaviors tended to relate more to career…

Parental involvement comes in various forms and will differ as a child moves through primary and secondary school. Epstein's (2002) classic six-types model captures the potential scope of parental involvement: (1) basic obligations of parents as care-providers; (2) schools communicating with parents about school programs; (3) parent volunteering…

This playbook draws from the findings of "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades," the largest empirical study of this grade level conducted to date. The "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades" study was designed to find out what higher-performing schools do differently. The result is a compelling set of specific, actionable…

Drawing on data collected during the second year of a longitudinal qualitative study that followed over 10 Latino/a bilingual students, this article foregrounds the experiences of participants during their sixth-grade year. The principle data sources included structured and unstructured interviews with teachers and students, school observations,…

For middle and high school teachers of social studies and English, this book is filled with examples of instructional strategies that address students' readiness levels, interests, and learning preferences. It shows teachers how to formatively assess their students by addressing differentiated learning targets. Included are detailed examples of…

The idea of providing student's choice over curricular offerings in physical education has gained a considerable amount of attention in recent years. The purpose of this study was to determine which physical education activities middle school students would like to have included in the yearly curriculum and if there were differences in responses…

Response to intervention (RTI) is a decision-making process for (1) identifying gaps between current and desired results; (2) designing, implementing, and revising interventions; (3) matching the degree of educational needs to the intensity of interventions; and (4) implementing interventions at multiple tiers. The process can be applied to…

This study assessed the immediate and short-term outcomes of adapting a culturally-grounded middle school program, "keepin' it REAL", for elementary school students. After curriculum adaptation, 10 schools were randomly assigned to the intervention in 5th grade with follow-up boosters in 6th grade; 13 schools were randomly assigned to the control…

In their work with adolescent students, school counselors often are faced with the ethical dilemma of whether to break confidentiality to report risk-taking and potentially dangerous behaviors to parents. This study reports the results of a national survey asking school counselors to rate the importance of multiple factors that influence their…