This longitudinal study examined how the approach leaders in two schools took to implementing the Common Core State Standards shaped the way that two first-year teachers constructed meaning related to being a teacher. Instructional leadership constructs and threat rigidity theory were used to analyze qualitative data gathered over a nine-month…

This dissertation was designed to answer the following question. What are elementary and middle school principals' theories of action in two rural school districts? Sub-questions included the superintendent-principal relationship and its influence on the principal's theories of action and the extent to which rural context impacts…

A vertical scale, in principle, provides a common metric across tests with differing difficulties (e.g., spanning multiple grades) so that statements of "absolute" growth can be made. This paper compares 16 states' 2007-2008 effect size growth trends on vertically scaled reading and math assessments across grades 3 to 8. Two patterns…

In this article, I add to the critique of the myth of the American Dream by examining ethnographically the ways its dominant discourse is circulated to Khmer American middle school children of migratory agricultural workers. Drawing on social theories of discourse, I juxtapose the ideology embedded in the American Dream Discourse with the…

In the state of Georgia, local school systems are under pressure to increase at-risk middle school students' state scores in reading and math. At the data site, the local school system implemented a supplemental education service (SES) program for at-risk students in order to pass the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) in reading…

This inquiry-based activity provides a real-world example that connects to students' everyday seafood choices. In fact, many students went home and insisted to their parents that they should only buy "green" seafood choices. It was also an effective activity because students were able to use what they learned about ocean ecosystems and…

There is an alternative to conventional teacher mentorship. The authors describe and analyze a promising model of mentorship where multiple mentees and mentors, each with varying levels of experience, engage collaboratively in the study of teaching practice. They have found that well-designed contexts in which beginning and experienced teachers…

Although professional learning communities are often promoted as unique learning opportunities, little is known about how they get started and how they are sustained. For this reason, group members are often unprepared, and then frustrated, by inevitable group tensions. With this in mind, Karl Weick's [(1979). "The social psychology of…

Science education reform in the United States has been slow to reduce the troubling science achievement gap between students from mainstream and non-mainstream backgrounds. Recent data suggest the gap persists in spite of improved attention to the multicultural education of teachers, and in spite of recent, more culturally inclusive and responsive…

In this paper we weave lived experiences, those of a bilingual social studies teacher at a middle school in a large city in the Southwestern US, with critical theory/pedagogy and bilingual education. The purpose of this paper is to present an articulation of the practice of critical pedagogy in a bilingual educational context principally under the…

Two multivariate studies examined the applicability of the theory of planned behavior in gauging students' attitudes toward mathematics, as well as the predictive power of mathematics attitudes in explaining students' grades in mathematics. Middle-school students from the United States (N = 382) and Belarus (N = 339) participated. Confirmatory…

This qualitative study explores pre-service teachers' perceptions of teaching critical literacy through discussions of controversial issues. Personality questionnaires were given to six classes of pre-student teachers over three semesters in order to gauge interest in teaching methods that incorporate inquiry learning and critical literacy. The…

Studio STEM adopts a design studio model to provide middle school youth with the opportunity to work with peers and college student facilitators after school in a relaxed, non-threatening, collaborative environment. Two informal learning educators guided overall instruction and pacing, but youth directed their own step-by-step activities by…

This participatory action research study addressed questions of pedagogical strategies, motivation, assessment, and student choice surrounding an inquiry approach to teaching and learning in a 7th grade social studies classroom. Teacher and student data were collected over a 6-week inquiry project stemming from and directed by student choice. Data…

The purpose of this concurrent mixed methods study was to examine the collaborative relationship between scientists and science teachers and to incorporate and advocate scientific literacy based on past and current educational theories such as inquiry based teaching. The scope of this study included archived student standardized test scores,…