This article reports findings from a study to investigate the efficacy beliefs, experiences, and instructional practices of pre-kindergarten (pre-k) teachers from a high-need district who engaged in collaborative professional learning experiences provided by a partner university. The study also examined language and literacy instruction for…

Play is a developmentally appropriate practice for young children and enhances children's holistic development. However, recent educational policies and pressure to focus on academic goals and high-stakes testing have resulted in an emphasis on teacher-directed instruction, minimizing play-based child directed experiences in kindergarten…

This article provides an opportunity to listen to a master teacher describe the achievements that go into having a good day in school with kindergarten children. It can look deceptively easy to achieve. We visit Vivian Gussin Paley's classroom, listen as she describes her goals, and get a glimpse of how she strives to achieve them. We then witness…

The purpose of this study was to explore self-compassion among K-12 music educators. Our sample consisted of 139 practicing K-12 music educators across the United States. Participants completed a modified version of the Self-Compassion Scale Long Form (Neff et al., 2021), which measured both positive (self-kindness, common humanity, mindfulness)…

Existing research has suggested that multilingualism is an asset in many regards (e.g., cognitively, socially, culturally), yet many U.S. schools have created linguistically exclusive environments for multilingual learners (MLLs) by prioritizing/centering English language instruction and perpetuating deficit views of multilingualism for students…

Professional development is an important tool for supporting early childhood teachers in implementing developmentally appropriate practices and child-guided instruction in the classroom. This phenomenological study explored five U.S. novice early childhood education teachers' experiences with professional development. Specifically, we explored how…

The number of disruptive incidents has remained the same in the study site district with three elementary schools in a low socioeconomic area in a southeastern state despite the implementation of restorative practices. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore teachers' perspectives on challenges and best practices when…

With a change in access to information and a rising social and political consciousness for young people, elementary schools must start to think more about their role in shaping kids' understanding of social issues. While researchers certainly have not agreed upon a single definition of social justice education, Bell (2016) defines its aim as…

This phenomenological study investigated elementary teachers' perspectives on student engagement in competency-based education (CBE) classrooms in an upper Midwestern rural school district. The study addressed the limited research on CBE implementation in elementary settings by exploring teachers' lived experiences related to learner engagement.…

Research suggests that current teachers' writing instruction does not prepare students for the demands of college and career writing, a problem that has persisted for decades. The purpose of this survey study of third- and fifth-grade teachers (N=159) across the U.S. was 1) to determine changes in teachers' frequency teaching writing using a set…

There is not a great body of research that exists exploring literacy self-efficacy perceptions of teachers through a qualitative lens, and it was noted that the voices of teachers were missing in literacy self-efficacy research. This qualitative study investigates teachers' perceptions about their literacy self-efficacy, as well as what factors…

High expectations for student achievement, the continuous evolution of teacher evaluation protocols, and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 have led schools and districts to find effective, ongoing professional development for teachers. Schools and districts have invested a great deal of time, energy, and money offering teachers the…

Researchers of early childhood educators' practice have noted the usefulness of applying various conceptual and methodological resources to create accounts of complexity. This article contributes to an under-researched area, providing evidence of multi-tasking and task rotation as aspects of the complexity of early childhood educators' practice.…

The research on classroom management in general is numerous, yet the connection between digitization, classroom management, and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been understudied. The current study explored how primary school teachers managed their digital classrooms while incorporating social and emotional learning into their classroom…

Inclusive education continues to be a highly discussed topic in schools. While most teachers and administrators are supportive of inclusive education, teachers are experiencing challenges that are impacting its success. This research approaches the study of inclusive education implementation from the perspective of the teacher. Using Bandura's…