COVID-19 presented educators with a quick transition to virtual teaching. The problem was that secondary teachers in southwest Florida had to overcome obstacles, including preparedness, to teach successfully using different modalities during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research on this topic is important because teachers' perceptions will…

This study assessed the impact of COVID-19 on secondary teachers' assessment, grading, and reporting practices in south Florida. The study included a review of the literature on the history of traditional versus criterion-based grading and reporting; accountability and equity in grading prior to COVID-19; challenges in implementing alternative…

The study examined how school closures and the rapid transition to online learning may have impacted student performance. In March 2020, a global pandemic was declared in response to the quick spread of the COVID-19 virus. The impact of this global pandemic was felt across all areas of daily routines. Businesses closed, and many workers found…

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (COVID-19), Congress passed three relief acts within a 1-year period that provided more than $276 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19, including $5.5 billion for the Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools (EANS) program. The purpose…

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of American education. Many public schools were closed in 2020-2021, necessitating online education and implementation of social distancing guidelines. However, implementation was not uniform among school districts, creating ambiguity. Using the organization of disaster response theory as a framework,…

As parents, communities, educators, and policymakers continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning in America, many have turned to recently released results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). NAEP measures what students know and what they can do in several tested subjects, including reading,…

This article presents findings from a study examining the impact of a virtual community of practice (VCoP) on professional development (PD) providers learning how to coach teachers using a virtual coaching model called VECTOR. The study was conducted during a time of widespread school closures amidst a global pandemic, but findings can inform the…

Many people consider teaching a calling; the profession is predicated on helping others while yielding little personal gain. A teacher's primary goal is to deliver a valuable and engaging educational opportunity. The onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020 created challenges to reaching this goal for many teachers across the United States…

This Research Brief summarizes the performance of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) students participating in the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) Program. Cambridge courses and assessments were offered at 18 MDCPS high schools in 2021-2022. Over 13,700 assessments were completed by M-DCPS students in 34…

This research brief summarizes the performance of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) students participating in the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) Program. Cambridge courses and examinations were offered at 18 MDCPS high schools in 2022-2023. For the 2022-2023 school year, Cambridge International returned to…

The School Survey Dashboard provides insights into learning opportunities offered by schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey collected data five times, once a month from January through May of 2021 and will contribute to the Institute of Education Sciences' response to the Executive Order on Supporting the Reopening and Continuing…

Immersive professional development is often used to provide teachers first-hand experience in developing place-based curricula. Knowing this, we had carefully crafted such a professional development for our participants to learn how to engage their students in local watershed research and ecology. However, following year one of a two-year…

Charter schools have continued to draw an increasingly larger share of the students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), such that as of October 2021, 23.6% (n=77,662) of the District's students attended a charter school (Urdegar, 2021). This growth can be accounted for by examining changes to the proportion of the students enrolled at…

On January 13, 2023 the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) released high school graduation rates for the State of Florida and the District. The FY22 Federal High School Graduation Rate includes standard diplomas but excludes special diplomas and General Education Diplomas (GEDs). Students with Disabilities (SWD) on Access Points curriculum are…

This essay attends to how digital technology is shaping Christian religious education and its efforts of evangelization. It proposes that, while the use of digital technology has promise, an unreflective integration of digital technology can hinder Christian religious education's efforts of evangelization. This concern requires attention,…