In this article, I present a new conceptual framework constructed using sensemaking theory and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to demonstrate layers of policy enactment. The framework reimagines policy enactment as a sociomaterial ethico-political activity by considering the factors that mediate policy enactment and the assemblages facilitating the…

The connections between critical pedagogy, living theory and participatory action research (PAR) are discussed to explore their combined strength for empowering students, positively impacting on their attitudes towards their mathematics learning and creating social change in their primary-secondary mathematics transitions. This transition is…

Profile analysis is one of the main tools for studying whether differential item functioning can be related to specific features of test items. While relevant, profile analysis in its current form has two restrictions that limit its usefulness in practice: It assumes that all test items have equal discrimination parameters, and it does not test…

This article arises out of work undertaken within the After Religious Education project. It synthesizes the curriculum expertise of established researchers, with the expertise of current teachers of RE in England. A question drives our shared interests: how should we approach curriculum development in RE and how do we justify the approach taken?…

Conducting a fair test is important for educational research. Unfair assessments can lead to gender disparities in academic achievement, ultimately resulting in disparities in opportunities, wages, and career choice. Differential Item Function [DIF] analysis is presented to provide evidence of whether the test is truly fair, where it does not harm…

Writing assessments often consist of students responding to multiple prompts, which are judged by more than one rater. To establish the reliability of these assessments, there exist different methods to disentangle variation due to prompts and raters, including classical test theory, Many Facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM), and Generalizability Theory…

While there is widespread agreement about the need to evaluate professional development, actual evaluation remains rare, despite the fact that K-12 school districts invest in professional development as the main mechanism to grow teacher practice and improve student learning. This article explores research literature about why current mechanisms…

The advantages and disadvantages of ability grouping for student achievement are strongly contested, with studies presenting different results. However, much of this research has focused on class-level or subject-level ability grouping. Relatively less research has focused on school-level ability grouping. More importantly, the role of teacher…

Although action research has a history of bridging gaps between research and school practice, challenges emerge when aligning a scientific approach with development work in schools and in collaboration between research and school practice. In this article, we aim to deepen the knowledge on teachers' action research as social learning in…

This paper revisits the well-known and often-taught novel "The Chrysalids" toward a reconsideration of the novel's place within curriculum and the pedagogies it may offer. Framed as a mourning ceremony, a way of revisioning what the novel could mean in the present by saying goodbye to what it has meant in the past, the paper progresses…

Economic efficiency demands accurate assessment of individual ability for selection purposes. This study investigates Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) for estimating true ability and ranking individuals. Two Monte Carlo simulations and real data analyses were conducted. Results suggest a slight advantage for IRT, but…

Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs, which teach content knowledge in English and a partner language, have shown promise in attaining academic achievement, bilingualism/biliteracy, and sociocultural competence. Recently, scholars have argued for adding critical consciousness as a foundational goal to challenge the hegemonic…

Curriculum reforms often fail because teachers are asked to implement approaches to teaching and learning that are contrary to their beliefs about students and how to teach them. Since curriculum reforms are attempts to resolve particular educational problems, failures in implementation produce parallel failures to resolve the problem for which…

Subject choices in secondary education are important decisions, since they critically determine the tertiary fields of study that pupils can pursue. Multiple variables may play a role in pupils' decisions, such as their social environment and attitudes. The current study investigated subject choice intentions using the Theory of Planned Behavior…

Learning strategies have been recognized as important predictors of mathematical achievement. In recent studies, it has been found that Asian students use combined learning strategies, primarily including metacognitive strategies, rather than rote memorization. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is only one prior study including South…