A popular alternative disciplinary framework from zero-tolerance school policies is restorative justice, which refers to a set of ideologies and practices that emphasize healing relationships in lieu of community exclusion. This work investigates the differences between ideological support for restorative approaches compared to program…

Racial disproportionality in school discipline is an enduring systemic problem whose patterns change from one context to another. In order to develop systemic solutions that are responsive to local contexts, school stakeholders' collective, agentic actions toward systemic changes are essential. Utilizing a participatory systemic design process led…

Public education depends on the collaboration of adults to promote the success of the students who are served. Principal-teacher relationships are a necessary part of the overall learning environment established for students to grow and thrive. In an urban educational setting these relationships can be tested, especially in the transitional grades…

Teacher wellbeing has gained increasing attention in recent decades, intricately related to the problems of teacher retention, attrition and shortages. In some respects, the emerging debates have been fundamentally disconnected from the everyday lives of teachers, schools and school communities. Teacher wellbeing is repeatedly foregrounded as a…

Later school start times have emerged as a potential policy to improve the sleep and educational outcomes of teenagers. This study uses a quasi-experimental comparative interrupted time series approach to examine a 90-min delay in start times in an urban district in North Carolina. Results show that the later start time resulted in more sleep for…

Studies have been conducted for decades on the impact that restorative practices can have on student discipline systems in an educational context, along with the challenges of implementation (Dhaliwal et al, 2023; Marsh, 2017; Blood, 2005; Wearmouth et al, 2007; Drewery, 2016; Jones, 2021, Guckenburg et al, 2015). However, these studies have not…

This study aimed to investigate the differential relationship between Temperament, Executive Functioning (EF) and Media Use Motivations and the frequency of two kinds of Media Multitasking (MM) in early adolescence. Results showed differential roles of temperamental Effortful Control, Negative Affectivity and Affiliativeness in predicting academic…

The multifaceted nature of peer social status entails personal benefits and potential detrimental effects that are particularly relevant to adolescents, as they place a higher emphasis on popularity and being well-liked compared to other stages of development. The study examined adolescents' motivational constructs related to gaining or changing…

Due to the low academic performance of Liberian students, in 2013, the president of Liberia declared that the education sector needed to be overhauled. Consequently, the education minister launched a nationwide professional development (PD) program. Despite the PD initiatives, academic performance in an urban school district (USD, a pseudonym) has…

Student absenteeism is a persistent concern in K-12 education. Not only are the negative academic and social consequences of excessive absenteeism well documented, but states, districts, and schools are increasingly being held accountable for student attendance. As research indicates that disruptions in students' learning contexts may exacerbate…

Embracing students' cultural assets is critical in facilitating self-growth and development at the secondary level, especially among minoritized students interested in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine/health (STEM-M) careers. Using sociocultural and community cultural wealth (CCW) lenses, longitudinal data among 23…

This dissertation investigated the academic performance of immigrant high school students in urban settings, focusing specifically on mathematics. Drawing on Bandura's self-efficacy theory and Zea and colleagues' acculturation framework, the study explored the complex interplay between sources of self-efficacy, acculturation dimensions, and other…

Teaching the scientific, historical, and social facets of global climate change, its causes, and inequitable impacts presents a challenge to most K-12 teachers. In this article we describe the design and implementation of a yearlong professional learning program created to support urban, public K-12 teachers in the creation and enactment of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between principal leadership styles and teacher burnout. The study included a review of data collected using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-ES) from a purposeful sample of teachers from one large urban Title I high school in a…

Public charter schools lack research that determines what makes them successful. Charter schools are relatively new, existing for around 30 years in the United States. The depth and breadth of research focusing on public education rarely includes charter schools. The research focusing on charter schools specifically is quite limited. Like…