Transition planning is an essential component of special education for students transitioning from high school to the adult world. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the ways in which transition education is implemented and has been a catalyst for change and potential improvement in transition education practices. Research is just beginning to…

This qualitative study investigated how critical reflection can be incorporated into collaborative professional communities to enact a process of generative transformative praxis that leads to meaningful action on the part of its community members. Across the arc of a series of six collaborative reflection groups that took place during the…

The shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 crisis left some students with inequitable access to at-home internet putting students at risk of falling behind in skills needed not only for school but later in life. A month into remote learning, 197 high school students in an urban school district in New York state were identified as not having…

Uncommon Schools is a nonprofit charter management organization that starts and manages public charter schools, primarily in traditionally underserved communities. As part of a 2016 grant awarded to Uncommon from the U.S. Department of Education's Charter Schools Program to support replication and expansion of its school model, we conducted a…

The number of students struggling with chronic absenteeism, while on the rise prior to COVID-19, appears to have increased dramatically since the onset of the pandemic. This dissertation explores the challenges faced in a suburban middle school in Western New York throughout and following the COVID-19 shutdown. Data from the district's student…

This nonexperimental quantitative study surveyed middle level educators' perceptions of student engagement during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The In-Person versus Online Learning (IPVOL) survey was administered broadly across the Lower Hudson Valley of New York resulting in 152 responses. This study's findings supported the literature and…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lives of students everywhere. This study sought to understand how effective one school district's response was to COVID-19 regarding emergency remote learning from the student and parent perspectives. Participants and data collected in Cycle 1 consisted of parents and students within the school district who had…

Teachers in New York State and across the United States experienced a unique start to the 2021-2022 school year as students returned to full-time, in-person learning following imposed lockdowns due to COVID-19. To address the social and emotional needs of the returning students, an emphasis on interpersonal relationships became increasingly…

COVID-19 prompted unprecedented disruptions to schools with challenges particularly severe for high-poverty remote rural schools. This case study recounts the story of a rural school that had participated in a research-practice partnership (RPP) multi-year improvement effort prior to the pandemic and documents the ways the RPP and the school-based…

Once the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in the United States, social distancing measures that included closing sport facilities, recreational facilities, schools, restaurants, entertainment venues, and so on were put in place to decrease the spread of the virus. This posed a unique challenge for physical education (PE) instructors as they were left to…

This paper presents the results of a nationwide survey of educators for grades 6-12 who specialize in family and consumer sciences education (N=380). The paper examines teacher reports about their self-efficacy in online learning during the switch to off-campus instruction. Data revealed that district communication to teachers indicating that they…

Participants in this research study found themselves suddenly forced into remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, unfamiliar with online teaching and with little guidance from the field of education. Survey data was used to capture the voices of 18 K-12 educators to share their lessons learned, the challenges they encountered, and the…

Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to honor, position and reflect on key themes related to high school reform within the careerlong scholarship of Karen Seashore Louis. It is presented in relation to my own and others' key studies and book-length arguments regarding educational change, knowledge utilization, professional communities and…

This narrative study examined how the life experiences of high school administrators impact how they conceptualize and understand school discipline. These experiences were then positioned within the current context of COVID-19 pandemic related school closures and protests associated with George Floyd's death which brought light to systemic racism…

The authors, youth leaders in Philadelphia and New York, believe that researchers can do a better job of listening to and including youth in their research. Since October 2021 they have been collecting essays from high school students (and some middle school and college students too) written during this time of community, national, and global…