This research study was designed to examine the impact of the incorporation of vocabulary instruction and various teacher strategies by a middle school science teachers team on student science achievement. The researcher focused on the teacher preparation of vocabulary word walls and the inclusion of specific words within individual units of study…

This report presents the results from the third biennial Texas OER Landscape Survey, administered in 2023 and commissioned by the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The survey aimed to explore the open educational resources (OER) landscape, policies, and practices at…

Students today can enter classrooms lacking the social and emotional skills needed to achieve academic and behavioral success in school. As the need for the classroom-based social and emotional interventions and supports grow, the need to identify the perceptions of teachers involved in the identification and implementation of these interventions…

Context: Research has demonstrated the importance of teacher quality for student achievement above all other school-based factors (Aaronson et al., 2007; Goldhaber, 2002; Rivkin et al., 2005; Rockoff, 2004). Yet while states and districts have allocated significant resources toward professional learning (PL) aimed at improving instruction (Jacob…

This study examines implementation of college-and-career-ready (CCR) education standards across five school districts in Ohio, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Drawing on the policy attributes theory, we found that the specificity of districts' approaches to two long-recognized policy levers, curriculum and professional…

In an effort to keep pace with an expanding knowledge-based economy, K-12 schools across the U.S. are increasingly shifting their STEM teacher professional learning programs to help teachers foster student experiences with skills such as problem solving, adaptability, and creativity. This study utilized quantitative and qualitative data to examine…

Jobs for the Future's (JFF) vision for the Big Blur calls for entirely new educational institutions and systems to better prepare 16-to-20-year-olds for college and careers. This paper examines the new type of governance needed to help states create more effective grade 11-14 schools and systems by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high…

Social, emotional, and affective experiences are impossible to separate from thinking, doing, and being in the world. Increasingly, schools and community-based organizations are recognizing this truth through the adoption of programs that focus on the emotional lives of children and youth, especially when emotions are fraught, and lives have been…

In 2019, declines in reading achievement across Texas motivated changes for teacher recertification, which required 60-hour professional development in the science of teaching reading (STR). The problem this study addressed was the challenges K-Grade 3 reading teachers encountered when implementing the recently adopted Reading Academy content at a…

In this randomized control study, we evaluated science teachers' pedagogical practices via classroom observations following ongoing, intensive, and structured instructional support sessions. These sessions included virtual professional development (VPD) and virtual mentoring and coaching (VMC) that accompanied a literacy-infused science…

Texas House Bill 102, effective September 1, 2019, requires Texas public school districts to assign a mentor teacher to each beginning teacher; however, implementation may look different on each campus within a school district (H.B. 102, 2019). Campus principals can enhance district induction and mentoring programs through the onboarding of new…

This study examined the professional learning engagement of Texas public school teachers in the ESC-20 region while teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research questions focused on participants' perceptions of emergency remote teaching (ERT), engagement in professional learning, transformations as adult learners, and professional learning to…

Since the emergence of middle schools as distinct educational settings in the 1960s, proponents of the model have advocated for structures and approaches that best meet the particular developmental needs of young adolescents. Middle school researchers have developed frameworks of best practices for schools that have been widely, if not uniformly,…

This qualitative, phenomenological study examines how artificial intelligence (AI) impacts lesson design for teachers at a school district in southeast Texas. As generative AI becomes more integrated into education, this research investigates how AI tools influence teachers' abilities to create dynamic, differentiated, and effective lesson plans.…

The central purpose for this dissertation in practice was to explore the practices, challenges, and recommendations of P-12 instructional coaches in a mid-sized public-school district in the state of Texas regarding job efficacy and factors that influence attrition. This phenomenological study involved 10 instructional coaches with at least one…