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…

The purpose of this case study was to explore administrator, teacher, and parent perceptions about the resources needed to increase parental involvement. Leveraging three theoretical frameworks of Epstein's overlapping spheres of influence, the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model, and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, this study utilized qualitative…

This collaborative, descriptive research project in urban Texas looked at the at the development, implementation, and student perception of effectiveness of a multi-stage pedagogical intervention in a classroom to help preservice teachers become more confident during discussions of controversial identity issues; specifically, ableism, classism,…

There was a period in U.S. history when Black teachers were heavily employed within the educational workforce and were leading examples of excellence (Anderson, 1988). Black teachers, teaching within their communities, were able to directly impact their students' achievement and behavior while also reinforcing shared family values. As a result of…

The purpose of this study was to explore administrators' and teachers' experiences and perceptions of how restorative practice strategies impact the execution of school discipline in an urban middle school. This study included a review of data collected from interviews with middle school administrators and teachers in a large school district. A…

Due to the current shortage of special education teachers and the rising concerns over attrition and retention, it is important to understand what is contributing to teacher burnout and self-efficacy. This purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, predictive study was to determine if there was a predictive relationship…

The purpose of this study was to identify the strengths and challenges that emerged from the first 3 years of a high school student leadership development program located in an urban setting. This study was developed as an instrumental case study of one student leadership development program serving urban public high schools in South Central…

This explanatory sequential mixed methods study, which consisted of QUAN [right arrow] to qual investigated the impact of mathematics word problems among African American students in the seventh grade. This study applied a culturally relevant education (CRE) lens to examine how students solve mathematics word problems. Ladson-Billings (1997) and…

The 2019-2020 school year ushered in the Texas Education Agency's second year under a new A - F rating system for the state's 1,200 districts and 8,759 public schools. As such, educational leaders across the state began to take an even closer look at what it takes to meet the needs of an ever growing and diverse population of students. However, in…

State legislation serves as a guide and critical influence on the evaluation and identification of students with dyslexia across the United States. The state of Texas has numerous laws and regulations concerning dyslexia, guided by the Texas Administrative Code, Texas Education Code, Texas Occupations Code, and the Texas Education Agency's…

This case focuses on the Board of Trustees of a large urban school district in Texas, as they worked to decide when learners would have the option to return to in-person learning even as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect the community, particularly communities of color. This decision-making process included two back-to-back school board…

Determining how to increase practicing elementary teacher science instruction self-efficacy through ongoing professional development has been a problem in one urban Texas school district. Existing literature indicated science instruction self-efficacy could be built using professional development. However, there is a gap in the literature…

Grow Your Own Programs (GYO) have gained increasing popularity with the impact of shortages of quality teaching candidates in many school districts, particularly in urban areas. To address the lack of quality teaching candidates, school districts and states have responded creatively to recruit the best teachers for their schools. To explore some…

This article evaluates data from a case study involving five third-generation Mexican American teachers who work in an urban school district in Central Texas. The study analyzes their social capital and their culturally responsive connections with immigrant, first-, second-, and third-generation Mexican American students' in and out-of-school…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover perceptions and factors contributing to retention of alternatively certified teachers with one to four year's teaching experience in one of Texas's largest school districts. Schools are facing low teacher retention rates which negatively impact student performance. Podolsky et al. (2019)…