This paper focuses on an action research project that integrated the "Daily 5" literacy framework into a fourth-grade classroom in a small rural town in Kansas. The study aimed to enhance the literacy skills of English Language Learners (ELL) using the Daily 5 method, which includes five key activities: Read to Self, Work on Writing,…

The Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 public school system and Kansas State University's College of Education view the Professional Development School Network as central to the work of simultaneous renewal across institutions and within the professional lives of teachers, teacher candidates, and K-12 students. In this article, the authors share the pride of…

This article discusses an action research project in which critical Disability Studies pedagogy was integrated into two Art Education courses for preservice art teachers. Research participants investigated Disability Studies literature and disability visual culture and designed lesson plans, teacher art examples, and artist's statements that…

Accompanying myriad definitions of critical literacy is an absence of pedagogical models for implementing critical literacy in teacher education contexts. This action research explores critical literacy with pre-service and in-service teachers in teacher education courses offered in the United States. The primary data sources include online weekly…

The purpose of this study was to obtain an accurate picture of minority student enrollment in honors and advanced placement (AP) classes at Wichita (Kansas) High School East and to develop a plan of action to close the achievement gap between White and non-White students. Prior to this study there was no clear, concise data to move this discussion…

Through learning communities, schools can change to strengthen educator practice and improve student learning outcomes. So can districts. For 20 years, the authors have helped states, districts, and schools in the United States and Canada implement Whole-Faculty Study Groups, a design for learning communities. During the 2010-11 school year, they…

The great majority of America's population now resides in urban/suburban locales and consequently most Americans do not struggle with the question of whether their community can, or should, maintain its own school. Nevertheless, this question continues to confront many rural dwellers in all states. What follows is an action research project…

Reflections on the history of real-world (applied) community psychologists trace their participation in the field's official guild, the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA), beginning with the Swampscott Conference in 1965 through the current date. Four benchmarks are examined. The issues these real-world psychologists bring to the…

A teacher, an aide, and four students from Manhattan High (Kansas) set out to defeat a bill to allow a young man to homestead an island important for its overwintering bald eagle habitat. Through research, lobbying the state legislature, and help from the National Audubon Society, the bill is defeated. (LC)

The author describes the evolution of a traditional on-campus secondary science methods course into a dynamic field- and campus-based professional development school collaboration. Whereas science teaching methods were taught in an isolated and independent course, they are now integrated within an interdependent experiential semester that…

A study examined costs and benefits perceived by 26 self-help group leaders who helped rural Kansas communities in extending the use, awareness, and effectiveness of self-help groups. Findings that satisfaction in helping was the major benefit and time constraints the major cost were used to tailor leadership roles. Self-help group activity…

Purpose: This study examined whether providing outcomes information to 120 nursing homes facilitated improvements in quality over a 12-month period, as compared with 1,171 facilities not receiving this information. The outcomes information provided consisted of a report mailed to administrators that examined six measures of care quality. These…