School learning environments play important roles in students' lives. But when do these relationships form? Previous research on middle school students has identified a strong association between student socio-demographics, school characteristics, and achievement. Yet, few studies have investigated the origins of these associations. This study…

From stress and burnout, to anxiety and depression, teachers are suffering from various mental health issues. Teacher mental health concerns are affecting school and classroom climates, attrition rates, and student performance. Teachers are in need of school district-provided mental health supports, practices, and programs. This mixed-methods…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the relationship between teacher's perceptions of school climate and student achievement of middle school students. Two hundred twenty middle school teachers, from a large urban school district located in the Southwestern region of the US, participated in the "New Jersey School Climate…

Teacher retention is a foundational issue and schools have historically struggled to retain teachers. Previous research indicates that teachers leave the profession at high rates before year five of teaching expertise. Lack of teacher retention contributes to instability and lack of trust in school districts. This secondary data study explores…

Many school districts, particularly in inner-city communities, face numerous barriers to students' academic success. Unfortunately, the school paradigm is not constructed to address the glaring social/emotional conditions affecting millions of children (Anderson-Butcher et al., 2017). As a result, educators and social reformers have urged school…

School leaders need research-based strategies to focus school improvement efforts. Collective teacher efficacy (CTE), the shared belief that a faculty has the power to affect student achievement, is a construct based on locus of control theory and social cognitive theory. Empirical research showed that CTE strongly and positively correlated with…

School leaders need research-based strategies to focus school improvement efforts. Collective teacher efficacy (CTE), the shared belief that a faculty has the power to affect student achievement, is a construct based on locus of control theory and social cognitive theory. Empirical research showed that CTE strongly and positively correlated with…

This research examines teachers' perceptions of cultural diversity training in a suburban school district. While there is an impressive amount of research on how large urban school districts deal with culture and equity in their schools, there is room for more research on how the smaller suburban school districts handle it. This study will add to…

Research has indicated that there is a direct link between student academic achievement and school quality. Research has also indicated that the leadership style of school principals influence teacher attributes, from adeptness and job contentment to academic focus and engagement levels. Even though the research on professional learning…

Community schools respond to a variety of risk factors that impede student learning and development. School and community leaders in Canyons School District (CSD) have created community schools across one highly impacted feeder pattern to strengthen academic learning efforts, school climate and youth development opportunities, parent and family…

Substantial teacher turnover has been on a steady incline for over a decade. Studies show that 44% of teachers quit the profession within 5 years of teaching. Most of this loss is taking place in urban districts, where teacher attrition can have the greatest impact on school districts' outcomes. This costly issue is a significant factor disrupting…

This study used a person-centered approach to identify school readiness profiles in a sample of kindergartners (n=1,826) from a large and diverse school district in the United States. Using latent profile analyses and multilevel modeling, we examined three aims: 1) whether patterns of readiness skills at kindergarten entry could be detected, 2)…

Across the United States, educators and education leaders are increasingly recognizing the value of social and emotional learning (SEL), school climate, and related whole-person efforts as keys to enabling student success. Many school districts are still exploring or just beginning implementation of these whole-person efforts, and many have…

District leaders seeking to close schools often frame decisions as "right-sizing" or "modernizing the footprint" of the district. Historical influences such as population and economic shifts and desegregation during the civil rights era, and more recent factors like deteriorating building conditions, school performance…

School leaders fail to recognize parents' and teachers' perceptions of factors that affect children's learning in elementary schools, resulting in the problem of low parental involvement and academic achievement. The purpose of this quantitative method comparative design study was to examine the perception of parents and teachers concerning…