This brief draws on a study of teacher working conditions and their relationship to teacher retention and school performance in North Carolina. It is part of a series of studies conducted by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI)--in collaboration with WestEd and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University--as…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine whether middle school math teachers, as members of a community of practice (CoP) engaging in a collaborative inquiry (CI) intervention, could identify and make practical changes to specific classroom-centered factors that may have inadvertently promoted perceptions of performance-focused…

In this study, we developed and validated an instrument that researchers can use to measure the collective effort of principals and teachers who excise their own unique leadership to generate (integrated) school leadership. Based on 644 teachers, we found sound psychometric properties of the scales of the instrument and the instrument as a whole.…

The Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M) were released in 2010 with a goal to improve critical thinking skills and prepare all students to thrive in college, careers, and as informed citizens. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) followed in 2013. Using districtwide surveys of students in grades 6-8, conducted annually from…

The 2018 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results revealed a negative correlation between student academic achievement and wellbeing, indicating that higher academic performance often coincides with lower student well-being. In response to these findings and the…

Regular education teachers and special educators shouldn't view their jobs as mutually exclusive, writes Jeffrey Benson in this article. He argues that all students benefit when both teachers form collaborative partnerships. Drawing on his four decades of experience in schools, Benson details how regular education teachers can incorporate ideas…

The challenge established by the persistence of student achievement gaps across ethnicity groups, socioeconomic strata, parental education, and English language learner status is the collective responsibility of federal, state, and local education agencies both public and nonpublic. This study aims to evaluate the extent to which the practices of…

Many students started the 2020 school year a little behind academically, but students with disabilities have been especially impacted by the pandemic. With the added benefit of federal stimulus funds, we wanted to know: What can schools to do support students with disabilities as they start planning for next year? And what, if anything, can…

Teacher residencies are surfacing as a promising model for teacher preparation. One such residency program--Collaboration and Reflection to Enhance Atlanta Teacher Effectiveness (CREATE)--seeks to raise student achievement in local high-needs schools by increasing the effectiveness and retention of both new and veteran educators. CREATE aims to…

Teacher residencies are surfacing as a promising model for teacher preparation. One such residency program--Collaboration and Reflection to Enhance Atlanta Teacher Effectiveness (CREATE)--seeks to raise student achievement in local high-needs schools by increasing the effectiveness and retention of both new and veteran educators. CREATE aims to…

Research suggests that academically gifted students are often underserved when it comes to the school setting. Academically gifted students require specialized instruction to challenge them. Several successful strategies exist for creating an educational environment that appropriately challenges and helps these students achieve academic growth;…

This study examined the effects of John Kotter's Eight Steps for Successful Change framework and strategies in systems implementation in a secondary educational environment. Teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of Kotter's strategies used by their administrative team to support positive change were examined. The study evaluated data provided…

A recent research report from the International Literacy Association (ILA, 2015) discussed the current challenges facing today's educators, noting the increasing diversity of students' backgrounds and needs, coupled with the higher expectations and standards being widely adopted to prepare students for 21st-century skills. The ILA (2015) document…

The purpose of the study is to determine if there any benefits to using a variety of instructional methods in a collaborative setting and if the teaching methods significantly improve student achievement in science. Collaborative teachers are faced with challenges when implementing differentiated-instructional delivery methods in an inclusive…

In this study, we investigated teachers' motivation to learn following in the footsteps of emergent research efforts in the field. This qualitative study was grounded in the intersection of four research fields: policy, educational psychology, andragogy and professional development (PD). Findings indicate that teachers' dissatisfactions with their…