Attrition among new teachers with fewer than 5 years of experience was high in an urban high school in Texas. The high attrition rate is a problem for students, because high teacher turnover can result in teachers with low expertise. In this study, the conceptual framework used was Hord's professional learning community (PLC) model, which…

The purpose of this bounded phenomenological case study was to investigate the experiences of leaders in one Texas school district integrating social media into communication practices. The participants in this study were twelve campus leaders, four district level leaders, and the superintendent of schools. The focus groups consisted of three…

English Language Learners (ELL) students are a growing population in Texas schools. Due to language barriers and lack of comprehensiveness in a secondary science classroom, ELL students may have difficulties comprehending higher-level secondary science concepts. While staff development workshops have the objective of ensuring teachers are…

This study examined the attitudes of nine teachers in a two-way dual-language program in regard to using technology to support the linguistic and academic development of emergent bilinguals. Using a phenomenological, multiple case-study approach, teachers' perceptions about using technology in education and the potential of technology to advance…

The value and effectiveness of formative assessment in the classroom has gained an increasing amount of attention during the past decade, especially since the publication of seminal work by Black and Wiliam titled "Assessment and Classroom Learning." Since that time, there has been a renewed interest in describing and evaluating teacher…

This case study addressed the problem of implementing response to intervention (RTI) in general secondary education. To investigate this problem, one north Texas school's RTI implementation was examined using the theoretical framework of the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) and defining RTI as the innovation. RTI-related practices were studied…

Purpose: An increasing number of schools and districts across the US are requiring teachers to collaborate for the purpose of data-driven decision making. Research suggests that both data use and teacher collaboration are important ingredients in the school improvement process. Existing studies also reveal the complexities of teacher collaboration…

In this study, we discussed the participating teachers' implementation and understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) project based learning (PBL). A research team at a STEM center systematically offered professional development activities to 92 teachers in an urban school district in the southern U.S. To investigate…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how professional learning communities influence teacher morale and rigor in the classroom. Participants of the study consisted of six to eight core subject teachers from two 4-A high school campuses in southeast Texas. Two focus group interviews were conducted, one at each school, and…

Schools are using various forms of professional learning communities (PLCs) in order to increase student achievement and improve educational practices through enhanced communication and collaboration among teachers. This study examined a PLC that had too narrow a focus and failed therefore to affect student achievement. A critical shortcoming of…

Classrooms tend to be absolute spaces, places where fluidity is rejected and nearly everything--from people, to ideas, to practices and policies--is viewed and organized through binary logic. Because binary logic is implicitly accepted as the natural order in schools and the structures resulting from it are highly unmalleable, individuals who…

Technology in the classroom helps today's student to be competitive in school and the business world, but there has been a lack of research directly connecting technology use in the classroom with thinking skills. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the impact of technology on student engagement and class performance. The…

The researcher developed a case study using a qualitative research methodology to describe the functions of a team of math teachers in a professional learning community in a Title 1 low performing high school that led to increased student achievement. The tenth-grade Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) mathematics results for the…

The local school district in the current study was struggling to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets in reading because secondary students were scoring below the basic level in reading and their content area teachers had little or no training in reading deficiencies. What had been speculated, yet never tested, was the utility of teacher…

Increasing rigor in secondary school classrooms for college and career readiness is a priority throughout the nation with the adoption of more challenging standards for student performance and is an important role for school leaders in creating conditions in schools to meet this challenge (Young, 2012). P-16 partnerships can assist by aligning the…