"Reconstructing Democratic Education" was an international conference held virtually on June 22, 2024. This article uses the words of the speakers and the participants to present some of the stories and reflections that stimulated us that day. Speakers touched on a wide variety of challenges that democracy in general and schools in…

This dissertation showcases collective sensemaking in action. The study was situated in a larger North Carolina project, in which educators took a systems approach to update the state's instructional guidance infrastructure during content standards reform. Specifically, I investigated how K-5 educators from multiple stakeholder groups--teachers,…

This paper explores school leaders' and teachers' ideas about drivers of improvement at local level in the decentralised Swedish school system. An institutional perspective is applied to investigate how institutional logics at macro level are played out at micro level in improvement processes. The paper draws on a three-year collaborative research…

In response to the needs for kindergarten principals to foster teachers' capacities and commitment, this study examined the relationships between professional learning communities, principal leadership practices, and teacher commitment to kindergartens among 2106 teachers from 153 Hong Kong kindergartens, analyzing by using multilevel structural…

This inspirational book provides a concrete model of why university-district partnerships are essential to preparing justice-focused school leaders, and how these partnerships can thrive. Readers will find details of one such partnership, Leadership Education for Anaheim Districts (LEAD), which incorporated high-impact practices for equity,…

We interrogate the opportunities and challenges of using mixed methods (MM) within a developmental evaluation (DE) context by drawing on two illustrative cases that investigated educational change in Canada. Methods: Multi-case design and cross-case analysis, with a focus on examining common patterns across the two cases, enabling new ways of…

Transforming mathematics learning and teaching toward more equitable and effective approaches is critical to student mathematics learning and identity development. This task at-scale in a district takes time, commitment, and mathematics expertise that may not be widespread in the absence of focused professional development. District and regional…

During the past year, teachers have expended much time and effort moving their mathematics instruction online. To do this, teachers had to build their content, pedagogical, and technological knowledge, or technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). As teacher educators facilitating a professional learning sequence during the shift to…

This paper presents a collaborative research project developed by a researcher in mathematics education and a grade 3 Inuit teacher from Northern Quebec. Four learning situations were created, but discrepancies occurred between what was planned and agreed upon by both collaborators, and what was enacted during the project. We studied these…

This study examined United States (U.S.) K-12 science teacher interactions with parents during Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) reform following teachers' professional development (PD) participation, as well as parent accounts of understanding and support for NGSS. Fourteen teachers and 15 parents completed an online surveys and phone…

Although lesson study has been shown to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics, little research has focused on reasons for engaging in it from a teacher's perspective, particularly after sustained engagement with lesson study. This qualitative study reports on thirty-three teachers from the United States who were involved in twelve…

This study explored how two professional development approaches to reforming math instruction with different mechanisms for fostering change might have valuable synergies when used in tandem to support take-up, i.e., teachers' acceptance, adoption, and incorporation of ideas into practice. This investigation of Practice-Based Professional…

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed students to increased social-emotional stressors and instigated an emergency pivot to online teaching and learning. In doing so, it highlighted the need for effective social-emotional learning (SEL) programming in online learning environments. In response, this study explored how to adapt a widely used, traditional,…

The COVID-19 pandemic made the use of technology across K-12 schools mandatory and ubiquitous. This sudden shift in teaching and learning highlighted educational disparities and created service disruptions for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities. One disruption, in particular, is the provision of behavioral…

School districts across the country are receiving billions of dollars in federal relief aid. The unprecedented size of this investment -- three separate aid packages providing nearly $200 billion for K-12 education alone -- presents both an enormous opportunity and a challenge for state and local education leaders. The principle question is, how…