Literacy coaches serve in a multitude of roles and play a critical role in bridging district and school priorities (Walpole and Blamey, 2008; Steckel, 2009). Currently, coaches and teachers are navigating a national policy shift to Science of Reading (SoR) aligned instruction, and educators want more than a new curriculum (Schwartz, 2022). This…

Leading change is one of the most daunting tasks for K-12 site leaders. It is well established that the site leaders' influence on student learning is profound, and the importance of implementing changes to improve practice is paramount. This action research study aimed to examine how a research-based professional development and coaching program…

Professional development is essential for teachers to grow in their profession. However, often professional development is a one size fits all approach, and it occurs outside of the teachers' classroom. This causes teachers to not fully implement new strategies when they return to their classroom. One way to overcome this is to utilize…

Teaching and learning processes often reflect traditional practices that do not meet the academic needs of historically underserved students, especially Latinx and Black students. The goal of the participatory action research project and study, anchored by our collective beliefs in critical pedagogy tenets, was to improve teacher practices and…

Despite federal policy and litigation, the continued placement of students with extensive support needs (ESN) in separate classes and schools continues across the United States. Since the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975), there has been a continuous stream of research regarding the positive effects of including…

Professional development programs aim to make long-lasting change to teacher practice. However, these programs are often short-lived due to limited personnel, cost, and time constraints. Using an actor-oriented approach, this study aimed to understand how teachers transfer their learning from a professional development program focused on…

The problem this research study investigated was the readiness of the selected district's administrators, instructional coaches, and teachers in implementing a standards-based grading (SBG) initiative. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine the district's elementary administration, instructional coaches, and teachers' perceptions…

Language is a communication tool used by everyone in their daily life as a means to convey information and arguments to others. Even though the Ministry of Education (MoE) in China has been switching from exam-oriented education to cross-cultural communication education, the classroom practices, teaching methods, evaluation system, school…

The current study investigated the use of online training and coaching with early intervention teachers of the visually impaired (TVI) to change their practice toward a family centered relationship-based (FCRB) approach. Early intervention TVIs were trained to use a researcher-developed approach, called the Matrix Approach, in their early…

There are currently over five million multilingual learners (MLs) in U.S. schools (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2018). Yet, most teachers have not received adequate or effective professional development and therefore do not possess the knowledge and skills needed to improve student achievement with this population. A lack of…

Mathematics education has experienced numerous reforms, including New Math of the 1960s, Back-to-Basics Math of the 1970s, and Standards-Based Math of the 1980s (Herrera & Owens, 2001; Osborne & Crosswhite, 1970). After the nationwide implementation of standards throughout the 1990s (Knight, 2007), Virginia developed high-stakes testing at…

This dissertation takes a close look at how district-level instructional coaches support teachers in learning to shifting their instructional practice, related to the Next Generation Science Standards. This dissertation aims to address how re-structuring professional development to a job-embedded coaching model supports individual teacher learning…

This study followed mindset changes in elementary teachers as they transitioned from traditional grading to standards based grading during the earliest stages of the change process. A pre- and post-survey of mindsets of participants, individual interviews, and a focus group interview were conducted. While the results of the pre- and post-survey…

The state of Indiana is undergoing substantial educational reform, as is the nation. Educational leaders are in great need of support as they address reform initiatives. The support that educational leaders receive from mentors/coaches may be a determining factor in how they embrace the latest reform and work with their school communities. The…

This study utilized a convergent parallel mixed methods design to study teachers' concerns during implementation of instructional coaching for math in a rural PK-12 district in north Texas over a three-year time period. Five campuses were included in the study: one high school (grades 9-12), one middle school (grades 6-8), and three elementary…