The teaching profession has always been a difficult one. This reality has only continued since the COVID-19 school closures as many teachers were attempting to return to "normal." For novice teachers (within their first five years), they did now know what normal was and therefore could not return to it. This group of teachers continue to…

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…

This qualitative case study focuses on the impact of neoliberal education reform on an urban charter school serving students of Color. This study has two main objectives: to examine how neoliberal reform influences the goal-oriented actions of data meetings (DMs) in an urban elementary school and engages in a formative intervention methodology to…

School systems have taken on greater roles in guiding and supporting classroom instruction by redesigning their "educational infrastructure" -- the coordinated resources, structures, and norms that support teachers' work and drive instructional improvement. However, teachers often adapt or resist common instructional approaches citing…

School systems have taken on greater roles in guiding and supporting classroom instruction by redesigning their "educational infrastructure"--the coordinated resources, structures, and norms that support teachers' work and drive instructional improvement. However, teachers often adapt or resist common instructional approaches, citing…

The purpose of the qualitative phenomenological study was to explore and understand the impact of standardized testing on educational practice in an urban, Title I school community, and to determine solutions to improve the utility of standardized testing in supporting student learning and achievement. The specific areas of focus are diagnosing…

Research: The goal of this study is to understand the experiences of Black and Latino former high school students who dropped out, or were pushed out, of a large urban school district in Southern California. Specifically, this paper examines the barriers students faced that contributed to them leaving high school and their journey afterward.…

Urban schools in the United States are generally viewed as having greater challenges than their suburban and rural counterparts. Most notably, they often have lower academic achievement and much of the educational reform movement has been aimed at urban schools in an attempt to close the achievement gap. Although much of the focus in recent years…

In March 2020, school districts across California closed their doors, rapidly adapting operations and instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts to understand the immediate impact of the unprecedented closure of schools prompted grave concerns about meeting students' needs, particularly for the most vulnerable. This report details…

Using a quasi-experimental design, the effects of a student support intervention were estimated for the math and reading achievement of first-generation immigrant children (n = 667, M = 11.05 years of age) attending high-poverty, urban elementary schools. The intervention was designed to help schools identify developmental strengths and barriers…

Urban physical education curriculum articles are sparsely published in major educational journals (Chepyator-Thomson et al., 2008; Culp, 2005). This leaves urban physical educators the daunting task to modify and prepare curriculum based on formal class training and educational workshops and to interpret journal articles to be applied to the urban…

There is no shortage of ideas for improving urban schools: higher standards; aligned assessments and curriculum; better teacher evaluation and support; more and better parent choices; blended learning; and so on. What's missing is any recognition of the importance of district systems in promoting and sustaining improvement as leaders come and go.…

The purpose of this study is to explore the journey of one large urban inner-city school district with a high population of Hispanics in South Texas as it worked to implement Positive Behavior Intervention and Support into primary (elementary) schools. We questioned, "How does a large urban inner-city school district serving a majority of…

As part of the process of redesigning an integrated general and special teacher education program to prepare candidates to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students, researchers engaged a series of focus groups with current candidates, recent graduates, and partner school personnel. Data presented in this paper identified…

Education reform in America remains illusive for children. Reform efforts in the past have meant simply tweaking the different components of the education system (i.e., teachers, curriculum, and standards). The call-to-action must be to transform the system to a more holistic approach that recognizes students? needs. This article addresses how to…