The high-quality instruction offered in the school library and in collaboration with classroom teachers helps students understand and practice the content standards. School librarians should begin by collaborating within their school building and then thoughtfully expand those connections to neighboring schools, community organizations, and state…

The college degree attainment divide between students from underserved backgrounds and their more privileged peers remains a critical issue in America despite the rising economic demand for a more educated workforce. Both K-12 school districts and higher education institutions have struggled to effectively serve first-generation college students…

The purpose of this mixed methods, multi-year study was to explore aspects of a virtual international literacies project, the Global Read Aloud, that promoted students' multiple literacies. Guided by theories of critical, digital, and global literacies, we analyzed survey (N = 436) and interview (N = 21) data from K-12 literacy educators. Data…

This project focused on how two technology coaches, a K-12 Technology Coach and a Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) Coach collaborated with their coach colleagues and tech-industry partners to offer teachers resources and embedded professional learning (PL). As part of a multiple-case study of coaching models of PL, over the course…

Parental involvement is an integral variable that bears a significant value in the overall academic achievement and learning process of a student's educational journey. Therefore, all parents should play a major role in their children's academic success from elementary through middle and high school. The prime focus of this research was to examine…

Children in foster care are a vulnerable population in the United States K-12 education system. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative multiple-case study was to understand the perceptions of high school teachers, school social workers, and child welfare case managers regarding foster care and school collaboration protocols and supports put…

School safety is a wicked problem due to shifting needs and available information, the diverse actors affected and involved, fluctuating budgetary demands and ramifications, and relations to broader social and political issues. School safety challenges encompass a range of factors, including threats of violence and fears related to school…

Purpose: Many K-12 teachers teach difficult topics as part of their curricula, and discussions of difficult topics are common across grade levels and content areas. As teachers increasingly engage with difficult topics in their classrooms, the need for high-quality professional learning experiences has also grown. In response, the purpose of this…

The immediate impacts of COVID-19 on K12 schooling are well known. Over nearly 18 months, students' academic performance and mental health deteriorated dramatically. This study aims to identify if and how the pandemic led to longer-term changes in core aspects of schooling. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 31 teachers and administrators…

Purpose: To meet the needs of under-resourced, rural schools where teacher attrition is high, this case study examined how a school-university partnership strengthened teacher and leader abilities to support deeper learning for students. Design/methodology/approach: This research focused on a 17-year collaborative partnership between one rural…

Careers occupy a major portion of one's life and often contribute to one's identity. This action research study explored and appraised career awareness activities for K-12 students in a rural, eastern region in the United States. Data was collected from high school student participants in the form of survey and focus group sessions during the…

The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE 2023) promotes a number of principles that are central to the work of the STEMSS (STEM + Social Studies) project. Among these principles is the understanding that geography education is a bridge to better understanding and appreciation of all subject matter. Using geography education as a bridge…

In this study we explore the care work of homeroom teachers, who, in many educational systems, are responsible for the social and emotional wellbeing of students in their homeroom classes. The study is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 70 homeroom teachers in Israeli elementary, middle and high schools, and draws on Tronto's ethics…

This thesis is an article-based (3-paper format) dissertation. In the first article, the research team adapted an input-process-outcome (IPO) model of group-level processes in the classroom, as a theoretical framework, to examine students' experiences regarding pre-college engineering curricula, classroom environments, and their experiences with…

The Boston Opportunity Agenda is a partnership among the City of Boston, Boston Public Schools, the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the city's leading public charities along with many other local foundations and philanthropists. The partnership's goal is to use its members' varied resources and expertise in a unified manner to improve the…