The global movement towards inclusive education aims to create a safe environment where teachers are expected to actively pursue various methods to implement asset-based support for all learners. The prominence of the learners' challenges, however, still guides most teachers' methods of support. Teachers need to review all the resources,…

Inclusion has become the focus of a significant body of research, advocacy, and committed action in communities, businesses, and schools across the United States and beyond. Professional development focused on inclusion is part of a program called "Joyful Inclusion." Evaluating the impact a professional development program has on…

Professional learning should be designed in a way that is responsive to the needs of teachers and intentionally planned with adult learning principles in mind. This article outlines one practitioner's professional journey to redefine how professional learning is designed with best practices in adult learning in mind. Strategies utilized during…

Background: The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study of 2016 lays claim to the need for critical thinking to be developed since, in the South African context, 78% of learners could not even retrieve explicitly stated information (lower-order thinking) from texts, as opposed to 4% in the rest of the world. Critical, higher-order…

This applied action research with program evaluation aimed to determine if teacher-led professional development and empowerment initiatives such as the Teacher Leader Collaborative (TLC) contributed to a group of teachers' efficacy and professional growth to reduce teacher turnover of English Language Arts (ELA) teachers at Bernard Williams Middle…

The students at the author's alternative, academic-recovery school come from their base schools and at the author's school are able to rewrite their own school stories. Some of that rewriting naturally happens in the library. Many of the students have experiences at multiple schools, but it is not until they come to the author's school that many…

Professional learning provides educators with tools to meet the changing needs of students. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) and personalized professional learning as demonstrated by Pre-K-8 parochial school educators' interest in attainment of Google for Education…

Lack of relevancy, administrative support, collegial support, and time are just a few of the many barriers that prevent practicing music teachers from accessing relevant professional development (PD) and taking steps to improve their practice. Quality music education PD should help teachers transform practice to improve student learning. Some…

This dissertation explored how middle school Social Studies educators utilize their self-agency to support students' cultural narrative identity citizenship at various societal levels--community, state, national, and global. Through a qualitative method employing narrative inquiry design, the study investigated the experiences and insights of…

In this article, the author describes their experience coaching teacher leaders as part of the NYC Continuous Learning Multilingual Learner Network, which is composed of 33 New York City middle schools working together to strengthen support and outcomes for Black and Latinx multilingual learners who experience the impact of poverty. Network…

The central focus of this multilayered educational action research project was three-fold: (1) to provide opportunities for public school student leadership activities grounded in participatory and youth participatory action research; (2) to support a group of teacher-researchers in practicing and innovating in participatory action research…

Collaboration is a powerful tool for professional development that creates opportunities for teachers to reflect on their practice. However, school districts continue to have difficulty both implementing and sustaining collaboration. The purpose of this research was to investigate the experiences the teachers in a creative, instructional…

In 2013, the Donald McKay K-8 School in East Boston, was among the lowest-performing schools in Massachusetts, ranked in the bottom 6 percent of schools statewide. The McKay's journey to the school it is today was made possible by a significant shift in adult culture at the school. A learner mindset and a commitment to continuous improvement are…

This study evaluated the Science and Literacy Instructional Model aimed at helping primarily Hispanic bilingual/English Learners (ELs) and economically disadvantaged fifth grade students with science achievement as measured by high-stakes standardized science achievement scores. The model combined purposeful planning, innovative academic…

This article discusses factors to consider as we evaluate the professional learning occurring in our schools. The article describes how a committee of six teachers and one administrator at Hershey Middle School in Pennsylvania's Derry Township School District adapted an activity for use in a two-hour professional learning session called "The…