Researchers have concluded that parental involvement is necessary for students' success in school because parent involvement in school activities can positively affect children's learning and school experiences. Parent presence and participation is lacking in an urban school district in western Tennessee. The purpose of this study was to…

Increasingly, states and districts are combining student growth measures with rigorous, rubric-aligned teacher observations in constructing teacher evaluation measures. Although the student growth or value-added components of these measures have received much research and policy attention, the results of this study suggest that the data generated…

School principals' education and professional experience shape their approach to school leadership and how successful their students will be. However, it is not clear from existing research which aspects of principal education and professional experience are related to student outcomes and principal retention. This dissertation explores aspects of…

The authors investigated the extent to which the amount of training in Response to Intervention (RtI) impacts staff members' perceptions of RtI, how staff members' perceptions of RtI relate to their fidelity of implementation, and to what degree staff members' involvement in training influences their fidelity of implementation. A convenience…

The authors investigated the extent to which the amount of training in Response to Intervention (RtI) impacts staff members' perceptions of RtI, how staff members' perceptions of RtI relate to their fidelity of implementation, and to what degree staff members' involvement in training influences their fidelity of implementation. A convenience…

The authors investigated the extent to which the amount of training in Response to Intervention (RtI) impacts staff members' perceptions of RtI, how staff members' perceptions of RtI relate to their fidelity of implementation, and to what degree staff members' involvement in training influences their fidelity of implementation. A convenience…

More than 50% of novice educators leave the profession in the first 5 years of service. Novice educators were defined as educators with 5 or fewer years of teaching experience. The State of Tennessee has estimated the cost for that decision to around $28,000.00 per teacher for each local educational authority. Many researchers believe mentoring…

The purpose of this report is to describe what the authors learned from studying eight teacher career advancement initiatives implemented across a variety of contexts, including urban, suburban, and rural districts; high poverty and affluent districts; and in schools/districts both with and without strong union presence. They describe key…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the differences in perceptions of learning and achievement of students and teachers in "Project-Based Learning" and Balanced Mathematics classrooms. The study utilized quantitative and qualitative surveys or a mixed method approach to gathering data relative to the perceptions of students…

This column brings to the attention of "RT" readers the hot topic of redesigning teacher education programs. Featured are interviews with professionals involved in a statewide redesign initiative in Tennessee, the Ready2Teach (R2T) program. The interviews highlight major changes in how teacher education programs are being transformed to…

In order to systemically improve student achievement in elementary literacy, a large urban school district partnered with a local university to develop a model for high-quality professional development that hopefully would result in long-term changes in teachers' literacy instructional/practices. Schools were selected based on their Adequate…

An effective school requires an effective leader, but great principals rarely just happen. They are cultivated. This Wallace Perspective draws on a decade of foundation research and work in school leadership to show how urban school districts can play a major role in ensuring they have principals who can boost teaching and learning in troubled…

The objective of this paper is to explore the operation of magnet and professional development school (PDS) programs in a real life situation using an ethnographic study of Downtown Elementary School (DES--a pseudonym) that simultaneously operates as a PDS and a magnet school. The author spent almost three years at DES, located in the Southern…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of instructional tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Math experts have developed formative assessment lessons (FALs) that teachers can incorporate throughout the year's curriculum.…

The term "doing hair" is utterly familiar. However, while the term can refer to simple acts of combing, brushing, washing, and styling hair, in the culture of adolescent African-American girls, doing hair is a social practice that represents power, creativity, and sometimes popularity. This article describes a three-month afterschool…