The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the extent to which instructional leaders providing principal feedback to teachers with five or more years of teaching experience influence student high value-added growth in urban Ohio middle schools, specifically in regard to their Black students. It examined statistical information between…

This article discusses how middle and high school inner-city and rural students can increase their academic achievement and self-efficacy in STEM classes using The Digital Curriculum, a program that incorporates digital technology, software, and a design project. This curriculum, which integrates socially relevant content, gives students a chance…

Inequitable learning opportunities are a leading contributor to the persistent literacy achievement gaps evident between historically marginalized students and their more affluent peers. This study investigated the impact of a community school reform effort in an urban middle school. The community school initiative focused on meeting the complex…

This study explores the impact of attending optional professional learning events on the critical consciousness development of Ready to Learn (RtL) mentors over the course of one program year. Ready to Learn is an out of school time math tutoring and mentoring program that seeks to address opportunity gaps in math learning for middle school…

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to review practices aimed at improving literacy outcomes for multilingual language learners (MLLs). This was done by studying the internal coherence practices of a superintendent in Community School District 100 (a pseudonym), an urban school district in the northeast region of the United States.…

Decades after the 1954 "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka" unanimous decision to desegregate schools, the ideology of Black people having equal educational opportunities has not been realized; Black people continue to lag in educational attainment. However, the inequalities in life experiences between Black and White people limit the…

This study reports achievement levels and fall-to-spring gains in grades K to 8 for three groups of English Learners (ELs): (a) ever-ELs who were ever eligible for service; (b) current-ELs who continue to require service; and (b) dually-identified students eligible for both EL and Special Education services. I leverage unique data that include…

The Impact of Teaching for Artistic Behavior in a Post-Pandemic Urban Art Classroom explores the effects of a choice-based art curriculum on students in an urban K-8 setting, with a focus on the post-pandemic context. The study examines the behavioral and academic outcomes of students in an underserved community and investigates how a TAB approach…

One of the critical issues facing middle level educators is making sure we have the types of support in place for providing equitable learning environments for all students and helping them to feel that they belong in school. Literature suggests that a gender gap exists within middle level education today with respect to achievement scores and the…

New York City is the nation's largest school system. Once again racial integration of schools in New York has become a hot button issue. It appears that much work needs to be done before enacted changes to middle school admissions policies in two city districts can refer to the present time period as the dawn of a new age of racial justice. Mayor…

Against a backdrop of the broader conversation around the mathematical achievement disparities of urban, minority students, the author reviews salient literature pertaining to student engagement as a means of identifying effective mathematical practices in engaging traditionally marginalized groups of students in their study of mathematics. First,…

The writing achievement of English learners (ELs) is often lower than that of other subgroups (Fry, 2007, 2008). To address this gap, a partnership was formed between university faculty and doctoral students and educators at an urban PK-8 school with a majority EL population. Using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a guide, the team…

Social justice leadership has become a popular topic and catchphrase in the field of educational leadership. However, most scholarly and empirical contributions have ignored the inherent tensions, challenges and dilemmas associated with the practice of school leadership and the realities principals confront on a daily basis. This is partly because…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of integrating Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) technology on middle school mathematics achievement in an urban school. Propensity score matching was used to create a comparable control group in order to isolate the effects of IWB technology on mathematics achievement. An initial experimental group…

Reading achievement scores for adolescents with disabilities are markedly lower than the scores of adolescents without disabilities. For example, 62% of students with disabilities read "below" the basic level on the NAEP Reading assessment, compared to 19% of their nondisabled peers. This achievement gap has been a continuing challenge…