This quantitative, correlational study aimed to investigate the relationships between collective teacher efficacy (CTE), its enabling conditions (EC-CTE), and student achievement in third through eighth grades in Colorado. Leveraging the theoretical foundations established by Rotter (1954), Bandura (1977) and expanded by Tschannen-Moran et al.…

Current research around the middle grades has brought a heightened attention by teachers, policymakers, and researchers recognizing that this stage is a time when a students' health and social and emotional well-being directly impacts their academic progress. To date, school leaders and teachers have not been well served by explicit resources for…

This study identified the experiences of middle school teachers in the Southeastern Louisiana participating in professional learning communities, using the social constructivism theory. The study uncovers the various factors that are present that influence instructional practices and student learning outcomes. Ten middle school teachers engage in…

Socially engaged engineering provides for student learning of the design, analysis, and practices of engineering as well as the ways that engineering is situated in sociocultural contexts. This paper provides a conceptual framework regarding socially engaged engineering for K-8 educators, researchers, and curriculum designers. The framework…

Although there is substantial research that has guided middle school reform, there is insufficient support of Latinx students during their normative secondary transition (middle school to high school). Current research emphasizes that students who are not prepared when entering high school will face grim academic futures. The study explores the…

To strengthen inclusion practices in schools, a mandate was passed requiring special education teachers working at the middle and high school levels to become content certified. The purpose of this research study was to examine the outcome the content/dual certification mandate had on special education teachers' roles in co-taught inclusion…

This study examined perceptions of teachers who implemented a comprehensive school reform, the Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-tiered (Ci3T) model of prevention. We report findings of four focus groups with a total of 18 middle and high school teachers who had implemented Ci3T for two years. We used sensemaking as a theoretical framework to…

Declining academic performance, along with a growing apathy of students toward the value of education, demonstrates that students in the United States public education system do not recognize the value of a positive experience in middle schools. A plethora of research and writing has been done on elementary schools and secondary schools, but…

Filling a vital need, this is the first comprehensive guide to supporting K-12 teachers in effective implementation of classwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (CWPBIS). The book presents a roadmap for designing and delivering professional development based on behavioral principles. Procedures are outlined for providing data-driven…

This evaluation report describes a central professional learning strategy that the California NGSS Early Implementers Initiative used to help teachers effectively transition to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The Initiative's approach to lesson study, called a Teaching Learning Collaborative (TLC), brings together teams of teachers…

The NGSS Early Implementers Initiative was created to help eight California school districts and two charter management organizations, supported by WestEd's K-12 Alliance, implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Many educational initiatives are funded for only a couple of years. This unique initiative spanned an extraordinary six…

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on how much humans rely, more than ever before in our history, on technology. While technology in its simplest definition is the use of a tool for a practical purpose, in the last three decades, educators can confidently say it has revolutionized how information is communicated and accessed. Most importantly,…

This 13th report in WestEd's evaluation of the K-8 Early Implementers Initiative for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) provides an extensive response to the following question: What does NGSS science teaching look like in the classroom? The report first discusses Initiative teachers' experiences with four instructional practices that…

Digital integration is the driving force of teaching and learning at all levels of education. As more non-traditional students seek credentialing, certification, and degrees, institutions continue to push the boundaries of innovative practices to meet the needs of diverse students. Programs and faculty have moved from merely using technology and…

This playbook draws from the findings of "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades," the largest empirical study of this grade level conducted to date. The "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades" study was designed to find out what higher-performing schools do differently. The result is a compelling set of specific, actionable…