The purpose of the study was to better understand how international school middle school teachers can help cultivate a student's sense of belonging by creating a space for students to explore factors shaping their gender identity. The Participatory Action Research (PAR) study took place at an international school in South Korea that enrolls…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the experiences of middle school teachers in one Southern California middle school district when using technology, as part of the 1:1 Technology Initiative, to advance student learning and provide effective lesson delivery in the classroom. The literature review indicated a need for…

Teacher retention in high-poverty middle schools is a topic of concern. Teachers make the decision to leave the profession for a variety of reasons. Induction programs are put in place to for support with the goal of helping new teachers remain in the profession. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to identify critical components of…

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of middle school math teachers, as captured by survey ratings, of the frequency and quality of professional development programs. The study further examined the relationship of these perceptions to the degree to which professional development increased self-efficacy and social connections.…

A problem exists for many rural and economically disadvantaged schools because teachers are not prepared to teach the students sitting in their classrooms. Each person has their own unique culture that helps them navigate the world around them, but what happens when the needs of the school do not meet the needs of the student? The use of…

Public schools have experienced an endless cycle of reform aiming to improve student achievement. Despite the time, funding, and resources that have been expended, most school reforms have not been successful at manifesting and sustaining meaningful change. New Jersey's latest attempt at school reform involved Regional Achievement Centers (RACs)…

Unlike many types of educational crises, the COVID-19 pandemic was a crisis leaders could not have prepared for. But research is only starting to examine how leaders' responses and organisational context have played a role. This mixed-methods study accordingly examines how leaders have mitigated challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and…

During the COVID-19 global pandemic, there was no precedence set or documented protocol to govern the transition from face-to-face to online teaching. The purpose of this study was to explore middle school administrators' perspectives on their challenges and opportunities when assisting teachers as they transitioned from face-to-face to online…

Though there is an extensive research literature on understanding and assessing individual modeling competencies, less attention has been given to characterizing the social context of the classroom in which modeling occurs. Yet a classroom's culture of modeling--its negotiated system of beliefs and values about the nature of modeling and what…

The prevailing cultural narrative about middle school is that those years are extremely difficult, and the best students can hope for is to endure them until finding relief in high school. Nancy Deutsch argues that these years are, in fact, a time of great potential if schools can abandon their stereotypes about young adolescents and create school…

Middle school teacher Michael Yell and education professor Geoffrey Scheurman discuss a decades-long partnership of ongoing professional development opportunities that involve teachers, university faculty, and teacher candidates working together to create personalized, meaningful, and sustained initiatives that enhance the growth and skills of all…

This article delineates the success of a leadership plan that one middle school in Center Point, Alabama implemented as a response to a Comprehensive School Improvement (CSI) designation due to performing in the bottom 5% of all middle schools across the state. School leadership, in partnership with coaching from Studer Education, worked…

This study seeks to share teachers' and principals' voices from middle schools in the Southeastern United States who are attempting to help their students achieve academic success. Obtaining a snapshot of middle schools in the Southeastern United States provides opportunities to recognize trends and identify challenges about the current…

New Mexico is home to more than 28 cultures and ethnicities that deserve to be recognized, celebrated, respected, and accepted (NMDCA, 2019). In 2022, 318,613 students enrolled in New Mexico public schools, with the demographics breakdown of 22% of students reported as White, 61% Hispanic, 9% American Indian, 1% African American, 1% Asian, and 2%…

This study explores how the ideology of racial individualism--which prioritizes an understanding of racism as individual wrongdoing--becomes embedded in the curriculum and discourse of the middle school social studies classroom and becomes embedded in the curriculum and discourse of the middle school social studies classroom to shape the racial…