STEM, the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects is a popular topic as schools grapple with how to best prepare students for an ever-evolving society. As societal and technological challenges emerge, design thinking has been lauded as a method to enable people to help tackle those challenges. The steps of the…

The past two decades have seen a growing de-professionalization of teaching. Combating this educational climate requires music teacher education programs to prioritize both critical pedagogical practices and policy knowhow in order to reestablish a focus on relational engagements and the navigation of the complex tensions lived daily in schools.…

In middle grades education, advisory programs are structured, intentional, and supportive environments that assign 10 to 20 students to an adult advisor (most often a teacher) who serves as a mentor, advocate, and guide throughout their middle school years. Advisory programs promote community and personalized support in middle schools. In addition…

Purpose: The importance of teacher leadership in enhancing school outcomes is recognized, but there remains a scarcity of research addressing the conditions for principals to nurture such leadership. This study examined how school contextual factors, i.e. faculty trust and academic emphasis, moderate the impact of principals' distributed…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the thoughts, feelings, and actions of middle school administrators regarding their school leadership and their influence on the use of exclusionary and restorative justice practices. Theoretical Framework: This research was on grounded by two foundational theories: Sociocultural Theory…

Successful problem-based learning (PBL) often requires students to collectively regulate their learning processes as a group and engage in socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL). This paper focuses on how facilitators supported SSRL in the context of middle-school game-based PBL. Using conversation analysis, this study analyzed text-based…

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive, single case study was to explore how K-8 teachers, lead teachers, and school administrators in an Arizona school district experienced shared leadership and described its influence on student and school success. The theoretical foundation that provided a lens for this study was the theory of shared…

Does school participatory budgeting (SPB) increase students' political efficacy? SPB, which is implemented in thousands of schools around the world, is a democratic process of deliberation and decision-making in which students determine how to spend a portion of the school's budget. We examined the impact of SPB on political efficacy in one middle…

Purpose: This study explored the relationships between principals' distributed leadership, school organisational culture and the effectiveness of school innovation management. A questionnaire was administered to gather data from public junior high school teachers in Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach: Using the stratified random sampling method,…

Common planning time is an integral part of the middle school concept, but this time is not always used effectively. When teaching teams do not effectively collaborate, there are missed opportunities to improve instruction and student achievement. The aim of the study was to improve middle school teachers' level of collaboration during common…

School climate surveys are commonly used to solicit youth perspectives about their experiences in schools. However, to move climate surveys from solicitation towards a more youth-centered, partnered practice for school improvement, guidance is needed from the youth themselves about how and in what ways they hope adults respond to their survey…

The manner in which perceived principal distributed leadership affects teachers' professional agency remains ambiguous in Oman. The study aimed to explore the effect of distributed leadership on teacher agency through teacher reflection. In the cross-sectional study, survey data were gathered from 1095 teachers in 58 middle and secondary schools…

This article shows the research results of implementing a professional learning model based on instructional leadership practices and structured teacher collaboration. The primary purpose was to promote a collaboration model focused on developing communities of practice, formed by school leaders and teachers, focusing on instructional improvement…

This study aimed to describe the implementation of the spiritual leadership of the monks in Catholic schools. The research method used is a descriptive qualitative approach. The research design used a multi-site study conducted at three Catholic Junior High Schools in Malang, East Java, Indonesia. Results show that in developing spiritual…

In middle-grades settings, students are cultivating critical consciousness to apply general knowledge of equity to their local context(s) (Nojan, 2020). As educators work to foster environments that allow middle-grade students to cultivate critical consciousness, expectations have shifted in the area of leading for equity. We have outlined a…