Customary practice in schools is that educators work in silos, often neglecting the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues to truly meet all students' needs. As students transition from middle school to high school, a clear bridging process is vital to set students up for success. Conventional parameters will need to be dismantled, and…

The effectiveness of SEL programs in promoting students' social-emotional competencies is well documented in North American and European countries; however, evidence is more limited for other cultural and educational contexts. This dissertation examines the perceptions and experiences of teachers and students, cost of implementation, and…

Purpose and Method of Study: The purpose of this mixed-method case study program evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of a middle-level career exploration program to determine whether any program adjustments should be implemented for overall student success. From a population of 152 core classroom teachers, 55 teachers responded to a survey…

Service learning has been established as a promising method of teaching and learning that engages youth as change agents in their schools and communities. But service learning has not been widely implemented or studied in rural K-12 schools. This study explores the case of a service learning curriculum, the Working Together Project (WTP), in a…

In education, the term "living contradictions" refers to "holding educational values whilst at the same time negating them" in practice (Whitehead, 1993, p. 17), and self-study research often begins with a question surrounding such living contradictions. In this self-study, I implemented an instrumental case study design to…

While the tactical games (TG) model has been shown to be effective in motivating students and increasing activity levels during physical education (PE) lessons, few PE teachers report using the model. The continued dominance of multi-activity PE programs may be due to the occupational socialization of physical educators. This article describes how…

We utilized a mixed-methods design to examine the experiences of 15 school counselors and 26 teachers who participated in a professional development program focused on collaboration to enhance students' career development using project-based learning (PBL). PBL is a teaching method through which students engage in active learning by responding to…

To enhance partnerships in two rural schools, our college of education initiated a faculty-in-residence program. A group of faculty members visited two other colleges of education with established faculty-in-residence programs to learn from others and to discern a direction for our own work. Two teacher educators, each at a different partner…

Considering Butcher et al.'s (2011) call to create more transformational school-university partnerships that are truly collaborative and mutually beneficial, the purpose of this study was to document classroom teachers' perceptions of their partnership with a large, research intensive university. Utilizing survey methodology, 156 teachers across…

This study sought to understand how aspiring administrators and supervising mentors contribute to the intern's opportunity to lead authentic administrative tasks during the administrative internship. Using case study methodology, we gathered data from six intern/mentor pairs through in-depth interviews, observations, journals, and logs. Several…

The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) provides a year-long authentic astronomy research project by partnering a research astronomer with small groups of educators. NITARP has worked with a total of 103 educators since 2005. In this paper, surveys are explored that were obtained from 74 different educators, at up to four waypoints…

Education in Oklahoma is at a critical state due to significant staff shortages, state funding cuts, and an increasing number of reported behavioral difficulties within the classroom. Research indicates that one of the most promising frameworks to address low performance of schools, like those in Oklahoma, is multitiered systems of support (MTSS).…

Due to low achievement among minorities and English Language Learners, a blue-ribbon panel was convened by NCATE to address the issue. It was determined that a transformation of teacher preparation was imperative. Out of this idea arose the clinical model for teacher preparation, which was deemed to be the important factor in preparing college…

This case study focuses on one district's process of continuous improvement in family engagement. The improvement effort addresses the point at which family engagement tends to decline precipitously and students are particularly vulnerable--the transition into high school. In this article we analyze the implementation of a continuous improvement…

This qualitative case study examined school leaders' roles, perceptions, and challenges leading a one-to-one (1:1) laptop initiative in a coeducational, independent middle, and high school in the United States. The findings revealed how the school leaders led the school's 1:1 laptop initiative through collaborative, yet differentiated roles and…