The United States educational system currently lacks cultural competence. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of teachers and coaches as they participate in transformational coaching to determine the utility of Elena Aguilar's model in supporting the development of cultural competency for educators. This study employed a fixed…

While the conception of "failing schools" has proliferated the American public's (mis)understanding of performance of low-income urban public schools unabated since "A Nation at Risk," education literature suggests "failing schools" are not what has been commonly described in conventional wisdom. Here, I begin by…

After decades of market-based education reforms, the landscape of urban school districts across the country have been transformed. Yet, this is neither a sign of the effectiveness of such reforms nor a widespread consensus over the contents and form of urban schooling. Education reform remains a wicked problem, particularly along racial lines,…

This dissertation focuses on how the MAT program in Earth Science at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH MAT), a one-of-a-kind, museum-based urban teacher residency, conceptualized and enacted the project of learning to teach science for urban school contexts. The AMNH MAT is situated within the two nested contexts. The first context is…

Children are at high risk of exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs) during early childhood. This developmental period, marked by rapid growth in fundamental skills, may render children particularly vulnerable to adverse developmental effects. Embedding universal trauma-informed supports within early childhood education (ECE) settings has…

Despite multiple creative approaches to integrating Minnesota's segregated urban public schools, students of color in these schools remain the majority. The state's progressive, anti-racist sentiment toward education has not evolved into action on the part of White families, which leaves under-resourced urban districts struggling beneath a mere…

Children are often denied science education that engages their emotions and multiple identities. This study focused on ways in which embodied arts-based experiences offer opportunities for such engagement in pedagogical efforts associated with justice-centered science. The conceptual framework that informed the study considers the body as a site…

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (Fast facts: back to school statistics, 2018. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372), there are over 50.7 million students enrolled in the nation's public schools, which is an all time high. At this rate, within the next decade an estimated 1.5 million new teachers will be needed…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how young people imagine civic futures through speculative fiction writing about artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The authors argue that young people's speculative fiction writing about AI not only helps make visible the ways they imagine the impacts of emerging technologies and the modes…

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education overturned the "separate but equal" principle promulgated in 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson. Yet, almost 70 years after Brown, schools continue to be segregated, and the structure of the public education system has fostered inequities across the nation. Although…

The state of Arkansas adopted ACT 1063 in 2017, which was designed to improve reading achievement for all students. Included in the law was the requirement that "curriculum programs that are supported by the science of reading and based on the instruction that is explicit, systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic be implemented (Division of…

In this collaborative autoethnography, written by multiple stakeholders involved in a teacher residency program, we address the complexities of preparing and supporting social justice-oriented teachers. We identify three tensions faced in the design and (re)development of the teacher preparation program. These tensions include preparing teachers…

The goal of this study was to examine how educational leaders help to create and support or inhibit culturally sustaining pedagogical practices for Black educators. The study explored the Black teacher experience at one Northern California public school in Oakland, California. I wanted to understand how they were supported or inhibited in the use…

Background: South Africa's teacher retention crisis calls for policy makers, school leaders and teachers to explore ways for professional growth. This study examined six novice teachers' experiences and views on continuous professional development (CPD) and how it benefits teachers as they transition from mentees to mentors. Aim: The study aimed…

Educational practices needed to be adjusted overnight and have continued to change in the two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. This study evaluates the perspectives of various educators in three Connecticut public school districts about the provision of special education and related services, from the onset of the…