The US lack of nurses to meet healthcare demands is a national crisis (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2021). Attrition rates in nursing programs compound the nursing shortage. Community colleges are where a number of nursing students attend to complete an Associate Degree of Nursing (ADN) program. Community college leaders and educators have a…

This narrative inquiry explores personal and professional stories of two educators, nurtured and supported by their school leadership, in a rural school setting, who have had diverse experiences with the contemplative practice of mindfulness. Our research primarily focused on the following wonders: How does the experience of mindfulness practice…

To ensure all students, including historically marginalized students, reached their highest capacity, there was a focus on equity in education at the state and national levels. Minimal research existed where researchers explored principals' educational equity mindset, and I found a gap in the literature concerning the use of principals'…

Special education teacher attrition is a significant and chronic problem that has worsened since the pandemic. A longitudinal survey of burnout was conducted with rural special education teachers (n = 48) over four timepoints through the school year just prior to COVID-19. Both school and intrapersonal predictors of burnout obtained at the…

Special education teacher attrition is a significant and chronic problem that has worsened since the pandemic. A longitudinal survey of burnout was conducted with rural special education teachers (N = 48) over four timepoints through the school year just prior to COVID-19. Both school and intrapersonal predictors of burnout obtained at the…

Many educators focus on the cognitive and/or cultural/contextual deficits that students bring to learning tasks, which are oftentimes used to explain poor academic performance. Metacognition that can be taught and learned for improving learning performance is regarded as an alternative. The purpose of this year-long collaborative action research…

Using an embedded quasi-experimental mixed method approach, this exploratory study aimed to understand the benefits of mindfulness training for elementary school teachers and leaders in one rural school district. After the delivery of two 90-minute mindfulness professional developments with on-the-job practice of strategies over 2 weeks,…

Children appear to be faced with more stressors today than ever before, and schools are tasked with providing social and emotional support and instruction to help their students navigate life's ups and downs. The purpose of this mixed methods action research case study was to explore the effectiveness of mindfulness-based practices as a social and…

Design-based learning has been recognized by educational scholars as the key approach to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at K-12 levels. However, it is unclear whether, and which dimensions of, design thinking mindsets support the conceptual learning of science. This quasi-experimental study aims to explore 37…

The objective of this qualitative study was to assess the information literacy and metacognitive abilities of teachers in a rural school in South Africa. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Due to COVID-19 safety considerations, primary data was acquired from 10 teachers via semi-structured telephonic interviews. All…

Education systems in the United States (US) increasingly experience disagreement over how to address cultural and societal injustices. At the heart of these debates includes the role of the rural sociocultural experience -- which in the US is based on racial and spatial isolation, the idea of whiteness as the norm, and more recently economic…

Teachers are leaving the teaching profession before reaching the age of retirement at increasingly high numbers, many citing increased stress as a factor in their decision to quit, contributing to a national teacher shortage. This qualitative study investigated the stressors experienced by eight K-12 teachers in a rural Pennsylvania school…

Educational programs that incorporate social emotional-learning (SEL) strategies, study skills, and mindful breathing using biofeedback can help adolescents decrease worry and social stress, increase test preparedness self-efficacy, and improve academic performance due to lowered levels of test anxiety. The current study examined the efficacy of a…

Increasingly prescribed teacher standards dictate what graduates will know and be able to do, yet little heed is taken of how they learn. In light of this situation a two-phased study was undertaken. Based on Rasch analysis of initial efficacy scales, 26 intern teachers were interviewed. The data was analysed using NVivo and LEARnT, an a priori…

This study examined 18 preservice teachers' use of literacy performance assessment to plan, implement, and analyze metacognitive strategies used in literacy lesson plans delivered for elementary students in field experience classrooms. In a literacy methods course, they learned about metacognitive strategies. They also developed literacy lesson…