The majority of deaf and hard of hearing children around the world are born to hearing parents, most of whom are not familiar with deafness or sign language. This can lead to language deprivation or delay and a lack of social interaction for these children. Below, article co-author Jacqueline Wunderlich shares her own story of growing up deaf, its…

This case study explores the implementation of personalized learning at an elementary school in Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District 35. The study, conducted by Research for Action and funded by KnowledgeWorks, sheds light on the shift towards personalized, competency-based learning practices within the district. Through qualitative sources…

School boards have the opportunity to shape a new vision for instruction where students take an active role in their learning and build the skills necessary to mitigate effects of opportunity gaps. This publication provides a framework for implementing active student roles and provides data and case studies to support its recommendations.

Many U.S. schools in poor communities are implementing restorative practices, which comes from the restorative justice model that has been implemented in many juvenile systems. Many schools are implementing restorative practice interventions to improve their drop out rates, graduation rates, and improve their relationships between students and…

The reality is that most students and teachers have multiple, complex, and even contradictory identities. This matters greatly because it's hard for young people to succeed or be well if they feel they need to hide significant parts of themselves because their identities are stigmatized for being different or stereotyped to fit into a program or a…

A diverse, urban district's Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI), committed to transforming instructional tasks through integration of technology, created spaces for collaboration, voice, and choice for the PLI teachers and students. The teachers and students used various web-based technologies for collaboration with their peers, had more…

This paper considers the emancipatory potential of incorporating youth participatory action research (YPAR) and restorative practices (RP) implementation into a transformative mixed methods study design as a means to create equitable and caring school systems for marginalized youth. The utilization of "transformative mixed methods"…

The checklist in this document is intended to provide schools, districts, or other stakeholders in secondary transition with a framework for determining the degree to which their program is implementing practices that are likely to lead to more positive post-school outcomes for students with disabilities. A team should consider the definition of…

Competency education, an educator-led reform, is taking root in schools and districts across the country. In some states, state leadership has cleared the path with policies to advance competency education. This paper seeks to map out the terrain of the district implementation strategies being used to convert traditional systems into personalized,…

This paper explores how an Alaskan school district shifted from a traditional K-12 education system to a personalized, performance-based system, embedded in the culture of the community, which led to increased student achievement. Chugach School District (CSD) first implemented competency education over twenty years ago, paving the way in…

Could new types of pedagogy that involve more classroom projects and peer instruction encourage school districts to replace outdated furniture and redesign classrooms? Or could new classroom designs using modular furniture have an impact on how teachers engage their students? These are just a few of the questions that educators, instructional…

Increasing disparities in out-of-school suspension and dropout rates have led a number of school districts to develop alternative models of education to include alternative learning centres (ALCs). Using an exploratory mixed methods design, this study explores dimensions of social inclusion among ALCs, located in the southeastern region of the…

This study examines innovative practices that have been implemented in a summer session for an elementary school district in the Chicago area, and how program practices of a community college program work to provide academic support for first-generation, college-bound students from low-income households to encourage postsecondary educational…

This paper presents inspiring stories of two school districts--Boston and Sacramento--that are changing their high schools through districtwide student engagement initiatives. These stories illustrate years of hard work, dedication and partnership by many young people, advocates, advisors, teachers, principals and district personnel. Each…

The English Language Learner (ELL) Summer Camp in Worcester, Massachusetts--an intensive six-week program that served middle school and high school students from Worcester Public Schools (WPS)--was the product of a five-way partnership that included the school district, higher education institutions (Latino Education Institute [LEI] at Worcester…