In the U.S., state guidance to schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was politicized. We used state-level political affiliation to explore whether access to curricular resources differed pre-pandemic or during pandemic remote teaching and teachers' reported control over curricular resources during pandemic teaching. We found that…

The purpose of this study was to describe challenges identified by participants from three cohorts in a methods training workshop meant to strengthen evidence-based intervention knowledge and practice. Since passage of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA), educational leaders and decision-makers have been charged with ensuring that…

Demands for increased school accountability created by No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds legislation has resulted in the implementation of professional development programs in which educators are observers rather than collaborative participants. The problem at a secondary independent charter school in Central Ohio was the lack of a…

To evaluate the experiences that teachers and other decision makers were having with accessibility features and accommodations, as well as their attitudes toward them, an online survey was conducted with educators in nine states. These states were part of an Enhanced Assessment Initiative grant project to promote optimal decision making about…

Research has affirmed the importance of principals and mentors in supporting novice teachers; however, little is known about how teacher leaders contribute to this work. We employed a mixed methods design to examine teacher leaders' contributions to induction by surveying principals, teachers, and other staff (n = 246) and interviewing teacher…

Requiring teachers to complete a performance-based assessment in the form of a teacher performance assessment is becoming a common way for initial teacher licensure or advancing a license. While some traditionally- and alternatively-licensed teachers from all content areas may have to complete some type of performance-based assessment for initial…

States, programs, and schools have long focused on the inputs of teacher preparation--the rules for candidates and the preparation programs they attend--because inputs were thought to predict teacher effectiveness, and because they were often the best option available. But in the early 2000s, policymakers began trying to evaluate preparation…

In a national context of standards and high-stakes testing, concerns are emerging about challenges to the already tenuous position of the citizenship mission in the social studies curriculum. In this qualitative study, the authors administered a survey to social studies teachers in Ohio and conducted follow-up interviews focusing on the present…

The central message of this report is that teachers across America understand that social and emotional learning (SEL) is critical to student success in school, work, and life. Social and emotional learning involves the processes of developing competencies, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and…

The central message of this report is that teachers across America understand that social and emotional learning (SEL) is critical to student success in school, work, and life. Social and emotional learning involves the processes of developing competencies, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and…

The author investigates the condition of a public school's arts education program under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and obtains teachers' perspectives on their experiences under the federal policy. The author used qualitative and quantitative approaches to conduct a case study of an Ohio public school district. The data collected revealed…

A study was conducted to describe Ohio secondary vocational education teachers' use of student assessment information in making instructional decisions. The target population for the study was all teachers who taught in secondary vocational education programs in Ohio public schools. A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 393 secondary…

Teacher empowerment is a cornerstone of educational reform efforts. This study measured dimensions of teacher empowerment with a census of the 3,677 teachers in 169 Ohio public elementary schools initiating self-designed state-funded restructuring. Mailed surveys examined six dimensions of teacher empowerment (decision-making, professional growth,…

In this article, the author reports on the curricular changes and testing focus that have occurred in her teaching since PRAXIS II: Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) tests were mandated in Ohio, where she teaches at an urban, open admissions, commuter university. Classroom dilemmas are analyzed as they relate to changes in assessments,…

A study examined the relationship between assessment and decision making in one of five school districts participating in a national study. Data collected in two alternative elementary schools (one literature-based and one informal) in a large urban school district in Ohio included field notes of classroom observations during reading and language…