Policymakers have refocused attention on the school readiness of low-income, African American children. Yet, preschools, elementary schools, and families often differ in their beliefs about salient abilities. The degree of alignment among teachers and parents influences how successfully children make the transition to kindergarten. Focusing on one…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how utilizing the Core Knowledge Sequence and aligned curricular resources influenced teachers' perceived self-efficacy for a sample of Arizona elementary charter school teachers. The sample for this study was a convenience sample of 15 elementary teachers, who were currently…

Exploring parent, student, and teacher language moves is essential to develop and implement strategies that cultivate Spanish use in support of dual-language engagement. We used Lareau's concerted cultivation framework to explore language use at a K-8 dual-language immersion school. A case-study design integrating content analysis was used to…

This case study examines how a charter school overcame obstacles to offer professional development aligned with research based best practices and how that program impacted teacher behavior and student outcomes. Staff interviews were conducted and documents were analyzed in order to determine the characteristics and impacts of professional…

Depicted variously as heroes, villains, or victims, America's teachers find themselves at the center of a sometimes nasty policy debate. Yet, while politicians, reformers, and pundits contribute to the cacophony that serves as our national conversation about education, those who teach our children everyday are barely heard over the noise. This…

This empirical study compared the organizational identification and professional identity of teachers in charter and regular public schools. The purpose of study was three-fold; the first was to investigate whether charter school teachers differ from their regular public school peers in the study variables (i.e. self-efficacy, perceived…

This study is the first in-depth look at Chicago's charter schools by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research (UChicago Consortium). The authors examined four key dimensions of charter high schools in Chicago Public Schools (CPS): (1) school organization and policies; (2) incoming skills and characteristics of charter high school…

This study explores the impetus for and impact of four urban teachers' extracurricular investments. Framing teacher investment as work voluntarily undertaken with an eye toward bringing about a highly desired, yet highly uncertain, end, we argue that the outcome of these often-hidden investments have identity and career implications for teachers.…

Background/Context: Charter schools are commonly discussed as being more effective at matching student and family interests with school mission, ensuring family choice of educational products and improving education quality and the efficiency of resource use as a result of the competitive dynamics they are assumed to generate between themselves…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to link the social interactions between principals and their teachers to teachers' perceptions of their students' engagement with school, empirically testing the theoretical proposition that principals influence students through their teachers in the US charter school environment. The mediating influence of…

This case study examines the role of parents as situationally positioned educators during summer months. It illuminates the processes employed by a public charter school to empower parents to support student learning. The study is an action research case study of one school in a small network of schools. The goal was to determine the effectiveness…

The acrimonious and hateful rhetoric dominating the public and political arenas and the tide of division and nationalism gaining support in many parts of the world (Arnova et al. 2013. "Comparative education: the dialectic of global and local." Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield) seem to be reflected in the US school system. As…

In Philadelphia, civic and education leaders have identified early literacy programming as critical for overall education improvement. Charter schools enroll about one third of all public school students in Philadelphia. This study seeks to understand how Philadelphia charter schools support their early readers and writers, in order to contribute…

School districts altered instructional delivery from solely in-person to a combined virtual/in-person model in the 2020-2021 school year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) offered in-person and virtual instruction to early learners at school-based programs (SBP), early childhood centers (ECC), and…

Statewide teacher shortages are hindering Michigan's efforts to ensure that all students have equitable access to qualified teachers. Implementing teacher supports--which may be policies, practices, or programs--to increase teacher retention offers a way to alleviate shortages. This study identified supports implemented by local education agencies…