This case study follows an early-career teacher from an undergraduate educator preparation program into her first teaching position in an urban high-stakes charter school organization. At the beginning, the cognitive dissonance between her emergent educational philosophy and the extreme features of the charter school environment, such as the…

Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected students' academic performance and overall well-being, creating a rise in mental health needs. In response to this, there has been an increase in hiring school-based social workers. However, there is a lack of clarity on…

This case study of one "no-excuses" charter management organization (CMO) uses teacher surveys and interviews with principals, central office staff, and teachers to examine how a realistic job preview is enacted during the hiring process, and how newly hired teachers perceive their fit with the job and the organization before and after…

Music and the arts are of growing interest in promoting success in school and psychological development of young people in general. However, there are few studies focused on the relationship between music and, more specifically on school engagement of vulnerable students. Thus, this exploratory study aims to understand the perceived impact of…

Families face adverse experiences in gentrified urban areas, including dangerous living conditions, eviction, and homelessness. Parents and caregivers often work long hours to avoid these outcomes, leaving children with reduced home literacy interactions lacking necessary letter knowledge for kindergarten. This study examines the effectiveness of…

There is a sense of urgency among P-12 educators to dismantle systemic school-based racism and radically transform conditions for teaching and learning in ways that advance equity, social justice, and social-emotional learning (SEL). This transformation cannot be achieved through typical top-down, short-term approaches to school improvement or…

Increasingly, immigrant families in North America are sending their newborns to the parents' country of origin to be raised by relatives until the children reach school age. Then they are returned to their parents. This practice results from lack of childcare in the host countries, low wages among immigrant parents, and/or intergenerational…

This transcendental phenomenology centers on the perceptions and experiences of New Americans from Africa and Asia who attended high schools in a smaller urban area located in North Dakota. Using Anderson et al.'s (2014) ecology of inclusive education (EIE), we identify environmental factors that promoted or undermined inclusive education…

Recess is often a favorite part of students' days. Students use recess to release energy, socialize with peers, and give themselves well deserved breaks. In this study, teachers shared their perspectives on the impacts in the classroom of an additional recess in their daily schedule. The purpose was to determine if an additional recess period in…

Efforts to improve student learning in K-12 education in the US are not new; however, educational research has traditionally focused on individual components of schools (e.g., teacher professional development, leadership, social relationships, programs, curricula) targeting teachers to improve student learning. While these innovations provide hope…

The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to determine to what extent differences exist between rural and non-rural schools in terms of teachers' technology self-efficacy and technology integration in social studies classes in the United States. Two research questions guided this study: (1) Is there a significant difference in…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how educators support and describe implementation of intercultural pedagogy practices in one urban dual language elementary school in the northeastern region within the state of Pennsylvania. The overall research question focused on how the K-5th grade principal and teachers…

Public school education faces a critical challenge as a growing number of teachers are choosing to leave the profession every year, leaving school districts struggling to recruit and retain qualified teachers. Existing literature reveals that negative school culture is a significant contributor to teachers' job dissatisfaction, which is among the…

Nothing is consistent but change, and that yields true to the educational landscape in the United States of America. Wlodkowski and Ginsberg (1995) stated, "Any educational or training system that ignores the history or perspective of its learners or does not attempt to adjust its teaching practices to benefit all its learners is contributing…

This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore how Black male teachers perceive their tokenization experiences in urban school environments in the Southwest United States. The theoretical foundation of the study is Kanter's Theory of Tokenism. A sample of 31 Black male teachers working in urban school environments were recruited to answer two…