Drawing on ethnographic data of an urban school, this paper contrasts how two White female teachers take up the idea of 'teaching for social justice.' Fourth-grade teacher Maestra Rachel enacts a superficial understanding focused solely on curricular topics, while third-grade teacher Maestra Jennifer roots her teaching in an understanding of how…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how urban physical educators' experiences influence their motivations toward vocational persistence emphasizing health and fitness. Methods: Participants included 16 urban physical educators who participated in semistructured interviews about their experiences teaching in urban settings. For…

This dissertation examines the connection between the English Language Arts Professional Learning Community, data analysis, and research-based instructional strategies to improve students reading levels, as measured by the Pennsylvania Literature Keystone Exam at an Urban High School. It is a mixed-method study. Data were collected from 9th -12th…

Teacher turnover is associated with administrative leadership; however, there is an empirical gap in the practices that principals enact that influence teacher turnover. This article uses in-depth case studies and interviews with 32 teachers across two high-turnover and two low turnover middle schools in one large urban public school district to…

Survey data from students in Grades 9-12 at L High School (a pseudonym) in an urban district in the southeastern United States suggested that students lack social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies. Efforts to address SEL at the study site have been ineffective. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore secondary teachers'…

Several factors determine a school's success. The school-within-a-school model has gained popularity as an intervention that supports schools. This study focuses on teachers' perceptions of this model, which can offer valuable insights into the school's overall health. By understanding the perspectives of staff, school leaders can gain a better…

Supportive teacher--student relations are crucial to stimulate academic success and well-being of students. These relations can become more strained in urban schools characterised by high levels of socio-economic inequality and ethnic diversity. However, supportive relations between teachers and students can be nurtured and be part of school…

The challenge of obtaining an education is more difficult for students living in poverty. Given the responsibilities of educators to support these students and their unique needs, it is critical to identify their level of awareness of what they struggle with, and to provide guidance on how to develop strategies to utilize to support these students…

Despite ubiquitous calls in existing literature, there are limited research studies on preparing culturally responsive African American female teachers for urban schools serving predominantly African American students. This article reports findings from a case study of two African American female preservice mathematics teachers who were part of a…

Urban elementary school teachers face many challenges in the classroom. Addressing challenging student behaviors is one of these challenges. Challenging student behaviors, which include disruptive behaviors such as noncompliance and verbal aggression, can impede student engagement, and if students are not engaged, their learning is stymied.…

The use of teacher leadership in PK-12 education has experienced a resurgence since the late 1990s as school leadership models have evolved to include the engagement of diverse stakeholders in school and district leadership processes aimed at improvement efforts. Despite this resurgence, there remain several barriers to understanding the nature of…

There is little research on the experiences of international teachers recruited to work in urban schools in America. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore Caribbean international teachers' experiences during and after recruitment to teach in New York City public schools. Homans's social exchange theory provided the…

The researcher investigated the effects of learning in an integrated curriculum environment in a Midwestern urban school among 7th grade students. The control group consisted of students who were enrolled in just a 7th grade social studies class. The test group consisted of students who were enrolled in both a social studies class "and"…

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices are becoming more and more necessary to overcome the discrepancies in cultural representation in today's schools. The most effective learning settings mirror the students' values, experiences, and cultures. School administrators are also tasked with monitoring, assisting, and evaluating teachers'…

Agentic engagement refers to students' proactive and constructive contribution to the flow of instruction. The literature on student agentic engagement is missing the voices and perspectives of teachers. Given that the field knows little about what agentic engagement means to teachers, the goal of this study was to describe agentic engagement from…