The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how leaders in educational organizations cultivate positive school culture through culturally responsive leadership practices while building teacher and administrator efficacy. Data collected from this study (a) highlighted how classroom teachers at the school sites promote culturally responsive…

Career-connected learning is an educational strategy that combines high-quality academic instruction, skill-based learning, and real-world experiences to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that they need to pursue their college and career goals. Career-connected learning can be delivered in a variety of ways, including in core content…

The article provides an analytical overview of core-subject teachers' endorsement of career and technical education (CTE). The article discusses phenomena that have likely influenced core-subject teachers' perceptions of CTE and, in turn, their endorsement of CTE to students. California is taking steps towards successfully preparing students for…

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought changes to the landscape of education abroad. This paper reviews some of the operational gaps exposed by the pandemic circumstances and then advocates for enhanced notions of communication, collaboration, and community needed to embrace change and close prior gaps. The paper concludes that developing a nuanced…

This qualitative study examined special education teachers' perceptions of student success in online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic school closures to isolate the key determinants in the differential student outcomes reported by the teachers. Data were collected from 16 teachers in the U.S. state of California using semi-structured…

Academics in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE), similar to their counterparts in other disciplines, receive little formal preparation when they take on academic leadership positions. Yet such career changes require different skill sets and expose academics to complex challenges of leadership. We (three academics) initiated this study to…

The time is now for integrating discussions of inclusive practice with professional development and school leadership, moving away from the normative view of inclusion as situated within special education and teacher preparation programmes. This study describes a triad professional development model that included an integrated professional…

Researchers, policymakers and educators are increasingly focused on the accurate identification, assessment, and referral of English learners (ELs) with disabilities, stemming in part from both the under- and over-identification of ELs for special education services, as compared to non-ELs identified for these services. Appropriate decision making…

Background: Though policy makers are beginning to hold schools accountable for reducing chronic absenteeism, little attention has been paid to the role of teachers. No known study has examined whether rising cohorts of new teachers feel prepared to address this challenge. This is particularly problematic given that teachers with less experience…

This article presents a literature review regarding the identification and pedagogical practices for educating English language learners and the newly designated student classification of Long Term English Language Learners (LTELs) in California. Challenges encountered by middle and high school content area teachers are highlighted as well as…

Black youth are less likely to enroll in college than youth of other races. The disparity in college access, and subsequently, in degree attainment, is due to many systemic and structural factors. Information gaps about how to research, prepare for, and finance a college degree also lead to racial disparities in college access. Technology,…

The term "newcomers" is commonly used to describe students who have recently arrived in U.S. schools. Depending on usage, newcomers may mean students in their first 6 months in U.S. schools, in their first 4 years, or anywhere in between. A majority arrive speaking little to no English, most are from socioeconomically disadvantaged…

For school districts in California, just as one set of revolutionary new content standards is beginning to feel familiar, another deep change is brewing. Districts have now had more than five years to wrestle with how they implement the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M) (NGA Center & CCSSO, 2010). Many have made large-scale…

This case study focuses on a 2008 incident where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vans appeared near a K-5 elementary school. It was the first time school personnel experienced the impact of federal immigration agents policing illegality in their school community, and the event set off a chain of decision-making choices as to how…

It started with a cup of coffee. In the wake of an intense contract negotiation, and against the backdrop of a district bankruptcy, multiple teacher strikes, and a wave of mistrust that veterans of the era still refer to as "rock bottom," the San José superintendent and the San José Teachers Association president decided to chart a…