Schools that achieve strong results for black students address racial dynamics directly, empower students to bring their whole selves to school, and teach in ways that leverage students' experiences and cultures. These schools do four things to ensure success with their black students: They direct attention, strategies, and resources to black…

Student agency is a hot topic in education in New Zealand at the moment. Future-focused learning and innovative learning environments seem to focus on student agency, but what does 'agency' actually mean? What does it look like for gifted students? And how do teachers to develop it in their students? In response to these questions, this position…

The purposes of this study were to investigate the extent to which students' course perceptions of the components of the MUSIC Model of Motivation (Jones, 2009, 2018) were related to their engagement in college courses and their instructor and course ratings. Participants included 285 college students who completed questionnaires once or twice…

Globalization and technology have brought tremendous benefits to humanity and have enhanced the idea of life more abundant. Enjoying the good life is the ultimate goal of existence. However, the good life means different things to different people. While the advantages of globalization and technology are evident in enhancing the good life, their…

Despite decades of education reform, the US school curricula remain virtually unchanged. Multi-billion dollar initiatives such as "No Child Left Behind," "Common Core State Standards," "Race to the Top," and "Every Student Succeeds Act" have not resulted in significant academic gains or curricula change. The…

We explore the dynamics of nurturing, caring, and enabling in a social justice school and how a problematic context of educational enabling can develop when notions of nurturing are not balanced with consistent disciplinary consequences. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight school staff, teachers, and a student at a social justice urban…

Meaningful intercultural interactions are important to the achievement of today's educational goals, global citizenship and intercultural competence in particular. However, understanding of intercultural interactions between local and international students in classroom settings remains limited. There are few studies that simultaneously examine…

This qualitative study explores the perspectives of 52 high school students on the meaning of caring in the school setting. Seven focus groups were utilized to collect data. Five groups were racially homogeneous and mixed-gender; one group comprised males of various races; and one group comprised females of various races. In the focus groups,…

This paper explores the possibilities of using a pedagogical model for working with adolescent girls in physical education as a means of balancing the challenge of external prescription from outside the school with teacher and pupil agency. We report data from a study involving four schools in Glasgow. We note that the national curriculum for…

This study examined Black students' experiences in culture-centered courses that focused on the historical and contemporary experiences of Blacks in America and across the African diaspora. Using a qualitative approach, the authors investigated the perceptions of how Black Studies courses shaped the psychosocial experiences and identity…

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the frequent closure of school buildings in most countries in the world and has interrupted the school attendance of at least 1.2 billion students in 2020 and 2021. Although many education systems are adapting to varying degrees, the pandemic is showing that countries' current learning infrastructures…

Failure to improve achievement in K-12 science for racially minoritized students and students living in poverty continues to challenge the inclusionary rhetoric of "science for all." Science education researchers, teacher educators, and educators must consider the racialized and classed inequalities that continue to limit students'…

The authors use an action research (AR) approach in a collegiate studio physics class to investigate the power of partnerships via conferences as they relate to issues of establishing a student/mentor rapport, empowering students to reduce inequity, and the successes and barriers to hearing students' voices. The graduate teaching assistant (TA,…

Although English language competence is directly linked to better job opportunities and an improved quality of life in Mexico, relatively few Mexicans (5-14%) can communicate effectively in English. Research of the Mexican educational system has suggested that outdated teaching methods contribute to a lack of student motivation, which negatively…

From an ecological perspective, learning and development in childhood and throughout the lifespan occur in the context of interactions within complex social networks. Collectively, the articles in this special issue illuminate three important themes related to teacher-student interactions within instructional contexts: relationships, competence,…