The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how kindergarten teachers describe their use, as well as the effectiveness and value, of developmentally appropriate practices for teaching kindergarten curriculum in a mid-size urban school district in New Jersey. It was not known how kindergarten teachers describe their use, as…

Critical civic engagement (CCE) is a pedagogical framework for civic education in urban settings. CCE as a pedagogical approach engages student lived experience, develops critical thinking, and facilitates informed civic action projects. In this phenomenological study of teachers in four urban high schools in a large urban school district, the…

Researchers have long recognized the importance of what teachers need to know, be able to do, and how their beliefs influence their professional decision making and practices. We also know that context matters in clinical practice. The purpose of this study is to explore the nuance between practice, belief, and context. We examine whether change…

What does it mean to teach for human dignity? How does one do so? This practical book shows how the leaders at four urban public schools used a process called Descriptive Inquiry to create democratic schools that promote and protect human dignity. The authors argue that teachers must attend to who a child is and find a way to create classrooms…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative case study of ten urban high school teachers' classroom practices in terms of pedagogical strategies and curriculum development approaches for college preparation of African American students. Arkansas released a High School-to-College Success Report in 2012 to assess how well high schools…

A state in the Midwest region of the United States passed legislation that ties the advancement of students in the third grade to achieving a level of proficiency on a required state assessment in English. The legislation also ties high school graduation to achieving a level of proficiency on a series of required state assessments in English,…

The problems China's rural-born migrants face in accessing urban public services, including education, are widely known. This article analyses how official discourse attributes migrant children's vulnerability to their 'problematic family background' while exhorting them to show 'gratitude' to a benevolent state. Combining documentary analysis and…

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational systems worldwide have faced unprecedented challenges, particularly concerning the support of students based on traditional face-to-face instruction. This study focused on the concerns surrounding 2nd grade students at LEA and DRA, two urban elementary schools, who have faced multiple layers of…

Teachers of Color experience isolation due to racial microaggressions and institutional racism throughout their careers, leading to trauma and higher levels of teacher turnover in the profession. In this study, we use the 'pedagogy of activism' and scholarship on microaggressions to explore how activist teachers of Color seek support to combat…

This quantitative study aimed to better understand how teachers implement technology in a variety of teaching modalities to enhance content delivery and student engagement. More specifically, it aimed to investigate the digital divide of technology usage based upon school setting and usage frequency. Responses were collected using a random…

This self-study describes my year-long investigation to create caring community in my fourth-grade classroom. An introspective and dialogic pedagogy of intention-setting revealed students' experiences of taken-for-granted uncaring. This window into students' experiences afforded me opportunities to model care. Intentionality, dialogue, and…

The purpose of this basic qualitative generic study was to explore the methods and techniques urban elementary teachers use to learn the subject matter and pedagogical skills necessary to incorporate multicultural literature into their daily lessons. The problem is that we know what multicultural literature consists of and why it is critical to…

In this mixed-methods explanatory sequential design study, we examined the self-efficacy of elementary-grade reading literacy teachers in two urban public-school districts in Alabama. In Phase I, 312 elementary classroom teachers (20.0% response rate) completed the "Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale" (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy,…

In this mixed-methods explanatory sequential design study, we examined the self-efficacy of elementary-grade reading literacy teachers in two urban public-school districts in Alabama. In Phase I, 312 elementary classroom teachers (20.0% response rate) completed the "Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale" (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy,…

This chapter highlights mindfulness and meditation practices at two metropolitan universities and includes a discussion of programming challenges, classroom teaching practices, and suggestions for expanding offerings for non-traditional learners.