This study examined the experiences of a diverse group of K-12 educators in Hawai?i, exploring the factors that shaped their orientation towards social justice education (SJE) and their definitions and conceptualizations of SJE in their work as educators. The framework of settler colonialism highlighted the fact that there can be no social justice…

Teacher education in Finland has followed a research-based approach for decades, but the approach has rarely been investigated from the viewpoint of in-service teachers. This study explores how in-service teachers experienced the meaning of educational science, research and theory (ESRT) and how teachers engage with educational research as part of…

Research alliances, like other research-practice partnerships (RPPs), aim to bridge the historic divide between educational research and practice and improve education in particular local contexts. Yet, although these demands reflect multiple and contested field-level logics, little prior research has examined the ways these logics impact the work…

There is a great need to understand how we might leverage research-practice partnerships (RPPs) to change K-12 school practices, organizations, and policies that continue to reflect structural racism in schooling. In this paper, we present case vignettes of RPPs that aim to create educational improvement efforts but focus on building from the…

Background: Interest in using arts-informed approaches within research to increase stakeholder engagement is growing; however, there is little work describing how these approaches are operationalised across contexts. This article addresses that gap by exploring the use of arts-informed approaches across three projects. Aims and objectives: We…

This study sought to understand how state-level policies inform and promote the implementation of restorative justice in education (RJE). A content analysis of 60 laws revealed that definitions, structures, and supports varied greatly, causing us to question whether policies support a systematic implementation of RJE and how policies can prevent…

Introduction: The purpose of the study was to identify effective teaching strategies to bridge the gap between theory-based and practical-based approaches to teaching a history curriculum. Methods: A qualitative exploratory case study was used. Twenty educators who taught history in K-12 classrooms participated in the study. Semi-structured…

Background or Context: Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are collaborative efforts between researchers and practitioners aimed at improving educational practices through engagement in research. Previous studies have highlighted the dynamic nature of roles within RPPs, emphasizing the need for role negotiation and adaptation to local contexts.…

In the context of heightened policy expectations for research use, there is a need to better understand how schools enact these expectations. However, normative models for research use do not fit with longstanding empirical evidence about research use. This a) means that schools are likely to implement evidence use expectations in diverse ways…

The research-practice divide between social scientists and educators is a persistent problem for the accurate communication and translation of social scientific research into pedagogical practice. This paper uses mindset theory as a case study, arguing that the social scientific theories transcending the research-practice divide tend to be those…

In this collection of writing and reflection, readers are invited to reclaim the connection between curriculum studies and the work of educators in schools and society. As the curriculum field has grown more complex and theoretical, our schools have become more corporatized, standardized, and dehumanized. This volume focuses on curriculum theory's…

This qualitative study examined African American women as novice, veteran, and former district middle space leaders in K-12 school systems. The current research on African American women in district middle space leadership is minimal. This study brought forth the experiences and navigation of experiences of district middle space leadership by…

NCSS's framework for social studies education, "The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards," is centered on the concept of inquiry. As social studies teachers have worked to incorporate historical inquiry, many have understandably emphasized the teaching of historical thinking and democratic…

This research-practice partnership (RPP) focused on developing and testing metrics and tools to foster improved evidence-based budgetary decision-making. The expectation was that research findings would directly influence decisions about program expansion, contraction, or elimination. Instead, unexpected findings led to unexpected uses: changes in…

Our research-practice partnership (RPP) focused on developing and testing metrics and tools to foster improved evidence-based budgetary decision-making. We expected our research findings to directly influence decisions about program expansion, contraction, or elimination. Instead, unexpected findings led to unexpected uses: changes in program…