A critical part of implementing a new instructional program is professional learning. Multifaceted training was planned and delivered to teachers in a Midwestern urban school district prior to and during implementation of an online accelerated English language arts curriculum in four middle schools. Working in partnership with two universities,…

This article focuses on the role of cooperating teachers (CTs)/mentors in supporting pre-service teachers in urban middle schools. This article examines stories of ten middle school teachers at Baldwin Middle School, located in a mid-Atlantic urban center, who served as CTs in the Spring of 2016. After comparing the mentors' experiences, four…

An urban middle school goes through the transformation of becoming a university-supported lab school. Drawing upon design thinking principles, the planning team cultivates a sense of shared empathy, creative problem-solving, and an ethos of curiosity and learning in a collaborative environment.

School-based mental health screening has been identified as a major component of social, emotional, and behavioral multitiered systems of support models, and a promising practice that can be used to address unmet mental health needs of children and adolescents. However, there are frequently noted concerns about the feasibility of implementing…

The tendency in urban schools is that teachers hold incomplete understandings about their students (by virtue of difference in cultural, race, language, and social class) is a lingering challenge since "Brown v. Board of Education" desegregated students in schools while also casting out large numbers of Black educators (Walker, 2013).…

Providing authentic college experiences for students in the middle grades through a partnership with a local college can improve college readiness skills and leave students with a positive view of post-secondary possibilities and opportunities. This article describes a college immersion program--a weeklong college experience provided to all…

The Atlanta Schools Critical Education Network for Distinction (ASCEND) is an ongoing interdisciplinary coalition supporting the critical consciousness of social justice educators. ASCEND partners include: (1) activist faculty from two university departments: Middle and Secondary Education and African American Studies; (2) a justice-oriented…

The current study describes the process of a participatory consultation framework, the Participatory Culture Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM), to plan and implement a data-based decision-making framework. The framework integrates proactive and systematic identification of emotional and behavioral needs as well as cognitive psychology techniques…

The COVID-19 global pandemic significantly impacted both the academic and social and emotional development of middle school students. This article describes the benefits of implementing an interdisciplinary, project-based summer school program to support middle school students as they adapted to in-person learning after school closures due to the…

A primary goal of teacher preparation programs should be to develop the reflective and critical problem-solving capacities of preservice teachers, especially social justice-oriented programs that prepare teachers to work in urban schools with historically underserved youth. Through an analysis of participants' biweekly posts to discussion boards,…

Project OCCAMS is an accelerated English language arts curriculum and delivery model for high ability middle school learners. This program was initially developed in a research-practitioner partnership with two universities and a state department of education. Over 6 years, it was implemented in Columbus City Schools, Ohio's largest urban school…

This study examined the phenomenon of college readiness in Hispanic first-generation college students. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between first-generation Hispanic student participation in an Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) elective course and college readiness. The researchers used logistic…

Remote access technology in STEM education fills dual roles as an educational tool to deliver science education (Educational Technology) and as a means to teach about technology itself (Technology Education). A five-lesson sequence was introduced to 11 and 12-year-old students at an urban school. The lesson sequences were inquiry-based, hands-on,…

Background: A growing part of the efforts to promote student engagement and success in undergraduate STEM are the family of Student Support and Outreach Programs (SSOPs), which task undergraduate students with providing support and mentoring to their peers and near-peers. Research has shown that these programs can provide a variety of benefits for…

Background: Youth violence is a significant problem affecting community health. Community-academic partnerships can advance youth nonviolence education by synergizing the strengths of collaborators while working toward a common goal. We describe a collaboration between an urban public middle school, community nonprofit, and university-based…