This paper examines the need to integrate students' full linguistic repertoires into literacy instruction in middle and high school classrooms. Traditional monoglossic approaches often neglect the linguistic assets multilingual students bring, limiting their academic potential. Drawing on translanguaging theory, this paper explores three…

At all educational levels, the number of English learners continues to increase; their academic and linguistic success are growing concerns. The problem is that middle school English learners struggle to reach English proficiency in literacy and language. Closing the achievement gap is a challenge for both English learners and middle school…

Balancing disciplinary knowledge and practical reasoning in problem solving is needed for meaningful learning. In STEM problem solving, science subject matter with associated practices often appears distant to learners due to its abstract nature. Consequently, learners experience difficulties making meaningful connections between science and their…

The "Integrated Development of Key Competences" has been identified as the core idea in education to face competition in the 21st century. Similarly, reform efforts in science education emphasize the importance of integrating scientific practices and disciplinary core ideas. The learning progression (LP) is viewed as a robust tool to…

Mathematics curricula from many countries have emphasized conceptual understanding as more important than the mastery of isolated skills. However, researchers and educators have used different measures to access students' conceptual understanding of mathematics. Thus, it seems necessary to further explore whether and to what extent different…

Student-Teacher-Scientist Partnerships (STSPs) provide opportunities for students and teachers to participate in citizen science and engage with scientific concepts and practices, thereby bridging school learning with issues of importance to society, such as climate change. But STSPs require partners to cross boundaries between the cultures of…

This dissertation study investigated secondary mathematics teachers' designing and enacting lessons to draw on students' multiple mathematical knowledge bases. The ultimate objective of incorporating open spaces in mathematics lessons is to support students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in developing mathematical…

Public schools have experienced an endless cycle of reform aiming to improve student achievement. Despite the time, funding, and resources that have been expended, most school reforms have not been successful at manifesting and sustaining meaningful change. New Jersey's latest attempt at school reform involved Regional Achievement Centers (RACs)…

This study aimed to explore the complex interplay between general teacher self-efficacy, self-efficacy for inclusive practices, and attitudes toward inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. A quantitative research design was employed involving 21 participants who completed a survey encompassing three distinct…

Unlike many types of educational crises, the COVID-19 pandemic was a crisis leaders could not have prepared for. But research is only starting to examine how leaders' responses and organisational context have played a role. This mixed-methods study accordingly examines how leaders have mitigated challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and…

The paper evaluates math performance at four high-need middle schools during a four-year intervention, which was designed to help math teachers diagnose students' areas of need and to design lesson plans responsive to those needs. Before the intervention began, the researchers pre-selected four comparison schools by matching based on achievement…

The purpose of the case study was to understand the use of technology, particularly AI, for public middle school teachers in Michigan for critical thinking and problem-solving skills among students. The theory that guided this study was the constructivist theory. The constructivist learning theory involves people learning from their experiences…

Test-taking experience is a consequence of the interaction between students and assessment properties. We define a new notion, rapid-pacing behavior, to reflect two types of test-taking experience -- disengagement and speededness. To identify rapid-pacing behavior, we extend existing methods to develop response-time thresholds for individual items…

Not all 8th-grade students have an outspoken passion for reading; however, most of them do like choices. This action research study establishes a correlation between offering choices in the English Language Arts classroom and increased affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement. The participants for this research were an 8th-grade class at a…

The authors examined the knowledge of middle level mathematics teachers instructing in inclusive classrooms to the hearing impairments students (HISs) or learning disabilities students (LDSs). The focus was on teachers' understanding of students' misconceptions related to the concept of angles. The study aimed to investigate the teachers' role in…