Purpose: Increasingly, school systems are forming improvement networks and using continuous improvement (CI) to realize more ambitious and equitable instruction. Yet networks reside in environments that place formidable demands on school leaders and house multiple, and sometimes contradictory, beliefs about educational goals and practices.…

Guided by normalization process theory, our qualitative case study explored classified staff members' perceptions of their role in the implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports in schools within a large urban US school district. Analysis reveals that classified staff members' gleaned knowledge of positive…

The problem addressed in this study was that many urban minority students in a Midwestern state begin school without the requisite emergent literacy skills. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the instructional approaches used by early childhood education (ECE) teachers in an urban community in a selected Midwestern…

Mentoring is widely recognized as an effective approach to addressing educational needs in U.S. schools, emphasizing the importance of strong, long-term mentor-mentee relationships (Karaferye, 2018; Wood & Mayo-Wilson, 2012). These relationships can provide crucial support for youth facing social, emotional, and financial challenges (Kuperminc…

The student population is rapidly becoming culturally diverse. Math teachers are struggling to provide instruction responsive to student's cultural and linguistic strengths, which is the problem addressed in this study. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of math teachers who instruct…

Over the last 30 years, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has become a rare model for urban school district improvement. That success stems, in part, from an expansive network of nonprofit organizations, advocates and grassroots community leaders, business leaders, and philanthropic funders that work together -- often in partnership with the district…

This research examines how a student voice experience--Social Justice Youth Summit--developed youth capacities as transformative school leaders. We engaged a youth development framework situated in school- and community-based youth leadership literature to analyze a diverse group of urban youth's experiences and sensemaking of the youth voice…

Teacher turnover is associated with administrative leadership; however, there is an empirical gap in the practices that principals enact that influence teacher turnover. This article uses in-depth case studies and interviews with 32 teachers across two high-turnover and two low turnover middle schools in one large urban public school district to…

School leaders juggle the often-inconsistent goals of maintaining support of middle- and upper-income families for public education and, at the same time, implementing policies to strengthen equity for low-income students. Author Iris C. Rotberg describes how these tradeoffs play out in different communities, the role of concentrated poverty and…

Policymakers' demands for improved academic achievement by all children and the standardization of instructional practices continue to alter the landscape of early childhood education. Many within the early childhood education community are examining how these changes impact stakeholders' conceptions of school readiness. Yet, little has been done…

This study investigates computer programming ('coding') activities of Primary School Children; we ask if there is evidence of gender differences in their coding activities. The research took place in an English urban school with around 180 children on role, mostly from a middle-class social background. The study involved a class of 17 boys and 15…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate how general and special educators' attitudes, efficacy, and collaboration promote co-teaching relationships that benefit exceptional students in urban middle schools. The impacts of co-teaching on the attitudes, efficacy, and collaboration of secondary teachers were explored. A…

Research on building principal leadership behaviors has resulted in increased attention regarding leadership theories that principals may consider to maximize school performance. Relevant findings can inform both organizational and educational leadership behaviors. The current study provides new perspectives on leadership implications in urban…

Growing emphasis on elementary STEM education has pushed elementary teachers to face curriculum changes that focus on standards with which they are largely unfamiliar (Smith, 2020; Trygstad et al., 2013). As a result, elementary students are not always exposed to STEM subjects or integration and miss out on opportunities to access and enjoy the…

Survey data from students in Grades 9-12 at L High School (a pseudonym) in an urban district in the southeastern United States suggested that students lack social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies. Efforts to address SEL at the study site have been ineffective. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore secondary teachers'…