The Division of School Leadership (DSL) manages and builds the capacity of superintendents and principals across New York City Public Schools (NYCPS). This capstone presents a detailed glimpse into my strategic project as a doctoral resident in the DSL. The project sought to answer the question: "with no formal team or budget, how does the…

This study describes the internal values that motivate non-traditional urban agriculture students to stay in the field and the external factors influencing the motivation of non-traditional urban agriculture students to remain in the field of agriculture. A phenomenological approach was employed to gather information on student motivation,…

Ohio's Columbus City Schools developed a new urban grow-your-own principal pipeline. This pipeline emphasizes the cultivation of equity-centered principals who can address educational and social disparities in transformative and sustainable ways. Drawing from research and professional literature and from district and stakeholder engagements,…

Racial disparities in school discipline may have collateral consequences on the larger non-suspended student population. The present study leveraged two longitudinal datasets with 1201 non-suspended adolescents (48% Black, 52% White; 55% females, 45% males; M[subscript age]: 12-13) enrolled in 84 classrooms in an urban mid-Atlantic city of the…

Many recent critical reforms in state school finance systems have been catalyzed by the courthouse, not the statehouse. Advocates for equity-focused school finance reforms often consider legal action as the best path to significant policy changes. This brief discusses state-level lawsuits on adequacy and equity grounds and their outcomes.

Recent research has examined the influential role coaches may play in supporting teachers' collective capacity building for instructional improvement. While emerging research is promising, much remains to be learned about collaborative approaches to coaching, particularly in schools with the greatest opportunity gaps. We draw on extensive…

This article emphasises the discord between 'mobile childhoods' and 'immobile schools' as the fundamental problematic of educational inclusion of migrant children in India. Formal schooling system predicated upon static ideals of age, grade, learning, curriculum and language, fails to accommodate the lived realities of migrant children. By drawing…

This article uses elements of narrative and portraiture to acknowledge the voices of four teachers who participated in a 3-year effort to turn around an urban elementary school. Turnaround is a sanctioned reform effort intended to produce rapid, dramatic improvement in student academic achievement in a low-performing school. We present the teacher…

This qualitative case study explores how urban high schools implement a district-initiated student-voice program, referred to as Student Advisory Committees, intended to improve school climate. The study uses an implementation science framework to analyze interview data from principals and advisors in 22 urban high schools. An iterative, top-down…

The first national chronic school absenteeism data in 2016 revealed that over 6 million students in the United States missed 15 or more school days per year. Students with chronic absences miss both excused and unexcused days of school. The problem of chronic absenteeism is often overlooked during the elementary years, which is a time when…

African Americans leave the teaching profession at a higher rate than any other group, which has led to a disproportionate number of African Americans in the American urban teaching profession. The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide key stakeholders with an understanding of the experiences of urban African American teachers, which…

The number of Chicanx and Latinx students in U.S. public school settings increased significantly at the close of the last century and continues to increase well into the 21st century. The numbers of Chicanx and Latinx, and more specifically Chicana and Latina, high school principals, however, have remained disproportionately low. Studies that…

This research study explored the relationship between test anxiety and growth mindset for fifth grade elementary students in a midwestern, urban district. Researchers compared the levels of test anxiety and growth mindset for elementary students using the "Implicit Theory of Intelligence Scale" (ITIS) and the "Children's Test…

Humane Acts Bystander Intervention Training curriculum (HABIT) aims to reach students less inclined to learn from liberal and more-feminist education offered in current curricula. Using moral foundations theory to encourage bystander intervention in potential sexual assault situations, the authors taught and assessed 137 diverse students within an…

This qualitative descriptive study explored teachers' perceptions of a peer observation structure, collegial visits (CVs), and CVs' connection to teacher self-efficacy (TSE). The research question was: How do teachers perceive CVs, particularly with respect to their influence on TSE? Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were utilized to…