The purpose of this study was to understand how and why middle grades mathematics teachers did or did not fully participate in sustained, content-focused professional development. Qualitative data were collected from middle grades teachers who demonstrated varying levels of participation. The teachers identified opportunities to engage in novel…

Central in the frameworks that describe algebra from K-12 is the idea that algebraic thinking is not a single construct, but consists of several algebraic thinking strands. Validation studies exploring this idea are relatively scarce. This study used structural equation modeling techniques to analyze data of middle school students' performance on…

Visualising positive and negative numbers on a number line is helpful for exploring problems involving operations with positive and negative numbers. This is because number lines lend themselves to exploring problems involving continuous linear contexts such as travelling distances and temperature. Teachers in a professional development program…

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to provide an example of instructional coaching for inservice teachers within the context of community-engaged scholarship (CEP), involving professional learning communities (PLCs). This study seeks to encourage policymakers to allocate budgets for instructional coaches, as well as resources for schools.…

The middle school transition year poses known challenges to early adolescent adjustment, particularly for students from ethnic and racial minoritized backgrounds who face ethnic and racial discrimination from school personnel and classmates. Drawing on a sample of 711 African American and Latinx sixth-grade students attending 17 schools, we…

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of physical education (PE) teachers on the participation of middle-school girls in PE courses. Investigating the perceptions of educators who have direct experience with mixed-gender middle-school PE courses provided new contributions to the limited understanding of engagement and…

The middle school years are important for social and emotional learning, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated social-emotional learning needs. At this age, young people are paying attention to the social world and exploring their identities and need learning environments that respond in kind. Jessica Shiller and Inte'a DeShields describe a model…

Background/Context: Bi/multilingual students' STEM learning is better supported when educators leverage their language and cultural practices as resources, but STEM subject divisions have been historically constructed based on oppressive, dominant values and exclude the ways of knowing of nondominant groups. Truly promoting equity requires…

Proportional reasoning is the cornerstone of many higher-level mathematics topics. We evaluated the sustainability effects of schema-based instruction (SBI) on proportional reasoning and the impact of professional development (PD) on the instructional practices of two cohorts of seventh-grade teachers (i.e., SBI-experienced-teacher implementers,…

Much research has been done to explore social media on students and instructors and their perceptions of social media use in higher education, but little research has been done on teachers in secondary education and their perceptions of social media use in the classroom. Due to the lack of research, the purpose of the study was to examine…

This dissertation explores the lived experiences of Appalachian elementary and middle school teachers who have been identified as working in Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) schools. This study used Lifeworld Theory to engage in discussion about the teachers' individual experiences in using PBIS in their classrooms in relation to…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether White teachers' trust in their Black students would stimulate positive teacher-student relationships. One question guided my research: How do White teachers build trust with their Black students? This study used interviews of 5 White middle school teachers and 3 Black middle school students for the…

The education of the young adolescent has consistently posed a challenge to the educational community. While the general belief is this age group (10 to 15 year-old children) would benefit from a specialized educational approach. Historically, both the junior high school model of the early 1900s and the more current middle school concept have…

The purpose of this study was to examine parent-teacher congruent perceptions of middle school structures to support parent monitoring of children's behavior. We examined family educational involvement and school's communication and support to families as predictors of congruence, as well as congruence as a predictor of children following school…

The purpose of this study was to examine parent-teacher congruent perceptions of middle school structures to support parent monitoring of children's behavior. We examined family educational involvement and school's communication and support to families as predictors of congruence, as well as congruence as a predictor of children following school…