A growing body of research evidence has suggested Assessment for Learning (AfL) practices represent a powerful intervention strategy that enhances learning for all students. Yet, grades 7-12 teachers in particular, generally continue to rely almost entirely on traditional summative assessment practices. However, some school principals in the…

Autism spectrum disorder rates are climbing in the United States. Because this population is growing, research is needed to understand how to assist these individuals in pursuit of postsecondary educational and employment opportunities. The purpose of this qualitative study, as reflected in the central research question, was to investigate how a…

While program-level assessment has become common in higher education, questions remain about the impacts of assessment on teaching and learning in academic programs. Despite the considerable assessment activity happening in higher education, assessment scholars still have difficulty finding evidence of programs "closing the loop," that…

Over the past decade, the independent school landscape in the U.S. and Hawai'i has experienced a dramatic transformation resulting in school closures, consolidations, and attempts at expansions. Leadership of organizational change, particularly within complex contexts undergoing highly dynamic and disruptive forces, is long understood as…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continues to rise at an astonishing rate. As many schools attempt to create an inclusive environment that is conducive for students with autism's academic success, it is important that we recognize the teacher's role in creating an inclusive classroom. Teachers with high self-efficacy have a positive impact on…

The purpose of the study is to identify the classroom mathematical practices developed within a learning environment designed by Realistic Mathematics Education for teaching cone and pyramid to preservice teachers. A teaching experiment including five-week instructional sequence by a hypothetical learning trajectory about the solids of cone and…

This manual is a practical training guide for graduate and undergraduate research assistants (RAs) working in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. It may also be applicable to research assistants working in other fields or institutions. The purpose of this manual is to train RAs on how to plan and conduct focus groups for…

The purpose of the transcendental qualitative phenomenological research is to describe the characteristics and strategies of teachers who share the same experiences in teaching science, a non-assessed content, in a high-stakes assessment environment at the third and fourth grade levels. Teacher curriculum choices are dictated by the need to…

Little research has been done regarding the role of spirituality from the perceptive of self-identifying African-American emerging adult learners and how it contributes to their academic persistence, even though isolation, lack of peer support, and identity issues can decrease motivation of self-identifying African-American students. This study…

At Base Elementary School (BES) in the Southwest United States school administrators were concerned that writing proficiency levels for 2014-2015 were below district and state standards and there was not a clear understanding of teachers' perceptions on writing proficiency of military-connected (MC) students at the target site. Therefore, the…

For youth with disabilities, transitioning from school to work and adult life often means overcoming multiple social, academic, and environmental constraints that may present as roadblocks to meeting society's expectations of 'successful transition' (Lehman, Clark, Bullis, Rinkin, & Castellanos, 2002). According to the United States Department…

The purpose of this study was to explore high school principals' perceptions, perception formation, and resultant behavior toward student online learning options. Using the theory of cognitive dissonance as the theoretical foundation, semi-structured interviews were conducted with high school principals in a large, suburban school district. The…

African Americans are underrepresented in Gifted and Talented Education programs (Ford, 1995). Gifted and Talented Education was created to address the needs of exceptional children, but educators have disproportionately identified and enrolled African American students at a lower rate as compared to their counterparts (Ford, 1995). Teachers'…

Teachers in the 21st century continue to teach with little change to pedagogy, practice, or professional identity. Professional development (PD) remains largely ineffective as a tool for promoting instructional change or new identity formation. Teachers at Senior High School X reflect a significant problem of practice in education: reduced…

The issue of guns and gun control is very complex especially since the passage of Campus Carry Law in the state of Texas. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore how decision-making administrators at four nonresidential community colleges in South Texas implemented Campus Carry Law. This study further seeks to examine how 10…