Science is part of the educational curricula, and its teaching is the responsibility of teachers. Since 2000, scholars from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD) countries have been tested in science by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), despite the diversity in national higher education systems. This requires a…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an integral measure of academic progress over time. It is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what our nation's students know and can do in various subjects such as mathematics, reading, and science. The program also provides valuable insights into students'…

This study examines teacher professional development as part of the required K-12 continuous school improvement process. Through semi-structured, open-ended interviews and data (school improvement plans, PD agendas), this qualitative case drew from organizational theory to identify and describe information to better understand the role teacher…

Standards-based grading (SBG) is a grading system in which each student is given a set of grades, each reflecting their proficiency in relation to a specific skill. The present study examined K-12 teachers' implementation of SBG practices in a small, suburban Midwestern school district, as well as their perceptions of and confidence in…

Professional Growth Plans (PGPs), a model of professional development for educators, were completed in the context of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) as part of a grant from a state Professional Educator Standards Board. Participants were in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and represented different educator roles in two urban…

Background: The context of this research is reading literacy instruction in Foundation Phase classrooms in South Africa. Although large-scale studies have researched learner performance, little is known of the nuances of teachers' practice, particularly in the non-verbal realm. This research seeks to address that gap. Aim: This research…

Even though inclusion is a strong principle in the Norwegian educational system, there are challenges when it comes to creating inclusive learning environments. This study investigates the following: (1) What challenges are there in the learning environment in primary school from a teacher's perspective; and (2) what strategies do teachers employ…

Despite an increasing interest in the sociocultural aspects of teacher professional development and the recognition of context in teacher education, there is a lack of a conceptualisation of how professional learning occurs within and across various contexts. To this aim, we take up a view of professional learning that is dialogic and apply the…

Socially engaged engineering provides for student learning of the design, analysis, and practices of engineering as well as the ways that engineering is situated in sociocultural contexts. This paper provides a conceptual framework regarding socially engaged engineering for K-8 educators, researchers, and curriculum designers. The framework…

The aim of this phenomenological study was to determine the experiences and views of elementary school teachers about mobbing. To address this issue, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 female and 19 male elementary school teachers working in public elementary schools. Four themes emerged during the analysis: reasons for…

This longitudinal study examines elementary teachers' self-efficacy for science teaching in the years after professional development (PD) ended and during a subsequent 3-year period of follow-up support. Self-efficacy is important because teachers make decisions about classroom activities based, in part, on how confident they are in their…

This research seeks to determine the possible impact the use of mandated scripted curriculum has on veteran teachers' professional identity. This qualitative study used an interpretivist lens and a narrative methodology. Narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988) will be used to understand veteran teachers' professional identities as…

The Focus of Practice (FoP) of this Participatory Action Research (PAR) project was to develop mentors' knowledge, skills, and dispositions to identify and implement equitable classroom practices through coaching conversations with beginning teachers. The study examined what happens when mentors shift from essential check-ins with beginning…

Mathematics is one of the critical subjects studied worldwide and is a major for all science faculties and careers. However, it is 1 of the subjects in which performance is poor in all educational phases and bands. Therefore, with this research we aimed to consider the use of mother tongue in the learning and teaching of mathematics in schools.…

Worldwide, male teachers in the Foundation Phase (FP) are a rarity, given the perception that the teaching of younger children is more suited to females than to males. Little research has been conducted in South Africa on the factors that influence men to become Foundation Phase teachers. This study investigated the motives of male student…