Teacher turnover can have a negative impact on school districts. This study sought to examine the causes for teacher turnover and to find solutions to increase teacher retention. Data collected in Cycle 1 originated from interviews with 10 continuing contract teachers focusing on their experiences in the classroom. From cycle 1 data, action steps…

This paper describes the experiences of two teachers, Ms. Santiago and Mr. Jelenik, who participated in a comprehensive National Science Foundation-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional learning experience. This comparative case study describes how Ms. Santiago and Mr. Jelenik leveraged the…

Many K-12 independent schools feature introductory teaching programs, like teaching fellowship or assistant teacher programs, as part of the faculty and school structure. The benefits of these programs for assistant teachers or pre-service teachers are well researched and documented in public school settings. Little, though, is known about the…

In this qualitative research article, we examine the feasibility and perceptions of a remote early learning program and the Ahlan Simsim Families parenting program in hard-to-access areas of Lebanon. Our research targets Syrian refugee families dealing with the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the resulting social tensions…

The pipeline of college students seeking teaching positions is shrinking. The teacher shortage makes finding and retaining new teachers even more challenging. The cost of replacing existing teachers who leave is tremendous, and new teachers leave the profession at an alarming rate. This dissertation explored the lived experiences of new teachers…

Teacher professional development (TPD) programs face several challenges in fostering active participation and ensuring high-quality learning experiences compared to traditional approaches. While online TPD programs offer flexibility, concerns remain about their effectiveness in promoting high-quality content and autonomous learning. This study…

Purpose: Although mentoring is increasingly hailed as one of the most critical components of US teacher induction programs, the corresponding research base has failed to provide conclusive support for the effectiveness of teacher mentoring. Design/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional data from the 2015 to 2016 National Teacher and Principal…

This Education Leadership Portfolio documents efforts toward improving equity-focused professional development (PD) in the Cape Henlopen School District (CHSD). The strategies utilized in this study are guided by an extensive review of the literature on effective PD, teacher preparation, and theories of self-efficacy. Teachers in CHSD participated…

Scholars repeatedly addressed the importance and challenges of providing practical research training for master's-level CITs (Jorgensen & Umstead, 2020). However, most articles on counseling research education highlight the training for doctoral students, and most articles on pedagogical practice left out the Council for Accreditation of…

University Teaching Experience for Mathematics Prospective Teachers (UTEMPT), an NSF-funded collaborative project, has implemented an innovative version of early field experiences in order to provide preservice mathematics teachers an opportunity to make a meaningful connection between methods-course-content and teaching practices in a college…

Program evaluations that lack experimental design often fail to produce evidence of impact because there is no available control group. Theory-based evaluations can generate evidence of a program's causal effects if evaluators collect evidence along the theorized causal chain and identify possible competing causes. However, few methods are…

This methods case study describes the design and implementation of a digital, multimodal journal from a yearlong program evaluation using self-study methods. The program evaluation focused on the author's transition of practice from elementary teacher to teacher educator and aimed to improve the author's practice. The design of the digital,…

Research Findings: This is an evaluation study of the effectiveness of an online early mathematics professional development program for early childhood teachers. The eight online courses, along with the Math at Home: Early Math Matters website and resources, introduce early childhood teachers to mathematical concepts such as math literacy, number…

Effective, engaging teacher collaboration contributes to continuous school improvement and overall student success. This formative, internal program evaluation used a combination of objectives-based and improvement-focused models to determine what worked well in mandated PLCs at MHS, what aspects of these PLCs needed improvement, and what…

This paper documents the design, implementation, and evaluation of an online learning community (OLC), within the Republic of Ireland, which set out to support student teachers in a hybrid space during their school placement experience. Guided by qualitative research, data collection methods included interviews and analysis of students' forum…