"Ability" is one of the most common concepts underpinning education. Generally, "ability" is central to notions of a meritocratic society. More specifically, schools are allocated the right to define, categorise and label students according to their ability. While there has been ample discussion of the role of ability in the…

Background/Context: Worldwide, principals face enormous challenges while translating policies and mandates for which they are accountable into their mission and practice. While some of these school-level challenges are technical, many are adaptive (Heifetz), requiring leaders and those in their care to grow their cognitive and affective…

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate and understand gender diverse individuals' retrospective accounts of their experiences of school and to interpret these experiences under the influence of deconstruction. A second purpose is to use these experiences to inform a model of gender-inclusive education. In this qualitative study,…

Many state-funded prekindergarten (preK) programs are implemented through school-community partnerships, which has been promoted as a way to increase preK access, to meet the needs of families, and to ensure program quality (Schumacher, Ewen, Hart, & Lombardi, 2005). In spite of the potential benefits of such partnerships, there are also…

The purpose of the present study was to assess change recipients' perceptions of 4+4+4 reform initiative put in effect in Turkish education system and to explore if anything has changed within the one-year interval. This research is a qualitative longitudinal case study conducted in 2013 and 2014 in a large city in Southeastern Turkey. Pragmatist…

Teacher turnover and retention has been a challenge within schools for many years. However, schools in low-performing urban settings experience teacher turnover at a much higher rate than schools in higher socioeconomic statuses. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to determine the reasons why effective teachers at…

Policy surrounding K-12 online learning continues to evolve as the field grows exponentially. In Michigan, Section 21f of the State School Aid Act enacted in 2013 strengthened parents' and students' ability to request online courses: "A student enrolled in a district in any of grades 6 to 12 is eligible to enroll in an online course as…

The increased push for teaching computer science (CS) in schools in the United States requires training a large number of new K-12 teachers. The current efforts to increase the number of CS teachers have predominantly focused on training teachers from other content areas. In order to support these beginning CS teachers, we need to better…

A number of English language proficiency exams target grades K-12 English language learners (ELLs) because of the rising need to identify their needs and provide appropriate support in language learning. A good example is the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs (hereafter ACCESS), designed to measure the English language proficiency of students identified as…

Teaching students with severe disabilities is a complex endeavor, and the skills and qualities of expert teachers for students with severe disabilities are not well understood. A lack of understanding about the unique roles and expertise of teachers of students with severe disabilities can influence the quality of education students with severe…

This research investigated the experience of leadership in an isolated school. Data were obtained through structured and semi-structured interviews (Burns, 2000) with a total of eight principals whose experience of leadership in remote communities ranged from new recruits to several decades. Three research questions guided the investigation: What…

In today's educational context, characterized by growing inequality and the rise of neoliberal ideology, universities are dealing with pressures to contribute to the global workforce and partner with private interests rather than educating citizens and serving the public good. This article presents youth participatory action research (YPAR) as a…

Using critical constructivism as the theoretical lens, the teacher educator-researcher used practitioner research to systematically examine the experience of PreK-12 teachers in his district-based teacher research professional development course, while also examining his development as a teacher educator. The results of this study showed that, as…

The answer to effective formal principal preparation reform across the nation has been to adopt and implement the "Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium" (ISLLC) standards, which in most instances begins with graduate program courses and field training within higher learning institutions. Close adherence to Standard 5, a…

This qualitative study explores the abstinence-only sex education experiences of a small group of young adults in the southeastern USA. Most participants felt that their abstinence-only sex education had mixed value and low overall impact in their lives. Perceptions about abstinence, virginity, and marriage varied significantly from those stressed…