One of the tools middle school SBAE teachers can use to deliver the total program is research-based SAEs, for which students can receive recognition through the FFA Agriscience Fair. This study examined why middle school SBAE teachers implemented the FFA Agriscience Fair into their programs. This study built on previous literature in this area,…

The purpose of the addendum is to document the findings from the Year 2 student achievement analyses of a teacher-level randomized experiment, which was designed to examine the implementation and impact of a scalable version of the 2-year MyTeachingPartner Secondary (MTP-S) program as part of a federally-funded Education Innovation and Research…

The purpose of this study was to describe four successful collaborative action research (CAR) projects through the lens of teacher leaders who facilitated the school teams that conducted the CAR. For each CAR project described, the paper will report on the various phases of the CAR, the challenges of implementation as well as how the challenges…

Background: Moments of failure during learning present a wide range of opportunities for growth. However, experimental research and meta reviews focused on failure and learning tend to target singular valued learning processes, such as efficient fixes or transfer of conceptual understanding. These analytical decisions conflict with research…

Technology and a variety of resources play an important role in students' educational lives. Vygotsky's (1987) theory of tool mediation suggests that cultural tools, such as computer software influence individuals' thinking and action. However, it is not completely understood how technology and other resources influence student action. Middle…

This article reports on a two-year study of one principal's professional learning practices in "Transform," a professional learning program in Edmonton Catholic Schools, Alberta, Canada. Transform was designed to be a bottom-up, morally-oriented professional learning approach in which principals and teachers worked as partners on…

Recruiting schools to participate in research projects has become increasingly challenging in the past several years. Research in schools was next-to-impossible during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the aftermath of the pandemic has made research a lower priority for schools trying to regain COVID-related academic losses. The School Recruitment…

There is growing attention to the potential for developing professional learning experiences for content area teachers to infuse computational thinking (CT), which refers to the set of problem-solving practices related to the computer science discipline, into their classrooms. Although research has begun to document professional learning models…

Teacher research (practitioner inquiry) is an effective form of professional development for middle level teachers. Through teacher research, classroom teachers develop the skills needed to demonstrate mastery of the performance standards for middle level master teacher candidates. Using well-established research methods, middle level educators…

The study reports on a small international qualitative research project on the implementation of national curriculum reform in Chinese middle schools, involving a team of eight researchers from the University of Leeds and two Chinese partnership institutions in Zhejiang and Beijing. Data were collected from six case study schools based on a…

There is a need for teenagers and adolescents to be aware of mental health topics that affect their peers and community as well as resources for how to seek help. Project Mental Health Awareness (PMHA) is a self-sustaining program designed to be incorporated into any junior high or high school curriculum to increase mental health awareness and…

Tracing the nature of critical engagement and agency among youth in a participatory action research (PAR) collective, the study attends to the manner in which critical engagement and agency developed over time for the youth researchers. The focus of the project was to conduct a survey among ninth grade students concerning their early high school…

This case study describes how our research team conducted an individual differences research project in a middle school science classroom. The main goal of our work was to investigate whether individual differences in cognitive abilities predict individual differences in scientific reasoning in middle school students. In order to address our…

The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in career and technical education (CTE) as a way to engage students, help people build the skills necessary to succeed in a technologically advanced economy, and meet employer demand for workers. MDRC--which has a three-decade history of developing and evaluating CTE programs, including a landmark…

Over the last twenty-five years, the Minnesota Historical Society, the University of Minnesota Libraries, and Minitex have developed a partnership centered on creating pathways to higher education by engaging local middle school and high school students in immersive programs at academic libraries. These activities vary in scope and content, but…