Mathematics education in the United States has faced persistent challenges, with proficiency rates plateauing since 2005 and a significant gap in proficiency between Latino and White students. Although various factors have contributed to this gap, scholars have highlighted teachers as pivotal in the achievement of Latino students. Recent research…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many educational stakeholders to rethink the purpose and function of public education. The COVID-19 mediasphere and politically divided climate has ushered legislative stakeholders and the public's attention to the need for media literacy education. Critical media literacy addresses the goals of media literacy…

Building anti-ableist museum education practices into our toolboxes of educational skills is an important way to ensure that museum educators are dismantling the ableism at work in museum interpretation. This paper offers practical strategies for building anti-ableist museum education practices, which we model using one artwork, Enrique Martínez…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how general education elementary teachers who teach special education students in their classrooms in California described their use of pedagogy, innate qualities, and classroom culture to develop creative teaching practices. This study was guided by Cremin's theory, the three…

The purpose of this study was to bring to life the experiences of how the development of a Social, Emotional and Cultural lens prepares teachers to meet their own social and emotional needs in the classroom and consequently be better prepared to meet their students' social and emotional needs in ways that are culturally sustaining. This…

Teachers in professional development (PD) programs need time to adopt, enact and reflect on what they are learning in the PD within their own situations. To encourage reflective implementation and adaptation of ideas and practices promoted in the PD studied in this article, participants were asked to engage in several small action research…

In this qualitative study, 8 mild/moderate education specialists in California were interviewed to discuss what lessons were learned regarding online instruction and service delivery for students receiving special education services when schools closed due to the COVID-19 health crisis. Thematic analysis indicated that the following strategies…

The Optimizing Learning Opportunities for Students (OLOS) Observation System was developed by the Early Learning Network's assessment team at the University of California, Irvine. OLOS is a user-friendly, web-based tool designed to help teachers understand what is happening in their classrooms and uncover ways to meet the unique learning needs of…

Before the EdD program through UC Davis, my own decisions and thinking process perpetuated an inequitable system that seemed to be working to support and uplift marginalized communities. When beginning my personal journey through the doctoral program and throughout the pandemic, there were epiphanies that awakened me to new institutional versions…

Adaptive tutoring systems often model student knowledge in ways that break away from a "one size fits all" approach to learning. Nonetheless, the strengths of these systems can often be limited, as knowledge representations are not easily interpreted by teachers, which make these systems difficult to integrate into pedagogical practices.…

This dissertation research aimed to examine the processes and practices of inclusive education for students with diverse disabilities in a school district in northern California. The first part is a theoretical articulation of a conceptual framework that school districts and local education agencies can use to design, implement, and sustain…

This dissertation focuses on the professional philosophies, practices, and collaborative negotiation skills used and developed in two teacher education programs within two countries and how novice teachers integrate these ideas, skills, and processes in classrooms and schools. Simultaneously, this research examines how the patterns of democratic…

Following the murder of George Floyd and the wide-spread recognition of systemic discriminatory abuse of power by police, organizations across the country were jolted into reviewing their own policies and practices for evidence of prejudice and racial injustice. Teacher education programs were no exception. As teacher education grapples with this…

There are many classroom teachers in southern-California school districts who primarily serve students of color but are not receiving adequate culturally relevant educational training or tools to use in classroom instruction (Young, 2003). There are some teachers who do not have the skills to communicate or relate to their students effectively…

This mixed-method study explored the culturally responsive practices of a midsized, Southern California school district that used Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) state funding to implement a voluntary summer program accessible to TK--6 grade students district-wide. Qualitative data gathered from semistructured interviews with the…