Retaining qualified teachers in America's schools is one of the nation's challenges in education. Current research revealed teacher turnover had risen to 16.9% nationally, which equates to 2.7 million teachers, including 2.1 million who left the profession before retirement. In order to make a positive change in teacher retention, teacher…

Historically, there have been different types of instructional practice in education. Before the mid-1980s, administrators pushed content. In the mid-1980s, it was Effective Teaching with the Six-Point Lesson Plan. There were many observations with the Career Ladder of which the researcher was a participant in the pilot program. There came…

Examining the justification for current evaluation policy reveals that such policy rests on two assumptions related to the impact on the work of teachers: (1) evaluations are necessary because teachers need to be rated, sanctioned, or rewarded in order to be motivated to improve their practice; and (2) evaluations yield information that is useful…

A decade of research on school discipline has made society keenly aware of the "elephant in the room." Overwhelmingly, Black students are "wounded" permanently when they are suspended over and over for offenses that are overlooked when their white counterparts commit the same infraction. Since Black students are suspended…

Early college high schools were developed as a partnership between school districts and colleges to provide students an opportunity to earn a high school diploma concurrently with an associate's degree or transferable college credit at little or no cost. In 2011, North Carolina New Schools implemented the Rural Innovative Initiative with the…

A mixed method, sequential explanatory approach provided insights' regarding critical issues relating to K-12 professional growth and development as well as understanding the effect upon their teaching practices and student achievement. The population of this study consisted of a convenience sample that contained a regional group of educators from…

Using mixed methods, we examined the impact of technology facilitators (TFs) on teacher commitment to 1:1 initiatives. Findings from quantitative analysis complemented by qualitative analyses suggest teachers benefitted from having TFs assist with the technological integration. Teachers from schools with a TF endorsed attitudes that were…

We argue that Latino/a students are more likely to major in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in college if they were educated in high schools where they studied with satisfied teachers who worked in collaborative professional communities. Quantitative results demonstrate that collaborative professional communities in high school…

Using the Social Presence Model (SPM), the authors explore the teacher and student experience at the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS), the largest public online secondary school where teachers design and develop the curriculum. Through a series of surveys, focus groups, and interviews, this two-year mixed methods study investigates the…

According to No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the definition of a highly qualified teacher includes three components: obtaining a bachelor's degree; having full licensure as defined by the state; and demonstrating competency, as defined by the state, in each subject taught (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). However, NCLB does not specifically…

High school students participating in online courses offered by the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) completed end-of-course surveys in spring 2009. When the responses of 559 foreign language students were compared to students in five other subject area groups, the findings suggested foreign language students had significantly lower…

This paper describes the second part of a new three-part study of STEM and engineering design research--termed Design-Without-Make--conducted by NC State University in 2009-10 in an NC high school. The hybrid quantitative, qualitative case study is being developed with the purpose of capturing what new technological learning occurs and how the new…