In this case narrative, Peter, an experienced principal in a new school board and school, is struggling to keep up with the day-to-day challenges at his school and to achieve work--life balance. Challenges include: (a) small changes in the school can that demand some of his time; (b) daily unintended interruptions that are draining his time and…

The purpose of this study was to explore how a semester-long scholar practitioner workshop influenced student affairs professionals' quantitative research and statistics competency. Participants' professional engagement and perceptions of barriers and motivation to develop as scholar practitioners were also examined. Although barriers to…

The Common Core State Standards recommend that all educators equip students with the literacy skills needed for college and careers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine middle-level content-area teachers' perspectives on a district-led literacy professional development program and their implementation of the literacy…

Background: Implementing Inquiry-Based Instruction (IBI) in science is a complex process demanding certain classroom conditions prepared with instructional materials to engage students in tasks, as well as adopting the social context that will shape the inquiry-based learning environment. Within this social context, teachers are the main agents…

Professional learning is a significant focus of discussion in most schools but it is not all that common for these conversations to be informed by teachers' needs and expectations. Instead, they tend to be driven by external factors, such as accreditation, mandated professional development requirements and policies. Based on an in-depth study of a…

Public schools have been under great scrutiny. National and international tests have exposed deficiencies of students' knowledge prompting federal and state legislation to focus on improving schools' effectiveness. The pressure induced by recent legislation have school districts scrambling to increase student achievement. One area of reform…

This research targeted the learning preferences, goals and motivations, achievements, challenges, and possibilities for life change of self-directed online learners enrolled in a massive open online course (MOOC) related to online teaching hosted by Blackboard using CourseSites. Data collection included a 40-item survey, of which 159 MOOC…

This three-volume report describes the "SAM (School Administration Manager) process," an approach that about 700 schools around the nation are using to direct more of principals' time and effort to improve teaching and learning in classrooms. Research has shown that a principal's instructional leadership is second only to teaching among…

Accreditation agencies have outlined professional skills that should be possessed by engineering graduates. The question this paper addresses is "What professional skills do our recent graduates actually use and value as being important?" Young engineering professionals, as well as professionals in many different professions, were asked…

Data were collected on guidance and counseling programs and guidance personnel in Nevada schools. Questionnaires were mailed to all 309 practicing school counselors in Nevada; the response rate was 72%. Guidance counselors in Nevada were primarily female, Caucasian, and middle-aged. Mean number of years as a counselor was 9 years, and most…