Learning another language is considered a key 21st century subject, something that all students should begin in elementary school. However, most school districts in Illinois do not offer students the opportunity to learn another language in elementary school. There are effective and high quality programs available to learn another language that…

Boston Public Schools (BPS) serves approximately 49,000 students across 119 schools and is dedicated to providing equitable, high-quality education for every student, regardless of background or circumstance. While schools create improvement plans, they can struggle to use them as an adaptive tool. Central office leaders often collect these plans…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine building and district administrators' perceptions of the Kansas Dyslexia Initiatives. Their awareness and experiences may influence how administrators understand, plan for, and align the current approach for reading instruction within their respective buildings or district in relation to the…

The State of Michigan, as of 2012-2013, requires school districts to enroll students in full day kindergarten to receive full funding. This study investigated the decision-making process that was used by public school districts to determine kindergarten programs in their district. Specifically, how did administrators and staff members use the…

The purpose of this sequential mixed method study was to determine if there were differences between central office administrators', school administrators', and bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) teachers' overall and levels of action, self-regulation, and means efficacies, when controlling for years of experience with bilingual and…

The purpose of the phenomenological study was to examine and understand public high schools, grades 9-12, which have implemented the full integration of global competency skills as an integral part of their core mission. This study also explored, how school leaders ensured that global competency skills are developed, implemented and integrated…

This single case study examines how stakeholders of a local education agency (LEA) understand and implement state turnaround policy for its chronically underperforming schools. While there is ample research on how to improve chronically underperforming schools, a research gap exists specifically around addressing implementation of mandated…

Principals must be instructional leaders in their schools in order to adhere to federal, state, and local mandates as well as being able to discern that the programs for students with disabilities are being developed and implemented with fidelity to meet the needs of those students. The transition a school goes through to include students with…

Teacher compensation reforms have been on the rise in recent years, yet research has yet to fully demonstrate how teachers interpret these policies and how they may influence their instructional practices and professional decisions. This qualitative study of a performance pay program in an urban district in Texas drew on cognitive approaches to…

The purpose of the case study is to describe how one large school district in the United States has expanded their expectations for students based on the perceived need for graduates to compete in an increasingly global job market. The study "summarizes" the processes for establishing districtwide systems to support these expectations. The case…