This article describes the development of a technology-enhanced self-regulated learning (Te- SRL) environment designed to foster students' SRL of complex science topics. The environment consists of three components, one of which is a specially designed computerized system that offers students a choice between different types of scaffolding and…

Background: Research has shown that reading motivation is correlated with achievement. Studying motivation in older students is particularly important as reading motivation declines over the course of elementary and middle school. However, current research largely fails to reflect the nuance and complexity of reading motivation, or its variation…

This chapter presents data from a 15-year, mixed-methods school improvement effort. The High Reliability Schools (HRS) reform made use of previous research on school effects and on High Reliability Organizations (HROs). HROs are organizations in various parts of our cultures that are required to operate successfully "the first time, every…

Background/Context: Mixed methods research conveys multiple advantages to the study of complex phenomena and large organizations or systems. The benefits are derived from drawing on the strengths of qualitative methods to answer questions about how and why a phenomenon occurs and those of quantitative methods to examine how often a phenomenon…

Background: Education reforms over the last several decades have relied heavily on external assistance to help schools increase capacity for improving outcomes, but investing in sustained outside coaching and support is increasingly difficult with diminishing federal, state, and district resources. One under-investigated possibility for…

Background/Context: A growing literature describes multiple benefits of social perspective taking--many of which are particularly important for schools. Despite these potential benefits for administrators, counselors, teachers, and students, little is known about social perspective taking as a process. Purpose/Research Question: If educational…

Background/Context: High schools are under increasing pressure to move beyond just graduating students, and many high schools today continue to have low rates of student retention and learning, particularly for students from traditionally low-performing subgroups. Differential dropout rates, wherein low-income students, minorities, and English…

Background/Context: Faced with rapidly changing demographics, districts are increasingly looking to partner with parents to support and improve student learning. Community organizing holds promise for pursuing educational equity through the development of low-income parent participation and leadership, but previous research has focused primarily…

Background: Within the last few years, the focus on educational accountability has shifted from holding students responsible for their own performance to holding those shown to impact student performance responsible--students' teachers. Encouraged and financially incentivized by federal programs, states are becoming ever more reliant on…

Background/Context: Research indicates that social perspective taking--the capacity to discern the thoughts and feelings of others--plays a role in many important outcomes in schools. Despite the potential benefits for students and educators, little is known about social perspective taking (SPT) as a process. Purpose/Research Question: If…

Background/Context: Two-way dual-language programs have become an increasingly popular educational model in the United States for language minority and majority speakers, with a small but growing number of programs at the high school level. Little is known, however, about how adolescents' social networks develop in the contexts of these programs.…

Background/Context: For more than a decade, large alternative teacher certification programs (ATCP) such as the New York City Teaching Fellows (NYCTF) have provided qualified applicants with fast-track or "early entry" routes to paid teaching. While early-entry ATCPs enjoy powerful support in the public and private sectors, critics…

Background: In educational research on children's academic performance, few topics have received more attention than the consequences of school segregation and the impact of self-fulfilling prophecies. However, virtually no research has investigated whether self-fulfilling prophecies account for the impact of school composition on academic…

Context: The desire to provide useful, research-based information to policy makers and teachers poses a series of challenges for education researchers. These challenges include striking a balance between complexity and simplicity in the portrayal of teaching, addressing the potential conditional nature of what constitutes quality teaching, and…

Background/Context: The article examines how international field experiences promote cross-cultural awareness in U.S. American preservice teachers through experiential learning. The findings presented here are based on a 6-year study of a short-term study abroad program in Honduras that included an international field experience component and took…