Around the world, there have been curricula reforms involving the incorporation of the inquiry-based teaching and learning strategy in secondary school science education in general and in practical work in particular. Research in inquiry-based practical work (IBPW) has focused, for example, on aspects of the strategy itself, on teacher…

Young people are increasingly connected in a digital and globalized world, but technology-mediated interactions alone do not necessarily lead to a culture of meaningful participation and meaning making processes. Students from disadvantaged contexts are especially vulnerable to this. Drawing on the "Activity-Centred Analysis and Design"…

The Wallace Foundation's Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative (PSELI) is a six-year initiative that The Wallace Foundation launched in 2017 to explore whether and how children benefit when schools and their out-of-school-time programs partner to improve social and emotional learning (SEL), as well as what it takes to do this…

Using mixed methods, this case study explored outcomes associated with the adoption and implementation of a community schools approach in four Title I schools using the Community Collaboration Model for School Improvement. Trends in school data demonstrate academic achievement improvements in three of the four schools. Absenteeism and the number…

Teacher professional learning is widely accepted as a mediating factor for enhancing student outcomes. While many teachers across the world engage in professional development (PD) to enhance their professional learning, what is less evident is how to support that learning to result in change following teacher PD. Acknowledging that not all teacher…

Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based framework for preventing and treating challenging behavior in schools and improving overall school climate. The efficacy of this positive, proactive framework has been well established across varying school settings, yet little is known about schoolwide PBIS implementation…

Purpose: In recent years the benefits of distributed leadership have often assumed the status of an unchallengeable orthodoxy. There is a general acceptance that leadership is best when it is dispersed. In reality this is often little more than a form of "licensed leadership" in which those working in subordinate roles can only exercise…

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, that research becomes limited when looking at turnaround implementation actions that…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of two higher education institutions in the Western Cape, South Africa, and how their initiatives and collaboration brought about a particular health promoting schools (HPS) program in a resource poor setting. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the importance of the role that external…

The purpose of this study was to describe levels of RTI implementation in West Virginia elementary schools. Little is known about the national efforts that states are collectively undertaking to scale up implementation of RTI (Hoover, Baca, Wexler-Love, & Saenz, 2008). West Virginia's elementary schools were required by state policy to…

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, that research becomes limited when looking at turnaround implementation actions that…

Teachers at a Title I elementary school in South Carolina implemented the scripted Reading Mastery© program (RMP) to improve students' comprehension. Comprehension scores did not increase, despite teachers receiving RMP professional development (PD) prior to implementing the program. Administrators were unaware if the teachers were adequately…

Purpose: This paper seeks to report on the evaluation of Zippy's Friends, an international emotional wellbeing programme, for primary school children in disadvantaged schools in Ireland. The paper aims to present case studies of the profile and ethos of two specific schools participating in the programme, their links with the local community, the…

Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) programs were implemented in 1998 in five states working with the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). SEDL's five-state region includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. This study examined the implementation status of CSR programs since funding ended. Two hundred and…

Case studies of five small and isolated rural schools in the south-central United States examined their participation and success in the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program. The schools included three elementary schools and two K-12 unit schools serving 71-473 students. All were at least 50 miles from a metropolitan area and…