Systemic equity challenges in K-12 STEM education place students from minoritized groups on an uneven footing, restricting access and opportunity for the diverse students who make up the majority population in US public schools. Teachers play a key role in advocating for equity and justice in STEM education. In positioning themselves as agents of…

Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, the Kansas State Department of Education implemented the Kansans Can School Redesign project (Redesign, hereafter) with the aim of fundamentally changing teaching and learning. The project was borne out of the feedback Kansans from across the state provided about what they believed education should be for…

Self-regulation is a multidimensional set of skills critical for providing students the foundation for goal-based, self-controlled behavior. These skills are a predictor of students' academic success and behavioral, social, and emotional well-being. A wealth of research has been dedicated to implementation of evidence-based interventions targeting…

In a time when fewer resources force school leaders to make critical decisions, the data-driven decision-making model continues to offer promise. This research project provides observations about factors used for decision making from 14 district leaders across five Iowa school districts. Placing these factors for decision making within the…

This research identifies new approaches to education health and care plan (EHCP) provision since the start of the COVID-19 (C-19) pandemic (March 2020 to March 2021). This qualitative research was conducted after the C-19 pandemic and used online questionnaires to identify the perceptions of 64 SENCos recruited from mainstream primary and…

In an era of heightened anti-Black racism and aspirations of equity in education, equity directors are at the vanguard of district efforts to eradicate educational injustices. This study examined how the racialized and gendered organizational contexts of U.S. equity directors shaped their equity leadership to transform educational systems. Drawing…

Practitioner Inquiry (PI) is the systematic, intentional study of one's professional practice. It makes reflective teaching visible and actionable. In this article, we reflect on our experiences as practitioner researchers across elementary, secondary, and teacher education and engage in critical conversations with one another to present a common…

Purpose: This study explored the tensions around physical and literacy integration initiatives from the view of physical education teacher education candidates. Method: We situated our data collection in qualitative case study methodology, emphasizing data from focus group interviews conducted during the final month of physical education teacher…

The purpose of this research was to examine K-12 band directors' perceptions of tradition and their thoughts on their and the profession's readiness for change. The research questions were: a) What practices do band directors view as more traditional, somewhat traditional, and less traditional?; b) From their current practice, how willing are…

This article examines Swiss educational information and communication technology (ICT) coordinators ('Pädagogischer ICT-Support'; PICTS) in Swiss compulsory schools in their ambivalent role between active agents of change and mere facilitators for their colleagues. Using a qualitative research design, it explores the history, self-perception and…

In October 2021, Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) announced at the start of a new initiative called "1,000 by 2025" with the purpose of recruiting and retaining 1,000 Black and Latino male educators by the year 2025. Given that disproportionalities in student and teacher racial representation continue to persist despite the…

This article investigates a life education initiative from India, directed at children from primary to the end of secondary school. Over the course of the program, students learn to connect with their emotions and values, to understand that their lives are made of stories, and that they have a place in the larger community as agents of change.…

Researchers have shown that school districts can leverage the significant changes made to federal and state accountability systems to achieve more equitable outcomes for all students (Burns et al., 2019; Dodman, 2019; Hyler et al., 2021) It is also known that classroom practitioners use their agency to support or stall district level initiatives…

This qualitative study examined the role of institutional agents, defined as individuals with positional power within an institution that foster the advancement of those with limited or no power, in the entry, retention, and advancement of women of color leaders aspiring to be K-12 district leaders (i.e., superintendents, assistant…

In 2005, Dale Dougherty and O'Reilly Media founded "Make Magazine," and coined the term Makerspace, which is broadly defined as a community workspace where people come together to solve problems using materials and tools they might otherwise not have access to (Dougherty, 2012). Recently, schools have allocated funding and resources into…