School turnaround in the United Stated has been a focus dating back to the mid 1960s with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act aimed to ensure that children have equal access to excellent educational opportunities. This qualitative study targeted seven Turnaround Principals of…

This case study examined the pedagogical and organizational practices of successful middle school band directors teaching at a high-poverty school in Georgia through the lens of Self-determination theory. Inequity within American school systems is evident from the positive correlation between socioeconomic status (SES) and student academic…

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of teachers currently serving in Title I schools in South Georgia and how the challenges from these experiences influenced them to remain in the role for five or more years. The purpose of the study was to capture the voices of ten veteran middle school teachers currently serving at schools…

The purpose of this study was to determine what school and principal characteristics influence the alignment of contemporary leaders' beliefs with African American principals' beliefs working during the pre-"Brown v. Board" era. Using OLS multiple regression on a sample of Georgia school principals, the study found a statistically…

At a Title I School located in Central Georgia, 91% of the student population is performing below grade level. Lexia-Core 5 is a reading software program purchased by a Central Georgia school district to help students improve in reading. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive and causal-comparative study was to examine the impact of the…

Federal and state initiatives designed to improve schools have created unintended, negative consequences. Educational research studies link these initiatives to declines in teacher job satisfaction, decreased teacher retention, and the potential development of adversarial relationships between teachers and administrators (Darling-Hammond, 2010).…

Distributed leadership practices were used by principals to engage teacher leaders in instructional leadership responsibilities to create an innovative learning culture in Title I elementary schools. It was not known how teachers described the influence of principal-distributed leadership practices on organizational learning and innovativeness in…

Boosting literacy among school-age children remains a national priority. Nearly one third of students in the United States have not developed the foundational reading skills needed to succeed academically, with students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and English learners especially at risk. Starting in 2010, Congress invested more…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of using guided reading instruction to increase overall reading achievement in elementary students over the course of three months. Twenty Kindergarten students with varying reading achievement from a Title I school in Georgia were examined in the study. Students were divided into five groups…

With increasing emphasis being placed on teachers to show an improvement in student achievement, schools are relying on indicators such as reading fluency and reading comprehension to gauge student progress throughout the year. Since the growth on these assessments are used in calculating teachers and administrators' yearly job evaluations, the…

The researcher investigated the achievement of third- and fifth-grade urban African American students who attended science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), Non-STEM, and Theme Title I schools in science and mathematics on the 2015 Georgia Milestones Assessment. The researcher used data from 29 Non-STEM, 14 STEM, and 10 Theme…

In this article we explore some of the challenges, constraints, and what we refer to as glimmers of revelation that occurred during an experiential, community-based teacher education course that we designed and co-taught in spring 2015. Trying to take seriously Kumashiro's (2009) notions that justice-oriented teacher education happens "only…

The underachievement of students in the US is a growing and significant problem. When guided by the K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice, research has shown service-learning results in increased academic achievement among middle and high school students. This study focused on identifying the impact of service learning interventions…

As teacher educators in an alternative certification and master's programme, we support Teach For America (TFA) teachers who are developing understandings of learning, teaching, and curriculum while they are already working full-time in classrooms. Using critical discourse analysis, we analysed 109 metaphors for curriculum created by 27 novice TFA…

Research shows that students who experience discipline that removes them from the classroom are more likely to repeat a grade, drop out of school, and become involved in the juvenile justice system. This can result in decreased earning potential and added costs to society (lost tax revenue and incarceration). The Government Accountability Office…