There was insufficient understanding of the instructional and leadership practices that led to increased reading achievement of African students by fourth grade in a high-performing Title 1 elementary school in a suburban school district in Texas. Despite an achievement gap, the fourth-grade African American students outperformed their European…

Administrative support entails taking an active role in assisting, encouraging, and displaying supportive behaviors towards teachers to allow them to gain needed knowledge, skills, and experiences to improve instructional practices. The impact of administrative support on the retention decisions of special education teachers who taught students…

After decades of accountability and market-based reforms in education, school systems are now organizing more around improving teaching and learning. Yet these efforts frequently yield unintended, superficial, or even counterproductive changes at the school level. In this article, Maxwell Yurkofsky develops the concept of technical ceremonies as a…

Background/Context: Culturally relevant education (CRE) is a powerful tool for improving students' educational experiences and outcomes. Yet CRE is not the norm in U.S. public education systems (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2011, 2012; Borrero et al., 2016; Coffey & Farinde-Wu, 2016), perhaps because teachers are socialized into systems that…

Educators understand that an academic divide endures between groups of students, and schools often perpetuate inequities that result in unequal lives. There are effective strategies that any principal, in any setting, might consider implementing as a means to overcome the challenges faced by educators who aim to improve student learning in their…

This article discusses the connections between health, illness and education from a historical perspective, aiming at providing clues for understanding these relationships that, as demonstrated in recent global events, cannot be analyzed separately. Over the centuries, societies have always found different ways of educating their new generations…

All teachers require professional learning throughout their careers to ensure they are effective practitioners. This article reports on outcomes from a doctoral study that explored the impact of teachers transitioning between primary school year levels. The findings suggest that transition can have a significant impact on teachers' professional…

Integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is an emerging approach to improve students' achievement and interest in STEM disciplines. However, the implementation of integrated STEM education depends strongly on teachers' competence, which entails, among others, teachers' attitudes. Nonetheless, not much is known…

This case focuses on the complexity of change and improvement within schools with a particular emphasis on the role of the principal and a science teacher leader. Although current rhetoric suggests that school improvement should happen quickly and consistently, research indicates that it is difficult, context specific, and incremental. In fact,…

Schools with dramatically increased immigrant and refugee student populations need a systematic approach and inclusive process to ensure newcomer students, who differ in their backgrounds, languages, identities, frames of reference, prior educational experiences, abilities, interests, and belief systems, have equal opportunities and resources to…

The link between noncognitive skills and achievement is well established. There is much less evidence on how these skills are developed and transmitted to students, especially as it relates to girls that attend nonelite schools in non-Western settings. Drawing on insights from girl students attending an urban school in Ghana, this paper…

The school principal is responsible for transmitting mission, vision, and values in and out the school, with a stronger, clearer emphasis for the success and well-being of students. Competency standard is defined as a guide that names the behaviours expected for the directions to do an effective job in their schools. This article presents the…

Through interviews with the principal, teachers, and parents, the researcher describes how teacher training and implementation of culturally responsive education (CRE) has influenced the climate in a Title I school. Educators teaching in schools that serve racially diverse students from low socio-economic communities face challenges that lead to…

The article reveals main characteristics of favourable enviroment for development of creative thought in Lithuanias comprehensive school. The findings are based on the empiric reaserch data, carried out in 2011. 101 educators participated in this reaserch. Positive psychological climate and freedom of action at school have been concidered as the…

Too often, intervention occurs late, is fragmented, and is not supported by the system as a whole. Using traditional intervention structures, struggling students and the educators who support them are unlikely to achieve long-term success. What results is a precarious outcome--"can't do" students become "won't do" students. By…