Mindfulness research is growing as educators and practitioners place emphasis on social emotional learning (SEL). Evidence supports mindfulness benefits are both physical and mental to include lowering blood pressure, decreased anxiety, increased executive functioning, and increased ability to pay attention. While the benefits of mindfulness…

As school leaders continue to look for solutions to ongoing negative student behaviors, many schools have implemented the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports framework. The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports framework supports educators and students using positive strategies for behavior, academic, social, emotional, and…

Inquiry-Based Teaching Practice (IBTP) is an essential component of science education, and promoting its implementation is at the heart of various reform efforts. Even though science teachers regard IBTP as an essential pedagogical method, they rarely use it for various reasons. This study utilizes Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework to examine…

Schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is a three-tiered framework for preventing and addressing challenging behavior and improving school climate. SWPBIS requires ongoing coaching and consultation to ensure implementation fidelity and improve the efficiency and efficacy of data-based decision making and problem-solving…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the motives, opportunities, and threats associated with the adoption of market-driven externally developed reforms (EDRs) as well as how these motivator factors, combined with background variables, account for school principals' satisfaction with EDR adoption. Design/methodology/approach: Principals…

Purpose: In general, teachers who are highly satisfied are more motivated teachers and positively affect health and student learning to improve academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to provide national-level data with regard to teachers' attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs related to teaching, job satisfaction, and working…

In this collaborative research, we designed an e-mentoring program for novice teachers and explored online interactions between mentors and mentees, participant satisfaction, and the perceived benefits of the program for mentees and mentors. Our study included 14 mentees, 14 mentors, and 6 teacher educators. Data were gathered through online…

Pennsylvania began scaling up high-fidelity implementation of SchoolWide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) in 2006-2007 due to converging regulatory, legal, ethical, and practical influences. The Pennsylvania Community of Practice on School-Based Behavioral Health adopted Algozzine et al.'s (2010) blueprint to describe and…

This report examines program implementation in the first two cohorts of Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees (i.e., recipients of five-year grants awarded in 2006 and 2007). It follows on a 2012 interim report on the same cohorts. The report highlights principal and teacher award sizes and distribution and composition of awards, as well as…

The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) was first authorized in 2006 to support efforts to develop and implement performance-based compensation systems for teachers and principals in high-need schools. The authorizing statue specifies that grantees' performance pay systems are to provide incentives based on gains in student academic achievement,…

The affordances of learning analytics (LA) tools and solutions are being increasingly harnessed for enhancing 21st century pedagogical and learning strategies and outcomes. However, use cases and empirical understandings of students' experiences with LA tools and environments aimed at fostering 21st century literacies, especially in the K-12…

Fifty-eight teachers of grades 1-12 in 10 schools located in two rural and three urban school divisions in Manitoba were involved in a study implementing the Three Block Model of Universal Design for Learning and exploring its outcomes for teachers and students. This article reports teachers' perceptions related to the outcomes of the…

As the final stage of West Virginia's rollout of the Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives (NxGen CSOs), the regional education service agencies (RESAs) conducted six train-the-trainer events in the spring of 2013 to prepare educators--mostly teachers--to provide professional development back in their home schools and districts. These…

Despite the key role that principals play in leading schoolwide change, districts' efforts to support principals are often limited, particularly in rural settings. In this article, we report the preliminary findings of a cross-district mentoring program for nine midcareer rural school principals. The collaboratively developed human resource…

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is the latest development in a long history of standards-based-reform in the United States. As of November 4, 2011, 46 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new curricular standards, called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). These states and the District of Columbia are now implementing…