The policy landscape around curriculum selection and implementation is thorny: the federal government cannot mandate any state or local curricula, state policy varies widely, and local schools and districts often lack the capacity to support and sustain detailed reviews of materials and ongoing teacher training in quality curricula. Cultural and…

The retention of Black teachers in the teaching profession remains challenging due to historical events and policies, low salaries, lack of support from administrators, and other school factors. This action research study aimed to investigate, develop, and implement a retention support program for Black teachers employed in their first-fifth year…

Technology has inserted itself into everyday life. This includes the classroom and instructional practices; however, veteran teachers face unique circumstances with technology. Veteran teachers are looking for leadership in the face of current technological changes. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, we examined the current use of…

Evidence shows that children's early years are a crucial time for their development. Well-designed early childhood education (ECE) experiences can foster meaningful gains in school readiness, as well as long-term benefits such as lower rates of special education placement and higher graduation rates. The quality of early education is highly…

A growing body of scholarship in writing studies has started exploring threshold concepts for writing, providing a synoptic view of the transformations students undergo as they learn about writing. However, the field has not yet undertaken a systematic investigation of threshold concepts for the teaching of writing. A distinction between threshold…

Although an increasing proportion of researchers have addressed the issue of social and emotional competencies (SEC) and stress, only a few have focused on urban elementary public schools. With the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping as the theoretical framework, we gathered information from 199 elementary teachers (49.75% response rate) on…

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) had an impact on rural educator candidates' and practicing rural educators' attitudes toward poverty (ATP). The group of rural educator candidates are students pursuing an undergraduate degree in education at a small, rural university in…

Agricultural education's most pressing issue is a lack of qualified classroom teachers. In 2020-2021, 30 states reported the loss of over 70 agricultural education positions, with many schools closing these positions due to inadequate staffing. Furthermore, in 2021-2022, there were 1,680 agricultural education vacancies nationwide and only 789…

This paper posits innovative leadership preparation at one University that established collaborative, shared coursework between instructional and teacher leadership. This re/visioned model focuses on cultural proficiency, distributed leadership, and examination of socially just practices fostering more democratic and inclusive practices. The…

The United States has a growing population of English learners (ELs) and a shortage of trained English as Second Language (ESL) teachers, leaving many teachers unprepared to work with ELs. As teachers turn frequently to online resources for guidance, we reviewed the available resources and professional development on departments of education…

This three-article dissertation examined the perceptions of school-based agricultural education teachers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama on self-efficacy and professional development activities since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first article was an examination of teacher self-efficacy in delivering instruction in three classroom…

In this mixed-methods explanatory sequential design study, we examined the self-efficacy of elementary-grade reading literacy teachers in two urban public-school districts in Alabama. In Phase I, 312 elementary classroom teachers (20.0% response rate) completed the "Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale" (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy,…

In this mixed-methods explanatory sequential design study, we examined the self-efficacy of elementary-grade reading literacy teachers in two urban public-school districts in Alabama. In Phase I, 312 elementary classroom teachers (20.0% response rate) completed the "Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale" (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy,…

Despite trending investment in active learning infrastructure to support student learning, inclusion, and career preparedness, few universities have achieved the orchestration of campus stakeholders and pedagogical reform "at scale." This article presents a process-oriented model for developing faculty and students for success in these…

In 2019, the Alabama Legislature passed the Alabama Literacy Act to improve the reading proficiency of public school kindergarten to third grade students and ensure that those students are able to read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. This legislation established and funded regional and local literacy coaches to provide targeted…