Classroom libraries are spaces that can be used by teachers to promote voluntary reading; however, classroom libraries are also complex spaces that require teachers to consider both purpose and function in order to motivate and engage middle school students in voluntary reading. The purpose of this action research study was to understand the…

It should be noted that about a year after this researcher began work on this dissertation, he became seriously ill, greatly interfering with his ability to function. In 2019 he was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a terminal lung disease. As his physical condition continued to worsen, work on the dissertation came to practically a…

The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of professional development (PD) and implementation fidelity on the performance of middle school students in mathematics within an online learning environment. Using a quasi-experimental design, the research compares educational outcomes between control and experimental groups…

This issue brief is part of a five-part series that reports findings from research conducted by ACT in collaboration with Region One Education Service Center. This brief focuses on establishing conditions for social and emotional learning (SEL) implementation and includes results from a survey administered to educators who attended a professional…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation and impact of the Pack program. The Pack was developed by the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) and includes a digital game and set of curricular and professional development resources that aim to support computational thinking teaching and learning in middle school science and computer…

Bullying is a significant problem in the USA, with both school bullying and cyberbullying peaking in middle school. Although 80% of students witness bullying, only half of middle school students report bullying to their teachers. Bystander training is effective in teaching students how to intervene; however, teachers play an instrumental role in…

This study was designed to determine how special education teachers (SETs) in Saudi Arabia perceive their self-efficacy in implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) practices to support students with learning disabilities (LD). The data were collected by surveying 109 SETs of students with LD who teach at elementary and middle schools in…

Many educators are unprepared to meet the needs of students with the most intensive reading intervention needs. The purpose of this review was to identify how researchers have provided professional development (PD) to support educators' implementation of intensive reading interventions, the extent to which these approaches included essential PD…

Discovery City Schools, located in the southern United States, served approximately 8,168 public school students in 15 individual schools during the 2022--2023 school year. After a districtwide consolidation in 2019, Triumph Middle School (TMS) was established as the only middle school in the district and served 1,121 seventh- and eighth-grade…

Our country has a digital equity crisis, with many socioeconomically disadvantaged students disproportionately experiencing significant negative consequences from the digital divide. This program evaluation sought to investigate whether the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools (VILS) grant program decreases the consequences of the digital divide…

Policy makers in the US and several other countries are recommending that more schools offer an International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. However, little is known about the challenges that IB programmes present for teaching and learning particularly those meeting national curriculum. In this study, we examined the challenges of the IB's Middle…

In this dissertation in practice, the background of middle grades mathematics acceleration detailed why the organization benefited from a program analysis. Middle grades mathematics acceleration encourages students to take high school Algebra I in eighth grade so they can earn college-level math credits for free in high school. Often acceleration…

This has presented a comprehensive overview of how professional development related to implementation of 1:1 technology in the middle school classroom. The evidence from this study suggested that teacher perceptions of technology use and comfort level with technology result in deeper levels of technology implementation. Teacher dispositions in…

At Kennett Middle School, about ten percent of students were identified as being below grade level in reading. The purpose of this Educational Leadership Portfolio is to determine a formal process to implement and sustain reading intervention periods. Three major components are identified to guide this portfolio: communication to stakeholders,…

Partners to Lead (PtL) is a school leadership professional development (PD) project funded by a 5-year Education Innovation and Research grant and implemented by the DuPage, Illinois, Regional Office of Education (ROE) in 37 public elementary, middle, and high schools in four Illinois ROEs. The American Institutes for Research® (AIR®), the…