This individual case study is part of a larger group study examining how principals benefit from and shape professional capital to improve schools. Principals play a critical role in supporting student learning, while also structuring the culture of the school and mediating external demands. Despite the importance of the school principal,…

A formal induction and mentoring (I&M) program is critical for supporting and developing novice teachers as they enter the K-12 classroom and has been found to improve teacher retention, teaching practice, and student outcomes. Districts across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are required to offer induction and mentoring programming to their…

Barriers to professional development can negatively impact educators' ability to participate. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the role of an early childhood education (ECE) book club in ameliorating challenges to participation in professional development in a childcare center in Ontario, Canada. Data collected in Cycle…

An arts curriculum director of an urban, Pre-K-12 school district north of Boston, Massachusetts researched literature about feelings of connectedness and professional learning among itinerant, art teachers. The study employed a framework of communities of practice for itinerant art teachers. The strands found across the literature were the state…

The purpose of this project is to measure the effects of interprofessional education (IPE) on the perceptions of preservice professionals' development of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The preservice professionals (PSPs) participants included master's students from speech language pathology (SLP), occupational therapy (OT) and special…

The Critical Friends Group, a highly articulated model of professional learning, posits that, in order for teachers to learn together in ways that change their practice, the content and nature of their conversations must change (National School Reform Faculty, 2012). The content needs to change from externally driven agendas that address (in a…

The purpose of this study was collect and analyze the perceptions of special education directors who attended a state funded Leadership Academy for new Special Education Directors in Massachusetts. The participants were member of the Accept Collaborative Leadership Academy (ACLA) cohorts 9 (2012) & 10 (2013). The two research questions for…

In this article, we examine collaboration as a situated practice that defies a prescriptive definition mainly located in the interpersonal relations of professionals. We argue that collaboration does not merely depend upon good will or professionalism, rather interacts complexly with racial expectations that have been cultivated in institutions…

By the early years of this new century it was evident that increasing numbers of colleges and universities had undertaken numerous innovative efforts to reinvigorate and prioritize students' civic and community engagement in their surrounding communities. However, a number of individuals involved with these movements had noticed that much of the…

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students comprise the most rapidly expanding, and among the most educationally marginalized, group in the United States. CLD students' opportunities to learn are often diminished through service delivery models that are deficit-oriented, viewing linguistic diversity as a challenge to overcome, not a…

This article describes 40 years of interactive friendship and work between William Demmert, Jr. and Rosemary Christensen, who met during the First Convocation of American Indian Scholars in March 1970 at Princeton University and then in the fall of that same year as they both arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts as graduate students in the first…

Purpose/Objective: This case study identified common elements of three diverse New England school districts that were real-world models of improving school meals. Methods: School districts that had greater than 1,000 students, [greater than or equal to]3 schools, and [greater than or equal to]40% of students who qualified for free- or…

Improving teacher retention and resiliency are key educational problems. In this article, we share findings from case studies of six educators who, for over 200 combined years, worked in urban, high-poverty schools and highlight what teachers need to remain in such contexts. We argue that developing "professional resilience" is a process…

Background/Context: Educational policy makers have begun to recognize the challenges posed by teacher turnover. Schools and students pay a price when new teachers leave the profession after only 2 or 3 years, just when they have acquired valuable teaching experience. Persistent turnover also disrupts efforts to build a strong organizational…

This study in this article investigated how school counselors and principals perceive their professional relationship. Q methodology was used to develop 45 opinion statements about the relationship between school counselors and principals, and 39 professional school counselors and principals then sorted the statements. Four factors emerged…