Teachers who work at small schools often do not have colleagues at their workplace who teach the same content area and therefore cannot benefit from the professional growth that comes with having same-subject colleagues in one's workplace. The purpose of this study was to see if participating in a teacher Facebook group as a Virtual Community of…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how public middle school teachers describe their current strategies (RQ1), motivations (RQ2), and challenges (RQ3) when using computer technology (CT) in their instruction in California. In contrast to most prior studies into CT integration, this study followed a qualitative…

In this study, we explore systems thinking maps as a local literacy practice in a systems thinking professional development institute for PreK-8 teachers. Existing literature underscores the necessity of equipping teachers with a robust understanding of systems thinking; this study addresses a call in the research to find ways to do so. Rooted in…

Education is critical in fostering sustainable development (SD) in a world that faces many environmental problems. The integration of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in technology education (TE) can enhance the realisation of SD goals. However, teachers' views on the integration of IKS in teaching technology towards education on sustainable…

Teacher retention and shortages have long been an issue with this profession. This is not a new topic, but after the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm in March of 2020, education has not been the same and our students are paying the price with the shortage of high-quality teachers in our nation's classrooms. Teachers have left the…

In this essay Brian R. Sevier, Joanna Bruno, Karol Gates, Stephanie Hartman, Mary Ellen Pittman, Vince Puzick, Phyllis Reed, and Beverly Reimer describe their effort at the Colorado Department of Education to recruit and engage educators in authoring free and open-source curriculum samples for preK-12 academic content areas. The story of…

This descriptive phenomenology study investigated middle school mathematics teachers' formative assessment practices in the Dominican Republic. The study explored three research questions about the types of formative assessment strategies teachers implemented, how they used formative assessment data to make instructional decisions, and the…

This small scale study looks at the challenges teachers face and their attitudes. Drawing from the literature on teacher attrition, teacher burnout, and teacher collective efficacy, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a group of five teachers selected from a convenience sample. Three themes emerged: teachers struggle with students'…

Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood neurodevelopment disorder, and severe digital game use has recently shown significant promise in this psychotherapeutic area. Digital serious games have also been used as an innovative teaching and learning approach. This study aimed to explore middle school teachers'…

This study used a cluster randomized controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of two approaches to increasing middle school students' science learning when using an inquiry-based science curriculum. Eighty-nine schools, with 253 teachers and 20,591 students, were randomly assigned into one of three conditions: (a) a treatment condition in…

The focus of this practice-based research was to explore teachers' perceptions of implementation approaches to multitiered system of supports (MTSS). For more than 10 years there have been varied approaches for implementation of MTSS, which has caused a lack of guidance and support for teachers. Therefore, this qualitative descriptive study…

This case study explores the experiences of two teacher candidates (TCs) in professional development school (PDS) settings with multilingual learners. While valuing multilingual learner's diverse linguistic backgrounds and language repertoires by drawing from a toolkit of responsive practices, the TCs embraced but struggled with layering…

This quantitative research study investigates the relationship between teachers' evaluation rating and their classroom-based assessment practices using a survey approach. Four middle schools consisting of 39 (grades six through eight) teachers in the Southwestern U.S. participated in the study. Research has shown that when teachers regularly use a…

While researchers and practitioners have long known that differentiating formative feedback (FF) is a requisite for creating more equitable learning opportunities for students, less is known about how teachers plan for, enact, and reflect on differentiated FF dialogues with students individually, in small groups, or as a whole class--a lens on…

Purpose: This paper explores a five-year case example of two educators engaged in practice-based professional development (PBPD) for the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model in a middle school. It examines the transformative effects and challenges of improving writing instruction, the activities involved and alternative PBPD delivery…