The iDrone Online Camp aims to enhance middle and high school students' engagement in STEM fields through hands-on experiences with drone technology. By immersing participants in project-based learning activities, competitions, and discussions on FAA part 107 regulations, the camp seeks to cultivate critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and…

To best train and support school leaders in their evolving roles, they require high-quality preparation and in-service pipelines that both address the changing demands on their positions and acknowledge the cascading effects that well-prepared leaders have on both student outcomes and in school culture and retention. Including school leaders in…

Professional organizations aim to strengthen and protect the professions they serve. However, organizations can also behave in hegemonic ways, eroding specializations and advancing a policy agenda without critical member input. Exploring issues of power and inclusion is essential not only for the survival and stability of the organization, but…

The purpose of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to family engagement in schools implementing schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). Participants consisted of 1 representative member each from 204 school PBIS teams across 3 states. Qualitative analysis guided examination of responses to 1 question…

Due to systemic barriers, Spanish-speaking (versus English-speaking) parents of children with disabilities are less likely to participate in educational decision-making. However, little research has directly compared special education experiences between both populations. The purpose of this study was to explore the differences and similarities…

Due to systemic barriers, Spanish-speaking (versus English-speaking) parents of children with disabilities are less likely to participate in educational decision-making. However, little research has directly compared special education experiences between both populations. The purpose of this study was to explore the differences and similarities…

The purpose of this study was to identify and examine how schools implementing schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) were engaging families in their Tier I PBIS systems. In addition, reported implementation of practices and the availability of resources were examined in relation to fidelity of PBIS implementation.…

In 2018 the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) conducted an evaluation of the Illinois Community College Board's (ICCB) program review process, focusing on the career and technical education (CTE) programs. The purpose of program review is to support community colleges in decisionmaking and planning as related to…

A tension in designing classroom learning involves balancing the questions and interests of students with the goals of teachers and standards. One approach to navigating this tension in science classrooms is to simultaneously support and constrain students' questions about an observable natural phenomenon in the classroom and then take up those…

Although parent involvement is a cornerstone of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), few individual parents of children with disabilities participate in civic engagement to voice their suggestions for the next IDEA reauthorization. To address this gap, a civic engagement training was conducted with 95 parents of children with…

In the spring of 2015, Dr. Karen Sullivan, superintendent of Indian Prairie School District 204 in Aurora, Illinois, signed the Alliance for Excellent Education's Future Ready Pledge, "making a firm commitment to implementing meaningful changes toward a digital learning transition that supports teachers, and addresses the district's vision…

"Improving Education Together" offers a step-by-step guide to Labor-Management-Community (LMC) collaboration, an intervention that has successfully improved student outcomes in a wide variety of school districts across the country. The authors illustrate how a culture of collaboration between labor, management, and community stakeholders…

To increase capacity for public participation and improve problem-solving practices, some public school districts have launched stakeholder-training programs. This mixed methods study examined the impact of five school district parent training programs (four in Colorado and one in Illinois) designed to increase trust and engagement. Data were…

The authors report on a study of eight inclusive STEM high schools that are designed to increase the numbers of students in demographic groups underrepresented in STEM. As STEM schools, they have had broader and deeper STEM coursework (taken by all students) than required by their respective states and school districts; they also had outcome…

Despite the importance of teachers and the fact that teacher hiring is decentralized in most school districts, we know relatively little about the process through which individual principals hire faculty for their schools. Using interviews with 31 Chicago principals, we explore how principals find job candidates, whether they collaborate with…