As the Texas Education Agency implements new standards for arts teachers and U.S. arts education policy stakeholders articulate a need for culturally competent educators, teacher preparation programs must respond and consider methods to prepare developing teachers to meet such standards. Preservice arts educators need exposure to a variety of art…

Research on Teach For America (TFA) continues to grow, but scant scholarship has explored the experiences of its corps members working in special education in urban schools. As teachers who require in-depth knowledge of legal and liability processes as well as effective pedagogical practices, corps members in special education positions have…

The purpose of the study was to examine the differences among significant changes in the practice of individual teachers. Seventeen US teachers were interviewed about the most successful change in their teaching career. The differences in teacher change were based primarily on the source and impact of the change. The sources of change were divided…

This article presents a study that aimed to understand the contributions of self-evaluation (SE) processes towards the development of curricular and social justice and educational improvement. The study focuses on data collected from the schools' external evaluation (SEE) process and from the TEIP programme (Educational Territories of Priority…

Instructional technology use in United States preschool classrooms remains a limited and widely debated practice. In urban communities, preparing preschool students for academic, social, and economic success is further threatened by the well-documented digital divide. This qualitative phenomenological study included ten subjects and examined the…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the influence of high stakes testing on high poverty and low performing middle school campuses in a Texas Education Service Center as perceived by middle school campus principals. Participants of the study consisted of 10 middle school principals who have served on a low performing and high…

Science teachers are expected to teach in innovative ways that are different from their long experience as students. Professional development programs are planned to help teachers' development, yet, there is little knowledge of the long-term effects of professional development programs (PDPs), and especially on actual practice. The purpose of this…

In today's world of accountability, the preparation of school leaders has never been more critical. Many states are now developing policies and processes that seek to enhance school leadership preparation programs. Enhancing school leadership preparation programs is particularly important in the area of instructional leadership because research…

As part of the 2001 No Child Left Behind federal statute, U.S. lawmakers reduced the amount of time that teachers could spend on social studies instruction in favor of devoting more instructional time to other core content areas. The Middle Years Program (MYP) is present in many local middle schools in Maryland, where MYP teachers spend equal…

Teacher professional learning is widely accepted as a mediating factor for enhancing student outcomes. While many teachers across the world engage in professional development (PD) to enhance their professional learning, what is less evident is how to support that learning to result in change following teacher PD. Acknowledging that not all teacher…

This small-scale study focused on the experiences of student teachers towards teaching practice in an open and distance learning (ODL) institution in South Africa. The sample consisted of 65 fourth year students enrolled for Bachelor of Education, specializing in secondary school teaching. The mixed-method research design consisting of…

Research shows that use of high fidelity simulation (HFS) as a teaching strategy requires extensive amounts of faculty time and financial resources for faculty development and equipment. This project study addressed the challenges encountered in the integration of HFS into a Midwestern metropolitan baccalaureate nursing program. The purpose of…

This study examined the effects of the recently implemented North Carolina Educator Evaluator System (NCEES) on teaching practices and teacher leadership in a mostly rural county in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. NCEES is designed to improve teaching practices and teacher leadership through performance-based standards. This…

Strategies that encourage direct linkage and exchange between researchers and practitioners are more likely to support changes in educational practice informed by research evidence. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain in linking effectiveness education research to real-world practice: addressing the knowing-doing gap. The paper describes…

Background: The research on diagrammatic representations highlights their importance for the teaching and learning of mathematics. However, the empirical evidence to support their use in the classroom is mixed and somewhat lacking. Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop the use of diagrammatic representations of mathematical concepts in…