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…

The paper evaluates math performance at four high-need middle schools during a four-year intervention, which was designed to help math teachers diagnose students' areas of need and to design lesson plans responsive to those needs. Before the intervention began, the researchers pre-selected four comparison schools by matching based on achievement…

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…

With billions of dollars spent on professional development, there remains a very real disconnect between what teachers are given and what they receive especially in terms of the follow-up of an extended PD program. Several theories attempt to explain the differences that exist within the teacher population, but few professional development…

Over the past four years, Skyline Middle School (SMS) has implemented high-quality instructional materials and made numerous attempts to create a school-wide Response to Intervention (RtI) program to support students struggling with classroom mathematics instruction. Despite these efforts, students' mathematics proficiency levels as measured by…

The study aimed to train teachers in managing student behaviour and to investigate the impact on teachers and their students. The training was based on adult-learning and group-leading strategies (development/application) as well as Social-Emotional-Learning and School-Wide-Positive-Behaviour-Supports approaches (content). It consisted of training…

This paper presents the findings from two school-level randomized controlled effectiveness trials of a multitiered systems of support for behavior (MTSS-B) framework on student and staff reported school climate outcomes in 98 secondary schools. Schools randomized to the intervention condition received training and coaching to support Tier 1…

This pilot study investigated the efficacy of the Promoting Adolescent Comprehension Through Text (PACT) intervention, a social studies content knowledge and reading comprehension set of practices implemented with social studies classes including students with disabilities. Social studies general education teachers were provided with professional…

Educators across the U.S. participate in professional development (PD) to improve their teaching competencies. Numerous legislatures have mandated PD to develop highly qualified teachers; however, literature on PD has shown that teachers feel PD does not meet their needs. With consideration for the diverse needs of teachers, in this study I sought…

Throughout public schools in the United States, minority students continue to receive more disciplinary consequences compared to other groups of students. The problem addressed in this study was the persistence of discipline disproportionality between minority students and White students at a public U.S. middle school, even with recent efforts…

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…

Proportional reasoning is the cornerstone of many higher-level mathematics topics. We evaluated the sustainability effects of schema-based instruction (SBI) on proportional reasoning and the impact of professional development (PD) on the instructional practices of two cohorts of seventh-grade teachers (i.e., SBI-experienced-teacher implementers,…

Research has highlighted the significant decline in teachers' implementation of newly acquired teaching practices following professional development (PD), primarily attributed to the absence of follow-up support. Even science teachers who have participated in intensive PD programs often encounter challenges in integrating new teaching practices…

Educators have limited knowledge of youth mental health disorders, treatment, and school-based supportive strategies. Mental health literacy (MHL) interventions are designed to promote educator understanding of youth mental health. The Go-To Educator Training is a MHL intervention developed for educators. The current study extended research on the…

International comparisons suggest that middle school American students compare poorly to their international peers in tasks that require spatial skills. This deficiency in spatial skills is more prominent in females and has been linked to a lack of developmental activities influenced by gender norms. These deficiencies are especially concerning as…