This study examined teachers' perceptions regarding a pay-for-performance model in one large urban Texas school district, implementing pay-for-performance. The district model investigated has been implemented for nine years, replacing the traditional salary schedule with an entirely performance-based system. For the quantitative portion of this…

High turnover and attrition of teachers negatively impacts student achievement and instructional quality (Borman & Dowling, 2008). Studies show attrition disrupts learning, increases workload, and erodes school culture (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019, Schaefer et al., 2012). Addressing these challenges necessitates better support…

There is little research on the experiences of international teachers recruited to work in urban schools in America. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore Caribbean international teachers' experiences during and after recruitment to teach in New York City public schools. Homans's social exchange theory provided the…

This paper is premised on the understanding that racism is deeply and widely entrenched in our culture and the ethical claim that we operate within complex networks of habituated practices. Within this framework, we ask how do we disrupt these calcified, complex, and racist ways of being? Specifically, we explore how teachers are habituated into…

There are many rewards associated with teaching in public schools, but there are also several challenges such as understaffing, limited resources, overcrowded classrooms, and underpaid employees. All of these issues combined often lead to burnout and mental health concerns among public school teachers, particularly those in urban settings. Since…

Since the turn of the century, China has shown its determination to change its examination-oriented tradition. It started assessment reforms and raised a series of expectations regarding teacher assessment literacy. At the same time, China experienced rapid internal migration, with urban public schools accepting huge numbers of migrant students in…

Using six waves of the Schools and Staffing Survey and the National Teacher and Principal Survey that span two decades, our study explores the differences between urban charter and traditional public school teachers and how those differences become more or less pronounced over time. During this time frame, the charter sector experienced…

For decades, educational leadership researchers have focused on school leadership behaviors, competencies, and skills that impact student outcomes measured by the students' performance on standardized tests. This practice has narrowed the focus for how the field approaches teaching and learning and the evaluation models that measure school,…

Retention of educators of color (EOC) is becoming a focal point in K-12 education because of the increasing demographic of students of color in K-12 urban public schools; however, a shortage of EOC exists in these schools in the United States due in part to disproportionate attrition rates for EOC compared to White educators. Little is known about…

The decrease in teacher retention in kindergarten-12th grade public schools give rise to a crisis throughout the United States, and principals need help to provide effective leadership and adequate support to retain teachers. The problem addressed in this study was the low rate of teacher retention within low-performing urban schools and the need…

The United States educational system currently lacks cultural competence. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of teachers and coaches as they participate in transformational coaching to determine the utility of Elena Aguilar's model in supporting the development of cultural competency for educators. This study employed a fixed…

Teacher evaluation systems that use in-class observations, particularly in high-stakes settings, are frequently understood as accountability systems intended as nonintrusive measures of teacher quality. Presumably, the evaluation system motivates teachers to improve their practice--an accountability mechanism--and provides actionable feedback for…

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory partnered with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) to explore the potential use of teacher surveys in school leader evaluation. The DCPS evaluation system, like many others, currently consists of two components: an assessment on how well a school performs on a set of student achievement…

The purpose of this single case study was to explore elementary school teachers' perceptions of factors that motivate them to stay in the public-school setting, specifically using one urban school district in Virginia. Various motivational theories, which included McGregor X and Y theory, Herzberg two factors theory and cognitive expectancy-value…

This quantitative study aimed to better understand how teachers implement technology in a variety of teaching modalities to enhance content delivery and student engagement. More specifically, it aimed to investigate the digital divide of technology usage based upon school setting and usage frequency. Responses were collected using a random…