School climate and culture, and its relevance to student achievement has traditionally been a topic of discussion among educators. There have been many research studies dedicated to determining if a school's culture and climate had an effect on student achievement. This study sought to determine if teachers' perceptions of school culture and…

Public schools have experienced an endless cycle of reform aiming to improve student achievement. Despite the time, funding, and resources that have been expended, most school reforms have not been successful at manifesting and sustaining meaningful change. New Jersey's latest attempt at school reform involved Regional Achievement Centers (RACs)…

This exploratory sequential mixed methods study aimed to understand teachers' perceptions of the impact of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) on school climate and student engagement, which is an area of study lacking in current literature. The research questions which guided the study were: What are teachers' perceptions of the connection between a…

Academic leaders across the country--including several New England institutions--are now strategizing how to ensure students learn to navigate and manage diversity to spur progress. Diversity has always been a feature of the global landscape. Communities include women and men as well as people of different ages, ability statuses, socioeconomic…

Leveraging publicly available data about schools" absenteeism from the New Jersey Department of Education, the present study examined how neighborhood-level resource deprivation and violent crime related to chronic absenteeism in Passaic County's elementary, middle, and high schools. Results highlighted geographic disparities in Passaic…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to assess the effect of implementing the restorative practices framework (RPF) on chronic absenteeism and the overall culture at a diverse, suburban middle school in New Jersey from 2017 through 2020. Chronic absenteeism and its impact on students' achievement, success, and sense of belonging are visible…

In the area of educational research, studying the climate and culture of educational institutions has become commonplace. Researchers have demonstrated that high levels of academic achievement are directly correlated with the culture and climate of schools. Building upon this research, the researcher aims to investigate levels of teacher…

The purpose of this correlational, quantitative research study was to examine the extent to which relationships exist between distributed leadership, school culture, and the self-efficacy of teachers within public middle schools in central New Jersey. This study was informed by Spillane's and Elmore's theoretical frameworks concerning distributed…

Community-university partnerships create opportunities for researchers and practitioners to collaborate on the implementation and measurement of innovative consultation frameworks, and to explore the role of consultant competencies in working with school leadership teams. The purpose of this article is to introduce an empirically based approach,…

This qualitative study examines the progress of a rural New Jersey school in addressing longstanding racial conflict after implementing a Youth Participatory Action Research project two years prior. Here we take up the thread as students continued to develop activities meant to increase awareness of ongoing issues, and as adults used professional…

This study supports the notion that transformational leaders, over transactional leaders, produce more effective staff members, supportive school communities, and ultimately higher achieving students. Transformational leaders are relentless about the quality, integrity, and effectiveness of every facet of the position encompassed in daily…

Teacher evaluation is an important tool in the development of strong teachers dedicated to improving the achievement of their students. For this reason, it is crucial that teachers view evaluation instruments and procedures as being effective measures that support and improve their practices. Teachers' perceptions of their evaluation instruments…

To achieve equity, there is a need to recognize that both White educators and educators of color can add values and perspectives to the conversation (Singleton & Linton, 2006). Despite of a large number of studies on social justice, there is a scarcity of studies on how principals of color enact social justice leadership and what are the…

An intensive orientation program gives new teachers in one district and valuable introduction to the instructional culture. The authors argue that by aligning your orientation and onboarding processes to the mission and vision of your school, you are creating stronger relationships among school leaders and teachers and also reducing teacher…

This is a qualitative study which investigated the reported experiences of adult to adult bullying by other certified school professionals in a K-12 New Jersey public school setting. The study focused on: 1.) How bullies bully; 2.) The behavioral, psychological, somatic, and career manifestations for the targets of bullying; 3.) The support or…