The purpose of this descriptive analysis study was to investigate high school music teachers' levels of satisfaction with the teacher evaluation practices used by administrators and music supervisors in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia high school music teachers (n = 76) were surveyed to collect data used to determine their levels of…

Attrition among educators is a continuing concern in the area of special education. Job satisfaction has been associated with teacher burnout and teacher attrition. Many times, multiple educators work in a close environment creating a need for community in special education. The purpose of this study is to identify differences in job satisfaction…

Background & Context: Accurate, reliable, and scalable measurement of classroom quality is critical to ensure that children benefit from early childhood programs. Early childhood classroom quality is most commonly measured using classroom observation tools serving multiple purposes including (1) teacher support (e.g., coaching, professional…

The National Association of Geoscience Teachers' "Workshop for Early Career Geoscience Faculty: Teaching, Research, and Managing One's Career" has been offered annually since 1999. The five-day workshop with accompanying web resources employs a "whole faculty" approach to support geoscience faculty members during their…

Mathematics education has experienced numerous reforms, including New Math of the 1960s, Back-to-Basics Math of the 1970s, and Standards-Based Math of the 1980s (Herrera & Owens, 2001; Osborne & Crosswhite, 1970). After the nationwide implementation of standards throughout the 1990s (Knight, 2007), Virginia developed high-stakes testing at…

This exploratory research surveyed faculty who instruct in community colleges from 18 states about their attitudes toward the concealed carry gun policies that allow appropriately licensed citizens to carry a handgun in public places such as college campuses. Building upon previous research involving 4-year institutions, we surveyed 1,889…

With an estimated 40 to 50% of teachers leaving the classroom within their first 5 years (Arnett, 2017; Haynes, Maddock, & Goldrick, 2014; Ingersoll, 2012; Neason, 2014; Phillips, 2015; Riggs, 2013), some have espoused that a well-conceived and well-implemented teacher induction program with a strong emphasis on mentoring will not only…

The use of multiple informants is common in assessments that rely on the judgments of others. However, ratings obtained from different informants often vary as a function of their perspectives and roles in relation to the target of measurement, and causes unrelated to the trait being measured. We illustrate the usefulness of a latent variable…

This study was designed to explore the relationship between teacher practices and levels of student engagement in secondary agricultural education programs. Most researchers have agreed that student engagement at the secondary level may be measured through three constructs: cognitive engagement, behavioral engagement, and emotional engagement. The…

World-ready learners require world-ready educators. One group of inspiring teacher educators share how they ignited a fire of awareness around the importance of global competency education at a small, rural teacher college.

This study examined the relations between the schoolwide prevalence of teasing and bullying (PTB) and schoolwide academic performance in a sample of 271 Virginia middle schools. In addition, the study examined the mediating effects of student engagement. A three-step sequence of path models investigated associations between schoolwide PTB and…

College graduation rates have been on the academic and political agenda. The United States graduation rate is 59%, however, 68% of nontraditional students do not graduate with baccalaureate degrees within the time frame of six years. Scholars are attributing the decreasing graduation rates to barriers encountered by nontraditional undergraduate…

The perceptions and beliefs of 303 special education professionals toward currently available playgrounds in their school or community were examined. Survey respondents (a) indicated that their students with a disability could not fully participate in their school or community's playground offerings, (b) discussed the need for a peer buddy program…

Parents often perceive schools as the sole educator of their child when in actuality the school prefers parents to be involved as partners in the learning process (Comer & Haynes, 1991). Likewise, schools make the assumption that parents realize their role in the learning process, but do not effectively communicate the partnership to parents,…

Although participation in extracurricular activities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities has been advocated, a limited number of students appear to be involved in such activities. Further, there is little empirical research on how extracurricular activities are valued, supported, and encouraged. This study surveyed a…