Drawing on three decades of research, this study explores the attitudes of middle school social studies teachers toward professional development in Western Tennessee. Social studies educators frequently navigate the repercussions of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which has led to misguided incentives for states and districts to prioritize…

Increasingly alarmed by instructional mandates more founded on journalistic rhetoric and popular opinion than on research findings or practitioner expertise, researchers gathered survey data from teachers to better understand the status of K-2 phonics instruction. Data demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of these K-2 teachers teach phonics,…

Scholars have documented the effects of accountability policies on student outcomes and, to a lesser extent, instruction. Beyond test preparation and curriculum narrowing, little empirical evidence has examined the relationship between policy and pedagogy. Guided by social cognitive and achievement goal theories, this study explored the…

With the onset and implementation of No Child Left Behind legislation almost two decades ago, coupled with declining performance by U.S. students compared with other developed countries, public education in our country has been under constant scrutiny from all fronts and continues to be there today. Much of the recent emphasis in educational…

Poverty is a topic that can cause significant discomfort, especially when the issue is broached among educators. Some educators immediately began to make assumptions about what students of poverty can and cannot achieve. Researchers (Caldas & Bankston, 1997; Grinion, 1999) have proven there are strong connections between a child's…

Many within early childhood and early childhood teacher education are concerned about the changed kindergarten. At the same time, students entering early childhood teacher education programs were educated in these changed schooling systems that emphasize standards and accountability, which can impact the ways in which they make sense of teaching…

The science of reading is the latest version of the reading wars brought to national attention by the popular press. Although most of the popular press has focused on phonics and early reading, in this article, we chose to study what happened to the research on reading comprehension. By the beginning of the 21st century, there had emerged a…

This report uses data from the RAND Corporation's American Educator Panels to understand the state of infrastructure to support elementary social studies instruction during the 2021-2022 school year. The report is focused at the elementary (specifically, kindergarten through grade 5 [K-5]) level because the authors hypothesized that infrastructure…

The resegregation of public schools in the United States continues to place African American students at an academic disadvantage with--oftentimes--limited educational resources and fewer qualified teachers. Providing African American students with skills and strategies to succeed has never been more urgent. Metacognition, often defined simply as…

Policy generally refers to outlined ways of doing things, which are usually linked to laws. Educational reforms are changes in educational policies, expectations, and implementations. Policy and educational reform includes reforms at the federal, state, and local levels. Examples of federal reform include the passing of the Americans with…

After the passage of "No Child Left Behind," and especially after Obama-era Race to the Top initiatives, rising accountability for improved achievement and widespread dissatisfaction with the instructional value of statewide test reports led many school districts to purchase computer-adaptive "interim" testing systems. A common…

Education reform has focused on academic standards, but curriculum is still weighed down by outdated subject-area categories that are reinforced through various practices and institutions. T his article examines the possibilities for an integrative curriculum model that can accommodate the broad goals of holistic education and the needs of society…

There is a faltering sense of democracy in America's current political climate due to polarized opinions about leadership's decisions and antagonistic political parties. John Dewey (1916) proposed that education is the place to foster democracy, as schools can provide a platform to actively engage students in authentic democratic experiences that…

Although U.S. schools that provide bilingual education typically must negotiate English-only policies and pressures to sustain their programming over time, little is known about what this entails at the individual school level. Our research examines in detail how the leaders of an elementary school in New York City with a Spanish-English…

This article maintains that in spite of their seeming progress, Mexican-origin students in the US continue to face barriers that are typical of the complex challenges endured in public schools by minoritized and racialised peoples in the American context. It begins with a brief overview of the current-day demographics of the Mexican-origin…