In the spring of 2020, a global pandemic caused an immediate transition to online, synchronous learning platforms in much of the world. In discussion-based classrooms, where students construct learning from the material and their interactions with each other, the shift posed new challenges to educators and students. This mixed methods action…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how general education elementary teachers who teach special education students in their classrooms in California described their use of pedagogy, innate qualities, and classroom culture to develop creative teaching practices. This study was guided by Cremin's theory, the three…

This article explores prevalent stories about "Gen Z" students that unintentionally undercut both their success and learner-centered pedagogies. The authors consider how those beliefs might be reframed to serve all learners more effectively. We also explore how the racial reckoning, health pandemics, social unrest, and additional…

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs and curricula have emerged as a priority in schools over the past three decades, with greater urgency since the COVID-19 pandemic. While SEL programs may show promise in supporting students' social and emotional needs generally, current SEL practices apply color-evasive approaches, leading to White-centered…

The authors are a group of Western-trained biologists (seven students and one faculty member) from diverse cultural backgrounds, who spent a semester exploring how they might complement their epistemological approach to addressing real-world problems by including possibilities outside the Western-scientific methodology. Their study focused on how…

This dissertation research aimed to examine the processes and practices of inclusive education for students with diverse disabilities in a school district in northern California. The first part is a theoretical articulation of a conceptual framework that school districts and local education agencies can use to design, implement, and sustain…

The potential of speech technology to improve educational outcomes has been a topic of great interest in recent years. For example, automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems could be employed to provide kindergarten-aged children with real-time feedback on their literacy and pronunciation as they practice reading aloud. Within these systems,…

ePortfolios are considered the eleventh high-impact practice (HIP) by the AAC&U (now the American Association of Colleges and Universities). They have been widely implemented in the humanities but remain underutilized in STEM fields. The benefits of engaged learning, metacognitive awareness, and professional identity development in those…

This study provides a portrait of Ms. Grace, a veteran English teacher at a high school in Silicon Valley. I examine how Ms. Grace's perspectives on her immigrant-origin Latine students informed her teaching, highlighting the perspectives and practices that guided her pedagogy. Analysis of the data demonstrates the cyclical nature of how this…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, an adult noncredit program in the California Community College system partnered with Ease Learning to help convert face-to-face courses to an online modality. Subsequent data revealed a misalignment in the courses' Student Learning Outcomes and Instructional Objectives which became a barrier to student success. Wile's…

Pedagogy and content that disrupt existing heteronormative structures and curriculum with positive representations of LGBTQ people, history, and events are connected to more welcoming school experiences for all students. To understand elementary teachers' choices with regards to content and pedagogy that disrupt gender and sexuality norms, this…

Research exploring how Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) serve Latin* STEM students has largely focused on features of organizational structures (e.g., support programs), but minimally examined instruction and classroom experiences. This is an important gap to fill, especially in gateway mathematics courses, where faculty relationships and…

Background and context: Promoting open-ended projects presents new opportunities and challenges for inclusive teaching in CS classrooms. While efforts have been made to develop inclusive curricula, little research has focused on ways teachers apply curricula in their classrooms to promote inclusion. Objective: To understand the challenges faced in…

Online and distance education strategies offer a path for closing opportunity gaps for students with disabilities because of digital technologies' flexibility and capacity for differentiation, but fully online schooling does always guarantee an inclusive education. The COVID-19-induced shift to remote learning highlighted the need for more insight…

This brief provides recommendations for the professional development (PD) of teachers, administrators, and school personnel in order to improve student outcomes. The significant achievement gap for diverse learners--including students with disabilities, a vast majority of whom are also culturally and/or linguistically diverse--can be reduced…