Purpose: This paper reports the findings of a study examining the impact of one teacher preparation program on the current practices of its graduates and documents the ways the program focused on equity and social justice in preparing educators who see themselves as agents for transforming schools. This paper aims to identify program elements that…

While the conception of "failing schools" has proliferated the American public's (mis)understanding of performance of low-income urban public schools unabated since "A Nation at Risk," education literature suggests "failing schools" are not what has been commonly described in conventional wisdom. Here, I begin by…

Policymakers and teacher educators have long discussed whether specialised preparation of teachers who work in rural areas is necessary. The objective of this research is to learn more about teacher educators' perspectives on the efficacy of urban-based teacher education in preparing elementary school teachers for rural contexts. The research was…

The current racial homogeny in the United States K-12 public school teacher workforce can be traced to the dismissal of Black teachers and administrators in the name of desegregation following the 1950s supreme court Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. The resulting raciodemographic mismatch persists today, and determinations about the…

Instructional coaching programs are designed to improve teacher effectiveness to ultimately improve student performance. The role of the instructional coach varies among schools and is dependent on building leadership or the most recent trends of a school district. Inconsistency in the roles and responsibilities of instructional coaches can impede…

Currently, there is a national level debate on security-based school safety policies and practices, particularly in relation to the presence of police in schools. Decisions about school safety are discussed at the district level by administrators and board of education members who may not be aware of the importance of utilizing local data to…

This community-based research study examined the perspectives of African American parents of middle-class economic status who participated in a social network pertaining to school choice decisions during the pandemic era of virtual schooling. Their residency and school choices emerged against the grain of urban schools that have racially charged…

Research on the effectiveness of fidget spinner use in the classroom to increase academic performance and behavior has had mixed results, with no studies evaluating the use of fidget spinners on reading performance. The current study examined the effects of using a fidget spinner on Aimsweb oral reading fluency probes for 66 students in the 3rd…

School district decentralization typically shifts authority and resources from central office administrators at the district level to leaders at the school level. Although decentralization reforms have been prevalent in urban educational contexts for decades, they often yield poor results for low-income, minoritized communities. In this article,…

Out of school time (OST) STEM opportunities are often presented as ways to support student achievement, understanding, and identity in STEM. Recent work has begun to explore how OST programs function within the STEM Learning Ecosystem, a holistic view of the various STEM learning opportunities available to youth in a given area. In order to…

This article presents a preliminary study of an urban school district, and its use of a scripted middle-school language arts and literacy curriculum. The majority of students served by this district are African American. By interviewing a small sample of four teachers and one literacy coach, gathering preliminary data, and observing students…

After decades of market-based education reforms, the landscape of urban school districts across the country have been transformed. Yet, this is neither a sign of the effectiveness of such reforms nor a widespread consensus over the contents and form of urban schooling. Education reform remains a wicked problem, particularly along racial lines,…

Family involvement has emerged as an essential component of education with the expectation that school leaders strive to engage families in their children's learning effectively. Yet traditional models of "involvement" often fail families in minority, lower socio-economic status (SES) communities. This qualitative case study documents…

My focus in this reflection is on the role of mathematics teacher education in the preparation of culturally relevant teachers for urban schools. Drawing from the sociology of urban mathematics education (SUM) framework, I explore the current blind spots in our view of the preparation of culturally relevant mathematics teachers for urban schools.…

Grassroots migrant organizations, especially schools serving migrant children, function as centers of collective action which address the needs of the community and counter the deficit notions of migrant students and their families, by illuminating the powerful ways that migrant teachers and students utilize various forms of community cultural…