This report focuses on redesigning classrooms to facilitate teaching, alleviate problems, and promote good learning and healthy development. Primary concerns are to prevent and respond quickly to learning, behavior, and emotional problems and reengage students who have become disengaged from learning at school. A key facet of the redesign is…

Mastery learning is an instructional approach that empowers every student to progress with confidence. Using flexible pacing and targeted supports, teachers guide students through a cyclic process of preparation, demonstration, and formative feedback until there is a mutual agreement between teacher and student that the student is ready to…

Ensuring participation in state-mandated assessments by students who need accessible educational materials (AEM) and related technologies is an extension of the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning at CAST's (AEM Center) technical assistance activities. The needs of students who rely on AEM for daily learning transfer…

This study applies the gap analysis model to understand barriers facing teachers to differentiate instruction for special needs students in the general education setting. The purpose of this study was to conduct an evaluation gap analysis for implementing differentiated instructional strategies to improve outcomes of special needs students in the…

Background/purpose: Coaching supports teachers to varying degrees, and the same coach may engage different teachers in distinct ways. This study explores this variation in coaches' interactions with different teachers over 2 years to identify supports for coaches to develop positive coaching dynamics with teachers. Materials/methods: The study…

Previous research supporting differentiated instruction (DI) has led to its adoption in different countries as a promising pedagogical framework for addressing diverse learners' needs. To date, there exists little information on DI from Tanzania especially when competence-based education and inclusion are being embraced. To address this gap, this…

The way in which informal learning in a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is coordinated is poorly understood. Conversation -- with teachers, friends or family -- contributes to the processes involved in meaningfully negotiating resources. While institution-centric education creates contexts for conversations and codifies educational attainment,…

Differentiated instruction, an inclusive teaching strategy incorporating essential skills while individualizing curriculum at current instructional levels, has little inquiry into its effect on standards-based grading system within the middle grades setting. This qualitative study was designed to better understand teacher perceptions of…

This article draws on doctoral research into conferences for teacher professional learning and development (PLD). It outlines the literature on teacher PLD, and describes the process by which the collective, game-like activity, Plan D, was designed and prototyped. Plan D affords teachers the opportunity to design their own, bespoke, PLD…

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of i-Ready Personalized Instruction on ELA achievement, as measured by SBA scores. We compared "striving learner" students who were assigned to use i-Ready Personalized Instruction (Treatment students) and "striving learner" students assigned to only receive i-Ready…

Teachers in Florida are tasked with the insurmountable job of teaching the curriculum, supporting their students socially and emotionally, and differentiating instruction and assessments for all students in inclusion classrooms. In Florida, students labeled as English language learners (ELLs) with varying English language proficiency are placed in…

Classroom access to technology such as a computer or the Internet does not guarantee a high-level of integration of technology by the teacher or application by the student. Tools that could be used to increase student creation or personalized learning opportunities may instead be used by the teacher at lower levels of use that replace…

In this three-article dissertation, I explore three aspects of the Next Education Workforce initiative (NEW), an education reform effort hailing from Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Through the initiative, NEW seeks to change schools and schooling, breaking down the physical and metaphorical walls of the predominant…

Personalized Learning Environments (PLEs) are student experiences where the pace of learning and the instructional approach are optimized for the needs of each student. Standards-aligned learning objectives, instructional approaches, and instructional content (and their sequencing) may all vary based on learner needs and interests. Learning…

The article begins with a discussion on the importance, subjectivity, and longstanding search for a definition for Quality Education (QE). It conceptualizes QE in terms of "resilience" and "responsibility towards other". It reviews the theoretical landscape and philosophical contributions of philosophers and learning theories…