Before the process starts for African-American students to choose a higher education institution, the students are faced with challenges in high school and in the college search phase that either help or stunt their college preparedness, and therefore impact their college choice. The lack of access, knowledge, and readiness are all barriers that…

Contingent, VITAL faculty make up the majority of faculty positions in the United States, and their role is primarily instruction. Yet they often face numerous barriers to participating in professional development and engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), activities that can support their instructional effectiveness. This…

Principals play a critical role in improving schools, but high rates of principal turnover threaten improvement gains. In this study we used a mixed-methods design to examine school, district, and community factors associated with greater principal turnover, and explore how these factors differ for rural schools. We found that rural districts tend…

In a time of fraying community and interpersonal relationships, rural school and community leaders are in search of research-based approaches to strengthen connections and sustain relationships among their students and community members. This article reports the findings from two studies (Moore, 2023; Weikert, 2022) documenting how and why, during…

Standardization has been part of teaching and learning in the United States since the late 19th century. This technocratic approach has gained more traction in the past two decades beginning with the passage of the landmark No Child Left Behind law in 2001 and continuing through the recent standardization movement to restrict content and…

As a Black Southern woman with a personal history of overcoming systemic barriers, I, the researcher, serve as an Implementation Director for Pre-AP, assigned to support districts in the Midwest and Southwest regions. Implementation Directors for Pre-AP serve as the main points of contact for Pre-AP districts/sites across the nation, acting as…

The purpose of this quantitative correlative study was to determine what, if any, statistically significant correlations exist between undergraduate STEM students' perception of transactional distance and their level of engagement in an online learning environment at two-year community colleges. The theoretical foundations for the study included…

Behavioral and Social Science (BSS) classes provide students with understandings of human behaviors, motivations, and actions that are crucial to confronting both social and personal problems. Moreover, most community college degrees require that students take at least one BSS class - anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and/or…

Purpose: This exploratory study investigates the extent to which lesson study (LS) in initial teacher education (ITE) teams address subject-pedagogical aspects during their conversations and what subject-pedagogical aspects are addressed. Design/methodology/approach: The two-case design of the study--one LS team in ITE comprised of an ST and…

This paper argues that in undergraduate architectural design education, professional learning and the formation of casual academics as university educators occur while 'situated' in tutorials through design conversations with students and as-needed chats with colleagues. For casual academics, such disciplinary, routine, and informal activities…

This paper describes the benefits of student-run publications from the perspective of two undergraduate students. Based on their experiences, the commentary elaborates how reviewing for a student journal has contributed to their growth as writers and developed a sense of community.

The purpose of this study was to investigate Mor Hom natural dye using a qualitative research approach and local knowledge. Relevant primary and secondary data were collected through in-depth interviews with three sets of key informants, including community scholars, natural-dyed Mor Hom clothing businesses, and academics, and a participatory…

The emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 forced the whole world to a standstill for a while, causing open and distance e-learning institutions like Unisa to adjust all teaching and learning activities and shift to online teaching entirely. This study explores the online learning challenges students in an open and distance e-learning environment in South…

Growing concerns over student debt have led to a series of sweeping policy proposals from higher education associations, think tanks, and policymakers over the last decade to align state and federal higher education financing policy. The existing framework, in which states primarily subsidize institutions and the federal government primarily…

Background/Context: The sense of belonging to a school is important for students, in terms of various short- and long-term developmental and academic outcomes. The inequities in the sense of school belonging among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students may reveal a severe lack of opportunities or serious process gaps for these…