This study sought to understand and improve effectiveness in institutional research (IR) by interviewing, observing, and analyzing resumes of IR practitioners who have been identified by their colleagues as particularly effective in having an impact on decision-making, planning, and policy formation. Ten themes for effectiveness in IR were…

Mahdi is an Iraqi doctoral candidate in adult and higher education and Bright is her doctoral advisor. The two have been involved in intensive dialogue about how they see their cultures, how they perceive the conflict in the Middle East, and how andragogical theory offers hope for changing learning and teaching approaches that can influence…

The authors, male and female African-American faculty from different academic disciplines at predominantly white institutions, share personal reflections on their experiences teaching postsecondary graduate and professional courses that focus on diversity and multicultural themes. This article provides tools and strategies for improving the…

As increasing numbers of students with disabilities are taught in general education classrooms, co-teaching has become an established method of special education service provision. No longer viewed by education professionals as a collaborative model-come-lately, this shared approach of working side by side with a colleague in a classroom can be a…

Prompted by calls for research on technology-focused professional development, this article investigates how learning communities influence secondary English teachers' use of digital tools. Findings from this year-long study in the United States indicate that the ways in which technology is integrated within the English curriculum are still very…

Improving teacher retention and resiliency are key educational problems. In this article, we share findings from case studies of six educators who, for over 200 combined years, worked in urban, high-poverty schools and highlight what teachers need to remain in such contexts. We argue that developing "professional resilience" is a process…

The aim of this study was to describe the diverse experiences of early childhood student teachers and mentors during the teaching practicum over the period of one semester, and trace power aspects within the relationship of 20 dyads. Data collection included repeated entries within a reflective journal, following specific guiding questions. The…

With the increasing attention on managerial coaching as an effective leadership initiative in organizations, there have been increasing needs for reliable and valid tools to assess managers' coaching skills. This study reviewed and revised an existing instrument measuring coaching skills in organizations created by McLean, Yang, Kuo, Tolbert, and…

Two years ago, as Claresholm Elementary School prepared for a new year with a new principal, it had the usual shopping list of ambitions--focus on student learning, support the staff, empower parents, and more. However, in examining the school's improvement plan it became apparent that the school staff had a unique opportunity to develop solid…

The Durkheimian concept of the density of social relationships may prove more fruitful than the historical materialist notion of a social hierarchy for thinking about the social location of epistemic agents in science. To define a scientist's social location in terms of the density of her professional relationships with other scientists permits us…

Background/Context: Educational policy makers have begun to recognize the challenges posed by teacher turnover. Schools and students pay a price when new teachers leave the profession after only 2 or 3 years, just when they have acquired valuable teaching experience. Persistent turnover also disrupts efforts to build a strong organizational…

The hiring of middle school teachers to positively impact student achievement--is this a process of teacher selection or teacher attraction for schools, respectively, with low teacher turnover and schools with high teacher turnover? Since research indicates that the most important variable influencing student achievement is having a highly…

As technology evolves and the world becomes more interconnected, a new set of skills have become necessary to be successful in the workplace. Schools need to develop and modernize in order to prepare students to be competitive in the changing global economy. The purpose of this case study was to identify the programs and practices that promote the…

A teacher professional development program for in-service elementary school science teachers, the Rice Elementary Model Science Lab (REMSL), was developed for urban school districts serving predominately high-poverty, high-minority students. Teachers with diverse skills and science capacities came together in Professional Learning Communities, one…

The pathway for entering the K-12 classroom as a teacher varies compared to what was once the traditional model of teacher preparation. In this mixed-methods action research study, I explore supporting first year alternatively certified urban and rural intern teachers through a multicomponent distance induction program. The induction model in this…