In the three essays which compose this dissertation, I use econometric tools to examine the relationships between various measures of school context and teachers' practice. I first study how a literacy curriculum intervention affects elementary teachers' advice seeking networks and how these advice seeking relationships moderate the impact of…

This study used a phenomenological investigation to examine leaders' perceptions of the implementation and impact of reading intervention programs. This study aimed to gain new insight into implementation challenges and effectiveness of reading intervention in Title I schools and add to the literature about the impact of said interventions from…

The aim of this research study was to examine the opinions and experiences of teachers and pre-service teachers about number sense and its development. The participants of this research were 25 teachers and pre-service teachers studying at undergraduate or graduate level in different regions and different departments of Turkey, who participated in…

As racial demographics of students in schools are becoming more diverse, the racial demographics of teachers remains predominantly White. Adding to this, many White teachers are unprepared in the skills of racial literacy and lack the ability to address racist power structures within both the curriculum and their teaching practices. The purpose of…

This exploratory mixed methods study addresses the self-perceptions and engagement of mathematics students susceptible to stereotype threat. It convenes a group of math educators to implement Anti-Stereotype Threat Pedagogy (ASTP)--an experimental intervention--to 75 high school students in four separate Integrated Math classes over six weeks.…

The purpose of this qualitative self-study was to investigate my own critical teaching practices in a freshman university classroom and to see what happened to my teacher identity when my curriculum and instruction focused on issues of social justice. Believing that "…the Eurocentric worldview is so thoroughly hegemonized in the United…

This study contributes to the science of teaching reading by illustrating how a ubiquitous classroom practice -- read alouds -- can be enhanced by fostering teacher language practices that support students' ability to read for understanding. This experimental study examines whether and to what extent providing "structured teacher read…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is an economic opportunity for an urban school district in Tennessee. Lack of interest in STEM courses was throughout schools with underrepresented populations. An urban district in Tennessee with few schools implementing STEM initiated instructional practices to increase…

The number of children attending state-funded early childhood education (ECE) programs, centers, or school-based preschool programs has increased over the last two decades and continues to rise steadily. These ECE programs use play as the main learning tool for their young students. Research illustrates the many benefits of using play as a…

Stay-play-talk (SPT) is a peer-mediated intervention that involves training peer implementers to stay in proximity to, play with, and talk to a focal child who has disabilities or lower social competence. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the contexts in which SPT interventions have been conducted, the methodological adequacy…

While several initiatives for justice-oriented pedagogies have been developed and implemented over the years, there is limited understanding of the ways in which teachers, and their practice, are impacted by these. This article presents data documenting the impact of a pedagogical approach -- the science capital teaching approach -- on a cohort of…

While teacher assessment and student engagement are emerging topics in the field of second language (L2) writing, little is known about the possible correlations between the two important constructs. This mixed-methods study first surveyed the perceived teacher assessment approaches among L2 learners whose majors are English, Japanese and French…

This article provides a theoretical exploration of the connections between critical literacy and symbolic competence with some pedagogical examples from an empirical study. More specifically, we argue that critical literacy can be utilised as an approach to develop symbolic competence, and, by extension, encourage intercultural learning. Our…

This case study explores how teacher candidates responded to the inclusion of mindfulness practices in a course and how they understand mindfulness's relationship to equity. Findings show that participants responded positively and connected presence activities to social justice in several ways: fostering mental health, addressing systemic…

Underscored by a long overdue call to challenge racism in teacher education (TE), we set forth to examine our own university TE classrooms to understand how we are both perpetuating and disrupting systemic racism and decentering whiteness, such that we can move toward sustained antiracist pedagogy for ourselves, our institutions, teacher…