In this article, the authors report on research that shows that extracurricular activities help cultivate the skills, connections, and knowledge that prepare children for lifelong success. They add, however, that low-income students are increasingly being excluded from participating. Struggling with budget cuts and deficits, many school districts…

This article examines the ways in which land reform beneficiaries in a selected community use their social networks to support a satellite school. Contemporary literature on the implications of land reform in Zimbabwe revealed a number of perspectives, which include the political, human rights, livelihoods, and agricultural productivity…

Teachers do not simply want resources given to them. They often seek out relationships from more knowledgeable or experienced colleagues to ask advice, model lessons, or start an inquiry group. Establishing relationships within collaboration is essential for learning and knowledge development (Putnam & Borko, 2000). This study's goal was to…

This dissertation was designed to examine the degree to which the fidelity of implementation of the Renaissance Learning program impacts teacher instruction, as well as teacher perception of student reading motivation and achievement. The teachers at a western North Carolina elementary school used the Renaissance Learning program for over 15…

We detail a learning progressions approach to early algebra research and how existing work around learning progressions and trajectories in mathematics and science education has informed our development of a four-component theoretical framework consisting of: a curricular progression of learning goals across big algebraic ideas; an instructional…

User experience (UX) research in the design of technology products utilizes human-centered design (HCD) methods to summarize and explain pertinent information about end users to designers. However, UX researchers cannot effectively communicate the needs and goals of users if designers do not find UX research (a) easy to integrate into design…

Although more researchers have focused on academic deficits of male African American students, it is also important to understand the social factors that contribute to those who perform at a proficient level. Drawing on social capital theory as forwarded by Coleman and Putnam, this qualitative case study of 3 African American male high school…

A growing body of literature on teacher learning highlights that teachers are not likely to change their practices as a result of participating in traditional one-shot conference and workshop professional development activities, and suggests that a more effective approach is a teacher-driven, situated, collaborative, and sustained one (Ball &…

This paper is based on research that examined intergenerational dynamics amongst British South Asians regarding education and family life. The study investigated the perspectives of grandparents, parents and young people to establish how family attributes and education were perceived by these three groups. The methods used to gather data were…

As a response to what I see as the challenge posed by constructivist and narrative pedagogies, this paper seeks to sympathetically reconstruct Bernard Williams' Absolute Conception from the scattered texts in which he briefly sketched it While ultimately defending the Absolute Conception or something close enough to it, the paper criticizes and…

Although critiqued for circular reasoning and lack of definitional and analytic clarity, social capital has garnered widespread interest in two areas relevant to environmental education (EE): the impact of family and community-level social capital on positive youth development and of community-level social capital in fostering collective action to…

This paper begins with a focus on the problematic nature of one key term in the Bradley Report. "Socioeconomic status," or SES as commonly used, lacks clear definition leading to ongoing debates about its measurement. A working consensus on SES and its measurement is necessary for the report's recommendations to proceed effectively. Next…

In the progressive era, the distinguished political scientist Robert Putnam explains, progressives invested heavily in "social capital," that is, in the stock of active connections, social networks, shared values, norms of reciprocity, trustworthiness, and friendship that bind people together (Putnam 2000, 395). They were, he argues,…

Research consistently indicates that less affluent students across the country are often deprived of the necessary academic preparation and college guidance needed to successfully select, attend, and graduate from a postsecondary institution (Louie, 2017). Independent schools across America have historically served affluent, White students;…

We propose in this article that a central element in the large-scale implementation of evidence-based practices is the process by which initial investment in local demonstrations is leveraged into larger implementation efforts. We offer a definition of this "resource leveraging" and propose a process for both measuring and reporting the…