This article explores issues that secondary general education teachers face in planning lessons that include students with disabilities. We briefly explain the concepts of inclusive education and inclusive pedagogy and then identify six tenets of inclusive instructional planning: high standards for everybody in the class, multiple entry and exit…

We examined the practices, beliefs, and attitudes of secondary teachers in order to identify factors that led to success for non-dominant-group students. We found a unique paradigm among educators whose students of color and/or poverty showed no achievement gap. Rather than coming from a deficit perspective or one expecting assimilation, those…

This study examined the behaviors that teachers in eight large urban high schools in a Northeastern state considered important for good teacher-student relationships. A factor analysis of teacher (N = 103) survey responses revealed three factors related to student behaviors: (a) demonstrating engagement and interest in schoolwork; (b) being…

Successful schools acknowledge that collective responsibility for student learning occurs when strong teacher relationships and collegiality are present, but few school interventions are aimed at improving outcomes for teachers. In this study, a nonequivalent wait-list control group design was used to test the effects of teacher-to-teacher written…

Many minority students enter the university without the discursive ''codes of power" that they need both to find academic success and to self-identify as scholars. High schools and college preparatory programs too often ignore the role that academic language and literacy play in success at the college level. Even when academic…

Although literacy has become a multi-faceted aspect of education essential to students' future success, studies have found that many secondary students lack basic literacy skills. In the past, much of the blame for adolescents' literacy problems has been placed on elementary teachers, but recent research suggests that secondary teachers must share…

This study provides a picture of the instructional practices of a selected sample of first year secondary teachers in two rural school districts with large at-risk student populations. The instructional practices of the beginning teachers were compared to the curriculum of the research-based teacher preparation program by which all were trained.…

This exploratory study results from interviews with five high school English teachers regarding their writing instruction. The researcher sought to answer these questions: (1) How had the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program's (TCAP) Writing Assessment affected their teaching as gauged by the teachers' statements regarding the assessment,…

Based on a small qualitative study, this article focuses on understanding the rules for cell phones and other social networking media in schools, an aspect of broader research that led to important understandings of teacher-student negotiations. It considers the rules that schools and teachers make, the rampant breaking of these rules, the…

This study surveyed instructors in a small central Texas secondary school about the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into curricula. 27 participants' responded to the research question: How do secondary school instructors perceive their effectiveness at delivering course content and teaching the use of computer…

This high-need high school study focuses on the perceptions of teachers from one southeastern state. An online survey was conducted asking teachers who currently teach in high-need high schools what they perceive as the most important characteristics of successful high-need teachers. Teachers in the study offered ideas about how to attract,…

Pre-service teachers taking a Human Growth and Learning course and graduate students enrolled in a Classroom Management course wrote letters to secondary students to gather responses on traits of an outstanding educator. A theoretical framework about teacher effectiveness and student voice underpins the study. Findings indicate that suburban and…

In a standards-based instructional program, what does a course grade convey? What should it convey? What is the role of homework in assigning grades? What is the role of common assessments? This case study examined the responses of two groups of high school teachers during a district wide reform of grading practices. The first was a focus group of…

Secondary content teachers are more likely than ever before to be asked to provide instruction for students with disabilities in their classrooms. Despite years of recommendations for curricular reform, general education teachers continue to report feeling ill-prepared to teach students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to identify…

Research demonstrates that authentic instruction is an effective form of teaching and raising student achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine high school math or science teachers who had a high interest in using authentic instruction in three different school settings--an alternative school, a charter school, and a traditional…