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…

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…

This single site case study examines the ways a particular STEM school in its first year of operation meets the unique needs of freshmen students with disabilities (SWD). Specific research questions address primary supports and challenges to the learning of SWD, and the working relationship among general and special educators and administrators. A…

Emerging research suggests that teachers' perceptions of fairness with respect to interactions with school administrators, decision-making processes, and decision outcomes can contribute greatly to understanding effective schools. This study of Virginia public high schools used correlational analysis to measure the strength of the…

This phenomenological study examined special education teachers' views of students' self-determination and citizenship skills. Although the special education teachers in this study maintained that self-determination skills help promote citizenship, only one of them added self-determination goals to her students' individualized educational plans…

This study examines the impact that Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) in middle school has on middle school course rigor and students' high school performance and college readiness. The study compares students who took AVID in middle school and high school with students who only took AVID in high school. The changes in middle school…

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…

Self-Determination is a central concept in special education practice and policy. Research indicates that students who possess specific self-determination skills have better outcomes and enhanced quality of life. Self-determination is a broad term and can be looked at in a variety of ways with differing values of importance. The concept of…

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…

This study investigated the extent to which higher-order thinking skills are promoted in social studies classes in high schools that are implementing smaller learning communities (SLCs). Data collection in this mixed-methods study included classroom observations and in-depth interviews. Findings indicated that higher-order thinking was rarely…

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher qualification factors believed to affect reading achievement of students with disabilities in intensive reading classes after controlling for certain student and teacher demographics using ANCOVA. Results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the reading…

Researchers have been challenged to find school-level characteristics that make a difference in student achievement. This study focused on a diverse sample of 24 middle schools to examine differences between schools rated Exemplary, Recognized, Academically Acceptable, and Academically Unacceptable on four performance indicator dimensions:…

Although many high schools are switching from a semester to a trimester schedule as a response to increased high-school graduation requirements, there is very little empirical research on trimesters. In this ethnographic case study (2006-2009), we observed 22 math and science classrooms, interviewed seven administrators, two counselors and 22…