Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) was the only high school district profiled as part of this project. The high school district is made up of 13 elementary districts that feed into it and has 11 comprehensive high schools, four small specialty schools, three micro-schools, three support schools and a digital…

As downtown Phoenix experiences a wave of new residential and commercial construction, Phoenix Elementary School District #1 (Phoenix #1) is at the center of the largest local demographic change in decades. Phoenix #1 educates more than 6,000 students at 14 schools, from preschool through eighth grade, with many families living in older, historic…

Schools often fail to offer minoritized student groups access to quality STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education experiences. While policymakers should systemically address this curriculum gap problem, out-of-school educational programs offer an important way to provide quality STEM instruction while integrating students'…

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore how teachers described their experiences using ICT to help students build upon previous knowledge and stay active when constructing knowledge in reading in Title I schools. Constructivism was the learning theory used for this study. The research questions for the present study were:…

School safety is a wicked problem due to shifting needs and available information, the diverse actors affected and involved, fluctuating budgetary demands and ramifications, and relations to broader social and political issues. School safety challenges encompass a range of factors, including threats of violence and fears related to school…

Rehabilitation services in education settings are evolving from pull-out interventions focused on remediation for children and youth with special education needs to inclusive whole-school tiered approaches focused on participation. A limited number of discipline-specific practice models for tiered services currently exist. However, there is a…

Teacher education for sustainability is a central part of integrating sustainability into classrooms and schools. However, educating for sustainability is not limited to increased content knowledge; rather it encompasses different forms of knowledge that embrace the normative, dynamic and action-oriented nature of sustainability. Curriculum for a…

This case study describes the peer evaluation system the Maricopa County Educational Services Agency (MCESA) is using in the districts participating in its Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) 3 and 4 grants. Maricopa County's TIF districts cover much of the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area. Including both TIF 3 and 4 cohorts, 12 districts with a total…

Many sets of state and national mathematics standards have come and gone in the past two decades. The Common Core State Mathematics Standards (CCSMS), which were released in June of 2010, have been adopted by almost all states and will be phased in across the nation in 2014. The main difference between these standards and most of the others is…

Joachim Dattke describes a holistic approach to supporting the needs of the family when a child has a disability. The parent and child benefit from a two-pronged approach: working with doctors, psychologists, and therapists in clinic-based settings, and working with educators in schools and parent-child groups. He defines the importance of…

Last September ten Australian educators set out to explore how the Paradise Valley School District in Phoenix Arizona cultivates world class thinkers and leaders. Over the course of a week, study Tour delegates were immersed in K-12 schools where a district-wide approach fosters equity and empowers teachers and students to use technology…

There is a substantial body of research showing that teacher quality is an important determinant of student achievement in elementary and secondary schools, inspiring some states and districts to enact policies aimed at identifying and rewarding high-quality teachers. Yet relatively little is known about the impact of instructor effectiveness on…

This article presents lists of the top ten schools with most students, largest enrollment, and other categories for 2011 in the U.S. The school districts with most student for 2010-2011 are New York City with 1,043,886 followed by Los Angeles with 667,251, Chicago with 403,770 and down to the 10th spot Orange County (Fla.) with 175,986. The…

Delineates the mechanisms by which an international learning environment can be created. Details the support that such an environment would require. Support includes cooperation between institutions, use of work-based learning, and use of technology and open learning material. (DDR)

Explains the effects of current educational practices on both student learning orientations and institutions. Discusses barriers to change in the process of developing new policies and frameworks. (YDS)