California's shift towards continuous improvement in education makes understanding how districts and schools can learn to improve a more pressing question than ever. The CORE Improvement Community (CIC), a network of California school districts engaged in learning about improvement together, is an important testing ground to learn about what this…

Two decades ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court in "Abbott v. Burke" mandated that the state establish high quality preschool education in the 31 highest-poverty school districts. New Jersey created a pre-K program with high standards and a continuous improvement system that transformed a patchwork of private and public programs into a…

There is currently no designated policy, procedure or staff in place to facilitate the objective of increasing student yield. As a result, magnet applications and acceptance of invitations to attend Owl Middle School is approached without a strategy which makes planning difficult and negates the ability to determine effective methods. Filling…

This study examines the use of polling students to improve conditions of learning in their school. Students from three schools (N = 2,006) in Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 completed an online poll about how cyberbullying affects their personal lives. Principals' impressions about the benefits of student polling are explained along with the Cyberbullying…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the conditions and challenges that facilitate teacher professional learning through the implementation of pedagogical mentoring (PM) within the Chilean school context. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed a qualitative methods approach, utilizing an instrumental case study. As the…

The Philippines implemented its educational reform commonly known as K to 12 Program in 2013 for Filipino learners' holistic development and global competitiveness. One indicator of the reform's effectiveness is the country's performance in international large-scale assessments like the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study…

The research featured in this paper is part of the CORE-PACE Research Partnership, which is focused on producing research that informs continuous improvement in the CORE districts as well as policy and practice in California and beyond. In this report, the authors used data from multiple interim assessments to examine how the rate of student…

To address teacher isolation in schools, more reform leaders are finding hope in establishing professional communities as a way to promote continuous school improvement. This case study presents one approach for developing teacher professional community: a teacher work circle. Using the characteristics of professional community created by Kruse,…

This study tested to determine if a relationship existed between excused versus unexcused absences on STAAR reading and math scale scores for Hispanic, economically disadvantaged third through fifth grade elementary students in a rural South Texas school district. Research questions included: 1) Is there a relationship between excused absences and…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the adoption of the Deming philosophy by teachers and use of the LtoJ[R] process resulted in greater academic achievement. Results of internal consistency analysis indicated that the instrument, the "Commitment to Quality Inventory for Educators," was a reliable measure of the Deming…

Participants in this study, representing grades 6-12 practitioners in two schools with persistently lower scholar achievement and graduation rates, shared their experiences through open-ended surveys, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive journaling. The study employed an inductive coding process and triangulation of data sources to identify…

The aim of this quasi-experimental research isto investigate the effectiveness of formative assessment on the progress of private elementary school students. 77 students (33 girls and 44 boys) were split into two groups. The experimental group used an app called the Plickers app daily and was further divided by gender into two groups, while the…

Research has indicated that students can be taught self-regulated learning (SRL) in scaffolding programs focusing on a fixed continuous practice (e.g., metacognitive question prompts). However, the fading role of scaffolding to prepare autonomous learning is often an overlooked component. A unique approach for fading is suggested that offers a…

Research consistently demonstrates that attention deficits have a deleterious effect on academic achievement. Impairments in attention, and not hyperactivity/impulsivity, are associated with learning difficulties and academic problems in students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To date, most studies have focused on symptoms…

This case study examines four Japanese pre-service teachers' (PST's) experience of learning Bob Moses' student-centered pedagogical framework (Moses & Cobb, 2001) in the context of teaching English as a foreign language, a subject arguably the most difficult for both Japanese students and teachers. The framework is most effective when used to…