Employing longitudinal, multisite comparative mixed-methods, we describe patterns of reclassifying and not reclassifying eligible English learner (EL) students to fluent English proficient, and we identify factors impeding and facilitating reclassification. Analyses of administrative data for 7 cohorts of students over 3 years in one district and…

The present study examined the effectiveness of the oral history approach with respect to students' historical competence. A total of 35 ninth-grade classes (N = 900) in Germany were randomly assigned to one of four conditions--live, video, text, or a (nontreated) control group--in a pretest, posttest, and follow-up design. Comparing the three…

Recent research on the relationship between standards and teachers' practice suggests that teachers are unlikely to make changes to practice without extensive opportunities for learning about standards with colleagues. This article extends this line of research, using a comparative case study of three high-poverty urban schools to examine the…

This article presents findings from a year-long multilevel comparative case study exploring the characteristics of effective urban high schools. We developed a comprehensive framework from the school effectiveness research that guided our data collection and analysis at the four high schools. Using value-added methodology, we identified two higher…

In this article, we present findings from a three-year comparative longitudinal and ethnographic study of how schools in two cities, Buffalo and Denver, have taken up STEM education reform, including the idea of "inclusive STEM-focused schools," to address weaknesses in urban high schools with majority low-income and minority students.…

Many U.S. public school systems now face three large demographic shifts: rising poverty, the growing number of students from immigrant families, and increasing populations of students of color. Yet, we know little about how district policymakers react to these important changes or indeed the factors that consistently shape their policymaking.…

Policymakers are revolutionizing teacher evaluation by attaching greater stakes to student test scores and observation-based teacher effectiveness measures, but relatively little is known about why they often differ so much. Quantitative analysis of thirty schools suggests that teacher value-added measures and informal principal evaluations are…

Intermediary organizations increasingly provide support for schools serving marginalized students. Some attribute this trend to growing ideological support for market-based strategies to further the public good. This article investigates one intermediary that marketed equity-oriented instructional goals for schools serving high numbers of students…

This study explored the practices of two high school teachers of U.S. history and their students' performance on evidence-based history essays over 7 months. Data include pre- and posttest essays, interviews, observations, teacher feedback, assignments, and readings. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons of 42 students' work show that one class…

State-sponsored teacher networks in Vermont and California are compared, using interviews with teachers, network staff, and policymakers. It is concluded that state-sponsored networks can improve teachers' knowledge and motivation while empowering them. Recommendations are made for loosely coupled and capacity-building strategies to support…

Ideas young students have about their government and the effects of instruction and development on the formation of these ideas were studied for 26 students interviewed 4 times (before and after U.S. history instruction in grades 5 and 8). Why students' conceptions showed more consistency than growth is discussed. (SLD)

The knowledge that 35 fifth graders and 37 sixth graders had about a historical period was characterized by focusing on the fifth graders before they studied the Revolutionary War, and sixth graders 1 year after they studied the topic. Students' knowledge before and after instruction included simple associations and lacked connected structures.…

Teacher knowledge is examined as a joint construction of teachers and researchers by analyzing contrasting narrative practices in the research interview in terms of how two teachers formulate versions of self. Seeing the narratives as representational technologies locates these teachers differently in the knowledge-constitutive networks of…