<p> Much of the resistance for returning to education seems to be related to the same reasons students left school to begin with. The reason for dropping out and resisting to return to school may be a result of too much emphasis on academic preparation and too little emphasis on satisfying the perceived needs for preparing a youth for adulthood. Four themes emerged from the field-note based interviews: (1) all students do not learn the same way, (2) there is a need for more participatory learning, (3) learning should be relevant to life as perceived by the student, and (4) there is a dislike of computer content that is not supported by personal instruction. While these themes are supportive of past research efforts and may not seem remarkable, the solutions offered by the participants to improve these problems are worthy of consideration, and may be of use to both secondary and adult education.</p>

<p> This study examined the ways in which mid-career ensemble directors and administrators (some with musical and some without musical background) described the effect of implementing standardized teacher evaluations on their practices and perspectives. Participants described the application and critique of the evaluation tools, particularly the Danielson Framework for Teaching, on their process and pedagogy. There is little information on how in-service teachers&mdash;specifically ensemble directors&mdash;locate themselves in their practice and how they articulate their process and pedagogy. There is also little literature on mid-career teachers, both in identity formation and self-reflection. Mid-career ensemble educators who have an established professional identity may find imbalance in light of the new policies, and have to negotiate and manage the contemporary evaluation systems predominantly designed for English and Math. Further, if supervisors do not understand what learning and assessment processes look like in a middle or high school band, orchestra, or chorus setting, they might try to evaluate with criteria that apply to a social studies or chemistry class. Without critically reflecting on how these evaluations affect pedagogy and process, educators may fall into routines of trying to reach a particular benchmark, instead of imagining ways to engage with their students.</p><p> A phenomenological interview approach was used to solicit the participants&rsquo; voices and to allow their narratives to describe their lived experiences with teacher evaluation in ensembles. The participants&rsquo; personal and shared narratives help to better explain and navigate the changing waves of educational policy. Data collection involved interviews and document review of the contemporary evaluation systems, in particular, the Danielson Framework for Teaching. Data analysis uncovered themes of conflicting identities in the classroom, misaligned interpretations of student-centered learning, as well as discourses based on location and the privileges associated with place. Teachers negotiated their performer/conductor and educator selves; administrators negotiated their leader and educator selves.</p><p> This study found that the Danielson evaluative tool, when poorly implemented in an ensemble setting, is faulted and lacks content validity. Additionally, while ensembles function rather traditionally in public schools, embracing a more open rehearsal pedagogy with conductor as facilitator may help to assure more student-centered learning.</p>

<p> Recent initiatives aimed at improving the quality of Head Start programs have included an increased focus on the instructional strategies of Head Start teachers. One factor that researchers have associated with higher quality classroom instruction and increased child achievement in the K-12 grades is teachers' sense of self-efficacy (Berman &amp; McLaughlin,1978; Ghaith &amp; Yaghi, 1997; Guo, Piasta, Justice &amp; Kaderavek, 2010; Justice, Mashburn, Hamre &amp; Pianta, 2008; Nie et al., 2013). Thus far, research on early childhood teacher self-efficacy has almost exclusively relied upon survey and other types of quantitative data to answer questions about this important construct.</p><p> This study of Head Start teacher self-efficacy builds upon this body of research by utilizing a multiple case study to explore Maine Head Start teacher self-efficacy. This qualitative study examined the ways in which self-efficacy is developed and influenced by the context in which teaching occurs. Interviews with Head Start teachers and educational leaders as well as onsite observations were conducted to examine teachers' delivery of instructional support and their belief in their ability to do so in ways that benefit children.</p><p> Findings from this study indicate that elements of the teaching environment such as time for planning and reflection, relationships with colleagues, and the amount of time with children can and do influence teachers' provision of instructional supports. In addition the study found that teachers embed instructional supports within a cycle of intentional teaching that includes formative assessment data used to plan for, modify, and individualize instructional supports for children. Formative assessment data also confirmed the benefits of instructional support strategies for the teachers in this study and acted as evidence of mastery that sustained teachers' instructional self-efficacy. </p><p> These findings offer important information for educational leaders and other professionals who wish to optimize the conditions under which Head Start teachers provide effective instructional supports and build instructional self-efficacy. Information from this study can also be used to inform the types of policies and practices that best support teachers in their instructional support of children.</p>

<p> Though many American educators embrace technology in classrooms, administrators can create policies that inhibit technology such as mobile phone use in classrooms or on district property. These policies range from restrictive with no mobile phone use permitted, to liberal in which unrestricted use of mobile phones is allowed. The purpose of this case study was to explore the divergent and convergent perceptions of mobile phone use and mobile phone policy across multiple groups of stakeholders in one northeastern Pennsylvania public high school. Focus groups of administrators, teachers, students, and parents were formed and group interviews were conducted to understand the perceptions of current mobile phone use, perceptions of the current mobile phone policy, and how the perceptions compare across stakeholder groups. The findings of this study uncovered three main themes: conflicting interpretations of the policy's purpose, inconsistent enforcement of the policy, and support for a more effective policy by bringing your own device to school. Stakeholders had a range of interpretations regarding Mountain Peak High School's mobile phone policy, which could be categorized into two main typologies: restrictive or liberal. The data from this study also showed that due to the range of policy interpretations, staff members at Mountain Peak High School were not enforcing the mobile phone policy consistently. During data collection, it was discovered that a pilot group of Mountain Peak teachers were allowed to have their students bring their own device to school. The findings of this study may help educational leaders evaluate and construct a more appropriate mobile phone policy for their respective school district.</p>

<p> This study confirmed the prediction of Coleman and Hoffer (1987) that a school actively supported by one employer and nested within the parents' workplace could replicate the functional communities surrounding Catholic Schools that raised the academic outcomes of disadvantaged urban youth. Rather than a single `something new' suggested by Smrekar (1990), this small sample suggested that a whole spectrum of school communities had emerged around workplace neighborhood schools sponsored by commercial real estate developers in cooperation with providers from franchisor-operated and national chains of workplace neighborhood schools. It was found that rather than being created in school communities, social capital had become a commodity in the "education marketplace" that was donated, purchased, and bartered. Working parents indicated that schools with high levels of parental involvement made their personal involvement more manageable. Gatekeepers and school cultures that marginalized parents impaired the flow of high quality social capital into school communities. Longitudinal data surfaced that suggested charitable social capital that marginalized the families of disadvantaged urban children had a negative impact on the professional career trajectories of "scholarship kids" in their adult lives. Finally, it was also noted that interracial marriages appeared to promote interracial informal familial bonding among co-workers and within school communities. </p>

<p> This case study describes a prevented school rampage attack at a rural-suburban high school in the northeastern region of the United States. A school rampage attack occurs when a heavily armed student assaults a school with the intent to inflict harm on everyone in that school. The case was bounded by a single high school where a school rampage attack was prevented. This study will inform school leaders about rampage attacks while adding to the literature in the field of preventing school rampage attacks. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (1999) and the United States Secret Service along with the United States Department of Education (2002) researched school shootings and found that in most cases studied, someone knew of an attack before it occurred; this was referred to as leakage. The central question was how did information leakage assist in the prevention of a school rampage attack at a rural-suburban high school? Qualitative data including interviews of school leaders, documents, and media accounts was collected. The data was analyzed by the researcher and the commercial software product, NVivo. The results support that leakage did occur prior to the actual attack and was the main reason the attack was prevented. The school's system for monitoring students worked. The student who plotted the attack was marginal with mental health issues. School leaders and law enforcement worked cooperatively. More research is needed that focuses specifically on prevented school rampage attacks.</p>

<p>The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to address that gap in the literature and investigate whether current collective bargaining agreements have affected school reform efforts. The study was grounded in the pragmatic view with the goal of finding common contractual roadblocks to programmatic change and common solutions being used by educators to avoid them. To support this research, the following areas of literature were reviewed: (a) the history and scope of NCLB and the controversy surrounding its resultant reforms, reforms, (b) the role of collective bargaining in California public school districts, and (c) the impact of collective bargaining agreements on school reform efforts. </p><p> This research targeted the 56 California school districts in the Inland Empire's Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Data were collected via an online survey, individual semi-structured interviews, and a document review. </p><p> Key findings regarding the impact of contract language on reform efforts were (a) the importance of a collaborative relationship between the teachers association and the district and/or the presence of a contractually required implementation process for reforms, (b) perceived restrictive contractual language and the lack of an implementation was common among subjects who viewed the contract as having a negative impact, (c) hours of employment/meeting times, class size and evaluation procedures were the contractual perceived as having the most impact on reforms, and (d) teacher benefits and leave policies were perceived as having the least impact. </p><p> The study concluded that the more collaborative the relationship was between the district and union the more likely it was that they would be able to work with each other and overcome any contractual issues together. Districts that do not have a program implementation protocol find the process to be more confrontational for all stakeholders. Curricular leaders were not always cognizant of their role in dealing with the contract's impact on reform initiatives and demonstrated a detachment from their colleagues in human resources. Participants in this research held similar opinions regarding the ideal role of the contract regarding programmatic change. </p><p> This study may lead future researchers to explore other connections between contracts and reforms. It may also lead current educational practitioners to consider the effectiveness of reform implementation practices and union relationships in their own districts and ways to improve them. </p>

<p> In the United States, K-12-12 online schools are growing, but research on the topic is limited. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to determine if there was a relationship between teacher perceptions of the Effective Schools Correlates and student achievement within two South Carolina online high schools. The independent variable was the Effective Schools correlates, and the dependent variable was the academic achievement of students. The Effective Schools Model provided the theoretical basis for this study because of the documented effectiveness of this model within traditional brick-and-mortar schools. The Effective Schools Survey was used to collect data by measuring South Carolina online high school teacher perceptions of the presence of the Effective Schools correlates. Archival standardized test data of grade 9-12 online students were collected from the South Carolina Department of Education to measure the dependent variables. Findings revealed few statistically significantly relationships between the Effective Schools correlates and student achievement. The findings of this study may interest educational leaders as they seek to identify specific factors or create models to effectively assess teaching and learning within online education.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project is to argue that in order for social and emotional learning (SEL) goals to achieve their intended outcomes for students and society, religious pluralism must be reflected in student instruction. SEL involves the use of evidence-based practices to provide opportunities to develop competencies related to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making which are intended to enable students to demonstrate morally appropriate actions and ethical decisions, which I am calling "right behavior." </p><p> It is my argument that one's understanding of right behavior embodies both implicit and explicit moral beliefs based on one's worldview which reflects a certain conception of the good life and the good society. In many cultures this concept is shaped by the dominant, organized religion of the group. However, the religious diversity in the United States since its inception led to an American tendency to privatize religion and avoid meaningful public deliberation of competing views of the good life and the good society. However, I contend that this paradigm is no longer adequate for equipping twenty-first century students with the background knowledge, critical thinking, problem-solving, and ethical judgment skills required for full participation in the social, political, and economic spheres of society. Instead, I am proposing a SEL-religious studies model that values religious freedom, equality, and neighborly affection, and recognizes the presence of moral and religious pluralism in American society. </p>

<p> Both the nation and California are faced with a critical threat to our long term strength and welfare due to an acknowledged deficit in STEM ready students and workers as we head into the 21st century. The STEM workforce gap requires integrated conversations and solutions as it impacts multiple stakeholder groups who do not necessarily fully comprehend each other's needs and challenges. There is a broad consensus that increasing the STEM workforce is critical to the U.S., impacting standard of living, as well as national security in areas such as international competitiveness, combating terrorism and addressing global warming, to name just a few. Historically, the world has looked to the U.S. as the globe's preeminent source of innovation. However, critical indicators have caused industry, educators, policy makers, and communities to take a deeper look at some alarming trends. For example, a U.S. Department of Commerce study noted that the U.S. has made no progress in its competiveness since 1999, and is beginning to lose ground to other countries that are actively building their scientific and technological infrastructures. </p><p> This study utilized the literature review to explore the power of applying system's thinking to this complex social problem. In addition, the study quantitatively demonstrated the current state of alignment in California across two key stakeholder group's leaders, industry and education by exploring the following areas: 1. Are the perceptions of two respondent stakeholder leader groups aligned relative to nine identified California STEM goals? 2. Are the perceptions of the assignment of roles across the California STEM stakeholders related to the two respondent group leaders' affiliation? 3. What is the current state of collaboration in California based on the perceptions of the two respondent groups' leaders? </p><p> The quantitative research demonstrated alignment of the key stakeholder leaders around what is important relative to the goals of California's STEM workforce gap as well as alignment around which stakeholder leaders should be executing specific tasks. The research also underscored an aligned understanding of the current lack of collaboration that exists across stakeholder leaders in California.</p>