Previous research has indicated that literary skills performance in reading and writing for middle school students has declined. There remains an important gap in the current literature regarding the decline in literary skills, which is a good predictor of the potential for students to drop out of school. The goal of this study was to determine if the use of self-evaluation influences students' writing ability and their attitudes toward writing. Using a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design, and over the course of 10 weeks, the researcher administered a writing pre- and posttest, as well as a pre- and posttest Writing Attitude Survey (WAS) to 70 gifted Grade 7 students. Two classes formed the experimental group, and 2 classes formed the control group. Students in the first group participated in focused self-evaluation instruction and practice. A pre- and postwriting test patterned after the Georgia Grade 8 Writing Assessment was assessed with a standardized writing rubric, and the WAS provided the quantitative data. ANCOVA and an independent sample t test compared the average change from pretest score to posttest score between the groups in overall writing score, ideas, style, organization, and conventions. They showed a level of significance. A Cramer's V compared the average change from pretest survey score to posttest survey score between the groups in the areas of gender, ethnicity, and group. It showed a statistically significant difference. Findings from this study may directly influence the increased use of self-evaluation across language arts, as well as other content area subjects.

Educational institutions are implementing curriculum mandates without data to support the benefits of the mandates to students. The purpose of this concurrent, mixed-method study, which utilizes quasi-experimental and case study approaches, was to address the effectiveness of mandated differentiated instruction in a suburban high school. This study investigated the significant differences in achievement before and after the implementation of differentiation as well as differences in achievement between a school that mandated the use of differentiation and one that did not. The study also investigated strategies used to implement differentiation and student and teacher attitudes toward it. For ninth grade literature and biology students, t-test analyses revealed significant differences between end-of-course test passing rates before and after implementing differentiation. However, the data showed no significant difference between the passing rates of the two different schools. A change midstream in the daily schedule from 4, 90-minute classes to 7, 50-minute period courses presented a confounding variable that could have affected passing rates. Teachers and students participated in surveys to evaluate attitudes toward differentiation. Surveys among teachers suggested a trend toward a preference for differentiation. Both teachers and students felt that differentiation was beneficial for students. According to students, differentiation was evidence of teacher professionalism and passion which influenced a student's desire to learn. Differentiation provides an avenue for educating all students through students' interests and strengths. Ideally, this avenue will lead to improved student learning and achievement resulting in a more educated society.

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), school leaders have had to identify instructional and administrative practices that would increase student achievement. Provisions of NCLB have added additional challenges for schools working with low achieving students with discipline problems. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how a school's in-school suspension (ISS) program served teachers and students. The research questions focused on determining the strengths and weaknesses of the school's ISS program, the potential that these characteristics held to affect student academic achievement and behavior for ISS students, recidivism, and measures that the school might take to modify the ISS program. Conceptually, this study was framed within the theories of emotional intelligence and social literacy. Using purposeful sampling, data included responses from questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, document analysis, and observations of the ISS room. These data were analyzed using open and axial coding. Results of the study indicated inconsistent practices in the ISS program, such as the lack of a standard policy to assess student ISS assignments and to provide students teacher feedback upon returning from an ISS referral. In addition, the study revealed that the school lacks procedures to provide ISS students counseling during their ISS referral and a curriculum to help these students develop social emotional learning skills. Implications for positive social change included increasing academic achievement and social literacy for students assigned to ISS, which could lead to fewer referrals to ISS and lower recidivism.

The low academic achievement among Latino students in many inner city high schools leads to higher failure, dropout, and absenteeism rates, as well as lower standardized test scores and graduation rates. The purpose of this study was to explore whether Latino parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement may be linked to this low student achievement. The theoretical framework for this study was Epstein's parental involvement model. The research questions investigated the relationship between Latino parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement and student academic achievement. Fifty-eight parents participated in a parent survey for this mixed methods study. Ten parents were interviewed to obtain the qualitative data. Based on Pearson's product-moment correlation, the survey data revealed that there were no statistically significant relationships between Latino student academic achievement and parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement. Parent interview data identified parent work schedules, the inability to communicate in English, and parents' lack of education as potential barriers to their involvement. Parent recommendations to overcome these barriers included adjusting school office hours, providing bilingual school personnel, and offering parenting classes that may make high schools more accessible for Latino parents and, by extension, may challenge school personnel to better understand and address the needs of their students' parents in an attempt to promote educational equity.

Existing problems identified in the literature on teacher retention and resilience include (a) a gap in understanding factors influencing urban teacher retention; (b) lack of clarity on multiple factors swaying teachers' decisions to remain despite challenges; (c) overlapping definitions of teacher retention, attrition, and resilience; and (d) absence of a theoretical framework for a potential relationship between retention and resilience. This embedded-case study sought to identify factors influencing effective teachers' decisions to remain in an urban setting and to examine the role of teachers' resilience, retention, and effectiveness with respect to this decision. Fourteen core-area secondary teachers, identified through criterion reference sampling by National Board Certification status and administrators' assessment of characteristics derived from studies on effective urban teaching, participated in a focus group and individual interviews and supplied archival data. Line-by-line coding and data grouping revealed that (a) passion for students, dedication to reflection, a sense of spiritual calling, and dedication to social justice influenced both retention and resilience; (b) professional development increased resilience but had little influence on the decision to remain; and (c) teacher community influenced resilience at varying levels. The findings indicate a relationship between retention and resilience, yet they are not synonymous, suggesting caution when using resilience studies to create retention models. Outcomes suggest professional development that emphasizes reflection on one's purpose and practice and the linkage of reflection, pedagogical changes, and student achievement. This study contributes to positive social change by providing insight into retention of effective urban teachers and a foundation for further research on urban teacher retention and its impact on student performance.

The problem that compelled this study is one faced by districts across the nation, which is the alignment of district curriculum with state standards and assessments. The Jacobs model of curriculum mapping was developed to address these alignment issues. The Jacobs model represents a large scale change initiative, and large scale reforms may be unsustainable if leaders misunderstand the magnitude of change and its impact on leadership. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore administrator and teacher perceptions of administrative responsibilities for implementing the Jacobs model of curriculum mapping in a rural Midwestern school and how administrative leadership impacted teacher perceptions of sustainability. The conceptual framework for this study was based on change theories in relation to the work of Fullan and Senge. Data were collected from multiple sources, including interviews with 25 teachers at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and 5 administrators at all instructional levels. Archival documents and artifacts from 5 school years were also collected. Single case data was inductively analyzed and coded into 3 frames of analysis, and a cross case analysis of patterns, relationships, and themes was conducted. The findings of this study identified leadership challenges that impeded sustainability. Results suggest that for large scale reform to be successful, leaders need to identify and address potential change barriers and assume non-traditional leadership roles and responsibilities. Implications for positive social change include raised teacher awareness about the need for curricular alignment with state standards and the importance of horizontal, vertical, and lateral collaboration to address curricular gaps and redundancies in order to improve student learning.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 mandates that middle school students be technologically literate by the end of 8th grade, but teachers need more information on how to make this outcome a reality. This qualitative phenomenological study used a constructivist theoretical framework to investigate teachers' descriptions of technological literacy outcomes, instructional practice, and challenges influencing middle school student technological literacy. Twelve teachers at 1 public middle school in a large urban area of Georgia were interviewed. Data were analyzed using the typological method with the inclusion of both inductive and predetermined categories. Teachers described technologically literate middle school students as able to perform basic computer skills and use those skills for research and problem-solving. Teachers' instructional practices included modeling and demonstration, hands-on practice, coaching, collaboration, and frequent assessment to achieve the outcome of student technological literacy. Challenges that can impede teachers' implementation of practices for technological literacy included lack of school support, equipment, time, and effective professional development. Recommendations to overcome challenges include increasing availability of equipment by providing better ways to schedule the computer laboratories and staff to monitor the equipment. Relevant up-to-date staff development and inclusion of technological literacy as a school goal were also suggested. This study may influence social change because it may help teachers improve practices to develop students' technological literacy skills necessary for successful employment in the 21 st century.

Although all of the schools in the target school system adhere to a school improvement process, achievement scores remain mediocre or stagnant within the overseas school in Italy that serves children of United States armed service members. To address this problem, this study explored the target school's improvement process to discover how different stakeholder groups viewed that process. The aim of these investigations was to determine if different stakeholder groups' competing values hindered the school's improvement efforts. The conceptual framework of this study was Schein's organizational culture theory along with recent findings by Creemers and Kyriakides that show that school culture must be addressed in order for a school to improve. The research design was a single case study. Four different stakeholder groups were interviewed, two school improvement committee meetings were observed, and seven school-improvement related documents were examined. ATLASti qualitative analysis software was used following Hatch's typological analysis method. Two major themes, Teachers versus Technocrats and Pre-Fourth Way, revealed the importance of school culture. The recommended project, a Networked Learning Community (NLC), was designed to build a positive culture by promoting collective responsibility, empowering innovation, and building capacity. This study will promote positive social change by demonstrating how school improvement occurs and by providing a research-based plan for a NLC that can help shift the trajectory of the static moderate achievement levels in the case study school and the target school system.

The standards-based, teach-and-test methods that have come to proliferate secondary education since the inception of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) fail to adequately prepare students for higher education and employment. This system lacks opportunities for developing 21st century skills such as higher-level thinking, problem solving, and group dynamics, as well as opportunities for fostering spiritual growth and personal development. This problem impacts graduates of U.S. high schools because they are unprepared for higher education and the 21st century workplace. Using qualitative multiple case study methodology, this study examined five U.S. Montessori high schools through the lens of cultural-historical activity theory. Interview and blog-based focus group responses and document data were coded line-by-line using predetermined categories and codes as well as open coding. The coded data were analyzed by individual case and then collectively. Findings revealed that education in these settings addressed all areas of development and fostered 21st century skills. Some characteristics that typify Montessori education at lower levels, such as multi-age classes and the prepared environment, played less significant or different roles in the high school programs. Characteristics that were prominent across the cases included use of place-based, experiential learning; building of caring, family-like staff/student relationships; and emphasis on social development. Implications for social change within the Montessori community include informing practice at existing schools and development of teacher education programs. In the broader education community, the consistency in program emphasis, despite diverse school circumstances, suggests a Montessori approach may facilitate social change by inspiring a fresh approach to school reform in high schools.

Public education in the United States has experienced an increase in distance-learning (DL) opportunities. Because research has focused on student achievement in post-secondary DL programs, little is known about secondary students' experiences. The purpose of the current study was to explore DL applicability within secondary education. Specific research questions addressed by the concurrent mixed methods nested study included examining students' opinions and experiences in a secondary DL course and determining whether individual learning styles were addressed. Structured interviews, group discussions, and a survey were used to gather data over 2 months from 14 students in grades 9 through 12 participating in a state wide Alabama DL program. Surveys were used to assess and match DL activities to Gardner's 8 learning styles. Interviews and discussions explored students' opinions about activities and components and perceptions of their academic achievement. Quantitative data indicated that students reported some activities related to all learning styles with the greatest coverage observed for linguistic methods. Qualitative data were open and axial coded within each research question and the coded data was analyzed to define common DL practices used to meet specific styles and emergent themes related to student perceptions. Triangulation of results showed DL students felt successful based on their participation in a spectrum of activities including interactive video, e-mail, online discussion boards and tutoring sessions, and self-directed learning. The study contributes to positive social change by documenting a variety of strategies employed to successfully engage secondary DL students who present a variety learning styles and challenges related to DL curricular content and modes of delivery.