As students enter the middle grades, many lose academic momentum and thus reach ninth grade unprepared. This lack of preparedness snowballs: It leads students to disengage from their studies, causing them to miss opportunities to get back on track in high school and thrive in the years beyond. Sixth grade is a particularly critical juncture.…

This action research explores the impact of social justice aligned performance tasks on the awareness of civic responsibility of adolescents. The primary question of this STEM education action research is what impact does integrating social justice aligned performance tasks in computer science and college-preparatory math courses have on the…