Effective collective learning demands that educators be fully present and actively engaged--both mentally and physically--during professional learning community (PLC) meetings. When teams build norms that explicitly support a culture of presence, honesty, and continuous reflection, they create an environment where every educator can contribute…

Lesson study, especially when conducted with support from targeted resources, is often identified as a potentially effective means to support teacher learning. In this study, 80 school-based teams of educators, representing 80 classrooms of third- or fourth-grade students in the US, were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: lesson study…

The purpose of this mixed methods, longitudinal Improvement Science study was to examine the conditions that influence teacher capacity to engage in continuous improvement using data to guide curriculum and instructional changes. This study took place during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We Can Do It Academy, a pseudonym, was a designated priority…

A growing number of states are launching community school initiatives to ensure family and community engagement, provide enriched and expanded learning, and offer integrated supports for students. Several states are providing technical assistance to support the high-quality implementation of community schools, either through the state education…

This paper reports a cross-case analysis of three summer writing programs for youth in the northeast United States, each a longitudinal study in the tradition of design research. Initially, all three programs were most concerned with leveraging cultural and linguistic diversity as a resource for multilingual participants. As the three principal…

This qualitative study examined how elementary school leaders from K-5 schools in eastern New York addressed contextual factors in implementing and sustaining professional learning communities (PLCs). Senge (1990) posited structures need to be in place to create and facilitate collaborative communities. A complementary position presents…

The purpose of this study was to explore how Responsive Classroom's Morning Meetings led by trained teachers (N = 9) improved students' (N = 85) sense of belonging in their classrooms in a public K-5 elementary school in New York State. This eight-week mixed methods study, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, used improvement science in two…

This project report presents a multidisciplinary Faculty Learning Community model to foster civic engagement in STEM classes. It focused on first-year Chemistry, Math, and Scientific Inquiry courses and incorporated Academic Service Learning in a project to build solar cell phone chargers for a school in Puerto Rico recovering from the effects of…

A variety of research studies reveal the advantages of actively engaging students in the learning process through collaborative work in the classroom. However, the complex nature of the learning environment in large college general chemistry courses makes it challenging to identify the different factors that affect students' cognitive and social…

During lesson study teachers collaborate to design, teach, observe, and reflect on a lesson with the overarching goals of improving instruction and increasing student learning. This article examines how a 6th grade mathematics lesson study project challenged teachers' ideas and assumptions about their students' understanding of fraction concepts.…

In this article, the authors describe a 3-year initiative in New York state, led by the New York Center for Child Development (NYCCD), through which more than 2,500 mental health clinicians were trained in the DC:0-5. Funding was provided through the creative use of the Preschool Development, Birth to Five federally funded Block Grant, and…

Teaching pedagogical seminar courses require interactive, hands-on sessions. However, as schools across the United States pivoted online on very short notice amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, several adjustments had to be made, including to the delivery of lessons and forms of communication. In this article, I provide visual narratives…

Students With Disabilities (SWD) typically underperform compared to their non-disabled peers; these gaps are often widened by poverty, race or ethnicity, and English language proficiency. Principals are often unprepared to meet their learning needs. This mixed methods study took place in the Westford Central School District, a pseudonym, a high…

In this chapter, the former and current directors of adult education at the Arab American Association of New York (AAANY) discuss strategies from their shared process of fostering community, student leadership, and empowerment in AAANY's community-based literacy program. Amid the challenges for learners and the program connected to the 2016…

An innovative system-building initiative known as the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice (SLECoP) is transforming U.S. STEM education through cross-sector partnerships between schools, afterschool and summer programs, libraries, museums, and businesses, among others. Although logic models exist to describe how SLEs can make positive…