Meaningful change towards antiracist practices take time. There are no quick fixes. Quick workshops on implicit bias and microaggressions rarely lead to lasting changes in teaching practices. Equity QUantified In Participation (EQUIP) learning communities organize faculty members to work together to promote antiracist teaching. Equity analytics…

In this dissertation, I aimed to improve elementary teachers' mathematical instruction by enhancing their content knowledge and skills through the implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) and professional development. The research design consisted of multiple evaluation steps conducted over time with a collaborative action plan…

Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) requires educational leaders and teachers to monitor and evaluate programs and processes and link results to individual and organizational outcomes. A classroom teacher's ability to collect and review data, analyze data to identify trends and strategies for student achievement, and use data to determine and…

A large suburban school system in the mid-Atlantic United States identified the Data Wise Improvement Process (DWIP) as a systemic strategy to achieve the district-wide goal of student achievement for college and career readiness. Elementary science teachers marginally participated in school-based instructional team meetings to analyze student…

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational systems worldwide have faced unprecedented challenges, particularly concerning the support of students based on traditional face-to-face instruction. This study focused on the concerns surrounding 2nd grade students at LEA and DRA, two urban elementary schools, who have faced multiple layers of…

This action research takes place at a small, New England public school system in Hopkinton, MA, and was designed to build the capacity of educators by utilizing a cycle of inquiry to improve Data-Driven Decision Making. The action steps of this study established a building-based Student Learning Team at Hopkinton Middle School which, in…

Public choice schools emphasizing inquiry and innovation offer a unique alternative to traditional schools. Research indicates the effectiveness of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) for positive outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher and administrator perceptions of the impact of PLCs on teacher efficacy, balancing…

A gap in practice at CES Elementary School (pseudonym) was the lack of data driven instructional decision making that contributed to the problem of low school scores on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). Low STAAR scores have negatively impacted student, teacher, and administrator retention. Unsuccessfully, data chats…

An increasing number of high schools have adopted Tier 1 PBIS; however, implementation of advanced tiers of PBIS in high schools is less common and specific guidance is scarce. To address this need and better understand the level of support needed to successfully implement advanced tiers of PBIS at the high school level, the National Center on…

Background: The problem of practice at Coronado Elementary School is the inconsistency of effective collaborative planning among the grade level teams. Purpose: This action research study aimed to determine teachers' perceptions of Professional Learning Communities and how they believed participation in a PLC impacts their professional development…

Microcredentials create opportunities for continuing growth of all teachers based on specific needs. They provide ways for teachers to lead their own learning while allowing administrators to identify and address teachers' needs as well as the expertise teachers have to share with their colleagues. Microcredentials are different from traditional…

Contemporary professional development efforts have shifted away from a deficit model toward the acknowledgment of the agency and ability of teachers to evaluate and direct their own professional learning. This article describes how middle school science teachers can take charge of their own learning by initiating and participating in…

Low-income urban schools that have chronic student underachievement have championed instructional coaching as an effective education reform strategy. Studies have shown that instructional coaching can be a promising approach for teacher professional development aimed at building educators' capacity to use student data to inform literacy…

Teacher professional development (PD) that supports the emergence of professional learning communities (PLCs) is effective for teachers' learning and instructional improvement. Our work focuses on supporting the emergence of online PLCs and an emergent issue in this work is how to maintain the quality of teachers' experiences in online PLCs when…