The importance of integrating effective teaching strategies in Professional Development (PD) programs for Educational Robotics (ER)-based Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is increasingly recognized. However, we need to add to the growing body of studies on comprehensive instructional approaches for teaching robotics…

The COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 resulted in widespread school closures, leading to a rapid transition from traditional face-to-face instruction to distance learning. Educators who used this traditionally face-to-face multi-tiered instructional framework to provide services to students with disabilities faced obstacles with implementation due…

In April 2023, Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC) conducted a survey of K-12 school districts within the state of Illinois to understand the efforts they undertook to contain and recover from pandemic-related learning disturbances. In partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), they collected more…

Many districts have adopted social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum that teachers must incorporate into their lessons. The purpose of this qualitative dissertation-in-practice was to explore teachers' perceptions of the quality of SEL program professional development (PD) for teachers at a small, rural West Texas high school. For this study,…

The problem under study was that administrators were challenged to support ELL teachers because current instructional strategies did not address the gap between the academic achievement of ELLs and non-ELLs. A basic qualitative design was used to investigate how administrators supported teachers' implementation of instructional strategies for this…

This study examined the perceptions of participants regarding the use of embedded video demonstration lessons during literacy professional development sessions. The videos were captured in an urban elementary classroom and modeled two new literacy strategies. Based on survey responses from 160 kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school…

Higher education institutions in the United States with graduate-level educational leadership programs traditionally do not offer professional learning opportunities in integrative STEM education. The objective of this paper is to share our journey to prepare and implement a course designed for P-12 educational leaders to build knowledge and…

Institutions are redesigning gateway courses--lower-division courses known to create student success bottlenecks--to influence persistence and completion goals. These initiatives, student success course redesigns (SSCR), are specialized versions of course design institutes (CDIs). This investigation into SSCRs uses content analysis to examine the…

To improve teaching and advance student learning requires weaving together the curriculum that students engage with every day with the professional learning of teachers. This paper is designed as a resource for system leaders at the district, state, and charter-management organization (CMO) levels looking to improve instructional outcomes for…

This mixed-methods study investigated elementary teachers' perceptions of curriculum-based readers theatre (CBRT) as a relevant approach for teaching English language learners (ELLs). I collected quantitative survey data from teachers who worked at the school with the largest population of ELLs in a large Florida school district. The survey…

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare key elements of the actions that states and territories are taking to implement the Australian Curriculum, and what innovative processes and products they are using to facilitate implementation. A rubric adapted from a diagnostic tool, developed by Achieve and the U.S. Education Delivery…

After almost two years of uncertainty and unparalleled challenges for students, parents, teachers, staff, and administrators across the state, the Illinois State Board of Education continues to look to their Strategic Plan for clarity and confidence in helping them navigate toward their agency's vision as they look past the COVID-19 pandemic. This…

Professional development is an important part of creating a culture of continuous school improvement to maximize student learning. Rarely do we measure the impact of professional development on teacher learning, implementation and student outcomes. This study describes a professional development strategy for elementary teachers to promote…

Studying Topography, Orographic Rainfall, and Ecosystems with Geospatial Information Technology (STORE), a 4.5-year National Science Foundation funded project, explored the strategies that stimulate teacher commitment to the project's driving innovation: having students use geospatial information technology (GIT) to learn about weather, climate,…

This study examined the impact of a yearlong ambient professional development (PD) program-The Wayne Schools Global Geography Project (WSGG-project)-that focused on improving teacher quality through PD and classroom observations for in-service social studies teachers. The project targeted middle and high school social studies teachers and used…