Certain introductory engineering courses have been termed gateway courses, due to high failure rates resulting in many students leaving engineering altogether. In one such course, thermodynamics, instructors intentionally formed peer-led study groups (PLSGs) with an undergraduate teaching aide (UGTA) playing a supportive facilitator role instead…

Background: There is a strong need for evidence based, effective continuous professional development (CPD) for physical education teachers. This need includes CPD aimed at impacting student motivation. Existing CPD on teachers' motivating style often takes the form of singular events such as a workshop or training session. Research shows that in…

In this article, we describe a dissertation in practice (DiP) conducted by the first author. The DiP focused on a social justice issue--providing pre-service teachers with highly effective preparation for working with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. As part of the article, interludes have been inserted prior to each major…

Those from marginalized populations, many of whom are first-generation college students (FGCS), often face barriers to accessing secondary education (Pitre & Pitre, 2009). Additionally, when students from such groups do successfully enroll in post-secondary educational opportunities, their graduation rates remain low (DeAngelo, Franke,…

Improving STEM education is pivotal to our country's economic future and security. Unfortunately, most young students have limited access to standards-based science education. Science instruction is notoriously difficult to implement in the early grades. This dissertation explored the root causes for the lack of effective science instruction in…

Continuing education (CE) for occupational therapists typically takes place in workshops, seminars, or webinars with little support for practice change after the event concludes. Continuing education that occurs over an extended time with opportunities for social learning and competence assessment may improve knowledge translation. This study…

ECEC-based physical activity (PA) interventions have reported modest changes; however, those that are underpinned by theory seem to report more favorable outcomes. To date, no ECEC-based PA interventions have been underpinned by professional development-focused theories, despite professional development being a consistent component in such…

What works to help community college students progress academically? This brief synthesizes 20 years of rigorous research by MDRC, presenting new evidence about key attributes of community college interventions that are positively related to larger impacts on students' academic progress. Findings: Findings are based on a synthesis of evidence from…

From fall 2021 to summer 2022, the College Completion Network conducted virtual focus groups with administrators at 47 2-year and broad-access 4-year colleges with the goal of better understanding the advising policies, practices, and programs (hereafter referred to as "strategies") that colleges use to support student success.…

In order to better facilitate scaling up of classroom innovations, two complementary strategies have often been discussed. The "community-based strategy" emphasizes the necessity for professional learning communities and their embedding in institutional settings. The "material-based strategy" starts from well-designed teaching…

The College Completion Network conducted a systematic review of the research literature on advising strategies, summarizing the evidence for a wide range of advising strategies that have been the focus of research conducted during the past 2 decades. Simultaneously, the network conducted virtual focus groups with administrators at 47 2-year and…

The College Completion Network conducted a systematic review of the research on advising strategies that support college completion. Several key findings can inform policy and practice: Holistic and comprehensive interventions that combine multiple components to meet student needs improve student outcomes. These types of interventions provide…

In this action research study, I explored and developed a means to address the challenge of developing, supporting, and retaining effective elementary school principals skilled in instructional leadership and serving in historically marginalized communities. Evidence from the research literature and earlier action research cycles indicated…

The authors report outcomes of an evaluation of a 'video club' intervention to improve the feedback and dialogic teaching practice of 91 teachers from 11 primary schools in England. Participating teachers worked collaboratively in a sequence of six video clubs over a six-month period. To understand teacher engagement they examine videos of video…

Background: Retention of early-career teachers is a persistent problem in the United States, with 44% of teachers leaving the profession within five years nationally (Ingersoll et al., 2018). Similar trends are seen in Georgia as a whole (Henson et al., 2015), and among Atlanta Public Schools (2019). Retention of Black educators presents an even…