The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand the formative import of the relationships between adults and the young in their corresponding roles as teachers and students between the first year of kindergarten and the last grade of high school (K-12 education). My approach to this issue is twofold: First, I argue that it is imperative…

The Peterson Proactive Developmental Attention model (PPDA) offers a framework for understanding and addressing social and emotional concerns of high-ability students. This manuscript focuses on the developmental component, with emphasis on academic underachievement, with explanations and guidance for applying the developmental aspect of the PPDA…

How do classroom exchanges shape the developing forms and functions of literacy learning and teaching as students transition across the years of schooling? We explore this question using excerpts from literacy lessons from primary and secondary classrooms, showing how lesson exchanges develop as trajectories connecting different forms of 'knowing'…

Teachers often provide or set up opportunities for feedback within classroom contexts. How they understand what feedback is and how it should be given is essential to their feedback practices. Since feedback is commonly a communicative exchange between teacher and students or students and their peers, it is essential to understand teacher…

Animal companionship has been found to have a positive influence on human well-being, and the presence of pets can have a subtle yet significant impact on the healthy development of students. Pet companionship takes various forms across different fields in China and other regions worldwide, and the impact of such companionship remains uncertain.…

Awareness of executive functioning and its relevance to both occupational participation and special education is expanding. This study describes how school-based occupational therapists address executive functioning in practice and determined if this differs from traditional areas. Fourteen occupational therapists from four districts in Michigan…

Immigrant parents have varied yet comparable language ideologies, perspectives, and experiences. In this qualitative case study, 67 immigrant parents were interviewed, 37 Chinese and 30 Latinx, whose children were enrolled in Mandarin-English and Spanish-English bilingual after-school programs at two urban public elementary schools in the U.S.…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary Education of the Committee on Education and the Workforce about preparing students for success in the skills-based economy. Opening statements were presented by: (1) Honorable Aaron Bean, Chairman, Subcommittee on Early Childhood,…

This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the emotional intelligence (EI) of K-12 school principals with student outcomes that included: student achievement, student growth, and student attendance. The participants in this student included principals form various schools in the state of Tennessee. The data from this mixed method…

There is substantive research that examines the punitive and harsh disciplinary practices in K-12 schools and the disproportionate effects on students of Color. While race has been central to this critical discourse; gender has remained secondary. Although both Black girls and boys face unique challenges in their K-12 academic environments, there…

Elementary teachers' mathematical self-efficacy is abundantly important in the mathematical growth in students. Research suggests early career teachers have a low level of self-efficacy in implementing arts integration. The purpose of this study was to examine perceived changes in teacher self-efficacy in implementing arts integration after…

Four-day school weeks are becoming increasingly common in the U.S., but their effect on achievement is not well-understood. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we conduct the most representative student-level analysis to date of the effects of four-day weeks on student achievement and within-year growth using NWEA MAP Growth data. We…

Career-connected learning is an educational strategy that combines high-quality academic instruction, skill-based learning, and real-world experiences to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that they need to pursue their career goals. Career-connected learning is especially important for an often-overlooked group of students including…

As the United States attempts to address inequities in student outcomes by evolving equitable education for all students in the 21st century, the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework has been promulgated to support educators at all levels of the PK-12 system in continuous observation, learning, and development of public education…

This commentary outlines the potential benefits of applying advances in the science of learning and development to special education service delivery and research. Building from a dynamic ecological systems perspective of development, it is argued that special education should focus on the whole child in context to leverage the correlated…