Between 1990 and 2010, the demographics of Everett, Massachusetts underwent significant change. Families that were new to the community, and new to the United States, arrived to the predominantly white working-class community, bringing ethnic and linguistic diversity. Everett Public Schools faced a challenge in accommodating a more diverse student…

The Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time (ELT) initiative provides grants to selected schools to redesign their schedules by adding 300-plus instructional hours to the school year to improve outcomes, broaden enrichment opportunities, and provide teachers with more planning and professional development time. The Massachusetts Department of…

Regular school attendance is a key contributor toward student success. Lack of attendance by its very nature removes the student from time on learning that is essential for academic success (Estridge, 2009). The reality is an absence, whether it is excused or not, means that a child is not in benefiting from educational opportunities on that day.…

This paper examines the educational impacts of the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative (BWLI), a pilot program that provided 1:1 technology access to all students and teachers across five public and private middle schools in western Massachusetts. Using a pre/post comparative study design, the current study explores a wide range of program…

This study probes more deeply on defining the "reform agenda" and answering the question, "How do coaches balance pushing the reform agenda and meeting the immediate needs of school staff?" This study first teases apart what coaches mean by "reform agenda" and "immediate needs." The term "reform…