Despite decades of research and many frameworks designed to address the inequities and exclusion in the public school system, large achievement gaps, inequitable systems, and exclusive policies exist. The scholar-practitioner believes instructional coaches are well-positioned to address the inequities and exclusion that exist in the public school…

The purpose of this participatory action research (PAR) project was to support teachers to integrate play as a primary pedagogy in the math program. The theory of action was: If teachers develop a mathematical program integrating play pedagogy, then teacher capacity will expand to support the implementation of play in math instruction. I conducted…

This basic qualitative study gains the perspectives of elementary campus administrators who utilize the structure of instructional rounds on their campus. Instructional rounds are when a team of educators participate in classroom observations, collect data, and debrief based on a problem of practice. The work focuses on the instructional core,…

While teachers are provided with professional development, they do not always use the best practices, which can negatively impact their students' learning. This study addressed the problem of teachers not using the best, research-based instructional practices to instruct students in rural areas of Middle Tennessee. The purpose of this qualitative…

Learning to drive represents a rite of passage for many adolescents and young adults, which increases their access to vocational, education, and social opportunities (Almberg et al., 2015; Cox et al., 2012; Lindsay, 2016). When examining licensure rates for individuals with developmental disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder, research…

This mixed-methods study examined how feedback from an administrator and feedback from an instructional coach affects a teacher's professional growth. This convergent study gathered teacher perception data from a sample of kindergarten through third-grade teachers from Indiana and Illinois to determine if teachers perceived any differences between…

This study contributes to the knowledge and planning that impacts the efforts and staffing of instructional specialists. This investigation contributes to having a better understanding of what an instructional specialist possesses in terms of qualities when interacting with teachers. Further implications can help determine how to shape and develop…

This study explored how adopting an empathy education framework and strategies for teacher empathy modeling and student-centered learning experiences cultivates more empathy in middle school classrooms. This study extended the work of Snead et al. (2016) entitled "Challenge Course Work around Teaching Empathy in the Classroom."…

This action research study honors teacher-as-researcher and utilizes qualitative methods of data collection alongside emergent design to study arts-integrated teaching and learning at a mid-sized Midwestern university in a social studies methods course. The thinking and learning of both pre-service teachers and the teacher educator/researcher are…

This study investigated experiences of elementary principals in building capacity of teachers to teach critical thinking. There is little known about how elementary school principals support teachers in understanding how to teach the critical thinking skills necessary for success in today's economy. A basic qualitative study using semi-structured…

Capacity building for globally competent educators is a 21st Century imperative to address contemporary complex and constantly changing challenges. This action research project is grounded in positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship, relational cultural theory, and relational leadership practices. It sought to identify adaptive…

In this qualitative study using participatory action research (PAR), educators explored how to understand and implement culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy (CLRP) and joyful learning strategies to support Chinese ELLs. In PAR project and study over 18 months, we focused on building teacher capacity in working with Chinese ELLs in…

The purpose of this study was to understand the dynamics of how teaching culturally responsive strategies to teachers can help eliminate the opportunity gap between students of color and their White counterparts. The action research method involved first collecting quantitative data through several surveys and then explaining the quantitative…

The purpose of this applied research study was to improve the use of three-dimensional pedagogy in science classes in chronically low-performing schools. The need to build teacher capacity became evident after the state adopted more rigorous science standards revealing deficits in teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. This study utilized two…

Although inequities are rooted across the educational ecosystem, access to high-quality learning represents a salient inroad for improving marginalized students' educational experiences. However, preparing teachers to enact equity-centered pedagogy--that which renders high-quality learning accessible to all students--remains a multidimensional…