Research consistently reflects novice teachers' feelings of inadequacy in effectively responding to students' disruptive classroom behaviors. Some teachers may quickly default to disciplinary write-ups or make behavior-related referrals to special education. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the perspectives of first-year…

There is a growing population of adolescent students with developmental disabilities (DD) in school settings. Educators are in need of evidence-based practices (EBP) to address the challenging behaviors of students with DD. A key consideration in determining whether practices should be considered as an EBP is whether these practices have been…

This qualitative study examined the experiences of graduate students enrolled in online programs that have varying levels of outsourced student services. Specifically, the study examined students' experiences in graduate programs that fully outsourced services, those that outsourced some student services, and those that did not outsource services.…

The purpose of this study was to identify perceived challenges that mentor and mentee teachers face within the teacher induction program in the rural school district of Greenway County. The different perceptions of mentor and mentee teachers will provide rich insight regarding the challenges teachers face within these programs. The challenges…

How do preservice teachers with low and high teacher self-efficacy respond when instructing a simulated classroom with challenging behaviors? This research study identified the responses of four preservice teachers as well as examined their teacher self-efficacy and teacher anxiety measures following their participation using Teach Live™, an…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a method of instruction that challenges students to answer questions in a practical manner using their understanding of learned course content. The question at the heart of this study concerns if and how faculty in one institution are currently using PBL. I used an exploratory descriptive case study to research the…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if, or to what extent, the soft skills of a principal, as perceived by their teachers, can predict a positive school climate at the middle school level in a large Independent School District (ISD) in southeast Texas. The theoretical constructs of attribution and emotional…

Many schools across the nation are not making adequate achievement or growth goals from year-to-year. This leads to high principal turnover rates and instability in the learning environment which profoundly impacts student achievement. Currently, most efforts in schools are aimed at raising student achievement, implementing equitable practices,…

Broad exploration is often the best way to solve complex problems because the best solution might not come to mind first. Consequently, creative thinking, like simulated annealing, begins with a "hot" exploratory phase of broad solution search and gradually "cools" to exploitation and narrowing the search space. In solving…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent public health response led to an unprecedented disruption in educational instruction in the U.S. and around the world. Many schools quickly moved to virtual learning for the bulk of the 2020 spring term and many states cancelled annual assessments of student learning. The 2020-21 school year…

Background: Data on children's ability to answer assessment questions correctly paints an incomplete portrait of what they know and can do mathematically; yet, it remains a common basis for program evaluation. Indeed, pre-post-assessment correctness is necessary but insufficient evidence for making inferences about learning and program…

Expressive incoherence can be implicated in socio-emotional communicative problems in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study examined expressive incoherence in 37 children with ASD and 41 typically developing (TD) children aged 3-13 years old during a frustration task. The role of alexithymia in expressive incoherence was also assessed.…

"The State of Working Pennsylvania 2022" centered on the continued recovery from the COVID-19 recession, highlighting that Pennsylvania was at a policy crossroads: would political leaders embrace policies to strengthen the individual and collective worker power evident a year ago? Or would austerity and anti-worker policies after the…

Can you imagine future learning environments devoid of the systemic inequities that stifle student learning opportunities and teacher decision-making in most classrooms today? This volume offers the necessary steps--playful, participatory, historically informed--that are required to forge a pathway from the present U.S. educational landscape to a…

All teachers face challenges--from the daunting and unexpected, like teaching during a pandemic, to nagging doubts about daily interactions and teaching practices. If there were ever a time for sharing teacher personal and professional breakthroughs--the ways teachers have successfully and courageously turned a corner--that time is now. In this…