District schools and charter schools are often at odds. When the two school types share a school building--arrangements known as "co-locations"--the tensions can boil over. But what happens when district and charter leaders approach co-location as a tool to promote school improvement, rather than simply a real estate deal? Based on…

This study reports vocabulary and reading comprehension instructional practices implemented in middle and high school social studies and language arts classrooms. It also describes text reading practices. We conducted 137 observations of 11 social studies and 9 language arts teachers over the course of 1 academic year. We observed instructional…

The purpose of this research is to identify teaching strategies and practices that impact the vocabulary and language development for English Language Learners. Today, there are over 3.5 million non-English speaking students enrolled in public classrooms and the number has continued to climb over the past decade. Many ELL students live in poverty…

The proposed paper reports on the results of a study conducted to explore the influence of SMART Board technology on student engagement in and perception of classroom activities. Using momentary time-sampling procedures, this study examined differences in second grade students' on-task and off-task behaviors during 30-minute math and science…

In the current schooling climate, literary competence is increasingly viewed as students' ability to read fiction and nonfiction texts, and then articulate their comprehension of surface-text features (e.g., plot, character, setting, and conflict) through structured settings, such as standardized tests. As a way to argue against the privileging of…

In this study, we consider three school leaders in Haiti who provide examples of innovative and exemplary leadership practices in the midst of challenging circumstances. Using a framework of innovative (Moolenaar, Daly, & Sleeger, 2010; Rogers, 2003) and exemplary leadership practices (Kouzes & Posner, 2006), we examine three themes that…

This article forms part of a major study being conducted in Zimbabwe to explore the possibilities of integrating indigenous knowledge of plant healing (Ikoph) into western-oriented classroom science. The article reports on an aspect of research methodology. This study explored appropriate strategies for gaining access to indigenous knowledge…

Historical feature film can engage and motivate today's visually orientated students and provide a bridge between the school and life world of a youth culture habituated to communication via numerous electronic portals. It is not surprising that international scholarship suggests that these multi-modal recreations of the past are being used as…

How can centers be utilized in a classroom so students have full control of what they are learning and when? Can centers be used effectively post-kindergarten? During student teaching in a first grade classroom in southeast Louisiana, two student teachers, their classroom mentor teacher, and the 1st grade students experienced center learning that…

Wait-time is an important aspect in a teaching and learning process, especially after the teacher has posed questions to students, as it is one of the factors in determining quality of students' responses. This article describes the practices of wait-time one after teacher's questions at multiple representation levels among twenty three chemistry…

Research examined how three middle school teachers included students with disabilities in their general education classrooms. Purposive sampling was used to select a sixth grade science teacher, seventh grade social studies teacher, and eighth grade math teacher whose classrooms were identified as exemplifying the characteristics of inclusive…

Performance in school examinations has remained one of the reliable indices of the quality of education in many countries. For over two decades in Nigeria, students' performance in most subjects on the school curriculum including Literature-in-English has been persistently declining. A number of explanations are offered for this unsatisfactory…

This article interrogates principles of ethnography in education proposed by Mills and Morton: raw tellings, analytic pattern, vignette and empathy. This article adopts a position that is uncomfortable, unconventional and interesting. It involves a deterritorialization/rupture of ethnography in education in order to reterritorialize a different…

Suprasegmental features are of paramount importance in spoken English. Yet, these pronunciation features are marginalised in EFL/ESL teaching-learning. This article reported a study that was aimed at improving the students' mastery of English suprasegmental features through the use of reflective learning method. The study adopted Kemmis and…

The aim of this qualitative case study was to explore the use of stories as tools for learning within formal and informal learning environments. The design was based on three areas of interest: (a) the story as a tool for learning; (b) the student as subjects engaging with the story; and (c) the context in which the story learning activity takes…