The healthy functioning of a school system depends upon many factors. The internal micro factors require a leader to take into account the heart and human conditions that coexist within the lived environment. The external macro factors are the events that occur in unexpected ways. When these internal micro factors are not functioning well, and a…

Research suggests that America today is more politically polarized and less capable of conducting civil public discourse than at least the last several decades. These greater cultural factors unsurprisingly seem to have trickled into American schools, as teachers report increased divisiveness and conflict, particularly directed toward…

The understanding of inclusion in education has transcended the assumption that inclusion is about students with special needs. It concerns the inclusion of all children. With systems theory as a framework, the article argues that in order to handle inclusion as a phenomenon that concerns all children, we need an operational definition of…

In the current educational climate, it is not surprising for teachers to experience apathy or to disengage politically. This essay examines the ways that educators can confront climates of constraint in an effort to engage and act. By highlighting the work of a variety of educators in Indianapolis, Indiana, the authors encourage educators to…

This is a descriptive study investigating the perception of children about discipline through metaphors developed by them. A total of 445 students participated in the research and the data was collected with the "Discipline Metaphors Survey (DMS)" developed by the researchers. At the end of the study, 143 metaphors, 94 positive and 49…

The impetus to move to a new generation learning environments places a spotlight on the relational dynamics of classroom spaces. A key feature is the notion of learner agency. A complex notion, learner agency involves both compliance with and resistance to classroom norms and therefore is far more sophisticated than acting in acquiescence to…

The White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault identified campus climate surveys as "the first step" for addressing campus sexual violence. Through a process case study, this article presents one model for engaging in a comprehensive, action-focused campus climate assessment process. Rooted in principles of…

This study follows 70 children determined to have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) before age three (Time 1). Parents filled out questionnaires and standardized measures about their child when he/she was school-aged (Time 2), including information about their children's preschool, kindergarten, and grade school educational settings. At Time 2, the…

Existing scholarship most commonly identifies the aims of citizenship education as cultivating the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed for effective civic participation. This paper sets out to develop an alternative framework relying on the Pragmatist conception of habits. The Pragmatist use of the term 'habits' deviates from the everyday…

Higher education professionals with a keen eye and commitment to advocacy face many obstacles through their work. Manifesting the realities of embodiment of these identities, with professional duties and implications can be treacherous. Evidence exists of marginalized voices being silenced by the majority when speaking about their own lived…

Context-based learning has become a widespread approach in science education. While positive motivational effects of such approaches have been well established empirically, clear results regarding cognitive aspects of students' learning are still missing. In this article, we argue that this circumstance might be mainly rooted in the definition of…

A plethora of work has been done to examine the dynamics of learning in higher education contexts to foster positive learning outcomes. The 3P model (Biggs in Teaching for quality learning at university, Open University Press, Birkshire, 2003) is one theoretical model that has been well researched. However, much of the work to date has focused on…

This conceptual paper using published empirical articles investigated the leadership challenges and roles performed by superintendents in the countries of China and the United States (U.S.). Additionally, a comprehensive search on the educational contexts for both countries was undertaken. The findings assisted in determining similarities and…

Over the past decade we have seen a rise in the adoption and proliferation of social technologies, and along with these a move to build on the capacity to embrace new pedagogies and practices that can open our boundaries for both teaching and learning. How do we determine what we mean by space specifically in online environments and how can we…

Educators often encourage students to take risks and work hard to achieve well in school--an approach called "academic press." An assumption behind this approach is that students trust educators enough to take risks and embrace academic challenge; but when a safe, trustworthy environment isn't in place, students won't take risks and may…