There is a growing body of action research on school improvement and development. Many of these studies have found the use of critical friendship valuable in relation to teachers' or principals' practice. Yet, little attention has been paid to critical friendship at the school district level. This study explores how a superintendent and three…

This study aimed to identify the reality of gifted students' caring in Singapore and the possibility of benefiting from them in Kuwait and to prepare some suggestions and recommendations that contribute to the support of gifted students in Kuwait in light of the Singaporean experience. The study followed the descriptive comparative approach by…

Houston Independent School District (HISD) strives to provide an equitable education to all its students. To uphold the district's mission, the Teacher Appraisal and Development System (TADS) was designed with the goal of promoting effective teaching by providing systematic, rigorous feedback on teacher effectiveness in the classroom. Through the…

This report presents results from a qualitative interview-based study with teachers, students and school leaders (n=15) on the academic year 2020-21 in Estonia, which can be described as the first full year with COVID-19. The study reveals how school staff members were bridging previous experiences from 2019-20 in preparations for 2020-21…

Data modernization and security practices allow educational leaders to provide accurate, secure, and timely data that can be securely exchanged, shared, and connected in order to provide instant understanding of school performance, student attendance, academic performance, or funding from multiple sources. This matters because: (1) Data…

What works to improve the success of Latino college students? Examples of "Excelencia" is the only national effort to identify and promote evidence-based programs accelerating Latino student success in higher education. Since 2005, "Excelencia" in Education has recognized over 350 programs making a positive difference in the…

Public affairs and nonprofit program administrators and directors interested in (or tasked with) implementing undergraduate programs require a resource where they can find information for recruiting and retaining the next wave of public and nonprofit workers. While similar to graduate public affairs programs, undergraduate programs may differ in…

The Mexican educational reform is based on transformations towards the conception of a new world, as a result of technological advances and new knowledge communities, where the parameters are established mainly by various international organizations, and where countries implement, evaluate, integrate and describe the necessary conditions for…

The purpose of this document is to briefly introduce the research on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma and their relevance to schools. ACEs are acute or chronic events that threaten the child's physical or emotional well-being. This brief answers the following questions: (1) What are ACEs? (2) How common are ACEs? (3) What is trauma?…

This study investigated teachers' instructional practices and approaches for reading instruction in 9th grade English I classrooms in a suburban school district. It examined teachers' perceptions of their role and training as a reading teacher and examined any assumptions about student reading abilities in the classroom. The study sought to…

This study examined the impact that PLCs, communication, and the playbook had on a kindergarten through Grade 5 school merger in a suburban attendance zone. This merger involved two former elementary schools in the southeastern United States. The school merger created a new school model with a pre-K through Grade 2 school and a Grade 3 through…

In a low performing school, stressful conditions, lack of resources, and student populations that have been subjected to one or more ACEs can make it difficult for teachers to yield successful outcomes. Maintaining a high opinion of self-efficacy is difficult when working in low-performing schools that are struggling to meet state standards. To…

In recent years, the United States has focused attention and resources on increasing the number of students who graduate from high school, addressing an area of national concern: the large proportion of students who drop out of school prior to earning their diploma. As recently as 2004, more than 15% of high schools in the United States reported…

This article is a summary of the 2019-2020 "Mapping the Terrain" research of the Advancing Education in Muslim Societies (AEMS) initiative, an annual study that started in 2018. During the 2019-2020 academic year, data on values and competencies was collected in fifteen communities of interest, namely Muslim-majority societies with focus…

Four principal evolutions that have affected student affairs practice are identified and discussed in this chapter.