This dissertation and research looks into the area of Culturally Relevant Practices and hiring in K-12 schools and the potential effect on all students in having minority leadership present. The research dives into interviews of teachers, hiring leaders, district leaders and building leaders. It also uses survey results from over 700 students,…

This dissertation and research looks into the area of Culturally Relevant Practices and hiring in K-12 schools and the potential effect on all students in having minority leadership present. The research dives into interviews of teachers, hiring leaders, district leaders and building leaders. It also uses survey results from over 700 students,…

In recent years, there has been a large increase in college programs for crime scene investigations. In order for college graduates to be competitive when applying for these highly sought-after jobs, graduates must be able to demonstrate the skills and knowledge they have acquired during their college coursework in lieu of on-the-job experience.…

Many inmates in rural areas remain unprepared to obtain employment after incarceration because of the limited access to preparatory and reentry programs. After prison, these ex-offenders lack the vocational and educational resources required to obtain viable employment and struggle with their employability. Research has established that the lack…

Successful reading comprehension is not a guarantee, even for highly skilled readers. When comprehension fails, the ability of the reader to recognize the failure may be critical to avoiding "mis"comprehension (i.e., false confidence in an inaccurate text representation) and to taking steps to improve comprehension. Generally, people…

Lack of racially minoritized staff is a complex problem, requiring the examination of implicit biases of search committees to better inform and improve institutional hiring practices. Implicit bias describes the attitudes and prejudice we have towards other people, along with the associated stereotypes, without our conscious knowledge, and usually…

The author introduces the literature selection bookmark, a tool that inservice and preservice teachers who are teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in international contexts can use to guide them in selecting authentic children's English literature and analyze its utility in the elementary English-language classroom. Authentic children's…

Engaging with materials can shape the teaching experience, teachers' practices and mindsets, and, ultimately, students' learning experiences. This issue of "Learning Professional" looks at an area of emerging interest: curriculum materials and the role they play in the daily work of educators and leaders. Educators, researchers, and…

Teachers need tools to build mental models of what makes a book diverse, how a book impacts the classroom community, and what contribution it makes within a classroom library. Beyond this, teachers need a resource that will offer cogent arguments and support for their book choices to administrators, parents, and colleagues. This article includes a…

Donald Trump's administration has moved to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, issuing anti-DEI executive orders, purging DEI staff in the federal government, and arguing that these policies and practices in education and employment have promoted mandatory ideological indoctrination about how people should think. This report…

We have long known that some teachers are much more effective than others. Highly effective teachers and their students thrive in ways that have been hard to replicate on a large and consistent scale. In this paper, we read across studies to identify actionable lessons about what it will take to staff all schools with highly effective educators…

Delivering an appropriate student workload is important for quality higher education, especially for curriculum design, student well-being and success in studies. Academic credit systems are being increasingly used to determine workload for higher education studies. However, they rely on presumptions about workload, which educational theory and…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, distance education has rapidly expanded, transforming the landscape of community colleges. This paper explores how different online learning modalities impact student success in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), one of the largest and most diverse systems in the United States. With the purpose of…

In this interview with Caroline Coward, Library Group supervisor for JPL's Enterprise and Information Systems Engineering Section, Coward discusses her own career journey, the importance of high-impact practices, and what employers--specifically NASA and JPL--look at when hiring interns and recent graduates. Other topics discussed include how a…

Authors provide a definition of social justice and apply its elements to recruitment, selection, and onboarding processes for professional staff.