In this study, we explore the design and delivery of a blended social studies teaching methods course to examine the elements of the blended design that pre-service teachers found most constructive. In focus groups at the completion of the course, pre-service teachers were asked to reflect on their experience in the blended course, identify the…

Efforts to identify K-12 online instructional best practices and standards have been limited because they largely ignored students' voice--the primary stakeholder in any educational context. In this case study, we conducted 20 interviews among 10 students enrolled in a cyber charter high school. Qualitative analysis of interviews found that…

Teachers are called to accommodate the individualized learning needs of a wide range of students. To support prospective and current teachers with this challenge, it is imperative to help them not only understand the theory of differentiated instruction, but how to implement it into practice. Building upon past research in the realm of higher…

Scaling in educational settings has tended to focus on replication of external programs with less focus on the nature of adaptation. In this article, we explore the scaling of Personalization for Academic and Social-emotional Learning (PASL), a systemic high school reform effort that was intentionally identified, developed, and implemented with…

Riley asserts that some findings of cognitive science conflict with key principles of personalized learning--that students should control the content of their learning and that they should control the pace of their learning. A personalized approach is in conflict with the cognitive science principle that committing key facts in a discipline to…

Before graduating from my year as a student in an initial teacher education programme, I am tasked with demonstrating my ability to show how I am able to achieve equitable outcomes for 'priority student groups'. My success or failure in this hinges on a number of factors. Arguably, the most important factor is the quality of practice I observe…

The purpose of this study is to solicit the perceptions of United States teachers to examine the extent of their agreement with the Confucian teaching philosophies and methodologies. A mixed research methodology was used in this study. Sixty elementary, middle, and high school teachers from 24 schools of five urban school districts of Georgia were…

In the discourse on diversity in colleges and universities in the United States, an often-neglected population is nontraditional adult learners. This article explores this invisible aspect of undergraduate diversity, and addresses how competence-based education, which focuses on demonstrating the actual ability "to do," is an innovative…

Gifted and talented individuals (GT) are those who exhibit high levels of competency or potentiality in one or more domains. Academically gifted students make up roughly six to ten percent of the current total student body population in the United States and can be dated back as far as William Torrey Harris's efforts in 1868. The current state…

Education is the foundation for the future, and a successful education begins with strong literacy skills. The 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 36% of eighth-grade students in the United States were classified as reading on a proficient level, and 22% of eighth-grade students were unable to read and comprehend…

The need for schools to develop and implement actions that will clearly improve the academic performance of all children is of great importance. Schools face pressure to improve K-12 mathematics instruction to reach all students, regardless of economic, linguistic, or cultural background (NCSM, 2008, 2016). Supporting academic excellence and…

A fourth-grade teacher utilized action research in order to make data-driven decisions about reading interventions with her students. The teacher decided on a broad intervention, which was differentiating reading instruction, implemented differentiated instruction, collected data and continuously adjusted interventions based on monitoring data.…

This publication outlines the fundamental principles and process of Strategic School Design. Through years of research and practice around school resource use, we have found that high-performing, high-growth schools are responding to the changing context in education by using people, time, technology, and money in ways that look significantly…

Despite credible research to support a constructivist-based approach in early childhood programs, policymakers continued to push for a more academic-based philosophy in an effort to reach standardized testing goals. Reggio Emilia, a constructivist-based early childhood philosophy that originated in Northern Italy, has been shown to be an excellent…

There is broad consensus across academic disciplines that access to same-race/ethnicity teachers is a critical resource for supporting the educational experiences and outcomes of Black, Hispanic, and other students of color. While theoretical and qualitative lines of inquiry further describe a set of teacher mindsets and practices aligned to…