Maintaining a commitment to social justice teaching can be especially challenging when navigating the bureaucratic systems and ever-spiraling responsibilities of the education system. To better understand how social-justice-oriented educators navigate these tensions, this paper uses qualitative methods to investigate the social justice problems of…

In this study, I explored professional learning community sustainability at the school, district, and state levels. Researchers have found that professional learning communities are a means of effective professional learning for teachers and a vital factor in increased student achievement. However, there is very little multi-case research…

University students can become overwhelmed and hopeless as they pursue their final capstone writing projects. They are also navigating trying times of overlapping crises such as poverty, environmental decay, and war. To address these challenges, our Capstone Writing Groups (CWG) are designed to develop students' writerly competence and enhance…

Socioscientific issues (SSI) have been found to improve scientific literacy skills among K-12 students. Existing literature shows, however, that elementary preservice teachers are reluctant to implement SSI due to a lack of confidence with subject matter knowledge and knowledge of instruction concerning SSI. Previous research has focused on…

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent responses affected students of all ages academically, mentally, and emotionally. As leadership educators, we felt compelled to respond by adjusting our programming and pedagogy for a post-pandemic era. This study aimed to explore the experiences of the thirty college of agricultural science students who engaged…

This article presents an action research project conducted in a Swedish compulsory school. In the project the participants explored ways of identifying actions to improve in the practices of a professional learning community in order to develop teaching. This is important for participants in such communities, since the outcome of developed…

Few existing research examines the relationship between transformational leadership and professional learning communities. This study aims to explore the relationship between transformational leadership and professional learning community components from the perspective of teachers in the Chinese context. A total of 385 primary school teachers…

Research-based learning (RBL) has been discussed in German higher education teaching and learning since the end of 1960s, having found a revival in the 2000s with considerable federal funding which enabled a creation of a variety of RBL-formats at many universities across disciplines. Within this dynamic development, both the Standing Group on RBL…

The predominant conceptualization of scientific literacy occurs on the micro scale of an individual person. However, scientific literacy can also be exhibited at the meso scale by groups of people in communities of place, practice, or interest. What comprises this community level scientific literacy (CSL) is both understudied and undertheorized.…

Faculty development is essential to promote pedagogical innovation and the transformation of teaching practices. The faculty development model presented in this study was guided by three research questions about how scholars engage in institutionally held training opportunities for professional development; how scholars engage with and collaborate…

The way in which school leaders implement professional learning communities (PLCs) is important for realizing sustainable school improvement. The assumption is that school leaders act based on their interpretation of the PLC, which is based on their underlying educational beliefs. In this study, we explored these latter aspects by interviewing six…

Graduate school is a stressful endeavor for students, causing the incidence of mental health distress to be higher in this group than in the general population. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate and improve the mental health supports for graduate students in teacher preparation programs. Cycle 1 data were collected in…

Higher Education and its evolution in the twentieth century has seen a paradigm shift and an increased focus on the disconnect of the classroom with the employment field and market. Higher education has been presented with the challenge of not only understanding how one behaves and adapts to transitions but the approach and how to analyze a change…

Networked approaches to professional learning have been shown to offer broad influence and unique benefits to teachers' continuing development. However, despite decades of research into the professional learning community (PLC) approach within single schools, there is a paucity of research about network PLCs and a lack of models for effective…

In a case study involving three asynchronous online professional writing courses, this research investigates students' abilities to establish a social presence and build team cohesion via collaborative, team-based writing projects. Using the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework, this study is situated in the understanding that teaching and…