This study’s purpose was to offer an explanation into how intentionally-designed, anti-racist discussion board prompts influence preservice teachers’ written critical race conversations. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: Instruction-As-Usual (IAU) or Disrupting Whiteness (DW), with the latter group assigned discussion board prompts that included prompts that tasked students to interrogate structural racism. Qualitative analyses of discussion board post data were merged through integrating survey response relationships. Our results indicate that whiteness disruption and racial consciousness constructs were present, DW students showed evidence promise for racial consciousness, and reaffirmed a wholistic anti-racist teacher education strategy. We conclude with implications for anti-racist educators who decide to use DBs in their pedagogy.
Purpose: This multiyear experimental study was designed to examine (1) the causal impact of McREL International’s Balanced Leadership® Professional Development (BLPD) program on school principals’ learning, beliefs, and behaviors and (2) whether there were differences in the types of outcomes the professional development influenced. Outcomes included principals’ reported sense of efficacy, perceptions of school climate, and leadership behaviors. Research Methods: Approximately 100 school principals in rural Michigan were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that was offered 2 years of BLPD training or a control group that conducted business as usual. We employed principal survey data from the first and third years of the School Leadership Improvement Study. The treatment effect on each outcome was assessed through regression analysis, which controlled for baseline scores and school demographics. Findings: Results from the School Leadership Improvement Study show that BLPD participants reported substantively significant growth on the majority of the outcomes targeted by the program. Interestingly, treatment principals were more likely to report growth on broad, school-level outcomes than in areas that involved them working directly with teachers. Implications: This evaluation demonstrates that the McREL Balanced Leadership program caused gains in the majority of knowledge, belief, and behavior outcomes with the largest impacts on principals’ sense of efficacy for instructional improvement, reported ability to bring about change, and strength of norms for teachers’ instructional practice. The authors explore possibilities for why broad, school-level outcomes were more likely to be affected than areas that involve principals more directly in teachers’ work.
The purpose of this study was twofold: to examine the influence of instructional leadership on teachers' reports of the use of differentiated instruction in their schools and to investigate whether higher levels of differentiated instruction positively predicted student achievement. We collected teacher survey data from a sample of 95 high-poverty, rural elementary schools in Michigan and student achievement data from the state's standardized assessments. Comparing a series of means-as-outcomes models, our findings indicated that instructional leadership was positively and significantly related to teachers' reports of differentiated instructional practices regardless of school demographics and prior student achievement. Further, using multilevel structural equation modeling we found that differentiated instruction was a positive and significant predictor of student achievement. These findings are consistent with the conceptual understanding that leaders can influence schoolwide instructional practices associated with improved student achievement. We discuss significant implications of the findings for researchers and practitioners.
This study assessed the effects of self-monitoring on the quantity and quality of creative writing of fourth-grade students with learning disabilities. The participants, four fourth-grade students with identified learning disabilities, self-monitored both the quantity and quality of their writing. Results show a statistically significant increase in writing quantity for all four students, as well as an increase in writing quality for three of the students. Further, qualitative evidence indicates that students' interest in writing improved as a result of the self-monitoring intervention. The students and the teacher also reported that they liked the intervention. A discussion of implications for practitioners is included.
The purpose of this article was to provide a thematic summary of current literature combining the topics of evidence-based practices (EBPs) and inclusive settings. We summarized findings from 27 peer-reviewed articles written in English and published between 2012–2022. A systematic, thematic literature review yielded four broad categories addressed in recent publications: using specific evidence-based practices with PK-12 students, teacher education, teachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward including students with disabilities, and collaboration. Within two of those four broad categories, sub-categories also emerged. We discuss the importance of our results and implications for researchers and practitioners.
Tutoring is an effective, quick, and easily implemented procedure to individualize instruction across dyads, small groups, or large groups. Most tutoring applications have occurred in school settings using classwide, cross-age, or one-to-one configurations, with traditional academic subjects (e.g., reading, math, spelling) serving as the targeted skills. Limited home-based applications have also been reported, with the focus remaining essentially within an academic context. This article reviews how tutoring systems have been applied across specialized subject areas (e.g., music, horticulture, health and safety, social interactions). The authors summarize research findings, provide an analysis of skills learned within each tutoring system, identify the respective methodologies, and report relevant findings. Implications and suggestions for future research efforts are given.
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