Secondary Education Commons^™

‘I’Ve Always Been On Call For My Sister’: An Exploration Of The Impact Of Having A Sibling With A Life Limiting Condition On The Experience Of Education, Emily Joanne Pinn

Plymouth Interdisciplinary Education Open Journal

There are currently approximately 99,000 babies, children and young people living with life-limiting conditions (LLCs) in the UK alone (Together for Short Lives, 2025b). Many of these young people will have siblings who are navigating the opportunities and challenges of having a sibling with an LLC. Despite this, there is a stark lack of research investigating the impact of being one of these siblings. As a result, this combined autoethnographic and qualitative enquiry will aim to provide an insight into how young people’s experiences of being a young carer to a sibling with an LLC impacted different elements of their …

Four Year Reflection: Scaling Transformative Advanced Manufacturing Pathways (Stamp), Benjamin Boer, Rouzbeh Rahai

Reports, Analyses, and other Publications

This data brief presents a four-year cumulative reflection on the Scaling Transformative Advanced Manufacturing Pathways (STAMP) initiative, tracking student participation, industry credential attainment, and projected long-term economic impacts across 19 participating Illinois school districts. Authored by Rouzbeh Rahai and Benjamin Boer of the Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University (EdSystems) in partnership with the Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IMA) Foundation, the report examines student-level data from 10,424 unique participants. Findings highlight that students with high economic needs out-attain their peers—representing 69% of credential earners—and that earned credentials account for $57.8 million in potential additional lifetime earnings.

Creating Collaborative Strategies: The Influence Of Principal Leadership In Teacher Retention In Rural Secondary Schools In Dhalai District, Tripura, Northeast India., Valerian Castelino

Educational Studies Dissertations

Teacher retention has become a growing concern across India and the world. In rural, tribal, and multilingual contexts, the challenge is even greater. This research, Creating Collaborative Strategies: The Influence of Principal Leadership in Teacher Retention in Rural Secondary Schools in Dhalai District, Tripura, Northeast India, explores how school leadership influences teachers’ decisions to remain in rural schools. The research focuses on Tripura, a small state in Northeast India known for its tribal diversity, geographic isolation, multilingual classrooms, and limited educational resources. The research is informed by a multi-theoretical framework: Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Non-Economic Capital Theory, and Transformational Leadership …

Evaluation Of Land Suitability In The Watu Ondo Waterfall Area Using The Analytical Hierarchy Process (Ahp) Method, Carina Nur Indah Lestari, Syamsul Bachri, Sugeng Utaya, Daudi Richard Malusu

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This study was motivated by the importance of utilizing land physical conditions as a basis for developing disaster mitigation education in natural tourist areas. The study aims to evaluate land suitability for disaster mitigation education in the Watu Ondo Waterfall area using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). A quantitative research method was employed, involving AHP weighting analysis of the parameters topography, rainfall, dry season duration, soil type, and land cover, followed by spatial overlay to generate a land suitability map. The results indicate that topography is the dominant factor with a weight of 47%, followed …

People Orientation And Thing Orientation In Business Majors: Implications For Assessing The Impacts Of Cross-Functional Business Program Curricula, Todd J. Hostager, David A. Christopher, Kristy J. Lauver, Christopher Knowles

International Journal for Business Education

Background/Introduction/Purpose:  Prior research documented significant differences in people orientation and thing orientation (PTO) based on type of major and sex.  This study examines a set of measures for helping business programs to assess whether they are producing graduates equipped to consider both people and things when making decisions, regardless of their major or sex.

Methods/Design:  Students in a strategic management capstone course spent a single 75-minute session responding to a brief new venture pitch by identifying what types of additional information they would need to decide whether to invest in the business.  Three Likert-scaled options gauged the extent to participant …

The Role Of Generative Ai In Secondary School Business Education: Insights From Teachers’ Perceptions, Leonard Busuttil, Emanuel Mizzi

International Journal for Business Education

Background/Introduction/Purpose: Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has entered classrooms more quickly than the evidence base needed to guide its use, and that evidence base remains concentrated in higher education. Comparatively little is known about secondary school business education, a curricular area that brings together accounting, business studies, economics, financial literacy, marketing, and retail, and in which teachers move between subjects whose epistemological and procedural demands differ considerably. Existing studies also tend to treat business education as a single homogeneous domain, or to examine one of its subjects in isolation. This study addresses that gap by examining how secondary school business education …

Designing System Coherence For Designated English Language Development, Raquel Gonzalez, Ph.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D., Elvira G. Armas, Ed.D., Jeimee Estrada-Miller, Britt Jung

Center on English Language Proficiency Implementation Briefs

Designing System Coherence for Designated English Language Development is the fourth and final brief in a series designed to guide state, regional, and local educational agencies in establishing equitable, high-quality comprehensive English Language Development (ELD) systems. The brief examines the organizational infrastructure, leadership, and resource alignment needed to scale and sustain high-quality designated ELD. An adapted framework of seven interconnected foundational practices guides the discussion of how educational leaders can protect instructional time, support sustained professional learning and coaching, and connect designated ELD to grade-level academic content. The brief also examines systemic coherence across three levels—state education agencies, local education …

The Definitive Assessment Playbook: Tips And Tools For Educators Of Multilingual Learners, Margo Gottlieb

Resources

The Definitive Assessment Playbook: Tips and Tools for Educators of Multilingual Learners is a practical, evidence-based guide designed to humanize classroom assessment and elevate the agency of all assessment players. Grounded in the Science of Teaching and Learning and structured around twelve Focused Assessment Principles, the Playbook translates research into actionable practices, tools, and reflection opportunities for classroom, school, district, and community learning ecologies. Practical tips, tools, reflection templates, and inquiry frameworks support assessment players in applying these principles to build fair, balanced, learning-centered, and sustainable assessment systems for multilingual learners.

The Playbook includes five sections organized around major themes: …

The Trump Administration's Assault On Higher Education, Salvatore J. Fallica

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

This essay opens the roundtable “The Disinvitation to Knowledge: The Expanding Assault on (Higher) Education and the Humanities.” After analyzing texts and contexts of news stories and commentary from legacy media sources and social media platforms collected over a five-month period from June to October 2025, the author describes the Trump Administration’s authoritarian actions attacking and destabilizing the mission of colleges and universities – and the professors and administrators charged with implementing them. The author concludes that because of its ideological censorship and defunding efforts, the Trump administration presents a major threat to the educational institutions in the United States.

The Starvation Of High Education, Heather Stassen

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The author demonstrates from her experiences as a university administrator and from her observation of the market environment that higher education is being systematically starved of resources. This overview is not a representation or the voice of her current institution, but rather a description of her experiences in the field and discussions with other college administrators.

Designated Eld Through Evidence-Based Practices, Aida Walquí, Ph.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D.

Center on English Language Proficiency Implementation Briefs

Designated English Language Development through Evidence-Based Practices is the third in a four-part series assisting educational agencies in implementing high-quality, comprehensive English Language Development (ELD) systems. This brief bridges the gap between research and practice by illustrating what implementation looks like for evidence-based practices in Designated ELD (DELD) curriculum and instruction. It introduces an ecological model of learning—conceptualizing education across macro- and micro-systems—alongside five fundamental shifts in classroom practice: Teaching as Apprenticeship, Language as Action, No Isolated Language Practice, Non-Linear Spiraling Design, and Vocabulary Taught in Context. Additionally, the brief outlines key guidelines for heterogeneous group composition and a productive …

Harkness Seminars In The Humanities, Sarah S. Novlan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This participatory action research study explored the effects of Harkness seminars on students’ cognitive, affective, and metacognitive learning in secondary humanities classes. Educators need an effective, flexible, and adaptive method to promote student learning beyond superficial content acquisition. With the decoupling of virtue formation from knowledge acquisition, knowledge gaps from COVID-19 lockdowns, and the rise of artificial intelligence in student plagiarism, a proven method to address all aspects of student formation is needed. Using a participatory action research framework for this qualitative study, conducted at an independent K–12 school site in Texas, the researcher interviewed six secondary humanities teachers over …

Scientific Uncertainty As Political Aggression: A Manifesto For Those Who Value Science And Want To Save It From State And Corporate Control, Stephen Demeo

Publications and Research

A manifesto is an opportunity to publicly express strongly held beliefs about a topic that is personally important to an author. It is analytical as it is creative. “Scientific Uncertainty as Political Aggression” is a manifesto that intersects science and politics. It urges those interested in science to examine two different but related topics: scientific uncertainty in measurement—what it is, how it is determined, why it’s important— and the magnification of uncertainty through legal and linguistic tactics used by right-wing politicians and politically supported corporations.

For some time now, the Republican Establishment has cast excessive doubt on scientific findings through …

Report Review: Beyond Rigor: Closing The Quality Gap In State Dual Enrollment Policy, Diana Camilo

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

Traversing The Broken Staircase: The Experiences Of Academic Neglect For Black & Brown First-Generation College Students, Kashmeel D. Mckoena

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Although Black and Brown students are diversifying college campuses and opening doors for their families as new cohorts of first-generation collegians, they often find themselves silently dealing with the aftermath of academic neglect from U.S. secondary education. This phenomenon can be understood from extant literature as absence of reliable guidance, mentorship, resources, and support that help students persist and succeed in their academic goals. Existing explanations of grit and resilience (Duckworth et al., 2007) not only erase the existence and impact of academic neglect, but also mask the creative solutions and compensatory strategies that Black and Brown first-generation college students …

Solving For X: Centering Black Girls’ Experiences In Mathematics Education, Natasha A. Fortes

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Black girls can grow up, attend school, and move through their math classes without ever feeling seen as capable mathematical thinkers. Their teachers may not affirm their brilliance. Their voices may even go unheard. Math classes may not be a space where they can imagine themselves belonging. These experiences do not reflect ability. Instead, they reflect on the conditions in which they are expected to learn. This study centers the voices of Black girls and asks what they deserve from their mathematics education and instructors to develop a mathematics identity. The study is grounded in Black feminist traditions and draws …

How Planning For Engineering Instruction Supported Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Pedagogy For Prek–12 Teachers, Kristen V. Napolitano, Amanda M. Gunning, Meghan E. Marrero

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

With the wide adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards across the United States and an increased focus on growing a diverse engineering workforce, learning to teach precollege engineering has become more important than ever. Yet limited precollege engineering certification pathway exists, leaving preK–12 teachers to integrate engineering with few resources or professional learning support. In high-need districts, where teachers are already underresourced and stretched thin, engineering may not make its way into the classroom at all. As a result, access to engineering and other STEM opportunities is disproportionately low among Black and Brown and/or low-income students in these communities, …

Between Care And Competence: Rethinking Alternative Provision., Helen V. Mulligan

Plymouth Interdisciplinary Education Open Journal

This opinion piece argues that Alternative Provision (AP) in England is failing to meet the needs of vulnerable young people due to inconsistent staffing, inadequate specialist training, and the normalisation of low educational expectations. Although some AP settings demonstrate high aspirations and committed practice, the sector as a whole remains marked by variability and a lack of coherent pedagogical structure. Drawing on research into educational inequality, emotional labour, ethics of care, and professional identity, the paper contends that systemic reform is urgently required. Recommended actions include mandatory specialist training for AP staff, national standards for curriculum and pedagogy, stronger accountability …

Restorative Practices And Resilience Among Trauma-Impacted Elementary Students, Rose E. Ostenson

Graduate Teacher Education

This paper examined how restorative practices may promote resilience among trauma-impacted elementary school students. Fifteen peer-reviewed studies were analyzed to address the following research question: How do restorative practices promote resilience among trauma-impacted students in elementary schools? Three consistent themes emerged from the literature: relationship building and relational safety, school connectedness and belonging, and emotional regulation and co-regulation. These themes represent crucial protective factors associated with resilience among children who have experienced trauma. Although resilience was not directly measured in most of the studies reviewed, the findings consistently suggested that restorative practices may strengthen the relational, social, and emotional conditions …

Designing Inclusive Stem Curricula: A Design-Based Study Of Teacher Learning And A Queer Inclusive Framework, Kyle Nolting

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education has historically marginalized queer identities, shaping inaccurate curricula and fostering unwelcoming classroom environments. To address this, my research uses design-based research to investigate the design of queer-inclusive STEM curricular resources. I partnered with in-service secondary STEM teachers amidst a series of professional development courses to co-create curricular resources. My research is grounded in queer theory, using a Gender Inclusive Framework to collaboratively develop inclusive design principles. My findings revealed a strong desire by teachers for more authentic and fluid representations of gender and sexuality in STEM curricula, particularly beyond the biological science discipline. …