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For the second consecutive year, The Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education (CJNSE) and the Canadian Committee of Graduate Students in Education (CCGSE) have united to bring forth a Special Issue that showcases the innovative work of Canada's graduate students in education. Stemming from some of the enlightening presentations at the 2023 CCGSE/CSSE conference, this issue aims to amplify the voices of emerging scholars, providing them with a platform where their research undergoes a rigorous peer-review process and reaches a wider academic audience.

In this Fall Issue, three thematic areas stand out for their relevance and impact on contemporary education, including (1) Critical Theories and Educational Practices, (2) Teacher and Student Identity in Educational Systems, and (3) Impact of Social and Cultural Dynamics in Education. These themes are not just reflective of current academic inquiries but are also indicative of the shifting paradigms within the educational sector. They offer a lens through which we can examine and re-evaluate our approaches, strategies, and beliefs in the realm of education.

Not applicable for book reviews, according to CJNSE "Author Guidelines."

Integrated STEM education within North America has become a popular pedagogy; however, teachers identify challenges that arise when planning for and implementing integrated STEM education. These challenges may threaten STEM teachers' capacity to balance disciplinary and integrated learning, a core feature of effective STEM education. The purpose of this study was to investigate how exemplary STEM teachers navigate tensions of practice to balance disciplinary and integrated learning. Through an in-depth qualitative methodology, drawing on interview and artifact data from 14 purposefully selected exemplary secondary and elementary integrated STEM teachers, this study identified tensions that teachers faced as they navigated planning for and implementing integrated STEM education: (a) curriculum content versus skills; (b) guided instruction versus inquiry and play; (c) process versus task completion; and (d) collaboration versus individual needs. In line with a Worldly Perspective (Rennie et al., 2020), balancing these tensions leads to enhanced integration.

Classroom assessment dynamics are shaped by individual and local understandings of assessment (assessment micro-cultures), as well as common assessment beliefs and practices that stem from system-wide features, such as large-scale testing (assessment macro-cultures). Teachers’ approaches to assessment reveal how they navigate assessment micro- and macro-cultures to support student learning and achievement. Despite increasing migration of students between the U.S., China, and Canada, little research has examined the different approaches to assessment students encounter when they move between these contexts. Thus, the specific supports they need to adapt to their new assessment cultures and have equitable access to learning have remained unclear. This exploratory research compared teachers’ approaches to assessment in the U.S., China, and Canada. Latent class analysis identified five types of assessors across these contexts: teacher-centric assessors, hesitant assessors, moderately student-centric assessors, highly student-centric assessors, and eager assessors. Associations between assessor type and country were identified, revealing different patterns in how teachers approach assessment in each education context.

Addressing calls to develop assessment theories for integrated teaching and learning, we propose an evidence-informed perspective on grading in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education. We leveraged a qualitative collective case study design to generate rich profiles of three exemplary STEAM teachers' grading approaches and practices. Data sources included semi-structured interviews and artefacts of teachers' instruction and assessment practice. We analysed qualitative data from interviews and artefacts using a general inductive approach. The teachers in our study pushed back against 'objective' views of grading, whereby grades are composites of summative assessments, in favour of informed and contextualised grading, which aims to document and support a negotiated understanding of each student's learning journey. Teachers' grading practices aligned with a hermeneutic approach to classroom assessment validity: the teachers (a) collected and interpreted a wide range of evidence of student (re)learning; (b) centred students' perspectives and evidences; and (c) employed their professional judgement to determine students' grades. Teachers characterised grading as a process of accounting for all available evidence, blurring the boundaries between formative and summative assessment. Documenting the learning process, rather than focusing on products, can support deeply integrated learning. Importantly, the teachers supported students in documenting their own learning and negotiating their grades with reference to self-generated evidence. This practice stands to reduce power imbalances between students and teachers and foster students' self-regulated learning. Our findings inform a framework which STEAM educators can use to guide grading in integrated classrooms, an enduring challenge for integrated learning.