Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Maximizing Teacher Time: The Collaborative Leadership Role Of The Principal, William L. Sterrett, Michele A. Parker, Kris Mitzner

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

Using data from the 2014 North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions (NCTWC) biennial survey researchers identified a sample from over 2,500 principals. The researchers surveyed 68 principals; 24 principals participated in a 19-item survey containing 5 demographic questions, 7 Likert-scale questions, and 7 open-ended questions. The descriptive analyses revealed that the principals in the study had the highest agreement with time constructs related to “reasonable class size” and “protecting teachers from duties that interfere” and lowest levels of agreement with “efforts made to minimize routine paperwork.” The qualitative analyses shared further principal perspective regarding specific strategies with the seven time constructs. …

Factors Impacting Teacher Turnover In Texas Public School Districts With Fewer Than 500 Students: A Mixed Methods Study, Paige N. Benoy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rural Texas districts experience higher rates in teacher turnover compared to other districts. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study was designed to explore the relationships among district size and the factors that contributed to teacher turnover. Data was collected from Texas public school districts with fewer than 500 students. A simple correlation determined that no relationship existed between district size and teacher turnover rate during the 2016-2017 school year in the 313 districts that had fewer than 500 students. Participating districts came from two different regions. Four superintendents were interviewed about the factors surrounding turnover regarding the teacher turnover in …

The Challenges Of Newly Adopted Mathematics Curriculum In Title I Schools: A Mixed Methods Study, Carmen Cruz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the early impacts of the newly adopted mathematics TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge Skills) introduced in 2014 by TEA (Texas Education Agency) that detail the curriculum standards for all students across schools in Texas schools, for grades K-12. The study examined the challenges that teachers and administrators have had to overcome to meet federal legislation educational compliance. Additionally the study examined how schools and districts were professionally developing their teachers on new curricular standards. Five Title 1 schools in four school districts were used in the study. Schools were selected from …

What Are The Leadership Behaviors Of Winning Basketball Coaches?, Joshua Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem this study addressed was the lack of designation of a leadership style to help coaches perform at their highest level in order to be a positive factor in the lives of their athletes and. The purpose of this study was to identify leadership styles and behaviors of the Texas high school varsity boys’ basketball coaches whose teams reached regional tournament play. This mixed method research study was conducted through quantitative closed response surveys utilizing the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and through qualitative interviews to address the leadership styles and behaviors of high school basketball coaches. The sample population was …

The Librarians’ Guide To The Information Literacy Galaxy: Leading Campus Conversations, Sarah Richardson, Heather K. Beirne, Ashley J. Cole, Trenia Napier

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Sarah Richardson (Business Library Team Leader), Heather Beirne (Reference and Instruction Librarian), Ashley Cole (Reference and Instruction Librarian) and Trenia Napier (Associate Director, Programs & Outreach - Noel Studio for Academic Creativity) @ Eastern Kentucky University Situating librarians as information literacy experts and leaders in pedagogical best practices, presenters led a professional learning community (PLC) to create purposeful campus-wide conversations centered around the ACRL Framework and its place in teaching and learning. PLC faculty participants from across campus partnered with liaison librarians to create new and innovative approaches to developing discipline-specific information …

A Study Of The Teaching Beliefs Of Globe Teachers, Laila Ali

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the teaching beliefs of GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) teachers, and to analyze their pedagogical practices. This study contributes to bridging the gap between our understanding of teachers’ beliefs of teaching science with inquiry and practicing science in class with inquiry. A descriptive research approach was used for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Data was collected from seventy-two trained GLOBE teachers across the U.S. using Qualtrics.com.

Quantitatively, the pedagogical beliefs of GLOBE teachers were measured using the Beliefs about Reformed Science Teaching and Learning (BARSTL) questionnaire. Differences between …

Social Media As A Personal Learning Network For Professional Development: Teachers In International Schools Use And Perspectives, Shannon H. Doak

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Traditional professional development methods are not optimal for international school educators because of isolation, lack of funds and time to attend, disconnected content and inability to make a difference in the pedagogical approaches teachers use. The creation of online Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) has been suggested as an augment to or a replacement for traditional approaches. The purpose of this mixed methods study was three-fold: (a) to discover if international school educators are using social media for professional learning and if so, what tools they are choosing to use, (b) to discover if a relationship exists between the use of …

Teacher Candidate Psychological Insight And Capacity For Change: Developing A Professional Identity, Richard Bradley Coats

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of teacher education has recently found that the formation of teacher candidate’s sense of professional identity is an integral part of their development as a future educator, yet few programs explicitly address it (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). The purpose of this study was to examine teacher candidates’ ability to reflect on self and others, and the influence of psychological insight on the development of a professional identity. The study took place in the Pacific Northwest at an accredited university in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. The six participants selected for this study were undergraduate Elementary Education …

The Attitudes Of Saudi Teachers Toward Teaching Physical Education For Girls At Public Schools In Jeddah, Turki H. Samargandi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of Saudi teachers towards teaching PE for girls at public schools in Jeddah city and to explore the factors that may affect these attitudes. The researcher explored the reasons behind the PE ban for girls in these schools. The number of participants was Four hundred and sixty-two teachers who completed the survey (N = 462). T-Test and One-Way ANNOVA were the two methods to analyze the data collected.

The results indicated that about 95.1% of them agreed that regular practice of physical education can affect positively the appearance and the …

Behavior Management Interventions For Effective Classroom Management In Alternative Education, Ashton Plette

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Alternative education environments serve a diverse set of students with individual needs. Educational Options is a term synonymous with “alternative education”, helping students to meet the standards and objectives of typical education through modified interventions (California Department of Education, 2017). The need for individualized interventions is large; to assist in addressing this need I created training curriculum for staff in Community Day Middle School on Monterey Peninsula Unified School District’s Educational Options campus. Community Day Schools serve students who have been expelled from school due to recurring problems with attendance and behavior. The training presents structured and empirically-based interventions to …

How To Best Support Individuals Growing Up With A Special Needs Sibling, Lauren Mcdonell

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study was to understand the emotions of a neurotypically developing sibling. This study also attempted to understand how caregivers can best support the neurotypical sibling in the areas of self-concept and overall well-being. The gap is knowledge is how to better support neurotypical developing siblings specifically in the areas of self-concept and overall well-being. Three participants were interviewed to gain insight about their experiences with their special needs sibling. Participants who participated in a support group for neurotypical developing children with a SNS were surveyed to gain insight about their experiences with the support group. Through …

Teacher And Administrator Perspectives From Experiences In The Teacher Leadership Initiative, Leslie Lynne Sharp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teacher leadership, has been defined by many researchers as the answer to school improvement through the use of teacher leaders leading the effort in schools and districts. This qualitative dissertation takes a deep look into the experiences of teachers and administrators that participated in a nation-wide teacher leadership pilot, the Teacher Leadership Initiative (TLI), and the effects that this year-long event had on leadership, school improvement and teacher and administrator professional practices. Unifying outcomes from the participants as a result of their involvement in this initiative included changes in thinking about leadership that directly improved professional efficacy, collaborative and leadership …

Principal Professional Development And Principal Self-Efficacy In An Urban School District., Brian Thomas Garrett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Educator professional development (PD) is a heavily relied upon method for school improvement, and administrator professional development (APD) is a key element to nearly all school reform efforts. District-wide APD in large school districts can carry a heavy cost in financial and human resources. Moreover, PD is frequently too inadequately planned and/or implemented to bring about lasting positive change in educator practice, school reform, and student achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between principal PD focused on culture/climate or instruction and principal self-efficacy in an urban school district. Through hierarchical linear multiple regression (HLMR), this …

Montessori Family Education, Katharina Vidojevic

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

Montessori family education is a stepping stone in forming a bridge between school and home. This action research is focused on increasing familial attendance in Montessori education classes. Using quantitative and qualitative research methods are important tools in discovering the needs of the school community. Attendance, Likert scales and feedback questionnaires were useful tools in reaching out to the familial community. Implementing the changes based on the research results showed a drastic increase in attendance. With families leading busy lives, the school meeting them half way showed positive quantitative and qualitative results. This study had a maximum of 28 families …

The Perceptions Of Efl Teachers About Their Pre-Service Preparation In Iraqi-Kurdistan, Nawzar Haji

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The booming economy in Iraqi-Kurdistan during the last decade attracted hundreds of international companies to the region. The young Kurdish workforce seeks secure jobs that are well paid in such companies. Therefore, they need to be proficient in English. Besides, in general the Kurdish young generation has a positive attitude towards English and consider it the language of science, business, economy, tourism and prestige. Hassan (2014) states that Kurdish-speaking people generally have a positive opinion about learning the English language and believe that having a degree in English means better chances to get a job.

Therefore, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s …

The Effects Of A Peer-Supported Mindfulness Practice On Teacher Stress Reduction, Dana Vitolo

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this action research project was to measure the effects of daily mindfulness practice with peer-support on teacher stress reduction. Nine female Montessori teachers participated in study and taught at private Montessori schools in suburban or rural settings. The participating teachers practiced a short mindfulness activity daily such as the body scan, sitting meditation, yoga, or mandala coloring and wrote reflections in their daily journal for four weeks. The teachers also participated in a weekly peer support group for community building and wrote reflections in their weekly journal. The teachers participated in a pre- and post- intervention stress …

Kindergarten Teacher Autonomy In High And Low Socioeconomic Environments, Allison Catherine Mcdonald

MSU Graduate Theses

Kindergarten teachers are immersed in a high stakes educational environment and this environment has altered how kindergarten teachers must teach. Exploring the different distribution of autonomy in high and low-income groups contributes to the research about educational equity. This study examined the relationship between income level of teaching environment and kindergarten teachers’ levels of self-perceived autonomy. The research question that guided this study was: do kindergarten teachers in higher income schools experience greater levels of self-perceived autonomy than kindergarten teachers in low-income schools? The Teaching Autonomy Scale developed by Pearson & Hall (1993) was used to survey 91 kindergarten teacher …

Educators’ Perceptions Of Integrated Stem: A Phenomenological Study, Brian K. Sandall, Darrel L. Sandall, Abram L. J. Walton

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

The study utilized a semistructured interview approach to identify phenomena that are related to integrated STEM education by addressing the question: What are the critical components of an integrated STEM definition and what critical factors are necessary for an integrated STEM definition’s implementation? Thirteen expert practitioners were identified and interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for content in three different ways: by person, by interview question, and across all interviews using exploratory data analysis methods. Ten identified phenomena were grouped into two classes: structural implementation phenomena and interpersonal implementation phenomena. The structural implementation phenomena were: subject integration, project-based learning, …

Making Connections: Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program For Teachers Focused On Stem Integration, Judy Lambert, Carmen Cioc, Sorin Cioc, Dawn Sandt

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

This article reports on a 2-year evaluation of a STEM integration professional development (PD) program for 40 math, science, and special education teachers in Grades 5–9 from a large Midwestern public school district. The National Research Council’s framework for integrated STEM education (Honey, Pearson, & Schweingruber, 2014) was used to explain the goals, outcomes, nature and scope, and implementation of the program. Teachers were measured on their growth in STEM content knowledge, technology integration, teaching confidence, pedagogical beliefs, and impact of PD. Increases resulted in all these areas with statistically significant improvements in most of them, particularly in Year 2. …

Racial Socialization: Relationship Between Black Identity, Perceptions Of Discrimination, And Academic Outcomes, Levar Ammons

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Racial tension in the academic environment has been prevalent in American society since Brown v. The Board of Education. Racial socialization serves as a practice utilized by Black American parents to provide their children with a cultural orientation as to what it means to be Black in America. Educators’ ability to create and maintain meaningful relationships across cultural differences impacts students’ perceptions on how they are being treated. Because perceived discrimination is associated with depressive symptomatology, it is critical to understand how Black American adolescents make racial meaning of themselves, particularly in the learning environment. The researcher utilized a …