Digital Commons Network^™

Teachers’ Perspectives Of The Observation Process Within The Evaluation, Christine E. Lenhart

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

One of the largest challenges for administrators is to create and implement teacher evaluation systems that help improve teaching and student learning. As policymakers and administrators have worked throughout the United States to develop and implement new teacher evaluation systems, teacher involvement in developing those teacher evaluation systems has been limited. Specifically, the evaluation process and the tools used in a state in the southwestern part of the United States to evaluate teachers do not incorporate teachers’ perspectives, yet they directly impact teacher standing, ability to receive tenure status, and, in some cases, their salary.

The purpose of this research …

Non-Traditional Hispanic Women Students In Post-Secondary Education, Melanie C. Zollner

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Today, the Hispanic population is the fastest growing minority in the United States. As a minority-majority Hispanic state, it is imperative that New Mexico addresses the needs of this population, particularly education, as it creates opportunities for growth. Historically, the Hispanic population experienced limited access to education, which impacted their access to income and occupation, making them expendable.

Throughout history, women have faced inequality. In the United States, women had to overcome several obstacles to have access to education and be allowed to enroll in post-secondary education (Hagedorn, Womack, Vogt, Westebbe, & Kealing, 2002). It must be noted that the …

How Schools Create Healthy Testing Cultures And How Principals Use Standardized Test Data To Become Leaders Of Learning, Holly A. Gurule

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Standardized tests are not new to the field of education. The problem with them seems to lie in the ways these tests are now being used as criteria for various high-stakes decisions such as teachers’ evaluations, school grades, school sanctions, and even graduation from high school with a diploma. With so many different uses for standardized tests, it is easy to see how our perception of them has become skewed.

This bounded case study of a small elementary school in a large urban district centered on shifting the focus away from looking at standardized tests as a negative, as mere …

Preservice Teachers' Perceptions Of Readiness For Teaching In A 1:1 Classroom, Laura Jeffery

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

With the emergence of digital technology as a primary means to communicate and learn, it is imperative that educators become proficient in utilizing 21^stcentury digital tools and apps. However, research has shown that preservice teachers' levels of readiness for teaching in 1:1 classrooms are not sufficient. Preservice teachers need to increase their proficiency with technology, both hardware and software, in order to maximize student achievement and prepare their future students for a wide array of post-secondary options.

This study examined the perceptions that preservice teachers held regarding their readiness to step into 1:1 classrooms upon completion of their …

School And Community Expectations In A Small, Rural, Northern New Mexico School, Mónica J. Martínez-Archuleta

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

School leaders find themselves in constant reflection of their academic ranking in a time of national reform. With the No Child Left Behind Act and Every Student Succeeds Act, expectations around school and student performance are created to compare against national standards. Rural communities have undergone significant social and economic changes due to the decline of family farms, accompanied by people leaving and closing of businesses all which have dramatic effects on rural schools (Petrin, et. al. 2014). With increased attention on academic achievement at the state and federal level, it is imperative that we understand how rural schools address …

Acknowledging The Genealogical: A Deleuzian Hermeneutics Of Narrated Identity, Dietger S. De Maeseneer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The purpose of this paper is to express the vast scope of identity literature into a practical hermeneutical framework through which to interpret both my personal identity claims and experiences and those of five individuals in New Mexico. Furthermore, it investigates the impact of such framework on educational leadership. Referring back to the work Deleuze and Guattarri (1987), I explore identity ontologically through the three lines (the line of flight, the molecular line, and the molar line) and place these within a horizontally interpreted concentric circle diagram. The line of flight symbolizes the immanent characterized by pure difference and Ideas, …

Teacher Perceptions Of Environmental Science In Rural Northwestern New Mexico Public Schools, Marie Quiahuitl Julienne

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

In this study, I explored what teachers perceive as the factors that impact their teaching of environmental science in rural secondary level schools in northwestern New Mexico. I adapted Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) ecological systems model, based on four environmental subsystem levels (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem), as the conceptual framework to address the major research question of this study, and developed 18 interview questions to explore teachers’ perceptions of factors that influence their teaching of environmental science. I investigated the perspectives science teachers have about environmental science topics and the influences they perceive that affect how they teach environmental science, and …

Exploring The Variability In Institutional Characteristics Related To Meeting Various National Stem Baccalaureate Agendas, Tim Schroeder

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions are said to drive the American economy, provide access to the middle class for underrepresented minorities, and bolster national security. Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, American STEM educators have been under pressure to improve STEM educational outcomes. In order to respond to these pressures, education policy makers must understand the relationship between institutional characteristics and STEM outcomes. In this study, I articulate three specific national STEM agendas, and then I explore the relationship between these agendas and the institutional characteristics of America’s four-year colleges and universities.

Utilizing data from the U.S. …