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An Examination Of The Instruction Of Religion Clause Issues In Massachusetts Teacher Education Programs, Matthew E. Henry Nov 2017

An Examination Of The Instruction Of Religion Clause Issues In Massachusetts Teacher Education Programs, Matthew E. Henry

Educational Studies Dissertations

The prevailing research, as well as reported complaints of academic, civic, personal, and social harm, indicates that public school teachers do not exhibit the professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes grounded in the religion clauses of the U.S. Constitution. This study investigated how TEPs in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts document their instruction of preservice teachers on religion clause issues as they apply to grade 6-12 content area pedagogy, curriculum, and professional ethos. The institutional documents presented to preservice teachers were collected from four teacher education programs in the Commonwealth. An evaluation tool— synthesized from the leading scholarship and research on the …


Discovering The Leader Within: An Autoethnophenomenographic Study Of Mindfulness In Educational Leadership, Alyssa Fraser Aug 2017

Discovering The Leader Within: An Autoethnophenomenographic Study Of Mindfulness In Educational Leadership, Alyssa Fraser

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study combined autoethnographic and phenomenological methods to examine a researcher-leader’s attempt to cultivate cognitive, relational, and emotional capacities through regular mindfulness practice, and how the cultivation of such capacities aligns with the enactment of leadership. The interrogation of lived experience and self-analysis was entered with the intention to better understand the promise of mindfulness as a resource for the development of educational leaders. This study explored the perceived connections between mindfulness practice and the enactment of educational leadership by examining internal and external perspectives of an individual leader’s practice. Methods of self-observation, including both interval and occurrence recording …


Middle School Teacher Collaboration: The Intersection Of Teacher Domain And Administrative Purview, Jessica Rintoul Jan 2017

Middle School Teacher Collaboration: The Intersection Of Teacher Domain And Administrative Purview, Jessica Rintoul

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study examined the experiences and perspectives of twelve urban public middle school teachers and one focused instructional coach in one district in a New England state involved in a district-mandated change to professional learning communities as their form of teacher collaboration. It explored teachers’ reasons for engaging in collaboration, their understanding of the administration’s expectations for their collaboration, the factors and conditions that influenced their collaborative work, and the perceived effects of collaboration on their teaching practices and professional identity. This qualitative phenomenological study employed a purposeful sampling strategy and both interviews and field observations to uncover teachers’ perceptions …


Understanding How Principals Shape Collaborative School Culture, Kerri-Lyn Sankey Jan 2017

Understanding How Principals Shape Collaborative School Culture, Kerri-Lyn Sankey

Educational Studies Dissertations

The issue of school improvement is complex, and although reform initiatives have emanated from positive intentions for schools, many have been detrimental to school culture. Collaborative school culture has been cited as an essential element of school improvement; thus, a need exists to better understand how principals perceive and shape collaborative school cultures. This study examined leadership approaches and workplace conditions critical to the development of collaborative school cultures. The importance of the principal’s role in shaping collaborative culture is often noted in the literature. Using a sequential mixed methods explanatory research approach, the study consisted of two phases that …