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Teacher Leadership In The Context Of Chinese Education, Chudi Zhou, Qian Yang, Ying Dong, Xiaoying Wang

Dissertations

In response to addressing the increasing requirements to enhance the competencies of students and teachers, as well as the quality of schools in the global environment, the need for fostering teacher leadership has been proposed by many scholars and practitioners. School context is regarded as an important influence on the successful development of teacher leadership. While many studies related to teacher leadership have been reported in Western countries, a limited number of studies have been reported within the Chinese educational context. We also observed that among the limited studies, there was a lack of empirical research on how schools provide …

Promoting Mentally Healthy Classrooms: Evaluation Of Online Mental Health Literacy Instruction In Pre-Service Teacher Education, E. Robyn Masters

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

To better understand how to prepare large numbers of pre-service teachers for their role in creating and leading mentally healthy classrooms, this program evaluation explores outcomes related to an online mental health literacy course at a large central Canadian university. The course was delivered to 275 teacher education students simultaneously over 10-weeks and 20-hours of online instruction and professional reflection. Results indicated significant improvement in self-reported levels of mental health literacy, stigma toward mental illness, and self-efficacy for teaching students with diverse challenges. Qualitative reviews of participant feedback identified the most valuable aspects of the course and the ways in …

Fostering Leadership In High School: Development And Validation Of Student Leadership Capacity Building Scales, Lindsay Beth Lyons

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study developed a set of scales to measure building student leadership capacity in high schools. Student leadership is defined here as students working collaboratively to affect positive change in their educational environments with support from adults and mechanisms in the school. Fostering student leadership in schools has the potential to improve student development and academic achievement. The three scales are organized into three capacity building dimensions: personal, interpersonal, and organizational. Within each scale, items reflect leadership competencies of critical awareness, inclusivity, and positivity. Eight mechanisms identified from the student voice literature were also embedded in the items: radical collegiality, …

Spoken Spanish Language Development At The High School Level: A Mixed-Methods Study, Aleidine Kramer Moeller, Janine Theiler

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Communicative approaches to teaching language have emphasized the centrality of oral proficiency in the language acquisition process, but research investigating oral proficiency has been surprisingly limited, yielding an incomplete understanding of spoken language development. This study investigated the development of spoken language at the high school level over five consecutive years, involving more than 1,500 students representing 23 school districts. Quantitative Standards-Based Measure of Proficiency speaking scores and student-produced qualitative spoken samples (n > 6,000 samples) contributed to an understanding of the development of spoken language. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) revealed a consistent growth trajectory of spoken language development, and results …

Classroom Teachers Learning To Navigate The Internet For Increasing Student Critical Reading And Writing Skills: A Mixed Methods Study, Meleah S. Mcculley

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this mixed methods case study was a three-month professional development workshop designed to guide junior high school classroom teachers as they learned to integrate new literacies skills into their curriculum. The participants were all educators in one district that was in the process of transitioning to the Common Core State Standards and the SMARTER Balanced Assessments. Significant gains were obtained in teachers’ self-reported personal technology knowledge and technology experiences during the study. Along with the gains, factors were seen that might impede teachers from learning about or using the Internet for academic purposes.

Math, Science, And Social Studies Teachers' Attitudes Toward Diversity And Accommodation Of Diversity With Reference To Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Seventh, Eighth, And Ninth Grade Students In A Mid-South State, Nadia Khrais

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was exploring seventh, eighth, and ninth grade teachers' attitudes and beliefs in response to classroom diversity and how that is reflected on their instruction, learning styles, communication patterns, instrumental materials, and assessment patterns in math, science, and Social studies subject areas. In this mixed-method research, the designed survey consisted of 59 questions based on Likert scale and obtained information of ten demographic factors. The survey was delivered in two formats (online link and hard copy) to the participating schools in three urban school districts in a Mid-South State. The survey data were analyzed by using …

Exploring Student Perceptions To Explain The Relationship Between Physical Activity And Academic Achievement In Adolescents: A Mixed Methods Study, Megan J. Hylok

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A nationwide survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control in 2007 reported 65% of high school students did not meet the recommendation that youth participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week (CDC, 2008). While research has focused its attention primarily on bodily health, growing evidence supports the benefits of physical activity on brain health (Ratey & Hagerman, 2008). Physical activity is important and many adolescents are not meeting the recommendation, therefore, it is important to explore the adolescent perceptions to understand which factors influence physical activity participation. The significance of this study …

A Mixed Methods Study Of How The Transition Process Impacts The Autonomy Of Pre-Service Secondary Mathematics Teachers, Linda Kasal Fusco

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This mixed methods study sought to identify the impact that transition into the practice of teaching had on the autonomy of pre-service secondary teachers of Mathematics. It was based on the belief that a Mathematics teacher’s autonomy depended on: beliefs about Mathematics and how it was learned, reflections on the teaching practice, and social constraints of a secondary school culture. Data was collected between January 2009 and March 2010. In Phase I (Quantitative) the participants (N = 30), selected from ten State University of New York teacher preparation colleges and universities, completed five instruments to quantify the three factors of …

The Effects Of Reflective Thinking On Middle School Students’ Academic Achievement And Perceptions Of Related Instructional Practices: A Mixed Methods Study, David Denton

Theses and Dissertations

The problem investigated in this study was whether instructional practices, which characterize reflective thinking, aided in the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment at the classroom level. Participants included 259 seventh grade students, 126 female and 133 male, from 10 intact social studies classrooms. The investigator used an explanatory mixed methods design, which included a quantitative and qualitative phase.

The first phase involved testing the effects of an intervention, administered for 23 days, on students’ academic achievement according to a content-specific test. In addition, this phase involved a questionnaire used to assess student perceptions of the intervention. Results of the …