Education Commons^™

Beginning Teachers' Perceptions Of Preparedness: A Teacher Education Program's Transferability And Impact On The Secondary English/Language Arts Classroom, Mary C. Thompson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

In October 2009, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared in a speech to Columbia University’s Teacher’s College that many university teacher preparation programs are outdated and must undergo major reform in order to produce high quality teachers needed to improve academic achievement for all students (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Duncan stated that “America’s university-based teacher preparation programs need revolutionary change – not evolutionary tinkering” (U.S. Department of Education, 2009, p.2). To improve student success in the classroom, policy makers must understand the key role well-trained teachers play in achieving this goal (Boyd, Lankford, Clothfelter, Ladd & Vigdor, …

Teaching For Social Justice With Standards-Based Secondary English Language Arts Curriculum, Alison George Dover

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

Teaching for social justice is the attempt by classroom teachers to use their position in the classroom to promote social and educational reform within and despite current educational conditions and mandates. However, while a growing number of K-12 teachers have published anecdotal reports of their attempts to teach for social justice in secondary classrooms (e.g., Bender-Slack, 2007; Christensen, 2000; Singer, 2005), there is great variability among these accounts, and scant evaluation of their impact on specific academic, behavioral/motivational, and attitudinal outcomes (see Grant & Agosto, 2008; Kelly & Brandes, 2008; Poplin & Rivera, 2005).

This qualitative study addresses this research …