Education Commons^™

'The Classroom Is A Place Where I'M Alive:' One Teacher's Reflection On Learning And Life In The Classroom, Susanna M. Steeg

Faculty Publications - College of Education

This qualitative case study of one teacher’s learning life describes how affective considerations influenced her learning and teaching. Classroom observations, interviews, and inquiry conversations informed the learning considerations that infused her first-grade classroom. The resulting descriptive vignettes showcase the various ways this experienced teacher trusted the significance of affect for her teaching and learning life together with children. This allowed her to co-construct a ‘life curriculum’ alongside students, demonstrating sensitivity to her students’ academic, social, and emotional needs.

I Want To Be The Inquiry Guy! How Research Experiences For Teachers Change Beliefs, Attitudes, And Values About Teaching Science As Inquiry, Deborah Herrington, Senetta F. Bancroft, Molly M. Edwards, Caroline J. Schairer

Peer Reviewed Articles

This qualitative study examined how and why a research experiences for teachers (RET) influenced middle and high school science teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and values about teaching science as inquiry. Changes teachers reported after participating in the RET ranged from modifying a few lessons (belief change) to a comprehensive revision of what and how they taught to better reflect inquiry (attitude change). Some teachers who described comprehensively changing their instruction also described implementing actions meant to change science education within their respective schools, not just their own classrooms (value change). We present how and why teachers went about changes in their …

Algebraic Content And Pedagogical Knowledge Of Sixth Grade Mathematics Teachers, Mariyam Shahuneeza Naseer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Algebra test scores of the Maldivian students from grade 6 through 12 are the lowest compared to any other area of mathematics. Algebra is a fundamental topic in mathematics and lays the foundation for mathematical reasoning and complex problem-solving. Research shows that strengthening algebra instruction could improve student achievement. This concurrent mixed methods study examined the algebraic content and pedagogical knowledge of 5 sixth grade mathematics teachers who teach in 5 different schools across the Maldives. Shulman's major categories of teacher knowledge and Ball, Thames, and Phelps' domains of mathematical knowledge for teaching guided this study. The research questions examined …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Leadership Practices In Urban Charter Middle Schools, Cherise Cupidore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have noted that educational manager and instructional leadership roles are vital to achieving sustainable student achievement. Ineffective leadership practices may decrease students' academic success and are a continuous concern for educators, especially for those of urban charter schools. The purpose of this study was to explore practices that leaders of urban charter middle schools have implemented to advance their schools from a priority school to a focus school designation. This multiple case study sought to identify and clarify leadership practices of successful leaders in urban charter middle schools. Leithwood and Riehl's core leadership practices model served as the basis …

A Program Evaluation Of The Comprehensive School Reform Model Making Middle Grades Work, Wycondia West

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A Program Evaluation of the Comprehensive School Reform Model Making Middle Grades Work

by

Wycondia S. West

MA, Spring Hill College, 2002

BS, Spring Hill College, 1998

Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Education

Walden University

August 2016

There is increasing concern in the United States about the academic challenges that middle grade students face. Middle schools are not meeting accountability standards, and as a result students are not being adequately prepared for high school. In response to these concerns, a state in the southeastern United States adopted a comprehensive school …

Integration Of Place-Based Education Into Science Classes From Prekindergarten Through Grade 5, Terri Adele Wade-Lyles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a large urban district in Ohio, 29.2% of Grade 5, 28.7% of Grade 8, and 45.7% of Grade 10 students passed the state test in science. School district administrators formed a community partnership with local science institutions in order to provide students with hands-on place-based learning experiences intended to improve science academic achievement in PK-Grade 5. The purpose of this qualitative program evaluation was to determine the level of implementation of that place-based program by examining the efficacy of the teachers' embedded professional development and their experiences with the training components. Bruner's theory of cognitive development was used to …

Professional Development And The Impact On Teacher Growth And Development, Sherry Kathleen Segura

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study involved examining the beliefs of teachers at one urban elementary school regarding how professional development has helped them meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study included a series of in-depth interviews with three teacher leaders. The goal was to obtain consent from them to participate in this study at their school. With a qualitative approach, this study included a narrative inquiry method to illuminate teachers' perceptions of whether professional development had a positive impact on their instruction. A series of in-depth one-on-one interviews further shed insight on which types of professional development teachers felt …

Veteran Teacher Engagement In Site-Based Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Study, Biaze L. Houston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study examined how teachers self-report their levels of engagement, which factors they believe contribute most to their engagement, and which assumptions of andragogy most heavily influence teacher engagement in site-based professional development. This study employed a convergent parallel mixed methods design to study veteran teachers' perceptions of engagement in site-based professional development using the assumptions of andragogy as the theoretical lens. The study began with both a quantitative and qualitative phase that was conducted simultaneously. The quantitative data was collected to assess teachers' reported engagement and factors influencing engagement in an ideal state. Descriptive statistics were used to …

Collegiality Among Full-Time Professors In A Mexican University: Perceptions And Challenges, Carlos Alberto Castañon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Currently, institutions of higher education in Mexico have some changes in their educational and institutional policies on training and updating of the professorate. In this context, reforms of higher education, academics have had to adapt to new forms of academic work in both ways individually and collectively. Today it is possible to identify the diversity of functions that have Mexican academics to achieve a quality education. However, today, collegial work among professors has not been solved efficiently in universities of Mexico. The current study addresses the collegiality among full-time professors in a higher education institution in Northern Mexico. The purpose …

Professional Development Needs Of Turkish Teachers In An Era Of National Reforms, Tuba Gokmenoglu, Christopher M. Clark, Ercan Kiraz

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

An emerging consensus in the teacher education literature confirms that supporting educational reforms and improving designs for national programs can be accomplished simply by maximizing the match between teachers’ expressed needs and the content by which those professional development needs are met. This paper presents an interpretation of findings on Turkish teachers’ in-service training needs during an era of massive reform. The findings indicate that teachers do not report a strong need for any professional development program content. Analyses are based on survey data from 1,730 Turkish teachers from 352 primary schools. The results raise the discussion of whether teachers …

'Being In' And 'Feeling Seen' In Professional Development As New Teachers: The Ontological Layer(Ing) Of Professional Development Practice, Andrew M. Bills, David Giles, Bev Rogers

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Dominant discourses on professional development for teachers internationally are increasingly geared to the priority of ensuring individual teachers are meeting prescribed standards-based performance benchmarks which we call ‘performativities’ in this paper. While this intent is invariably played out in individualised performance management meetings and ‘fly by’ professional development workshops, our research into a NZ primary school discovered a counter-movement at work rejecting imposed standards and preoccupations with instrumental performativites and replacing these with teacher co-constructed and contextualised capacity matrices immersed within an ‘open’ and ‘seeing’ professional learning culture of support. Within manifestations of a rich and enabling culture of professional …

Teacher Perceptions And Attitudes Of Classroom Technology Integration Related To Ipad Training, Theresa Marie Pepe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While professional development on the use of technology in the classroom aids educators to implement new teaching strategies, little is known about teachers' concerns with professional development specifically for adopting mobile technologies like iPads in their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to discover teachers' attitudes and perceptions toward teacher training for integration of the iPad into their classroom instruction. Using a case study approach and the concerns-based adoption model as a framework, this study examined teachers' concerns about their training for using the iPads in the classroom. Participants were 7 teachers from a small, suburban, Catholic K-8 school …

Perceptions Of Adult Professional Studies Instructors Regarding Developing And Transitioning Online Courses, Miah M. Skinner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although a mandate was given in an urban southern university for instructors in the Adult Professional Studies Program (APS) to begin transitioning their face-to-face courses to online curricula, few courses have been converted. The purpose of this case study was to determine APS instructors' perceptions of developing and transitioning face-to-face courses to an online format. Lewin's change theory and force field analysis provided the conceptual framework for this study. The research questions concerned the faculty's perceptions of developing and transitioning courses to an online format. A purposeful sample of fulltime and adjunct faculty, with different levels of expertise in online …

General Education Teachers' Perceptions About Teaching Students With Autism In Urban Schools, Sabrina Denise Evans

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are included or mainstreamed in general education classrooms, yet general education teachers receive little, if any, formal training for working with children with ASD. The conceptual framework for this study was differentiated instruction, which is a best practice intended to improve educational experiences for children diagnosed with ASD. The purpose of this research study was to explore general education teachers' perceptions of providing differentiated instruction to these students. The research questions examined teachers' perceptions of barriers that can affect their ability to differentiate instruction in their classrooms and strategies teachers use to facilitate …

Professional Development To Enhance Instructional Leadership And Practice Of Central Office Administrators, Cheryl A. R. Mccue

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Professional Development to Enhance Instructional Leadership and Practice of

Central Office Administrators

by

Cheryl A. R. McCue

M. Ed., Lehigh University, 1990

BS, Kutztown University, 1987

Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Education

Walden University

June 2016

Decades of research and practice suggest that educational administrators need to experience opportunities for professional development and continuous learning. This project study addressed the problem regarding the lack of a formal or systemic plan for professional development of central office administrators in a large suburban school district in northeastern United States. Supported by Lave …

Middle School Teachers' Experiences With Teaching Self-Regulation Skills To Adolescents With Disabilities, Jessica Traylor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research shows that adolescents with disabilities often lack self-regulated learning skills. Current research further indicates that explicit teaching of self-regulation skills is beneficial to adolescents with disabilities. The site of this study was a local middle school in rural Georgia that did not assess whether or not teachers were explicitly teaching self-regulation skills to adolescents with disabilities. It was unknown, therefore, whether adolescents with disabilities were learning self-regulation skills in school and whether teachers faced problems in teaching these skills. The study sought to explore this gap in knowledge and practice. Zimmerman's self-regulated learning theory and Bandura's self-efficacy theory served …

Change In Perceived Teacher Self-Efficacy Of Agricultural Educators After A Greenhouse Management Workshop, Shari R. Dutton

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Agricultural educators encounter unique teaching challenges as they teach applications of plant production in the greenhouse classroom. The teacher self-efficacy construct has been used broadly to link student learning outcomes to teachers' beliefs in their ability to attain certain instructional goals in the classroom. Few studies have used this construct to examine teacher-efficacy in the greenhouse classroom. This study uses the teacher self-efficacy construct within the agricultural educator domain. It seeks to measure change in agricultural educator self-efficacy beliefs using established self-efficacy scales to determine if a professional development experience in greenhouse operation and management effects educator beliefs in their …

Outcomes Of Professional Development For Rural Community College Leaders, William Thompson Thompson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

To mitigate the loss of experienced administrators, community college leaders create internal grow-your-own (GYO) leadership development programs. Although the purpose of these programs is to ensure institutional efficacy by developing a pipeline of administrative and faculty leaders, little attention has been given to learning about the participants' post-program career advancement over time. Consequently, the value of GYO leadership training for participants is not well known. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the post-program professional development of a group of participants 2 years after completing a rural community college GYO leadership program. The conceptual framework was guided …

Junior High School Teachers' Perceptions Of Math Instruction For African American Students, Sandra Denise Richardson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A mathematics achievement gap exists between 8th grade African American students and other ethnic groups. Guided by the conceptual framework of constructivism, the purpose of this case study was to examine 8, Grade 8 math teachers' perceptions of factors contributing to mathematical performance gap in their African American students and what instructional strategies can be used to help reduce the achievement gap in southwest Georgia. Data were obtained through interviews and classroom observations and were coded and analyzed using typological analysis, followed by inductive analysis. The results of the data revealed teachers perceived recruiting and retaining African American teachers and …

Teachers' Perspectives On Reading Interventions Implemented To Low Achieving Second Graders, Kendra Yvette Coles-Hart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a Mid-Atlantic school district, the administration of standardized assessments begins in third grade. Over the past 3 years, these assessments revealed that an average of 37% of third graders in the local district did not possess necessary reading skills, although over 86% of this group received intervention support in second and third grade. It is unclear how effective the implementations of various interventions are in instruction with struggling second graders to prepare them for the rigors of third grade. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore the perspectives of 9 second grade teachers on research-based interventions …

Social Studies Teachers' Use Of Differentiated Instruction To Help Struggling Learners, Nicole Waid

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students in a local rural northeastern high school have demonstrated decreasing academic performance in social studies courses for the past 5 years. The purpose of this bounded qualitative case study of the local social studies department was to investigate how social studies teachers and administrators for grades 7-12 describe differentiated instruction (DI) and professional development in DI. This study was grounded in the zone of proximal development, which stressed the importance of providing instruction at students' instructional levels, and DI, which emphasized tailoring instruction to address students' needs. Three research questions focused on how social studies teachers and administrators viewed …

Math Coaching In Metropolitan Detroit, Monica G. Mcleod

Wayne State University Dissertations

On-going professional development for in-service teachers is critical to efforts to reform schools and increase student achievement. Coaching has been advocated as an approach to meet the conditions of quality professional development, and it has demonstrated a positive impact on student mathematics achievement scores when implemented over multiple years. Ambiguity of title, definition, and role surround coaching, presenting challenges to its execution in schools.

This study proposed a definition of Enacted Math Coaching to help address this ambiguity. As schools throughout Metropolitan Detroit adopt coaching as a component of school reform initiatives, the purpose of this study was to document …

Characteristics Of Effective Reading Language Arts Teachers In Closing The Achievement Gap, Latasha Price Bassette

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined an urban school district in the southern United States that continued to experience student achievement gaps despite the implementation of initiatives as the African American Success Initiative. The school leadership needed a deeper understanding regarding what strategies were successful with closing the achievement gap. Using Gay's theory of cultural responsive pedagogy, the purpose of this study was to identify inward attributes, outward strategies, and professional development perceptions of teachers with no achievement gap among ethnically diverse students. Employing an instrumental case study design, 8 middle school reading teachers who closed the reading achievement gap were interviewed; these …

Preparing Faculty To Teach Online: Promoting Success In The Online Classroom, Julia Babcock Hamilton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Distance learning students at a community college in the southeast United States were not completing their coursework as well as were students enrolled in traditional courses. This disparity was negatively affecting the institution's state performance measures, putting at risk the institution's state-based funding under the state's performance model. The purpose of this qualitative, bounded case study was to explore faculty experiences with online course professional development and faculty's teaching practices related to successful student online course completion. Chickering and Gamson's 'Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education' served as the study's conceptual foundation. Distance learning faculty (n = 10), …

Afterschool Program Effects On English Learners' Reading And Teachers' Reading Curriculum Perceptions, Helen Marie Mayfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This project study addressed the problem of 3rd grade English language learners (ELLs) not passing the state mandated reading test at the same rate as other students between 2009 and 2013 in Georgia. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of an elementary school's afterschool program (ASP) on ELLs' reading achievements and to investigate 3rd grade afterschool teachers' perceptions of the reading curriculum using a mixed methods explanatory sequential design. Schema theory, the framework used to guide this study, indicated prior knowledge and experiences are necessary to comprehend new ideas or concepts. Prior knowledge and experiences can …

Differentiation For Content Area Literacy: Middle School Teachers' Perceptions And Practices, Beth Ann Oswald

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent studies support the use of differentiated instruction (DI) to improve literacy in content area classrooms. At the same time, research has found that few teachers implement DI purposefully or consistently. Accordingly, a case study design was used to explore middle school content area teachers' understanding and implementation of DI for content literacy at a site where it is an integral component of the response to intervention (RTI) process. The conceptual framework for this study was principles of differentiation, as defined and discussed by Tomlinson. Research questions were framed to examine how middle school content area teachers defined and implemented …

Internet Technology As A Means Of Delivering Reading Instruction In The Content Areas, Kimberly Rose Pintok

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to students not meeting minimum proficiency levels in reading, a central Florida middle school that was rated an A school for 4 years consecutively dropped to a B rating during the 2012-2013 school year and was 10 points away from dropping to a C rating in the 2013-2014 school year. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe classroom implementation of Internet technology in a middle school classroom in an attempt to address the steady decline in reading scores. Guided by Piaget, Dewey, and Vygotsky's social constructivist view of education, this study explored if and how teachers used …

Meeting The Unique Needs Of Teachers Of Students At Risk Of Not Graduating, Meike Lee Mcdonald

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers who are not adequately prepared to teach struggling students often seek employment elsewhere rather than be ineffective with those students. When teachers leave the classroom, this has a vast impact on student learning. For the past 9 years, a high school in the southeast United States for students at risk of not graduating has had an average annual teacher turnover rate of 31.25%, nearly twice the national rate of 15.9%. The purpose of this study was to learn the kinds of training and knowledge teachers believed would help them to succeed in teaching students struggling to graduate. Constructivist theory …

Exploring College Instructors' Integration Of Technology Into Their Curriculum, Junior George Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Technology integration in the curriculum remains a challenge at different levels in the education system. In one Caribbean 4-year college, faculty are expected to prepare preservice teachers to integrate technology in classroom instruction. When preservice teachers are not prepared for technology integration, interventions are necessary to address this challenge of technology integration. The purpose of this qualitative bounded intrinsic case study was to gain an understanding of the process of technology integration by instructors at the research site. Davies' theory for understanding technological literacy and the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge model conceptually framed this study. A purposeful sample of …

Faculty Knowledge And Use Of Best Practices In Online Professional Continuing Education, Gladys Montane

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A recent mandate by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists requires that U.S. radiologic technologists complete continuous qualification requirements (CQR). This study examined faculty skills and practices at an American university that developed online CQR courses in response to this mandate. It was specifically designed to assess the knowledge and skills of this university's faculty with regard to best practices in an online learning environment, so as to provide the basis for meeting faculty needs in distance education. Dewey's work on constructivism served as the framework guiding this study. A qualitative, intrinsic case study was employed to collect data using …