Education Commons^™

Teacher Candidate Supervision For Social Justice: Orientations, Practices, And Challenges, Andrew E. Hood

Journal of Educational Supervision

The need for teachers who are thoughtful and attentive to issues of social justice is more apparent now than ever before. Teacher education can and should be tasked with preparing teachers to serve a student population that is becoming more diverse over time. As teacher educators who function within both the university coursework and student teaching fieldwork spaces, teacher candidate supervisors are well-positioned to support candidates to make sense of and incorporate social justice-centered practices in their teaching. Building on the findings of Jacobs (2006), a comprehensive literature review of journal articles published in the last 20+ years revealed that …

Learning From Faculty Mentors Who Had To Mentor And Evaluate Teacher Candidates Completing A Remote Practicum In The Early Stages Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In Canada, Sheryl Macmath, Deirdre Degagne

Journal of Educational Supervision

In the Spring of 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic impacted all aspects of life throughout the world, including education. Teachers who had never taught online before, all of a sudden had one week to get ready to engage with their students in a virtual setting. On top of these changes, our small post-degree Canadian teacher education program had teacher candidates on practicum in K-12 schools. That meant our faculty mentors, responsible for recommending teacher candidates for certification, had to figure out how to mentor, support, and evaluate teacher candidates who were teaching remotely. This research aimed to address the following …

Toward A Renewal Of Supervisory Scholarship And Practice In Teacher Education: A Collaborative Self-Study, Brandon M. Butler, Rebecca West Burns, Craig Willey

Journal of Educational Supervision

University supervision of teacher candidates is a well-recognized component of teacher preparation. However, teacher education has long devalued supervision, largely relying upon retired teachers, administrators, and graduate students to serve as supervisors, often with little training or support. Although clinical practice has received increased focus among accrediting bodies, supervision as a field of scholarship and practice continues to receive little support within institutions or attention in teacher education. As supervision practitioners and scholars, the three authors engaged in collaborative self-study, sharing and interrogating professional autobiographies and narratives related to supervision, to make sense of institutional and professional contexts and to …

Relational Supervision: Jegnaship And Eldering As Emancipatory Pedagogy For Black Teacher Supervision, Michael Strozier Jr., Melanie M. Acosta

Journal of Educational Supervision

The case delves into the historical and cultural roots of African education, emphasizing the vital role of elders and community in the learning process. It examines the impact of African educational philosophies, particularly from the Nile and Niger river valleys, on the development of character, humanness, and spirituality. The case explores the adaptation of these philosophies by African people during the Middle Passage and their application in Western contexts for the supervision of African American teachers. By interweaving culture, history, education, and storytelling, the authors aim to highlight the unique contributions of African American educational experiences. They argue that these …

Early Childhood Field Experience Supervision: Negotiating Praxis, Amy L. Kelly

Journal of Educational Supervision

This case examines the complex partnership between the university teacher education program and the host school district. Many factors contribute to the expectations and requirements of both institutions, which can at times, conflict in fundamental ways. The theoretical and research-based methods of early childhood coursework are often different than the reality of those classrooms. Furthermore, the adoption of initiatives like, Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading standards by university teacher education programs must translate to the fieldwork. School and district-wide mandates often overrule best pedagogical and developmentally appropriate practices. With these opposing perspectives how can supervisors bridge the gap between the …

Barriers To Use Of Cross-Laminated Timber In Maine, Shane R. O'Neill

Forest Resources Faculty Scholarship

To increase understanding of both the adoption rate and in-state manufacturing of mass timber In Maine, the 131^st Legislature and Governor Mills passed LD 881, a resolve directing a study of the barriers facing cross-laminated timber In Maine and provide recommendations to promote their use in construction. This study was developed in response to the resolve. The study engaged 108 unique participants to define available training, education, and experiences across the stakeholders throughout the building lifecycle process in the state.

From this information, the following five recommendations are proposed:

1. Understand the policies and initiatives of other states to develop …

Attracting, Training, And Retaining A Skilled And Ready Workforce To Support Maine’S Seafood Economy, Keri Kaczor, Anne Langston Noll

Maine Policy Review

Despite the many challenges, the entirety of Maine’s seafood economy—from harvesting, transportation and logistics, marketing, and food service—still offers valuable employment and career opportunities. Understanding training needs and career aspirations, as well as how they align to available training and career opportunities is key to addressing the challenges of recruiting, training and retaining a skilled and ready workforce. Findings from recent projects assessing workforce training needs, preferred training formats, existing workforce barriers, and incentives will be shared as well as input from educators and others who support the industry. Recommendations for investment and new programs to support the industry include: …

"We Ultimately Just Need To Connect" Engaging In A Digital World: Perceptions From Families And Educators During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Anne Marie C. Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Henderson & Berla (1994) state “the evidence is now beyond dispute. When schools work together with families to support learning, children tend to succeed not just in school, but throughout life” (p.1). The objective of this study was to explore how the COVID19 pandemic changed the way elementary educators needed to connect and develop relationships with the families of their students. This study addressed the broad research question of how elementary teachers and families perceived their interactions through remote modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic using focus groups from rural central Maine. They also discussed what technology and digital modalities were …

A Collaborative Self-Study Of Supervisors In A University-Based Literacy Clinic: Exploring Tensions In Support, Feedback, And Conflict Resolution, Hannah Carter, Jadelyn Abbott, Lauren Herzberg, Annie Hindman, Pam Swainston

Journal of Educational Supervision

This article reports on a collaborative self-study conducted by five supervisors in a university-based literacy clinic. Over two semesters of mentoring elementary teacher candidates, we met weekly and reflected biweekly. The purpose of this research was to identify the tensions that supervisors were contemplating as they mentored and supervised candidates. Our findings indicate that we were grappling with ways to 1) provide candidates with equitable support; 2) guide candidates, rather than tell them what to do; and 3) confront conflict. By detailing the ways we reflected on and explored these tensions, we include suggestions for teacher education supervision and teacher …

An Investigation Of The Instructional Norms Of Mathematical Communication When Students Present Geometry Proofs At The Board, Bukola T. Ake

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Expert mathematical communication is a synthesis of speaking, writing, diagramming, and gesturing. What opportunities are there for secondary mathematics students to learn the discipline-specific ways in which these modalities can be combined to communicate proofs? In an initial effort to investigate this question, Dimmel and Herbst (2020) conducted a multimedia survey experiment to test a hypothesis about how secondary mathematics teachers expect students to communicate when presenting proofs at the board in secondary geometry classrooms. Their hypothesis, based on an analysis of episodes of instruction from a small sample of secondary geometry classrooms, was that teachers expected student presentations of …

Horizon Content Knowledge And Its Integration Into Physics Education Research: Case Study Analysis On Physical Science And Physics Teachers, Trevor A. Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers focused on just one year of instruction may neglect what students need most– a coherent structure of learning across disciplines that advances students’ understanding. The topic of coherence has been a major motivator for education research, including investigations in student- teacher interactions, epistemological beliefs, and large-scale curricular reform. One framework of knowledge, horizon content knowledge (HCK), can aid in describing the knowledge a teacher needs to see beyond their own instruction and provide a coherent structure for students.

While horizon content knowledge exists in one of the most widely adopted teacher frameworks of knowledge in mathematics, mathematical knowledge for …

“Defunding” Race In Field Supervision Contexts: Deconstructing And Responding To White Preservice Teachers’ Majoritarian Narratives, Kimberly Oamek

Journal of Educational Supervision

Teachers must robustly understand how race and racism operate both in and out of the classroom to structure inequity. However, the existence of a deeply entrenched majoritarian mindset remains a principal obstacle to preparing such teachers. In this empirical paper, the author draws on the critical race theory construct of “majoritarian storytelling” (Delgado, 1989) to make visible and examine the narratives told by white preservice teachers upon completion of their preparation programs. The author finds that white preservice teachers’ explanations for racially disparate school outcomes align closely with a majoritarian mindset and employ devices characteristic of longstanding majoritarian stories. After …

Assessing Teacher Turnover: Distribution Of Inexperienced Teachers And Emergency-Certified Teachers In Maine Schools, Flynn Ross

Maine Policy Review

Teacher turnover is a growing problem nationwide and has been found to be concentrated in high poverty districts. This study examined the uneven distribution of inexperienced teachers and emergency certified teachers across Maine’s largest school districts. Maine follows the national trend of higher proportions of inexperienced teachers in school districts with higher concentrations of low-income students. Given the known relationship between teacher experience and teacher effectiveness, this pattern further exacerbates educational inequities.

Shaping Educator Sensemaking In Complex Systems? Policy-Directed Teacher Evaluation Models As Boundary Objects, Kelley M. King, Noelle A. Paufler, Rachel L. Biritz, Ryan M. Smits

Journal of Educational Supervision

This study examined a state-wide, policy-directed teacher evaluation model implemented across public schools and educator preparation programs. Such models are grounded in a theory of action that situates teacher learning within social relationships, yet does not account for the complexity of systems. Results challenge policy’s implicit theory that an evaluation model can function as a boundary object to create a common understanding of good teaching and positively impact teacher professional practice. We found contradictory evidence that the model served as a boundary object that facilitated shared sensemaking as mediated understandings of good teaching collided with expectations in classroom contexts.

A Question-Based Framework For Co-Constructing Supervision In Clinically Based Teacher Preparation, Logan Rutten

Journal of Educational Supervision

The field of teacher education has embraced robust models of clinically based teacher preparation. In part because these models rely upon school-university partnerships for which shared missions are an essential component, they also demand increasingly complex, co-constructed conceptions of supervision to support teacher candidates’ learning during clinical practice. However, even as the need for supervision has grown, good supervision is seldom clearly defined. Many supervisors begin supervising largely underprepared for the complexity of their work in clinical settings. In response to these challenges, this paper proposes a framework for co-constructing supervision consisting of four key components—conceptions, models, tasks, and techniques—that …

Reliability Evidence For The Nc Teacher Evaluation Process Using A Variety Of Indicators Of Inter-Rater Agreement, T. Scott Holcomb, Richard Lambert, Bryndle L. Bottoms

Journal of Educational Supervision

In this study, various statistical indexes of agreement were calculated using empirical data from a group of evaluators (n = 45) of early childhood teachers. The group of evaluators rated ten fictitious teacher profiles using the North Carolina Teacher Evaluation Process (NCTEP) rubric. The exact and adjacent agreement percentages were calculated for the group of evaluators. Kappa, weighted Kappa, Gwet’s AC1, Gwet’s AC2, and ICCs were used to interpret the level of agreement between the group of raters and a panel of expert raters. Similar to previous studies, Kappa statistics were low in the presence of high levels of …

Agency Of In-Service Elementary Science Teachers During A Global Pandemic, Anica Miller-Rushing

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In-service teachers of science work with unique content and pedagogical experiences. Understanding teacher agency in these circumstances will help researchers understand the actions that these teachers take, actions that are consequential for shaping teaching patterns and supporting the development of students’ scientific practices. The purpose of this study was to understand how the agency of six elementary (K–5) in-service teachers was expressed discursively during a global pandemic. The teachers’ agency was qualitatively analyzed using a case study approach (Yin, 2012, 2017) that applied discourse analysis to identify the ways in which science teacher agency is conceptualized, afforded, and constrained through …

Assessing Teacher Candidates’ Pedagogical Judgement: An Analysis Of Clinically-Based Instructional Assignments, Sonia Janis, Mardi Schmeichel, Joseph Mcanulty, Chantelle Grace, Kaitlin Wegrzyn

Journal of Educational Supervision

Research on clinically-based teacher education indicates that facilitating clinical experiences for teacher candidates improves their preparation for the profession. While we have answered the call to implement rich clinical experiences in our teacher education program, we have found that we also needed to design new, robust strategies to assess what the candidates are taking away from their clinical experiences. This paper describes our use of Horn and Campbell’s (2015) notion of “pedagogical judgment” to analyze the work of social studies teacher candidates in clinical placements. We describe a rubric developed to evaluate candidates’ pedagogical judgment and offer insights into the …

Semiotic Analysis Of A Foundational Textbook Used Widely Across Educational Supervision, Dwayne Ray Cormier, Toshna Pandey

Journal of Educational Supervision

This article details a semiotic analysis of a foundational textbook used widely across the field of supervision. The purpose of this study was to explore how signs associated with key concepts in education may actualize through the work of supervision. The textbook served as a proxy for supervisors’ professional disposition and subsequent praxis within educational leadership and teacher education programs and U.S. PreK-12 school systems. Additionally, investigators served as proxies for equity-minded supervisors through an analytical framework, which centers race and cultural differences within the broader context of social justice. This investigation drew from the following theoretical constructions: (a) Sociocultural …

Supervision To Deepen Teacher Candidates’ Understanding Of Social Justice: The Role Of Responsive Mediation In Professional Development Schools, Megan E. Lynch

Journal of Educational Supervision

Those responsible for supervising teacher candidates have an obligation to promote socially just pedagogies. In this paper, I investigate my own supervisory practice as a novice supervisor in my mediation of a teacher candidate’s understanding of social justice. I rely on a sociocultural theoretical perspective (Vygotsky, 1978) and the psychological tool of responsive mediation (Johnson & Golombek, 2016) for my supervisory practice and an anti-capitalist interpretation of socially just teaching (Apple, 2004; Ayers, 2010; Bowles & Gintis, 2011). Through a microgenetic analysis (Wertsch, 1985) of a post-observation transcript, I empirically document the developmental opportunities that take place over a span …

Critical Reflection, Dialogue, And Supervision: Culturally Relevant Teaching And Adult Learners In A Transition To Teaching Program, Erik Shaver, Alycia Elfreich

Journal of Educational Supervision

This project examines the supervisory roles and clinical experiences in a School of Education program that offers multiple pathways to licensure, including the Transition to Teaching (T2T) alternative route to certification program. Through our reflective supervisory and instructional experiences within this program, we explore the unique challenges in supervising non-traditional adult learners entering into teaching after experience in various professional disciplines. We use a Critical Whiteness Studies lens to create a composite narrative of these experiences as an approach to 1) better understand adult learner dispositions; 2) contribute to research pertaining to the field of educational supervision and clinical experiences …

Exploring The Impact Of Field-Based Supervision Practices In Teaching For Social Justice, Detra Price-Dennis, Erica Colmenares

Journal of Educational Supervision

The purpose of this study is to understand how field-based supervisory practices support preservice teachers’ conceptualizations of reflective practice, curriculum inquiry, and social justice-oriented pedagogies. Moving away from the more traditional supervisory triad model (e.g., preservice student--cooperating teacher--university supervisor), our qualitative investigation examined five supervisory practices: formal observation, Lesson Study, video debriefs/observations, guided observations, and participation in Intellectual Learning Communities (ILCs). Through a case study of two preservice teachers, this study highlights how these supervisory practices helped support preservice teachers’ notions of reflective practice and curriculum inquiry but did not deepen their notions of social justice and inclusivity.

Investigating The Attitudes, Beliefs And Practices Of High School Chemistry Teachers Regarding The Differentiation Of Instruction, Anna Tyrina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Differentiation of instruction (DI) is a broad term used for a group of pedagogical tools that teachers use to individualize instruction for students of different abilities and needs. Differentiation of instruction is a practice that has been researched and characterized to have a variety of instructional benefits, some of which include increased student motivation and engagement (Tomlinson, 2001). This study sought to characterize the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of ten high school chemistry teachers in Maine regarding the differentiation of instruction. Through a phenomenological approach, interviews with these teachers were analyzed to understand how high school chemistry teachers define differentiated …

Using Peer Supports To Improve Positive-To-Negative Teacher/Student Interaction Ratios By Novice Teachers, Karen Robbie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A critical teacher shortage continues to exist throughout the United States. Challenges with student behavior and classroom management are identified as a top reason for teacher attrition. Educational research has demonstrated that PreK-12 students who receive social-emotional-behavioral support through evidence-based classroom management (EBCM) practices are more likely to achieve academic success. When teachers deliver high ratios of positive interactions to their students, positive student outcomes are likely to occur. However, researchers have consistently found that, like other EBCM practices, this low-intensity, high-impact practice is typically implemented at significantly lower levels than necessary to promote positive student outcomes. This implementation gap …

Certification Patterns Of Grades K-8 Teachers In Maine Public Schools, Amy F. Johnson, Lisa Morris

Maine Education Policy Research Institute

No abstract provided.

Kindergarten Screening Tools Used By Maine Public School Districts, Amy F. Johnson

Maine Education Policy Research Institute

No abstract provided.

Telehealth Support Services For Students In Maine Schools Before And After The Covid Pandemic, Patricia Lech, Amy F. Johnson

Maine Education Policy Research Institute

No abstract provided.

Extended Learning Opportunity (Elo) Programs In Maine High Schools, Lauren Saenz, Amy F. Johnson, Matt Pines

Maine Education Policy Research Institute

No abstract provided.

Mainecare Billing In Public School Districts, Amy F. Johnson, Patricia Lech

Maine Education Policy Research Institute

No abstract provided.

School-Community Partnerships In Maine, Janet C. Fairman, Catharine C. Biddle, Ming Tso Chien

Maine Education Policy Research Institute

No abstract provided.