Education Commons^™

The Nature Of Data Sources That Inform Decision-Making In Reading By Experienced Second-Grade Teachers, Margaret Mary Dinan Davis

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Studies

This qualitative research was designed to describe the nature of data sources that inform decision making in reading by experienced second grade teachers. Data was collected on seven subjects from multiple sources: seven, successive interviews, think alouds using videotaped lessons, classroom observations, and inspection of documents such as grade books, student work samples, report cards, and reading tests. Data analysis was accomplished by transcribing all data into a qualitative data base (Padilla, 1991). Text chunks were tagged and filtered by data source. Categories such as oral language and comparison of data were added as they emerged during analysis. The most …

Teacher Roles For The Twenty-First Century, James C. Onderdonk Jr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This dissertation employs a case study methodology to examine the perceptions of discrete groups of educational stakeholders about the roles of teachers in two temporal conditions: the present and the future. The study proceeded in two steps: a series of structured interviews and a card sort. Members of nine different groups with varying perspectives on education were interviewed to validate the selection of teacher roles to be used in the card sort and to generate new roles to include in the study. Initially roles were identified through a literature review, brainstorming with practitioners and consulting colleagues. Interviews included both focused …

The Effects Of An Urban Middle School Dropout Prevention Program On The Academic Achievement, Attendance, Attitudes, And Conflict Resolution Skills Of At-Risk Student, Patricia Hawkins Fisher

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an urban middle school dropout prevention program on the academic achievement, attendance, attitudes toward self and school, and conflict resolution skills of potential dropout candidates. The study compared the differences in grade point averages and Iowa Test of Basic Skills scores, percentages of absences, self concept and motivation towards school scores, and the percentage of suspensions of subjects in three middle schools in Portsmouth, Virginia. A review of literature revealed that traditional dropout prevention efforts have addressed the dropout dilemma with varying degrees of success. More recent dropout initiatives …

Linguistic Theory Applied To Teaching Practice: Looking Through Linguists' Eyes At An Urban Esl Classroom, Caroline Mary El-Kadi

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The quality of instruction in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs is of utmost concern to urban educators as more and more non-native speakers settle in urban areas and need better language skills to participate fully in American society. Training of ESL instructors is often difficult, given the limited resources of most programs. In ESL, a close study of classroom discourse has long been considered particularly useful, but undirected classroom observation is of limited use because what novices notice in the classroom is often inaccurate or irrelevant. Ways are needed to focus beginning teachers' observations. Over several decades, discourse analysts have devised methods …

Attributions For Change In Attitude Among Urban Elementary Parochial School Teachers Toward Children Who Speak Nonstandard English, Charles A. Saglio Jr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

A comparatively large number of African American children fail in urban schools. Hundreds of research studies concerning interpersonal expectations suggest a link between teacher expectancies and pupil performance. Researchers have found that teachers expect less of students who speak nonstandard English. Attempts to modify teachers' culturo-linguistic attitudes and expectations have been unsuccessful. While teachers' beliefs, theories, and attitudes change over time as a function of teaching experience, the mechanisms for change are unclear.

This study has attempted to uncover events to which teachers attribute a change in their culturo-linguistic attitudes. Once causal conditions for change have been identified, then those …

An Evaluation Of The Performance Of Retired Military Personnel Who Begin Teaching As A Second Career, Wendell Edgar Parker

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

With the increasing shortage of quality teachers, alternative certification programs have become a major source of attracting professionals from other fields and training them for the teaching profession. As a possible source of quality teachers, military retirees represent a large pool of prospective candidates. Despite their experience, and because of their alternative teacher training, the quality of their classroom performance is often questioned by both teacher unions and teacher training institutions.

This study focuses on military retirees who have been trained via an alternative certification and begun second careers as public school teachers. Specifically, this study determines the level of …

The Effects Of An Inservice Training Program For Cooperating Teachers On The Supervision Of Student Teachers In An Urban School System, Cheryl S. Baker

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The primary task of this research was to develop, implement, and evaluate an inservice training program designed to provide cooperating teachers with supervisory skills. The research design employed to evaluate this study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods and procedures. Quantitative methods included a quasi-experimental design with the inservice training program as the independent variable and the posttest measure of cooperating teacher effectiveness as the dependent variable. Participants in the investigation were 42 student teacher triads--student teachers from two large urban universities, their cooperating teachers in schools providing placements for the student teaching experience and their university supervisors. The 21 …

The Effects Of A Program To Develop Collaboration On Teacher Interactions And Norms Of Collegiality Within The School As A Workplace, Michael E. Sicignano

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the Effective Teaching Network (ETN), a program designed to develop collaboration among teachers. This study employs the pretest/posttest nonequivalent comparison group design. The treatment group (n = 75) represents an intact group of teachers who participated in the ETN pilot program. Thirty teachers participated in the direct level of treatment, and 40 teachers participated in the indirect level of treatment. The comparison group (n = 77) represents an intact group of teachers who were matched with the treatment group on teacher characteristics and pretest scores. The Professional Collegiality Questionnaire …

An Exploratory Study Of Research Utilization By Virginia Nurse Educators, Evelyn M. Clingerman

Nursing Theses & Dissertations

The purposes of this study were: to explore research utilization by three groups of Virginia nursing educators; and to determine if differences in stages of diffusion existed between nurse educators working in hospital diploma, associate degree and baccalaureate degree settings within the Commonwealth of Virginia. A stratified random sample included 28 hospital diploma, 41 associate degree and 37 baccalaureate degree nurse educators from the Commonwealth of Virginia, who completed the Nurse Educator Questionnaire (NEQ). Two free-response questions were used to identify factors which the nurse educators perceived as inhibitors and facilitators to research utilization. The results of a two-step mailed …

A Survey Of Burnout Among Dental Hygiene Educators, Sandra Boggs Ricks

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

A survey was conducted on 159 full-time dental hygiene educators in order to collect data on job satisfaction, morale, and perceived institutional/program effectiveness. Educators were chosen for the study by cluster sampling from two- and four-year accredited dental hygiene programs in the United States. The programs were selected at random from stratified groups according to type of institutional setting. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire which contained four major sections: demographic data, job satisfaction, institutional/program effectiveness, and feelings related to their position. Findings were analyzed utilizing contingency tables and Chi-Square analysis. No attempt was made to establish a cause …