Education Commons^™

Highlighting Teacher Voices: Discussions On Race And Racism In The Elementary Classroom, Carrie Lynn Buckner

Doctoral Dissertations

Throughout my career in education, I have observed that teachers are challenged by engaging in discussions involving race and racism. This study seeks to understand teachers’ feelings further when discussing race and racism in the elementary classroom by answering the research question: How do elementary teachers experience race and racism in their schools and classrooms?

This qualitative, critical narrative inquiry dissertation focused on three participant interviews with public-school elementary teachers in Tennessee. The data generated from these interviews informed narratives and were then analyzed through the lens of Critical Race Theory. This was followed by In Vivo and structural coding …

"I Can't Say That I Hate It": Reading And Ela Teachers' Experiences With A Scripted Curriculum, Amanda Rigell

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand how teachers implemented, modified, or resisted the implementation of a scripted English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum. This critical case study used qualitative interviews to investigate reading and ELA teachers’ experiences with implementing a scripted ELA curriculum in a single school district. Findings include teachers’ observations about the role of the curriculum in their teaching, the role of their self-efficacy as teachers, the role of reciprocal trust between administrators and teachers, and the role of power in the adoption and implementation of the curriculum. These findings may be of interest to school and …

Exploring The Experiences Of Teachers In A Bilingual Immersion Environment, Paloma Cordova

Doctoral Dissertations

The following qualitative study provides a theoretical analysis of teachers’ experiences and interactions at a progressive Mandarin immersion school. Missing from the current literature based on immersion education are the narratives of teachers, specifically international teachers from diverse teaching backgrounds in foreign language settings. An integration of Mandarin and a progressive framework is unique and therefore illuminating their voices is vital to the field of education specifically as they contribute to the growth of prospective mandarin immersion schools in the US. This study included fifteen participants who identified the ways in which their own personal reflections as pedagogues changed over …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of A Mindfulness-Based Social Emotional Learning Program On Kindergarteners’ Risk For Social, Academic, And Emotional Problems, Molly Alvin

Doctoral Dissertations

This intervention study explored the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based social emotional learning program, Calmer Choice, on kindergarten students’ risk for social, academic, and emotional problems. The study used a quasi-experimental design with two measures collected as pretests and posttests for students in an intervention group and students in a wait-list control group. Kindergarten teachers completed the Social Academic Emotional Behavior Rating Scale (SAEBRS; Kilgus & von der Embse, 2014) and the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-mini (DESSA-mini; Naglieri, LeBuffe & Shapiro, 2014) for each student at these two time points. The intervention, Calmer Choice, consisted of 16 lessons taught twice a …

Investigating The Extent Of Collaboration Between Jesuit Administrators And Non-Jesuit Faculty And Staff In Jesuit Secondary Schools In The Eastern Africa Province: Staying True To Mission, Stephen Nzyoki Nduati

Doctoral Dissertations

Investigating the Extent of Collaboration Between Jesuit Administrators and non-Jesuit Faculty and Staff in Jesuit Secondary Schools in the Eastern Africa Province: Staying True to Mission

The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is well known for its educational institutions. Over the years, Jesuits have run excellent schools all over the world. However, Jesuits have also realized the increasing need to incorporate non-Jesuits more fully in their ministry. This dynamic of deeper incorporation of non-Jesuits into Jesuit works is referenced as collaboration.

To enhance this collaboration, Jesuits have produced documents that advocate for collaboration, delineated the path to accomplish collaboration, and the …

Understanding The Relationship Between Teacher And Organizational Intercultural Competency In International Schools: A Mixed Methods Study, Sally Emily Hirsch

Doctoral Dissertations

The number of international schools and their student populations are increasing around the world. These schools are culturally diverse educational spaces, providing opportunities for cultural understanding but also cultural conflicts. Teachers working in international schools need to be able to provide culturally relevant and responsive curriculum as well as be able to communicate effectively and appropriately with students, other teachers, administrators and parents. Research shows that students do best academically when taught by teachers who are interculturally competent yet there is a gap in current research on how this skill is developed in international teachers, and identified by school leaders. …

Implicit Theories And Perceptions Of Academic Changes Among Teachers In Lasallian Secondary Schools In The San Francisco New Orleans District, Heidi M. Harrison

Doctoral Dissertations

A central issue in education is whether teachers are preparing students to succeed and serve a rapidly changing world. In Catholic Lasallian schools, teachers are called to accomplish the Church’s ministry of education and therefore to continually renew and adapt their practices to prepare students for their contemporary society and to live out Christian values in service to others.

This study focused on the fundamental beliefs and perceptions of teachers who implement academic changes in Lasallian schools. It utilized the psychological framework of implicit theories (Dweck, 2000) as its theoretical rationale. The purpose of the study was to investigate the …

Reflections Of Parents And Teachers On The Process Of Daily Transitions Into Infant-Toddler Child Care, Linda Carol Traum

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study considered seven parents’ and three teachers’ values, beliefs, perspectives and meanings of within the context of daily home-to-child care transitions in one infant-toddler center in a Southeastern land-grant university early childhood laboratory school. Sociocultural and attachment theories anchored the study and the developmental niche conceptual framework informed the methodology. Primary methodologies included naturalistic observations, video tapes of transitions and parent and teacher interviews using the video stimulated recall interview (VSRI) method. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method, creating vignettes, and ensuring trustworthiness through the creation of thick descriptions, triangulation of data, and reflective journaling. Findings …

Understanding Contradictions In Teacher-Learner Identity, Digital Video, And Goal-Directed Activity In A Blended Graduate Reading Education Course, Jennifer K. Lubke

Doctoral Dissertations

More teachers are experiencing professional development within blended/virtual learning communities, which I consider a fruitful avenue for expansion of new literacies in K-12 classrooms. However, new literacies challenge traditional structures in education even as new rules of corporate-sponsored reform and high-stakes accountability serve to reinforce these structures. Within this context of contradictions, a cohort of teachers from a rural, remote county in the southeast United States participated in a blended learning environment in their final semester of graduate-level coursework in Reading Education. Some of the teacher-learners, whose own attitudes and motivations toward technology were as diverse as the tools themselves, …

Complicating Whiteness: Identifications Of Veteran White Teachers In Multicultural Settings, Anthony Miele

Doctoral Dissertations

A scrupulous search of whiteness literatures in relation to multicultural education reveals a preponderance of scholarship noting White privilege and race evasiveness. Given contrasting scholarship arguing White identity as complicated, multifarious, and bound to social and historical context, concurrent with a dearth of scholarship that examines such complexity, studies that explore and complicate White racial identity are of vital importance in advancing discourse around whiteness in education. Moreover, studies on veteran White teachers in multicultural settings explore professional identifications that have emerged along a continuum within authentic educational contexts rather than pre-service teachers in decontextualized settings.

Exploring identifications of veteran …

Tennessee Public High School Principals’ Leadership Behaviors And Teachers’ Job Satisfaction, Amie Broughton Rumph

Doctoral Dissertations

The attrition rate of teachers is alarming (Darling-Hammond, 2002; Keigher, 2010; Marvel, Lyter, Peltola, Strizek, & Morton, 2006). Factor of the attrition include teachers leaving the profession due to lack of job satisfaction or lack of administrative support (Angelle, 2002; Littrell, 1994; Schlichte, Yssel, & Merbler, 2005). Frameworked by Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959), this web-based, quantitative, descriptive study explored the connections between job satisfaction and perceived leadership behaviors. Participants included 302 teachers from public secondary schools in Central and East Tennessee. Instruments used were the Job Satisfaction Survey ([JSS], Spector, 1994), the Study of School Leadership …

After The Final Bell: The Self-Directed Learning Practices Of Elementary Teachers, Susan Renee Wagner

Doctoral Dissertations

Are elementary teachers self-directed learners? If so, do their learning activities outside their classrooms translate into their classrooms? The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship, if any, between elementary teachers’ self-directed learning and activities in their classrooms. A two phase, mixed methods design first utilized a quantitative study from which the results were used to denote the type of data collected in the second, qualitative phase. The quantitative Phase I of this study involved using a survey instrument in order to identify self-directed learners and identify categories of teacher learners. These quantitative data were gathered through the …

The Perceptions Of Teachers And Principals In Regard To Teacher Leadership And School Improvement, Carolyn Sue Hartwell Barfield

Doctoral Dissertations

While the importance of effective leadership is undisputed, few studies have addressed what the role teachers have in effective leadership that promotes school improvement. This study draws on data analyzing survey responses from principals and teachers to better understand the perceptions of teachers and principals in regard to teacher leadership and to further examine perceptions of the role teacher leadership plays in school improvement. Also considered were needs, rewards, and barriers to effective teacher leadership, as well as the overall interest teachers have in becoming teacher leaders. The Teacher Leadership Roles survey was developed by the researcher and administered to …

The Personality Profiles Of Pre-Service Teachers: An Examination Of Discipline Differences And Predictive Validity On Future Job Satisfaction, Amy S. Beavers

Doctoral Dissertations

Teacher job satisfaction has been shown to impact teacher retention, attrition and absenteeism (Perrachione, Rosser, & Peterson, 2008). Given the significant investment of resources required to train effective classroom teachers, retention of those teachers is important. Research strongly supports the connection between personality traits and occupational related outcomes such as work performance, career success, and job satisfaction across occupational groups. Developing an understanding of the personality profile of satisfied teachers as a whole, as well as by teaching area, could serve to better equip teachers for the reality of teaching, potentially having the ability to increase job satisfaction. The purposes …

Closing The Digital Divide : An Assessment Of Urban Graduate Teacher Education Students' Knowledge Of Information Literacy And Their Readiness To Integrate Information Literacy Into Their Teaching, Tyrone Heath Cannon

Doctoral Dissertations

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The Relationships Of Teachers' Levels Of Technology Integration On Student Achievement In Reading And Mathematics, Valerie S. Fields

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the level of technology integration of fourth and eighth grade teachers in eleven rural school districts in northeastern Louisiana related to student achievement in reading and mathematics.

The sample consisted of 123 fourth and eighth grade teachers and their students from the eleven rural school districts in northeastern Louisiana. Fifty-eight percent of the teachers represented the fourth grade and 42% of the teachers represented the eighth grade. The teachers served a school age population in which 20% or more was from families with incomes below the poverty line.

Mean …

Teachers' Perceptions Of And Interventions In Episodes Of Bullying In Schools, Carynn Townsend Wiggins

Doctoral Dissertations

Bullying, defined as the repeated exposure of a less powerful person to negative actions by a more powerful person or group of people, is a serious problem in schools. There are often severe negative consequences, both short-term and long-term, for both the victim and the bully. The attitudes of teachers play a major role in determining the extent and the acceptance of bullying in schools.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the perceptions of selected teachers in reference to bullying. Six teachers were chosen from regional and state teacher of the year competition during 1998–2000. In addition, six …

Utilization And Integration Of Technology By Teachers: A Case Study, Dawn Shipley Basinger

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the learning process of teachers as they begin to implement an innovation. The research problem was based on the need to understand better the processes by which teachers come to integrate technology into their instructional practices. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (Hall, Wallace, & Dossett, 1973) provided the conceptual framework for facilitating change in teachers' use of technology to support instructional practices. The constructivist approach to learning characterized the setting for the courses-Introduction to Technology for Teachers (ITT) and Software Applications, Teaching Methods, and Software Development for Teachers ( AMDT …

A Study Of Teachers' Perceptions About Staff Development Factors And Their Classroom Implementation Of Reform-Based Science Instruction, Deborah Thompson Silver

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to determine whether or not there were significant differences in implementation levels of reform-based science instructional strategies by teachers who participated in an established staff development program, Project LIFE and those who did not, and (2) to distinguish specific program factors that may have impacted the level of implementation of reform-based instructional classroom practices. The instrument used, the Survey of Reform-Based Science Teaching Strategies (SRBSTS ), was developed by the researcher and had reliability of .912 as measured by Cronbach Alpha.

An independent samples t-test analysis was used to compare the …