Education Commons^™

First-Year Teacher Stress And The Impact On Teacher-Student Relationships, Andrea Michelle Forcum

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study is to understand how stress impacts first-year, 7th-12th grade teachers’ relationships with their students at Green County Schools. The theory guiding this study is the cognitive appraisal theory from Lazarus and Folkman, as it describes the impact of a person’s appraisal of stress and how it influences the perspective of individuals. As first-year teachers are framing their experiences for the first time, this approach helps contextualize how they cope and affect their relationships. This framework will serve as a framework for all the research and data collection. The method used for this case study …

A Qualitative Study Of Literacy Tutoring In Virtual Environments During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Instructional And Relational Practices To Support Learners With Dyslexia, Megan G. Hills

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

This qualitative collective case study examined the relational and professional practices literacy tutors used to support learners with dyslexia in virtual learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through individual interviews, literacy tutors who rapidly transitioned to online teaching described their lived experiences during this historic time. Three themes were identified through cross-case analysis: adapting instructional practices to virtual environments, caring for students and parents, and reflecting on professional practice. The results of this study described evidence which suggests implications for future practice, including teacher preparation, virtual tutoring, and reflective teaching.

Exploring High-School Students' Positive Lived Experiences With School And Their Perceptions Of Qualities That Make Good Teachers: A Phenomenological Study, Carissa Annmarie Flook

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is no shortage of evidence that portrays high-school students' overwhelmingly negative perceptions about schools and teachers today. Negative student perceptions profoundly impact students, educational systems, communities, and society. To address and reverse the detrimental cycle, research must explore the positive elements of student experience so that practices can capitalize on the positive and change the trajectory of education in America. My study explored high-school students’ perceptions of qualities that make good teachers. This hermeneutic phenomenological study utilized positive psychology as its conceptual framework, allowing the five elements of the PERMA model to guide student perception data analysis. Participants included …

Moving Beyond Trauma: Activating Resilience To Support Our Most Vulnerable Youth, Joanne Malloy, Sara Manisco Chapo, Kathryn Francoeur

International Journal of School Social Work

It is well-documented that exposure to toxic stress in childhood can contribute to impaired social, emotional, behavioral, and neuro-biological development that often results in learning difficulties, poor emotional regulation, an inability to develop healthy relationships, and impaired problem-solving skills. Further, youth who grow up in unsafe environments or are subjected to structural inequality are faced with challenges over which they have no control. Using a positive, future-oriented, and trauma-responsive perspective while intentionally building resilience can effectively engage and support youth to overcome feelings of hopelessness and achieve positive outcomes. This paper includes a qualitative study of protective factors as identified …

Adolescents' Retributive And Restorative Orientations In Response To Intergroup Harms In Schools, Laura Pareja Conto, Angelica Restrepo, Holly Recchia, Gabriel Velez, Cecilia Wainryb

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

This mixed-methods study examined how adolescents understand and evaluate different ways to address intergroup harms in schools. In individual interviews, 77 adolescents (M age = 16.49 years; 39 girls, 38 boys) in Bogotá, Colombia, responded to hypothetical vignettes wherein a rival group at school engaged in a transgression against their group. Adolescents reported that students who were harmed should and would talk to school authorities, but also noted they would likely retaliate. In terms of teacher-sanctioned responses to harm, youth endorsed compensation most strongly, followed by apologies, and rated suspension least positively. Youths' explanations for their endorsement of different …

How Teacher-Student Relationships Shape Student Engagement And Interest In Science, Destini N. Braxton

Theses and Dissertations

The current research on emotional engagement and teacher-student relationship is abundant and acknowledges education as an environment that thrives on social interactions and causes a variety of emotions to be present in the classroom. However, research on the relationship between Black and Latinx students’ teacher-student relationships and students’ emotional engagement and interest in science in urban middle school science classrooms remains scarce. Unfortunately, Black and Latinx students often experience a) mixed social interactions with their teachers, b) a lack of relatability to science instruction, and c) a combination of positive and negative emotions during science instruction and activities. This phenomenological, …

Early Childhood Teachers’ Perspectives Of Teacher-Student Relationships With Title 1 Students, Jessica Teal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There was a gap in the United States between developing teacher-student relationships with Title 1 students and students who are not considered Title 1. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore early childhood teachers’ perspectives of practices and challenges of developing teacher-student relationships with Title 1 students. The conceptual framework for this study was Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. The research question for this study focused on determining early childhood teachers’ perspectives of practices and challenges of developing teacher-student relationships with Title 1 students. Data were collected in this basic qualitative study through one-on-one interviews with a minimum of 10 …

Being And Becoming Across Difference: A Grounded Theory Study Of Exemplary White Teachers In Racially Diverse Classrooms, Jane S. Feinberg

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Of the roughly 3.5 million public school teachers in the United States, approximately 80% are White. In contrast, about 51.7% of the nation’s students are African American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian. This mismatch is expected to grow as the number of BIPOC students in our nation’s public schools continues to increase. Studies have shown that strong positive relationships are essential for learning, but often, the relationships between White teachers and BIPOC students are strained at best, leading to poorer learning outcomes. The purpose of this Constructivist Grounded Theory study was to explore an understudied question: How do White teachers …

A Grounded Theory About How Teachers Communicated High Expectations To Their Secondary School Students, Olivia Johnston, Helen Wildy, Jennifer Shand

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

High teachers’ expectations are associated with improved student academic achievement. However, no research explains how students experience their teachers’ expectations, from their points of view. A new theory was developed to achieve the study’s aim of accounting for how high expectations were experienced by 25 students in Western Australia. The findings offer educators student-focused perspectives of how to convey high teacher expectations that lead to improved student academic outcomes. Straussian grounded theory (Strauss, 1990) methods were used to generate substantive theory together with the Year 10 students in three Western Australian public schools, through data including more than 100 classroom …

Balancing Free Play And Structured Learning Opportunities In Early Childhood Education Classrooms: Contrasting Perceptions Of Teachers And Researchers, Logan Mentzer

University Honors Theses

This study explored how early childhood education classrooms can provide a balance of learning opportunities that are both initiated by the child and facilitated by the teacher. Three transitional/preschool teachers were interviewed along with two researchers who study preschool/kindergarten classrooms. The results of this study found four strategies that are used in early childhood education classes that allow both child exploration and adult facilitation: 1) creating close teacher-child relationships; 2) creating close lead-assistant teacher relationships; 3) using both mental and physical planning; 4) using guided questions to teach. There were interesting differences in contrasting perspectives of early childhood education teachers …

Managing Student Misbehavior Through A Restorative Approach: A Phenomenological Study, Michael Preston Christie

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the perceptions of alternative education teachers in utilizing a restorative approach to managing student behaviors at a small, rural school district in north Florida. Gordon’s (1981) theory on Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET) steered this study in investigating the research questions central to this study: (1) What are the experiences of alternative education teachers in using a restorative approach for addressing student behaviors? (2) How have these experiences shaped the teacher-student relationship? (3) What are the professional development needs of alternative education teachers to improve the restorative practices experience? Through …

How Teachers Build Relationships With Students In A Bimodal Environment, Andrew Salazar

Dissertations

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers nationwide were encouraged or required to teach on a bimodal platform, forcing them to create lessons, deliver lessons, and build student relationships in a way they had not experienced before. The purpose of my study was to investigate the strategies teachers were using to build relationships with students in a bimodal environment and compile a comprehensive list of effective strategies that leaders could utilize in professional development for other teachers. The context of this inquiry was a sixth through eighth grade middle school in an urban school district. I used a mixed methodology using …

Teacher Judgment Accuracy Of Student Perceptions Of Closeness And Conflict In Teacher-Student Relationships, Collin Seastrand

Theses and Dissertations

Teacher decisions are largely influenced by the judgments that they make regarding their students' states of mind. Thus, it is important for teachers to be accurate in their judgments. The current study investigated the teacher judgment accuracy of student perceptions of the teacher-student relationship. In a Western state of the United States, 40 teachers used a prediction form to predict how their 4th "“ 6th grade students would rate the closeness and the conflict of their teacher-student relationship via the Student Perception of Affective Relationship with Teacher Scale (SPARTS, Koomen & Jellesma, 2015). Students then took the survey, and teacher …

Creating Brave & Productive Learning Environments For Young Adolescents: Parents’ Perspectives Of Teacher-Parent And Teacher-Student Relationships, Leslie Rogers, Dan Hyson

Middle Grades Review

Teachers are masters of content and of creating connections (e.g., students-content, students-students, teacher-students, teacher-parents). Both impact one’s ability to create and sustain brave and productive learning environments. Teachers connect students to the content, and to each other. At the top of the list of important connections are teacher-student and teacher-parent relationships. In the current paper, we examine these relationships from the perspective of parents of middle school students with disabilities, an under-studied group. We describe theories of learning that support investigating these relationships from parents’ perspectives and outline why this could be an impactful lens for teachers to consider. We …

Relationships Of Teacher Perceptions And Racially Diverse Third Grade Student Achievement : An Analysis Of Ecls-K:2011 Data University At Albany, Lynnette Renee Williams

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACTIt has been over 50 years since desegregation efforts began and many public-school systems in the United States are still battling with performance gaps between White and historically underrepresented students. The term historically underrepresented refers to people from diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, and economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have been denied access or suffered institutional discrimination in the United States, and according to the U.S. Census includes Blacks/African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans (Artiles et al., 2010). Many historically underrepresented students are lagging behind their peers on academic performance measures, standardized achievement tests, high school graduation, and college-career readiness …

The Importance Of Trauma-Informed Approaches In Education – The Impact Of Implementing A Brain-Based Approach To Supporting Learners Across A Scottish Local Authority, Lesley Taylor, Whitney Barrett

International Journal of School Social Work

Throughout the history of education, a series of fashions, fads and trends has come and gone – some resulting in widespread changes in approach, some creating barely a ripple in the "pedagogical pool". Currently, a wave is being created by the desire to develop approaches that are trauma-informed – a move that is being driven by a number of factors including the introduction of funding streams such as the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) and the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF), alongside growing public awareness of the impact childhood trauma and adversity has across many areas of a child’s development.

However, we …

The Healing Power Of Teacher-Student Relationships In Repairing Childhood Abuse: Commonalities And Differences With Clinical Social Work Practice, Mehak Jamil

International Journal of School Social Work

Research indicates survivors of childhood abuse are able to form the same quality relationships with teachers as non-abused children (Armstrong, Hasket & Hawkins, 2017). However, there is little research indicating what factors within the teacher-student relationship help build this resiliency. This study looks to clinical social work practice as a basis for understanding what qualities of the therapeutic relationship can extend to or overlap with non-clinical relationships with students who have a trauma history, within the teaching field. To better understand experiences within these relationships, semi-structured interviews were conducted with both a clinical social worker who has teaching experience at …

Teacher Perceptions Of Relationship Building With Students: A Case Study Of K-5 Schools In A Southern California School District, Anais Janoyan

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This mixed methods case study of K-5 schools in a medium sized Southern California school district, investigated teachers’ descriptions and perceptions of their teacher-student relationships and relationship building experiences with students. Teachers’ views were analyzed at district, school site, and individual levels to uncover both common and unique patterns across these various contexts. Surveys and interviews were used to gather data. Surveys were quantitatively analyzed, and interviews underwent a qualitative thematic analysis but were also supported by quantitative data (e.g., code recurrence frequencies and percentages). Data results of teachers’ descriptions and perceptions on teacher-student relationships provided teachers’ overall views, in …

The Importance Of The Teacher-Student Relationship And The Effect Of Students’ Learning, Diana Sejdiu, Alma Lama

UBT International Conference

The teaching process is one of the most complex and sensitive processes in terms of education. It includes many areas through which this process can function. To create a better and more efficient learning process, relations must first be formed between the two key subjects of the process, the teacher and the student. A healthy relationship between these subjects is the main step in creating an ideal learning process. It provides a safe environment and confidence work and perform without pressure. When the classroom in which teaching takes place is a safe and supportive environment, students are more motivated and …

Trauma-Informed Education Viewed Through A Social Justice Lens: Introduction To The Special Issue, Gary Walsh, Michael S. Kelly

International Journal of School Social Work

The purpose of this special issue is to apply a social justice lens to the question of how education practitioners operating within primary and secondary school contexts around the world are thinking about trauma-informed education and care. Papers explore what school social workers and other educators are doing to address these issues in schools and consider the broader implications of a global shift towards trauma-informed approaches in education. This special issue, the first one for IJSSW, features 10 papers from diverse fields (social work, psychology, education) that all reflect on how trauma-informed practices in schools can be enhanced and understood …

The Perceptions Of Preservice Teachers About Teacher-Student Relationships: A Phenomenological Study, Tammy Michelle Craddock

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to discover the perceptions of preservice teachers who are currently enrolled at universities in six teacher education programs regarding their preparation to build teacher-student relationships. For this research, teacher-student relationship was generally defined as an appropriate emotional connection between a teacher and a student. The theory that guided this study was stage-environment fit theory by Eccles and Midgley (1989), as it supports the need for relationships between teachers and students in the classroom setting to fit the developmental stages of the students. The central question of this study was “How do preservice …

Teacher Perceptions Of Student Developmental Needs: It’S All Emotional, Elizabeth Hinchcliff, Melissa A. Newberry

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Previous research has suggested that emotional and social developmental domains configure most prominently for adolescents in the classroom. In this qualitative study, we first aimed to explore teachers’ perspectives of students’ needs, then to explore the ways that teachers came to understand those needs, and how that understanding informed their practice of attending to student needs in the classroom. Findings suggest that teachers, also, are more attuned to the emotional domain, interpreting all needs displayed by students through an emotional lens. Additionally, teachers used emotion as an entry point to connect with students and sought to support student development through …

Social-Emotional Learning In High School: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation Of The Strong Teens Program, Oscar Olaya

Theses and Dissertations

Strong Teens is a curriculum designed to help students develop the social-emotional skills needed to manage challenges and become successful socially and academically (Carrizales- Engelmann et al., 2016). Strong Teens has shown promise among adolescents, but this was the first study to evaluate the newly updated version of the intervention in a high school setting. The curriculum was implemented by a special education teacher with students at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. A mixed method design was used to evaluate outcomes with 16 ninth grade students. Overall findings suggest that Strong Teens was effective at improving students' social emotional knowledge …

The Relationship Between Teacher Beliefs, Classroom Management, And Teacher-Student Relationships, Joann Conriquez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which teachers’ pupil control ideology relates to teachers’ management beliefs and their perceived relationships with their students. A mixed methods approach was used to explore the correlations between teachers’ pupil control ideology, classroom management beliefs, and their perceived student-teacher relationships, with pupil control ideology as the basis for teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about control. This study included 34 middle school participants from a school district that serves low income students of color. Significant correlations were identified between teachers’ years in the profession and control ideologies, with qualitative results providing …

Through The Elementary School Years: Self-Regulation Predicting Social Competence With Student-Teacher Relationships As Mediators, Kelsie Anderson

Honors Theses

Using a longitudinal, nationally representative dataset, ECLS-K:2011, research was conducted to determine the predictive relationship between Self-Regulation in kindergarten and first-grade years and Social Competency in the third- and fourth-grade years of elementary school. Along with this, Student-Teacher Relationships were studied to determine if they could mediate the relationship between Self-Regulation and Social Competency. These aspects have been extensively studied individually in previous research, but this study looks at how these aspects work together and the implications that these relationships have. The current study documented that a) Working Memory predicts indices of Behavioral Engagement and Internalizing Behavior Problems in the …

Exploring Teacher Beliefs Of Adolescent Developmental Needs Through Positive Student Comments Of Their Teachers, Elizabeth Bowers Hinchcliff

Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to qualitatively examine the intersection between teachers' practical reasoning and beliefs, adolescent developmental needs, and positive teacher-student relationships. Positive comments about middle school teachers were gathered anonymously from middle school students (grades 6-8; ages 11-14) and coded according to four developmental domains: physical, social, emotional, and physical. Chi square analysis was used to determine statistical significance of which domains students alluded to most often when describing their teachers. The six middle school teachers who were mentioned most frequently in the student comments participated in semi-structured, open-ended interviews in which they were asked about the developmental needs of …

The Influence Of Mindfulness On Teacher-Student Relationships, Classroom Climate, And School Culture: Secondary Educators’ Perspectives, Margaret Lane Dunne

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that the relationships students share with teachers have the power to enhance or hinder students’ learning and overall well-being. Thus, there is a critical need for educational leaders to implement systems that develop teachers’ abilities to connect with and positively support students. The focus of this phenomenological study was to explore a purposefully selected group of participants’ perceptions of how their mindfulness practices influence their work as secondary educators. Participants of the study included secondary educators from varied academic departments, varied years of teaching experience, and varied years engaged in mindfulness practice. Participants were drawn from two suburban, …

School Librarians Making Global Connections: Conjecture Mapping And Researcher Practitioner Partnerships, Barbara Schultz-Jones, Marcia Mardis, Sue Kimmel

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Dr. Barbara Schultz-Jones (University of North Texas), Dr Marcia Mardis (Florida State University) and Dr Sue Kimmel (Old Dominion University, Virginia) share their research on a way to support evidence building of causal relationships between the school library and a teacher librarian’s contribution to student outcomes.

Validity Of The Responses To Feedback Survey : Operationalizing And Measuring Students' Cognitive And Affective Responses To Teacher Feedback, Angela M. Lui

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In 1998, Black and Wiliam used the term the black box to illustrate how little was known about what happens in classrooms. Their review spawned a great deal of research on formative assessment, including strategies for giving feedback to students. More recently, scholars in the field of classroom assessment and measurement have expressed the need for research on how students understand, interpret, and process feedback. I call this the new black box.

Teacher Scaffolds During Word Solving In The Context Of The Interactive Strategies Approach-Extended (Isa-X) Intervention, Mary Elizabeth Arcidiacono

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Research has shown that reading intervention which incorporates word identification strategy instruction can help struggling students improve their reading ability (e.g., Gelzheiser, Scanlon, Vellutino et al., 2011; Scanlon, Gelzheiser, Vellutino et al., 2008; Vellutino, Scanlon, Small, et al., 2006). Since poor readers have benefited from interventions which include direct instruction of word identification strategies, my research focused on word identification strategy instruction; specifically, this study examined the types of scaffolds teachers provided to readers as they practiced being strategic word solvers while reading. This study compared the in-situ conversations between teachers using the Interactive Strategies Approach – Extended (ISA—X, Gelzheiser …