Elementary Education and Teaching Commons^™

The Effect Of The Helps Program On The Oral Reading Fluency And Accuracy Rates Of Third-, Fourth-, And Fifth-Grade Students, Susan C. Blackburn

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the effects of the HELPS Program on the oral reading fluency and accuracy rates of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students as compared to students who received regular classroom instruction only. The study was conducted in a school district in northwestern North Carolina. The students in this study scored below benchmark on a Reading 3D End of Year Assessment and were nonproficient on the North Carolina end-of-grade reading test. As fluency is tied to reading comprehension, it is important that students have sufficient fluency and accuracy skills to read grade-level texts.

The study used Reading …

Student Mobility On The Rise: A Case Study Of Strategies To Support Mobile Students, Alisha J. Cloer

Education Dissertations and Projects

Extensive literature on the problems in our country's education system exists; however, little attention has been given to high classroom student turnover at the state and federal levels (Hartman, 2002). Largely, research suggests mobility as being one of several interrelated factors which have an effect on students and the level of success experienced in school. Poverty is a prevailing factor in much of the student mobility research. Children in poverty are most likely to be mobile because their parents are moving from place to place to avoid rent, and they often become homeless. Some researchers say poverty is the cause …

Evaluating Project L.I.F.T And Its Impact On Reducing The Elementary Literacy Gap Through Teacher Professional Development, Quinetta Hall

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to evaluate Project L.I.F.T and its plan to reduce the student achievement gap. A 5-year plan was proposed by investment researchers who recognized the importance of increasing student achievement and closing barriers in education. Trends in research data indicate that literacy significantly falls behind math on many state tests. Despite teacher professional development, innovative literacy practices, and interventions, there has not been an increase in literacy scores among minority subgroups such as African Americans and Hispanics. There is also a trend in achievement gaps among males and females.

Project L.I.F.T was granted $55 million to be …

Leadership Practices: Perceptions Of Principals And Teachers Of A Small Rural School District In Western North Carolina, Randy Mann

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences of the teachers' perceptions and principals' perceptions of the principals' leadership practices in public schools of a small rural county in western North Carolina. The participants in this study included 207 certified teachers and 11 building-level principals. The researcher used the survey method of data collection in which the teacher participation was 70% and the principal participation was 92%.

The instruments used to collect data included a demographic survey and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (Kouzes & Posner, 2003a). The demographic survey was used to obtain teacher demographic characteristics. The …

The Impact Of Instructional Rounds Professional Development On Teacher Self-Efficacy, Melessa B. Widener

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of instructional rounds professional development on teacher self-efficacy. The scope of this study was a qualitative case study including interviews with teachers who had participated in instructional rounds professional development in a rural district in the foothills of North Carolina. The methodology included interviews with two teacher leaders from all elementary schools implementing Responsiveness to Instruction (RtI) and teachers at the Early College who participated in instructional rounds professional learning through the New Schools Project. The findings include teachers' quotes from the transcriptions of the interviews as supporting the research …

Outliers In Educational Achievement Data: Their Potential For The Improvement Of Performance, Tooba Farooqui, Isba Mustafa, Thomas Christie

Examination Board

Statistical outliers (Barnett and Lewis, 1994) have customarily been identified as either potential threats to data integrity (Cook, 1977) or as potential distortions of estimates of central tendency (Strutz, 2010). In both circumstances outliers are treated as having nuisance value. On the other hand, Gladwell (2008) views outliers as success stories. The study adopts the latter approach to reach to classrooms and teachers which add value in student’s academic capabilities. Scores of 86207 students from 423 government schools in 2010 middle school (Grade VI to VIII) promotion examinations are analysed to explore the possibility of identifying gifted teachers.
The study …

Beyond The Content And Pedagogy : A Step Forward Towards Value Based Teacher’S Professional Development, Sharifullah Baig

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

This paper reviews the contemporary literature of human values and valuation processes, and proposes a re-conceptualized model of a teacher’s professional development. This paper suggests a thorough analysis of the teacher’s personality and devises alternative, well thought-out strategies and approaches to alter self-knowledge, values, valuation processes, and beliefs to imbed the desired impact on their teaching practices. This paper supports the use of deliberate attempts to alter the basic motivation level of teachers and to deliberately expose them to available knowledge to modify their values, attitudes, and actions in their respective professions, organizations, and formal associations. Hence, such professional development …

Finding The Connections Between Art And Teaching: A Case Study, Tareq Daher, Stephanie A Baer

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Finding the connection between art and teaching can be a difficult task for pre-service teachers who do not have a background in the arts. This qualitative case study explores the journey of a group of pre-service elementary teachers in an art methods course considering what it means to teach and to be an artist. The way in which these students defined the arts and teaching changed over the course of the semester and found connective threads, productively tying together the work of teaching and the creative process. Findings from pre-service teacher course work indicated three important themes: connections between art …

Student Behavior Management : School Leader’S Role In The Eyes Of The Teachers And Students, Shirin Nooruddin, Sharifullah Baig

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

This study explored the perspectives and viewpoints of the teachers and students in relation to the influence of the head teacher and senior leadership team on students’ behavior management in the form of policies, procedures and support mechanisms in a secondary school in Karachi Pakistan. Two surveys were developed and employed, one for the entire teaching staff (N=43) and one for a sample of students (n=120). The majority of teachers (97%) and students (83%) reported that school leadership influences students’ behavior management through policies and procedures. A large number of the teachers are of the view that sharing of personal …

Students’ Attitude Towards Science In Lower Secondary Classes : Comparison Across Regions, Nahid Parween Anwar, Sadia Muzaffar Bhutta

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Science education is an area of interest for long and has gained a lot of attention from science educators. Keeping this in view, the current study explored the attitude of grade VI-VIII students towards science in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. This research study was conducted as part of a 5-year project titled ‘USAID-LINKS to learning: Education Support to Pakistan’ (USAID-EDLINKS). A 5-point rating scale, Science Attitude Scale (SAS) was adapted from previous research. SAS has 32 items arranged under five constructs: learning science in school, self-concept in science, science outside of school, future participation in science and importance …

Structures And Strategies For Science Teacher Education In The 21st Century, Douglas Larkin

Department of Teaching and Learning Scholarship and Creative Works

In order to determine the ways in which teacher preparation programs will need to change in order to meet the needs of preparing STEM teachers in the near future, it is necessary to ascertain what STEM teacher preparation programs are actually doing in the present. This article presents a comparative analysis of six different science teacher education pathways in order to portray, compare, and contrast the structures and strategies used by each. The central premise is that there is much to learn from what is already being done in this field from the different visions of science teacher education currently …

A Study Of The 8th Grade Technology Literacy Of A Michigan Charter School, James Edward Spruill

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

As states adopt the common core state standards and next generation assessments for the 2014 - 2015 school year, the importance of students' technology literacy will increase Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. The next generation assessments will require students to complete technology performance tasks. For the first time in mandatory testing, students' technology literacy will directly impact a school's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) rating. Technology literacy is defined as the ability to operate hardware and software (computer literacy), conduct effective research for and then evaluate digital content for accuracy and merit (internet and information literacy), and digitally communicate effectively(digital media literacy). …

Cultivating Primary Students’ Scientific Thinking Through Sustained Teacher Professional Development, Roxanne Greitz Miller, Margaret Sauceda Curwen, Kimberly A. White-Smith, Robert C. Calfee

Education Faculty Articles and Research

While the United States’ National Research Council (NRC 2012) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS 2013) advocate children’s engagement in active science learning, elementary school teachers in the US indicate lack of time to teach science regularly because of (1) school and district pressure to focus on English language arts and mathematics assessment scores in response to the country’s No Child Left Behind (2001) mandates; (2) a lack of preparation in teacher science content knowledge; and (3) a lack of science professional development opportunities. In response to these needs and focusing on the primary (Kindergarten–first–second) grade levels, the Project SMART …

Reconciling Dilemmas Of Social Justice In Literacy Lessons: A Case Study Of Preservice Primary Teachers, Beryl Exley, Annette Woods, Joanne Lunn, Sue Walker, Chrystal M. Whiteford Ms

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Literacy is promoted as one factor in overcoming disadvantage. In this paper, we employ Fraser’s (1997 & 2008) framing of social justice in order to analyse the disparate agendas of literacy education for improved outcomes in national policy. We do this to better understand the dilemmas confronting preservice teachers as they prepare to become teachers in complex education contexts. We then examine what 20 preservice primary teachers say about social justice in interview responses to a scripted scenario. Our findings demonstrate that most preservice teachers are trying to demonstrate that they have a well-placed commitment to teaching for social justice, …

Planting The Seed Of Teacher Identity: Nurturing Early Growth Through A Collaborative Learning Community, Ann Harlow, Donella J. Cobb

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: This paper reports on the findings of a reconceptualised Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme where a collaborative relationship between the university and partner schools saw the shared responsibility for the first year ITE programme. Findings from this study suggests that ongoing, authentic teaching experiences in collaboration with school-based university tutorials provided a strong foundation for the early development of teacher identity. Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning provides a theoretical framework for understanding why this community of practice has been particularly effective in planting the seed of teacher identity at such an early stage of the ITE programme.

Preservice Teachers’ Constructivist Teaching Scores Based On Their Learning Styles, Zeynel Kablan, Sibel Kaya

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study examined the relationship between pre-service teachers’ constructivist teaching and their learning styles based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory. The Learning Styles Inventory-3 was administered at the beginning of the semester to determine preferred learning style. The Constructivist Teaching Evaluation Form was filled out by pre-service teachers following the microteaching session. Bivariate correlation and ANOVA anayses were conducted to evaluate the learning style-teaching relationship. Results showed that students’ teaching evaluation scores were positively correlated with their active experimentation (AE) and negatively correlated with their reflective observation (RO) scores. ANOVA results showed that accommodating students had significantly higher self-evaluation scores …

How A Teacher Educator In The Field Of The Education Of Hearing-Impaired Children Provides Feedback To A Student Teacher, Hasan Gürgür

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this article was to investigate how an experienced teacher educator (TE) specialized in the education of hearing-impaired children provides feedback to a student teacher regarding a planned, one-to-one conversation activity. This case study was conducted at Anadolu University, Education and Research Center for Hearing-Impaired Children with the participation of a TE, a student teacher, and a hearing-impaired student. Based on the study results, main themes relating to the TE’s activities before, during, and after the conversation and his feedback were identified. The study findings were discussed in light of the current literature, and various recommendations were proposed.

Learning To Retell Stories Through Comparative Teaching: Writing And Drawing, Rachel L. Lindle

Theses and Dissertations--Art and Visual Studies

Students who are emergent readers and writers are often difficult to assess, as they are unable to communicate understanding in writing. From my observations, these students communicate ideas best through concrete forms of expression, rather than the abstract formation of letters and writing that is unfamiliar to them. Drawing provides an alternate form of expression from writing. Based on information found in literature review and personal experiences from working with students who are emergent readers and writers, pictures and drawings are a bridge to communicate ideas with these students. This form of expression and communication may be a useful assessment …

Destructive Anger Among Adolescents: Management Strategies For Principals And Teachers, Elvin Gabriel, Kimberly Nelson

Faculty Publications

This article will provide information to aid readers in understanding risk factors associated with adolescent anger. It will also recommend strategies to prevent and defuse anger, and discuss the role of spiritual nurture in promoting proper conduct and positive relationships among students.

Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: An Introduction, Christine Browning, Eva Thanheiser, Alden Edson, Patrick M. Kimani, Dana Olanoff, Jennifer M. Tobias, Ian Whitacre

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This Special Issue on the mathematical content knowledge of prospective elementary teachers (PTs) provides summaries of the extant peer-­‐reviewed research literature from 1978 to 2012 on PTs’ content knowledge across several mathematical topics, specifically whole number and operations, fractions, decimals, geometry and measurement, and algebra. Each topic-­‐specific summary of the literature is presented in a self-­‐contained paper, written by a subgroup of a larger Working Group that has collaborated across several years, resulting in this Special Issue sharing the final work. The authors hope this summative look at prospective teacher content knowledge will be of interest to the mathematics education …