Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Content Area Literacy: Relationship Between Lesson Design And Professional Development, Jodi Owens-Kristenson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite Minnesota's investment in professional development in content area literacy, secondary students are not showing expected literacy gains. A lack of literacy proficiency limits future options for students. The purpose of this study was to examine content-area literacy strategy inclusion and its relationship to professional development in the context of complexity theory, efficacy theory, transformational learning theory, structured teaching, and constructivism. A cross-section correlation survey research study was conducted to investigate the relationship of time spent in systematic professional development, type of professional development, rate of strategy inclusion, and confidence in literacy strategy inclusion in lesson design. Convenience sampling was …

Increasing Students' Academic Involvement: Chilean Teacher Engagement With Learners In Blended English As A Foreign Language Courses, Christopher P. Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Learning English as a foreign language (EFL), a highly valued skill in the Chilean marketplace, is an arduous and complex personal endeavor requiring high student motivation. Reflecting this challenge is the heightened anxiety among EFL students, whose work has been associated with historically meager results. Blended learning, the fusion of face-to-face and online content delivery and assessment, offers a promising solution to EFL learner reticence. Evidence suggests that an active online teacher presence in a blended EFL course can enhance student engagement. The purpose of this study was to discover the perceptions of EFL instructional specialists concerning (a) student involvement …

The Effects Of Writer's Workshop On Writing Achievement In The Kindergarten Classroom, Mary Mester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Only one quarter of American students in Grades 4, 8, and 12 were considered at or above the proficient level in writing in 2002 and 2007. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the effect of the instructional strategy known as writer's workshop on students' writing achievement. Writer's workshop is an instructional strategy involving daily writing and systematic lessons. The research question guiding this study examined the writing achievement of students taught through writer's workshop versus students taught through the county's writing curriculum which utilizes journal writing on a regular basis but does not involve systematic lessons or …

The Impact Of Professional Development In Data Based Decision Making On The Teaching Practices Of Educators, Nancy Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The utilization of educational data by teachers' at the classroom level to plan lessons and assessments is limited. Professional development is one tool that can be used to build data literacy in teachers. This study assessed how professional development in data based decision making impacted educators' efficacy and use of educational data. This research was based on constructivists learning theories and used professional development as a model for changing teachers' instructional practices. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of professional development in data-based decision-making on teacher efficacy and use of data at the classroom level. A …

A Phenomenological Study Of Social Science Instructors' Assessment Practices For Online Learning, Cynthia S. Dietrich

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Online learning has revolutionized higher education in the United States. In 2007, there were 3.9 million students taking at least 1 online course. Assessment in online instruction is a new experience for teachers because of the recent advent of online course delivery. Current research on online learning does not address instructor experiences with learning assessments. This gap may contribute to online instructors being inadequately prepared to teach online. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore online instructors' experiences with assessments in their undergraduate social science courses. The study was guided by constructivism as well as theories associated with …

A Phenomenological Approach To Examining Perceptions Of Middle School Students And Their Educators About Their Service-Learning Experiences, Mccafferty, Anita J. Stewart Mccafferty

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A primary purpose of public education is to ensure that all citizens have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to participate in a democracy. Service learning is a democratic, constructivist, instructional strategy that connects academic learning with community needs. This phenomenological study described: (a) how youth, their educators, and community partners who experience service learning perceive its effects on themselves, their schools, and their community lives and (b) how professional-development opportunities need to be structured in order to encourage high quality civics education instruction. The problem this study addressed was how to solve youth civic and political disengagement. This study relied …

Barriers And Supports To Implementation Of Principal Leadership For School Change, Jodi M. Delucia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Practices for supporting school change have not been implemented consistently in K-12 schools in the United States. Researchers have not studied the needs of K-12 principals who fail to implement these practices, and barriers or supports to implementation have not been identified. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methodology study was to understand K-12 principals' perceptions of the supports and barriers related to their abilities to implement the practices of challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, and encouraging the heart. Seven public school principals and 29 teachers in their schools completed …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Novice Teacher Support Structures, Kitty B. Warsame

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers are leaving their profession at alarming rates. As a result, retaining novice teachers has become a major concern for policy makers, school districts, administrators, and teaching staff throughout the United States. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of novice teacher induction support structures in a southwestern US state. The conceptual framework is based on research examining teacher attrition; this study extends the research by examining school-based and university-based programs. Research questions focused on the perception of novice teachers regarding mentoring experiences at their certifying universities and employing school districts. Three research questions examined school district …

An Action Plan For Improving Mediocre Or Stagnant Student Achievement, Kimberley B. Redmond

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although all of the schools in the target school system adhere to a school improvement process, achievement scores remain mediocre or stagnant within the overseas school in Italy that serves children of United States armed service members. To address this problem, this study explored the target school's improvement process to discover how different stakeholder groups viewed that process. The aim of these investigations was to determine if different stakeholder groups' competing values hindered the school's improvement efforts. The conceptual framework of this study was Schein's organizational culture theory along with recent findings by Creemers and Kyriakides that show that school …

The Relationship Between Statistics Self-Efficacy, Statistics Anxiety, And Performance In An Introductory Graduate Statistics Course, William Ray Schneider

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between statistics self-efficacy, statistics anxiety, and performance in introductory graduate statistics courses. The study design compared two statistics self-efficacy measures developed by Finney and Schraw (2003), a statistics anxiety measure developed by Cruise and Wilkins (1980), and a course performance measure. To view self-efficacy from two perspectives, the Current Statistics Self-Efficacy (CSSE) assessed student confidence in their ability to complete specific statistics tasks in the present, whereas Self-Efficacy to Learn Statistics (SELS) assessed student confidence in their ability to learn statistics in the future. The performance measure was the combined …

Parent Involvement In Children's Schooling: An Investigation Of Measurement Equivalence Across Ethnic Groups, Heather Marie Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Epstein et al.'s Theory of Overlapping Spheres of Influence focuses on the interaction and communication, or partnerships, among families, schools, and the community to bring the three closer together. The theory works in conjunction with Epstein's typology of parental involvement, which focuses on six types of involvement that are instrumental to a child's development and his/her school and educational success. These serve as the framework for the study and support the construct of parent's involvement in children's schooling.

The purpose of the current study was to conduct further validation analyses of an inventory designed to measure the construct of parent …

Transitioning From Student To Teacher In The Master-Apprentice Model Of Piano Pedagogy: An Exploratory Study Of Challenges, Solutions, Resources, Reflections, And Suggestions For The Future, Melissa Maccarelli Slawsky

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While many music educators learn how to teach through teacher training programs, the standard mode of transmission in which piano teachers learn to teach applied piano is through proficiency of the instrument under the guidance of a master teacher. This tacit development of pedagogical knowledge occurs through the master-apprentice model of pedagogy. The purposes of this study were (a) to explore how piano teachers learn how to teach from, and independent of, piano pedagogy coursework, overcome challenges, and continue to add to their pedagogy knowledge, and (b) to explore topics that would be most useful in a piano pedagogy course …

Revision And Validation Of A Culturally-Adapted Online Instructional Module Using Edmundson's Cap Model: A Dbr Study, Marie A. Tapanes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the present study, the Cultural Adaptation Process Model was applied to an online module to include adaptations responsive to the online students’ culturallyinfluenced learning styles and preferences. The purpose was to provide the online learners with a variety of course material presentations, where the e-learners had the opportunity to select their preferred structure for learning. The research methodology for the study is Design-Based Research (DBR), which has been identified by many prominent researchers in Instructional Technology as the most productive research approach for the field. DBR integrates different data types and data collection methods (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed) with …

The Role Of Program Climate And Socialization In The Retention Of Engineering Undergraduates, Heather Elizabeth Ureksoy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing women's participation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) can promote a healthy economy by ensuring a diverse and well-qualified STEM workforce, not only in the quantity of females in the workforce, but diversity in thinking and creativity. It will also send a positive message to young women about the breadth of educational opportunities and career choices they have available to them. However, women continue to participate in engineering education in a far lower rate than men. Attracting and retaining female students has become a challenging problem for the academic engineering community. In this study, a …

Examining The Experiences Of A Select Group Of First Year Special Education Teachers: A Multiple Case Study Analysis, Roseanne Kaiser Vallice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The attrition rate of beginning special educators has been a constant and growing concern within the field of education (Boe & Cook, 2006, 2008; Brownell, Hirsch, & Seo, 2004; CEC, 2000; Leko & Smith, 2010; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). Four to five of every ten new special education teachers leave the field within the first five years (CEC, 2000; Olivarez & Arnold, 2006) and beginning special education teachers are more likely than general education teachers to leave the field within the first five years of teaching (Boe & Cook, 2006, Boe, Cook & Sunderland, 2008; Brownell, Hirsch, & Seo, 2004; …

The Influence Of Time Spent By Students Engaged In Co-Curricular Involvement, Online Social Networking And Studying And Doing Coursework On Their Academic Achievement, Regina Young Hyatt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between time spent by students engaged in student co-curricular involvement, online social networking, and studying on their academic achievement. Additional factors such as student residence, gender, ethnicity, class standing and work for pay were also considered. Existing literature supports the concept that the more time students spend in educationally purposeful activities, the more likely students are going to be successful. Little research exists regarding the use of current versions of online social networking, and the relationship it might have to student academic achievement as measured by grade point average. Therefore, …

The Effects Of Using Interactive Word Walls To Teach Vocabulary To Middle School Students, Ledale Southerland

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teaching vocabulary to middle school students requires that educators find the most effective means of instruction to achieve this goal. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of using an interactive word wall as the tool to combine five effective, research-based teaching strategies with social interaction to teach vocabulary to middle school students. In this study, 124 middle school students participated. The control group consisted of 67 eighth grade English students, and the intervention group was comprised of 57 seventh grade English students. The intervention was for a period of four weeks and included specific activities that …

An Investigation Of The Relationships Of Teacher Professional Development, Teacher Job Satisfaction, And Teacher Working Conditions, Thomas Meagher

Dissertations

Demands to changes of instruction for mathematics classrooms are presented in

standards promoted by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Illinois State

Board of Education and other government reports creates a demand for teacher

professional development to support teachers to adapt to these changes of instruction.

The overall purpose of this study investigated characteristics of effective professional

development and how those characteristics are associated with teacher job satisfaction

and teacher working conditions. With the completion of this dissertation, this study adds

to the literature relevant to teacher professional development by demonstrating an

association between teacher professional development and teacher …

Implementation Of Document Based Question Essays In Regular Education History Classes, Christine R. Berrong

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate what strategies high school teachers are using to teach Document Based Question essays (DBQs) in non-Advanced Placement (AP) history classes. DBQs are essays in which students are given a question and a set of primary and secondary source documents that they must use to support an argument in answering the question. They must write a well-developed five-paragraph essay that includes a thesis statement in the introduction and must analyze the documents, not simply mention them in the essay. In the researcher's experience, many students in non-AP history classes have difficulty with this …

Effectiveness Of An Inquiry Based Professional Development Program, Lynne Beyah El-Amin Muhammad

Dissertations

Pre-service and in-service teacher education programs are designed to disseminate large quantities of knowledge in a short period of time (Deng, 2004). However, they have been found to be ineffective with implementing teacher change (Deng, 2004). To increase the level of effective implementation, as measured by the ability of teachers to utilize what they have learned, designers of pre-service and in-service programs for teachers should include cognitively engaging activities (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999). This study explored the relationship between student achievement and the level of teacher participation while attending an inquiry-based professional development program. Six teachers at a private school …