Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Recruiting, Teaching, And Inspiring Middle School Male Choral Singers, Katrina Faulstich

Honors Theses and Capstones

This paper addresses the social stigmas behind boys singing in chorus, particularly at the middle school level. It outlines ways to change these stigmas and inspire boys to want to sing in chorus. Single-gender classes, teaching boys about their changing voices, and using approachable male role models are all discussed in detail.

The Impact Of An Intensive Experience On Prospective Teachers' Perception Of The Uses Of Digital, Interactive Text Among K-12 Students, Francis W. Stonier

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure pre-service teacher perception, awareness, and potential use of digital literacies, media, and digital interactive text in their future classrooms. The study grew from the theoretical rationales of new literacies, technological pedagogical content knowledge, and constructivism. New literacies are essentially the skills teachers and students need to utilize and develop in order to interact with novel digital sources. Research was aimed not simply at exposing pre-service teachers to the possibilities, but to gauge their current knowledge, interest, and views of potential future application of said technologies and student learning needs before and after …

I-Stem Summer Institute: An Integrated Approach To Teacher Professional Development In Stem, Louis S. Nadelson, Anne Seifert, Amy J. Moll, Brad Coats

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The importance of STEM education to societal developments provides justification for assuring K–12 teachers are prepared to teach the related content. Inservice teacher professional development is critical to achieving the goal of enhanced student knowledge of STEM. Combining the need for increased capacity to teach STEM and the extant literature on teacher development, we created a four-day residential summer institute for 230 grade 4–9 teachers. The institute was designed to enhance the participants' content knowledge, use of inquiry for instruction, and efficacy for teaching STEM. A combination of content strands, plenary sessions, field trips and planning time were augmented by …

The Value Of Nj School Distict Demographic Data In Explainining School District Nj Ask Grade 3 Language Arts And Mathematics Scores, Peter G. Turnamian

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Effectiveness Of School-Wide Positive Behavior Programs In Georgia Middle Schools, Kristy Rutland Arnold

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Discipline issues and inappropriate student behavior in the classroom are issues that administrators and teachers throughout the country deal with on a daily basis and often lead to a loss of instructional time. This causal comparative study examined school-wide discipline programs and compared the behavior of students in schools using school-wide positive behavior management systems to the behavior of students in schools that do not implement school-wide programs based on the numbers of office referrals at each level of behavior. Three middle schools in one northwest county in Georgia were compared based on the presence of School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions …

Perceived Factors Influencing The Retention Rate Of Native American College Students: A Case Study, Tamara Louise Bergstrom

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The number of Native Americans entering college is higher now than it has been over the past 40 years; however, the degree completion rate has been less than half that of White students. This research study was a bounded case study of Native American students enrolled in the teacher education program. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the perceived factors influencing the retention rate of Native American college students. Some of the theoretical models that explain why students stay or leave an institution before earning a college degree look more toward explaining this phenomenon in a …

The Relationship Between High School Teacher Perceived Principal Leadership Practices And Teacher Morale Levels, Nora Moore

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative study examined the relationhip between five teacher perceived leadership practices of high school principals and the morale levels of the teachers in their schools. Two high schools (grades 10-12) in the upstate of South Carolina participated in the study. One hundred twelve high school teachers were surveyed using the Leadership Practices Inventory to collect information about five teacher perceived principal leadership practices, and the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire to collect information about teacher morale levels. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to measure the relationship between the five teacher perceived leadership practices and teacher morale levels. One of the …

Teachers' Perspectives And Suggestions For Improving Teacher Education To Facilitate Student Learning, Dina Linkenhoker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to give teachers a voice to express their self-efficacy beliefs, their opinions about the content and the effectiveness of their teacher preparation programs to facilitate student learning, and to hear their suggestions for improving teacher education to enable future educators to achieve that goal. The advent of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2002, referred to as No Child Left Behind, has reframed the debate on teacher quality. Across the board, from scholars to government officials to private foundations, there is a call for reform of schools of …

A Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study Of The Role Of New Secondary School Assistant Principals, David Stanton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study followed five secondary school assistant principals during the 2010-2011 school year. The participants range in age from their early 30s to early 50s, three of the participants serving as assistant principals in high schools; and two as assistant principals in middle schools. All five participants work in two school districts in Oakland County, Michigan, a suburban county northwest of Detroit and were promoted to administrative work within the past three years. The participants provided monthly calendars and journals along with discipline reports to demonstrate through their schedules, duties, and, most importantly, their own words, the experiences of …

The Impact Of Teacher Attitudes And Perceptions Of Direct Instruction On Student Achievement In Reading, Sharon Collum

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2004), 37% of America's fourth graders are not reading at grade level. This statistic has remained unchanged for over a decade (NCES, 2004). Findings from multiple studies indicate more research on successfully implementing reading interventions is needed (Begeny & Silber, 2006; Begeny, Krouse, Ross, & Mitchell, 2009). Barnyak and Paquette (2010) suggested that although teachers learn new methods, they return to the strategies they are most comfortable using. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine if teacher attitudes and perceptions of direct instruction impacted student achievement in reading. Elementary …

A Heuristic Inquiry Into The Stress That Home Educators Experience, Jennifer Rathmell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the stress that families incur when they choose home education as their primary educational method. Extensive studies exist regarding stress that traditional education teacher's experience. However, the research on stress experienced by parents who are the primary educators of their children is limited. This study endeavored to provide insight and add to the home-education body of research. Using a heuristic inquiry research design, nine home educators participated in four data collection methods: a homeschool questionnaire, The Occupational Stress Inventory - Revised (OSI-R), a focus group, and individual interviews. …

An Examination Of Newbery Medal Books From The 1920s Through The 2000s: Biblical Perspective, Kimberly Fleming

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Content analysis was conducted to determine the frequency of the presence of positive Biblical virtues and paired opposite traits across 18 Newbery Medal books from the 1920s through the 2000s because the Newbery Award is a prestigious honor bestowed upon children's literature, and the criteria for selection among books specifically precludes the necessity of good character. The fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 served as the rubric by which the characters' thoughts, dialogue, and actions were measured. Consensus data was recorded, and chi-square tests of independence were conducted after three readers examined the presence and frequency of each …

Examining Factors That Predict School Psychologists' Perceptions Of The Response To Intervention Process, Terry Bullock

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With increasing emphasis on accountability measures and widespread focus on implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) procedures in schools, it is critical to examine the impact these changes have on the role of practitioners involved in the process. This correlational study examined the factors of school psychologists' involvement in RtI, degree level, and years of experience to determine which of these best predict school psychologists' perceptions of the RtI process. Using information from the literature regarding RtI, the researcher's experience working as a school psychologist and with RtI, and review of a previous survey that examined RtI, an instrument was …

A Phenomenological Study Of Teacher And Administrator Experiences In The Analysis And Interpretation Of Student Assessment Data, Matthew Ross

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative empirical phenomenological study was to examine the experience of analyzing and interpreting student assessment data from the perspective of both teachers and administrators in order to identify: (a) those aspects of the experiences which are similar or dissimilar among the two groups, (b) the priorities and influences which affect those experiences, and (c) the most critical issues expressed by the participants. Ten teachers and five administrators participated in three in-depth individual interviews, online reflective journaling, and follow-on focus group interviews. This study revealed that the experiences of teachers and administrators can be characterized and described …

Why Western Australian Secondary Teachers Resign, Tony Fetherston, Geoff Lummis

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In recent years, Western Australian school have faced a significant increase in the number of secondary school teacher resignations. By analysing qualitative data gathered from interviews of 11 recently resigned secondary teachers, and three senior level administrators, the researchers sought to begin to understand the reasons behind a teacher attrition rate that has increased markedly since 2003. By placing the teachers’ experiences within a framework of critical social theory, the paper outlines how collisions with power and the negative discourse encountered by teachers established their subsequent pathway to resignation. In outlining these pathways, we have provided an anthology of their …

The Influence Of An Activity-Based Explicit Approach On The Turkish Prospective Science Teachers’ Conceptions Of The Nature Of Science, Suat Celik, Samih Bayrakceken

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an activity-based explicit nature of science (NOS) instruction undertaken in the context of a “Science, Technology and Society” course on the prospective science teachers’ (PSTs’) understandings of NOS. In this course, social science based inquiry activities were used to as a context to lead reflection and explicit discussions and project based learning approach (PBL) was used to model an active student centred NOS teaching and learning. Participants were 36 senior PSTs. An adopted form of VNOS questionnaire along with semi-structured interviews was used to assess participants’ conceptions before and …

Service-Learning: A Valuable Component Of Pre-Service Teacher Education, Dianne J. Chambers, Shane Lavery

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

There is recognition that involvement in service-learning can impact positively on the development of pre-service teachers professionally, culturally and academically (Billig & Freeman, 2010; Anderson, 1998). This article explores and describes the experiences of pre-service teachers in the School of Education at the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) who are undertaking two service learning units as part of their teacher education. This research is based on qualitative data collected from pre-service teachers on completion of their service learning units. Initially, service-learning as a concept is explored with particular reference to four basic elements identified in the literature (Jacoby, 1996; …

How To Become A Good Business Teacher: Developing Competences Of Prospective Business Education Teachers, Elisabeth Riebenbauer, Michaela Stock

International Journal for Business Education

The mission of teacher education is to equip prospective teachers with the knowledge, skills, attitude and behaviour they need to deliver their best performance in the classroom and at school. This paper presents ideas for optimizing teacher education using the example of the master's program of Business Education and Development at the University of Graz, placing a special focus on the acquisition of teacher competences. The biggest milestone in the curriculum is the teaching practice, the success of which strongly depends on good cooperation among students, teachers, schools, university, and school authorities. The second part of this article will be …

Eportfolio Implementation In The Master's Program Of Business Educaiton And Development, Michaela Stock, Anna Winkelbauer

International Journal for Business Education

The introduction of the new Master’s Program of Business Education and Development in the winter term of 2009/10 also marked the ePortfolio-initiative’s kick-off. At the same time the companion research was started to accompany the initiative for a period of at least six terms. This article gives insights into the initial results of the companion research, which has the purpose to examine the ePortfolio-initiative’s effectiveness.

2012 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International