Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Examining Teacher Identity And Prospective Efficacy Beliefs Among Students Enrolled In A Precollegiate Urban Teaching Academy (Uta), Marsha Simon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teacher recruitment and retention challenges facing urban school contexts provided the impetus for this study. High percentages of historically marginalized students, plagued by high poverty rates and low academic performance, as well as substandard facilities and inadequate material resources, serve as causative factors inhibiting recruitment and retention of credentialed teachers in urban schools (Education Commission of the States [ECS], 1999; Guarino et al., 2006; Horng, 2009; USDOE, 2003; 2004; Wirt et al, 2004). Schools and districts attempt to meet chronic teacher shortages in hard-to-staff urban schools by creating innovative teacher preparation schemes, such as the Urban Teaching Academy (UTA). This …

A Head Start To Learning: Exploration Of A Parent-Directed Intervention To Promote Early Literacy Skill Development, Ashley Nicole Sundman-Wheat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of a parent-led intervention focused on developing children's early literacy skills within the home setting. The lesson plans contain scripted steps for completing activities to teach letter names and phonological awareness skills. Archival data were analyzed from a study conducted with 26 families from three Head Start centers. Thirteen families completed the intervention and thirteen families were enrolled in a control condition which provided information on shared reading strategies. Children in the intervention group performed at statistically significant higher levels on measures of letter naming, phonological awareness, vocabulary/oral language, and comprehension. Parents rated both the …

Perceptions Of Hispanic Female Esl Students Toward First-Year College Writing Courses: A Phenomenological Examination Of Cultural Influences, Barbara B. Booker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The role of culture as a phenomenon guided this qualitative study, which examined the influence of diverse Hispanic cultures on the attitudes and perceptions towards college writing courses of female Hispanic students who are non-native speakers of English. With the increasing number of Hispanic immigrants coming to the U.S., the minority student population at our nation's colleges and universities has also risen. Community colleges have become the means through which many of these Hispanic immigrants obtain a college education.

The eight women who participated in this study self-identified as Hispanic. All were first generation college students who had been born …

A Multi-Perspective Exploration Of A Cross-Age Tutoring Initiative: An Analysis Of The Responses Of All Students, Ann Elizabeth Gillies

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study assessed the effectiveness of a cross-age tutoring intervention on adaptive behavior goals of three PreKindergarten/Kindergarten-aged students with labels of autism spectrum disorder. Data were collected in an inclusive environment; the school library. Three fourth grade general education cross-age tutors were trained to use a simple, naturalistic least-to-most prompting strategy to support the young students with individualized adaptive behavior goals while in the library. A mixed method design was utilized in this study; a quantitative single case multiple baseline across participants design to show performance outcomes of the young students as a result of the tutoring intervention, and …

Perceptions Of A Learning Organization And Factors Within The Work Environment That Influence Transfer Of Training In Law Enforcement, Yvonne Olive Hunter-Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine law enforcement officers' perception of factors within the workplace that influence transfer of training and their perception of the organization being a learning organization. The study actually had three parts. First, it intended to investigate the perception of law enforcement officers regarding factors within their work environment that influence or impede the transfer of training process (specifically, organizational support and transfer climate/culture). Second, it intended to determine the perception of law enforcement officers concerning the promotion of their organization's learning practices, learning culture, and the continuous learning environment at an individual, …

Increasing Parental Involvement In Early Childhood Education, Kendall Jeffries

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parental involvement during preschool has been linked with stronger pre-literacy skills, acquisition of mathematical skills, well-developed social skills, and positive attitudes toward school (Arnold, Zeljo, Doctoroff, & Ortiff, 2008; Powell, Son, File, & San Juan, 2010). Parents' active involvement in their children's learning is a recommended strategy in engaging families in children's education experiences (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). The purpose of the current study was to measure the impact of parents' active participation in a parent-directed early literacy intervention on parental home-based involvement, school-based involvement, and home-school conferencing among Head Start parents and their preschool-aged children. The study used a …

Teachers' Narratives Of Experience With Social Class, Natalie Elizabeth Keefer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Equality of educational opportunity has been a long elusive goal of public education in the United States. This narrative, phenomenological study conducted inquiry into how five teachers in Tampa, Florida construct meaning about social class and academic achievement based on their life experiences as members of a class-based society. Data produced descriptive, narrative stories that contextualize how meaning is constructed about social class based on participants' life experiences. This line of inquiry provides relevant insight into teachers' understandings of social class which may influence the provision of equal educational opportunities to all students. The following study includes a comprehensive analysis …

Changes In Attitudes And Behaviors Toward Physical Activity, Nutrition, And Social Support For Middle School Students Using The Afit App As A Suppliment To Instruction In A Physical Education Class, Thomas Andrew Watterson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Finding ways to improve nutritional and physical activity components with today's adolescents is a significant problem. The obesity epidemic is over 10 years old and little research has been done on successful interventions that motivate today's students using the latest technology. A total of 140 middle school students and four physical education teachers participated in a 4-week study using a newly created application (AFIT app) for supplemental teaching in and out of the classroom. Combining a theoretical framework of Self-Determination and motivating strategies implored in today's mobile technology, significance was found using the PACE (2001) instrument in fruits and …

A Phenomenological Study Of Teaching Endangered Languages Online: Perspectives From Nahua And Mayan Educators., Dustin De Felice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Language and culture teaching has always been a complex and challenging task. For many educators, their teaching experiences are rooted in their earlier preparation, their classroom situations and their curriculum. In this study, indigenous educators recount their lived experiences with teaching their language and culture at a distance. These educators belong to either Nahua or Mayan speech communities where endangered languages are maintained. Using a transcendental phenomenological approach, my participants described and explained their perspectives and experiences with teaching, studying, and integrating technology. I focused the interviews, the reflective writing tasks and their artifact sharing on their experiences in an …

Investigating The Reggio Emilia Study Tour Experience: From Conversation To Insights, William Arthur Parnell

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Taking early childhood Master's students on a Reggio Emilia Study Tour leads to making meaning of anticipatory and after-experience reflective narrative-episodes. These narrative episodes are constructed around the phenomena of anticipating the trip as well as reflecting on the experiences during and after the study tour. The experiences are then analyzed collaboratively among researchers and participants through informal discussions. Themes in each narrative episode are explored through the written narratives and then conclusions are drawn. Anticipatory themes include eagerness to see, desire to witness the image of the child in the everyday, and a concern about adopting the Reggio approach …

Improving Elementary American Indian Students’ Math Achievement With Inquiry-Based Mathematics And Games, Jamalee Stone, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Project Inquiry-Based Mathematics was a National Science Foundation Math-Science Partnership implemented in a Great Plains city school district with a significant K-12 Native American population. One goal of the project was to reduce the achievement gap between Native American and non-Native students enrolled in the district. This gap reduction was to be achieved using inquiry-based mathematics curricula along with cognitively guided instructional strategies, particularly at the elementary level. This study focuses on whether inquiry-based mathematics strategies were consistently implemented in three fifth-grade classrooms at K-5 elementary schools with significant Native American student populations. Test result of Native American students at …

Series Editors' Foreword: Placing Practitioner Knowledge At The Center Of Teacher Education., Edmund T. Hamann, Rodney Hopson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The starting point for this book is a new phase—the Carnegie Program for the Education Doctorate (CPED)—of the longstanding dilemma of whether and how to to distinguish advanced graduate education for the Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in education from the Doctorate of Education (EdD). EdD graduates should have gained not just in knowledge, but also in capability—to not only know new things, but to be able to do new practices and/or engage previous skills and practices more effectively.

Exploring The Relationship Between Pre Service School Counselor's Academic Training And Reported Levels Of Multicultural Competence As Predictors Of Attitudes Toward Inclusion, Rachael Annette Evans

Wayne State University Dissertations

The principal aim of this study was to explore the relationships between preservice school counselors' academic training and their self-reported levels of multicultural competence as predictors of attitudes toward inclusion. Variances in demographic data also were examined as predictors of attitudes regarding inclusion. A nonexperimental, correlational research design was used. Pearson product moment correlations were used to test the relationships between preservice school counselors' level of academic training and their attitudes toward inclusions. No statistically significant correlations were obtained on these analyses, indicating that academic training does not predict attitudes toward inclusion. . Pearson product moment correlations were used to …

Examining The Factors Of A Technology Professional Development Intervention, Kelly L. Unger

Wayne State University Dissertations

In response to the ever increasing demand to compete in a global economy, the United States needs to prepare its students with the appropriate technical knowledge and communication skills to be competitive in the 21st century (Watson, 2007). Students must begin utilizing current technology tools during their K-12 educational experience and online learning can assist students with developing these skills. Teachers with online technology skills and equipped with effective pedagogical strategies for teaching in an online environment are the keys to achieving this goal. To ensure teachers are keeping pace with changing teaching and learning environments, and effectively utilizing new …

Talking Circles For Adolescent Girls In An Urban High School: A Restorative Practices Program For Building Friendships And Developing Emotional Literacy Skills, Martha Ann Schumacher

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

TALKING CIRCLES FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS

IN AN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL: A RESTORATIVE PRACTCES' PROGRAM FOR BUILDING FRIENDHIPS AND DEVELOPING

EMOTIONAL LITERACY SKILLS

by

MARTHA ANN SCHUMACHER

DECEMBER 2012

ADVISOR: Dr. Loraleigh Keashly

MAJOR: Communication

DEGREE: Doctor of Philosophy

Restorative Practices and Restorative Justice programs in schools are a new and emerging field. Meeting in Circles to build community, resolve conflict, and learn interactively are core components of these programs. This ethnographic study, which took place February 2010 to December 2011, evaluates 12 small, out-of-classroom Talking Circles for 60 adolescent girls as part of a Restorative Practices program in an …

The Farnet Journey: Perceptions Of Māori Students Engaged In Secondary Online Learning, Carolyn Bennett, Michael Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

This case study investigated the perceptions of Māori students in the Virtual Learning Network of what constituted effective strategies for engaging them in online learning. In the FarNet cluster, about 63 students from the four secondary and five area schools access the VLN, and approximately 80 percent of those students are of Māori descent. Data collection included online surveys, semi-structured interviews, and observation of online classrooms. The data suggested there was a variety of delivery models experienced by students, most supported by the learning management system. Students identified a range of Web 2.0 strategies currently used by their e-teachers, and …

A View From Within : Instructors' Perspectives Of Their Roles With Adult Learners In Need Of Remediation, Lance J. Baxter

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study focused on the perceptions of 12 faculty members teaching courses in adult basic education and described their professional experiences and interactions with adult learners within the context of a two-year, public, postsecondary institution. Participants, ranging in teaching experience from 13 years to 43 years, volunteered to take part in one-to-one, semi-structured interview sessions to offer insight into their professional experiences. The interview sessions yielded the complex, context-specific data for detailed analysis. Data analysis, supported through educational criticism and relevant concepts from the professional literature (Eisner, 1998), was used to develop four themes: how the faculty viewed …

The Impact Of Teacher Licensure Programs On Minority Student Achievement, Rose S. Duke

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

This research examined the impact of teacher licensure routes, particularly those identified as either traditional or alternative on student achievement by comparing Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) end of year scores in math and reading for minority students in grades six through eight during the period from 2005 through 2009. To compare the achievement of students taught by either traditionally or alternatively prepared teachers, the Standards of Learning (SOL) scores were calculated for students and then aggregated for types of teacher preparation. The mean values were compared for statistically significant differences as a function of subject, teacher ethnicity, teacher gender, …

American Sign Language-English Interpreting Program Faculty: Characteristics, Tenure Perceptions, And Productivity, Kimberly J. Hale

Online Theses and Dissertations

American Sign Language (ASL)-English interpreting education, which began as a community apprenticeship and vetting process, has within the last several decades moved into higher education. Most recently, the number of baccalaureate-granting ASL-English interpreting programs have continued to increase while the number of associate's degree programs has remained steady. This shift to higher education and to four-year colleges in particular has received little empirical analysis. The overarching objective of this study, which was framed by a conceptual model of the relationship between employment context, faculty member characteristics, perceptions and productivity, is to better understand how ASL-English interpreting education programs and their …

Promoting And Preserving Scholarly And Creative Work At Parkland College, Sherry Cmiel, Erika Hackman

Library Scholarship

What is the role of scholarship at a community college? The process of identifying, sharing, showcasing, and using the scholarly and creative work of a community college can lay the groundwork for cross-curricular collaborations and encourage students to demonstrate learning at a higher level. At Parkland College, the institutional repository (SPARK) has played a key role in this process.