Exploring The Role Of Collective Teacher Efficacy In Closing Achievement Gaps: A Review Of An Urban District Model School Program, Folusho B. Abayomi

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Abstract

Urban Academy is one of Urban Diverse School Board (UDSB)’s model schools situated in Ontario, Canada. A model school program was created to provide students with equitable access to resources and learning opportunities. Despite UDSB’s commitment to equity and inclusion, this urban school continues to experience persistent achievement gaps when aggregate data are analyzed. Based on student data, the achievement gap has been strongly connected to demographic factors such as low socioeconomic status (SES) of the parents. Educators’ beliefs and assumptions of low SES as an external factor posit achievement as a dilemma beyond teachers’ control. This Organizational Improvement …

Increasing Collective Teacher Efficacy Through Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit And Coaching: A Community-Based Approach, Brenda Mercer

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Abstract

Instructional coaching in one remote northern community focuses on teacher mentorship and professional learning and prioritizes the implementation of prepackaged literacy resources. This focus on the implementation of prepackaged programs and data collection, promotes neo-liberal priorities and the privatization of education, over the methods that support the inclusion of Inuit cultural knowledge. Kostogriz (2011) states that we should be cautious about accepting the neo-liberal discourse of the literacy crisis and standardized reforms, the author suggests that low levels of literacy are not a large-scale problem so much as a result of under-provision of a socially just education.

This Problem …