Education Commons^™

The Impact Of Stand-Alone Professional Development Versus Job-Embedded Professional Development On Teacher Self-Efficacy: A Program Evaluation, Ayana Lucas

Dissertations

School leaders throughout the United States use various methods to create professional learning opportunities that lead to effective teaching practices. The purpose of my study is to evaluate the impact of stand-alone professional development on teacher self-efficacy of teachers who have attended or incorporated professional development in their learning environments. The context of this evaluation is elementary, middle, and high schools in the United States. My study demonstrates outcomes of a disconnect between instructional leaders and teachers in the perception of job-embedded professional development and its effect on teacher self-efficacy. My study also demonstrated an outcome that there is a …

Investigating The Connection Between Teacher Professional Development And The Lesson Planning Process, Kyle B. Corlett

Dissertations

School districts across the country are facing increasing pressure to raise student achievement, specifically on state standardized tests (Buzick & Jones, 2015; Marsh & Farrell, 2015). Many states, including Michigan, connect teacher and administrator evaluations to student achievement (Revised School Code Act 451, 2003). The primary strategy school districts use to improve student achievement is professional development for its staff (Guskey, 2009). Professional development can consist of a variety of strategies to support educators in increasing their knowledge and skills, resulting in improved instruction and ultimately improved student achievement. This instrumental case study sought to explore how teachers experience the …

Ready To Engage? Urban Middle School Teachers’ Responsiveness To Targeted Engagement Interventions On Their Virtual Instructional Practices: An Action Research Study, Svetlana Nikic

Dissertations

Teachers’ effectiveness is associated with their instructional practices and is ultimately linked to students’ learning outcomes. In order to impact teachers’ effectiveness, schools focus substantial effort and resources on professional development led by an assumption that teachers’ classroom practices can be improved through targeted interventions. Even if this premise is correct, little information is available about how much a teacher’s practice may change through interventions, or which aspects of instructional practice are more receptive to improving teacher effectiveness (Garret et al., 2019).

This study took place at an urban middle school and examined teachers’ responsiveness to targeted engagement intervention in …