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Teacher Education and Professional Development

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2009

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Editorial Introduction, Catherine F. Compton-Lilly Dec 2009

Editorial Introduction, Catherine F. Compton-Lilly

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

As the editor for Networks, I often get questions from authors and reviewers about what we look for in high-quality submissions. In this column, I identify some of the criteria that we consider as we make decisions about sending articles out to reviewers and contemplate publication. Networks publishes three types of peer-reviewed submissions: full-length articles, shorter articles, and book reviews.


Improving Critical Thinking Skills In History, Carl Kosta Savich Dec 2009

Improving Critical Thinking Skills In History, Carl Kosta Savich

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

This action research project, conducted by a classroom teacher, investigated strategies and techniques to improve critical thinking skills and engagement in a high school history classroom. The research methods involved comparing quiz, test, and essay scores as well as student surveys, interviews and teacher-created field notes from inquiry-based and lecturebased classrooms. The inquiry classroom involved role-playing, simulations, re-enactments, multiple text analysis, and oral/visual presentations. Students engaged in analyzing bias, examining different viewpoints and perspectives, and analyzing documents. The findings indicate that when critical thinking skills were emphasized and integrated in lesson planning, students achieved higher scores on tests, quizzes, and …


An Analysis Of Educational Programming For And Learning Outcomes, Abigail Marie Felber Dec 2009

An Analysis Of Educational Programming For And Learning Outcomes, Abigail Marie Felber

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

In order to better understand the educational outcomes of English language learners enrolled in two distinct programs at this school, the researcher, a 4th/5th grade bilingual teacher, studied leading research in the field of bilingual education, administered and analyzed assessments and interviewed participants’ families as well as colleagues. The premise of the study was to compare literacy levels of two sample groups—six students who received instruction solely in English and six students who received instruction both in English and Spanish. All students were Latino, and Spanish was the predominate language spoken in their homes. Study findings revealed that, regarding English …


Expanding The Zone Of Reflective Capacity: Taking Separate Journeys Together, Ron Tinsley, Kimberly Lebak Dec 2009

Expanding The Zone Of Reflective Capacity: Taking Separate Journeys Together, Ron Tinsley, Kimberly Lebak

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

The Master of Arts in Education program at our college began in 2004 and was designed to help practicing teachers become more effective and insightful teachers through developing both their content and pedagogical knowledge and helping them to incorporate this new knowledge into their daily practices. The program was designed to culminate in a capstone project. Capstone projects have been used in graduate education as a culmination to the learning experience. The capstone course has been found to be instrumental in helping graduate students “connect theory to practice in a meaningful and collaborative way” (Brown & Bensen, 2005, p. 679). …


A Starting Point For Practitioner Inquiry: A Review Of The Reflective Educator’S Guide To Classroom Research, Christopher B. Crowley Dec 2009

A Starting Point For Practitioner Inquiry: A Review Of The Reflective Educator’S Guide To Classroom Research, Christopher B. Crowley

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

In first part of this essay, I will introduce my discussion of The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research by describing my general impressions of the book. Next, I will provide a brief overview of the book and its main ideas. Finally, I will discuss some critical considerations that I believe are worth considering when discussing practitioner inquiry.


Table Of Contents - Fall 2009, Fort Hays State University College Of Education Oct 2009

Table Of Contents - Fall 2009, Fort Hays State University College Of Education

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Academic Leadership Journal Fall 2009 table of contents


A Listening Pedagogy: Insights Of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers In Multi-Cultural Classrooms, Karen Paciotti, Margaret Bolick Oct 2009

A Listening Pedagogy: Insights Of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers In Multi-Cultural Classrooms, Karen Paciotti, Margaret Bolick

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Although Texas schools are under the pedagogical constraints of both the Texas Assessment of Knowledge Skills (TAKS) and the national No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, it is morally incumbent upon Texas legislators and educators to listen to students’ voices to engage them with the “teaching and learning” technical core of schools (Hoy & Miskel, 2000, p. 75). Ironically, while Texas teacher certification standards mandate student-centered pedagogical practices, the current state and national pressure of a high-stakes accountability climate often lead to a teacher-centered pedagogy in which student voices are routinely excluded from the classroom (Kordalewski, 1999). This atmosphere …


Coaching Educational Leaders, Jothany Blackwood Oct 2009

Coaching Educational Leaders, Jothany Blackwood

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

As institutions of higher learning respond to the rapidly changing demographics of its administrators, they must continuously find processes that improve the performance and effectiveness of these individuals. They must also begin to understand how the integration of coaching and/or mentoring shapes educational leaders and their institutions. From developing administrator’s potential to work well with others and strengthen communication, coaching also access to mobility, career advancements, promotions and pay increases. Of interest is the presence of female administrators in the California community colleges and the role that coaching plays in their ability to be effective educational leaders.


Disparities In Tuition: A Study Of Tuitions Assessed By Hispanic Serving Community Colleges Versus Non-Hispanic Serving Community Colleges In Texas, Lee Waller, Louis Glover, Lynn Simpson Oct 2009

Disparities In Tuition: A Study Of Tuitions Assessed By Hispanic Serving Community Colleges Versus Non-Hispanic Serving Community Colleges In Texas, Lee Waller, Louis Glover, Lynn Simpson

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

With the shift of higher education funding from federal and state to the local level, community colleges’ choices to off set this funding deficit become few and difficult. One regrettable choice that is frequently made is to increase tuition. This choice has largest finical impact on students of lower income with many of these students coming from minority backgrounds.


Eclecticism: The Main Stay Of Social Studies, S. Adewale Oct 2009

Eclecticism: The Main Stay Of Social Studies, S. Adewale

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The genesis of eclecticism can be traced to the time of certain Greek thinkers who were generally grouped as eclectics. The name was later transferred to Leibniz and Cousin. All this was in the Second and First centuries B.C. Eclecticism, according to Chambers English Dictionary is “selecting or borrowing; choosing the best out of everything; broad, the opposite of exclusive”. The emphasis of Social Studies is getting the best out of other disciplines which will enhance the tack of Social Studies in understanding man and his environments which can be Social, economic, cultural, political, historical, religious, geographic, scientific and technological.


Framing Academic Leadership Positioning For The Global University, Kamaruzaman Jusoff Oct 2009

Framing Academic Leadership Positioning For The Global University, Kamaruzaman Jusoff

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

“Putting the right person at the right place at the right time” may be an old adage. However, for an organization to sustain on, the statement may remain significant and relevant. When deciding the leadership to play its role and to execute its function effectively and efficiently, this maxim remains a tag line to help make the organization, particularly educational institutions, to move towards the right track. Hence, the notion of leadership and its positioning in higher education arena refers not only to the strategic moves and tracks in meeting the unceasing demand for and a great diversification in this …


Identifying And Alleviating Stress Of Teacher Candidates In A Secondary Professional Development Schools (Pds) Program, Molly Mee Oct 2009

Identifying And Alleviating Stress Of Teacher Candidates In A Secondary Professional Development Schools (Pds) Program, Molly Mee

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Teacher candidate stress is a significant issue for candidates, students, mentor teachers, and the Institute of Higher Education (IHE) representatives who work with the candidates. Stress during this important stage in a new teacher’s career can be detrimental in many ways from causing early burnout (Greer & Greer, 1992; Schwab, 1989) to attrition (Brownell, 1997) and absenteeism. “It is during student teaching that preservice teachers begin to learn the habits of the profession and begin to develop adaptive or maladaptive coping skills for dealing with the stress of teaching” (Gold, 1985; Greer & Greer, 1992 as cited in Fives, Hamman, …


Leadership As Imagery: Creating Your Picture Of The Future, Kerri Mckenna Oct 2009

Leadership As Imagery: Creating Your Picture Of The Future, Kerri Mckenna

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

After several years of bi weekly faculty meetings, I had had my fill of “School Leaders” dictating and telling us what needed to be done in order to meet state standards, raise test scores and improve student attendance. Each week we had a “new idea” tossed at us from above with the same fervor and enthusiasm that I shared with my students about writing. And, each week, my over loaded brain walked out of the faculty meeting criticizing the fact that I was being told what to do, but not why it was important that I did it. The constant …


Illuminating Adolescent Voices: Identifying High School Students’ Perceptions Of Teacher Caring, Ruben Garza, Gail Ryser, Kathryn Lee Oct 2009

Illuminating Adolescent Voices: Identifying High School Students’ Perceptions Of Teacher Caring, Ruben Garza, Gail Ryser, Kathryn Lee

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The purpose of the current study was to identify teacher behaviors that secondary students perceived as demonstrating caring. The questions that guided this inquiry were (a) what teacher behaviors do high school students perceive as caring? and (b) what teacher behaviors do high school students perceive as the most important aspects of caring? Whereas previous studies clearly have documented the power and influence of caring teachers on adolescents’ success, we posit that knowing what students perceive as caring behaviors can be used as a springboard to shape the context of caring for all students, especially those who are marginalized, feel …


Influence Of Test Anxiety On Performance Levels On Numerical Tasks Of Secondary School Physics Students, Bimbola Oludipe Oct 2009

Influence Of Test Anxiety On Performance Levels On Numerical Tasks Of Secondary School Physics Students, Bimbola Oludipe

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The purpose of the current study was to identify teacher behaviors that secondary students perceived as demonstrating caring. The questions that guided this inquiry were (a) what teacher behaviors do high school students perceive as caring? and (b) what teacher behaviors do high school students perceive as the most important aspects of caring? Whereas previous studies clearly have documented the power and influence of caring teachers on adolescents’ success, we posit that knowing what students perceive as caring behaviors can be used as a springboard to shape the context of caring for all students, especially those who are marginalized, feel …


Leading Faculty: Understanding The Connection Between Goals And Values, Frank Grosso Oct 2009

Leading Faculty: Understanding The Connection Between Goals And Values, Frank Grosso

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Faculty can never do enough. We need them to teach, write, advise, mentor, network, and conduct groundbreaking research. And when we are faced with extremely limited budgets, hiring freezes, and increased pressure to bring in research funds, university faculty are counted on to pick up the fallen pieces. Academic leaders find themselves asking faculty to give more time and effort to assist in advancing their institutions, but at what price? Typically, as leaders demand more of the faculty, morale tends to decrease and grumbling skyrockets. In actuality, it is like that in any organization. However, it is no secret that …


Poverty: A Constraint To Sustainable Development Of The Niger Delta Region Of Nigeria’S Socio-Economic Resources During The 21st Century, John Inyang Oct 2009

Poverty: A Constraint To Sustainable Development Of The Niger Delta Region Of Nigeria’S Socio-Economic Resources During The 21st Century, John Inyang

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Poverty has become a major socio-economic problem in present day Nigeria. A disturbing observation about poverty in Nigeria is that it is on the increase, both in incidence and intensity despite the wide variety of national and international measures undertaken to eradicate it during the last three decades. The failure of these measures have been attributed to a multiplicity of causes, of which the most frequently mentioned and emphasized include: inadequate conceptualizations of poverty and development; failure to identify the root causes of the problem; lack of adequate organizational requirement for effective program implementation, wrong prescriptions given as solution to …


Quality Assurance In Education Through Quality Circles – Global And Indian Context, Uma Devi, R.S. Mani Oct 2009

Quality Assurance In Education Through Quality Circles – Global And Indian Context, Uma Devi, R.S. Mani

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Since Independence, the education, particularly the higher education in India has undergone a unique transformation from elitist to egalitarian group. There has been the expansion of higher education facilities in India since independence. We can see the expansion of higher education with increasing speed day by day in the context of globalization, liberalization and privatization. But a big question in front of us is whether the quality is ensured or not. It is saddening to note that 128 universities who got themselves accredited by the NAAC only 32 per cent could get ‘A’ or above level of rating while another …


School Administrators’ Perceptions Of School Violence, Stephanie Garrett, Casey Brown Oct 2009

School Administrators’ Perceptions Of School Violence, Stephanie Garrett, Casey Brown

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Across America, waves of violence within the school system have shocked and horrified American society. A generation of young people whose main focus should have been on hanging out with friends, getting homework done, not being late to class, going to the mall, or who their date to the prom was to be, instead, are engaged in a sometimes life and death struggle to survive the school day. The tragedy of Columbine High School, where two high school-aged gunmen took the lives of 13 students and teachers and wounded 23 others (Klein and Chancer 2000), while never to be forgotten, …


The Possibility Of Applying Senge’S Learning Organization Principles In Irbid Public High Schools As Perceived By Principals And Teachers, Mohammed Ashour Oct 2009

The Possibility Of Applying Senge’S Learning Organization Principles In Irbid Public High Schools As Perceived By Principals And Teachers, Mohammed Ashour

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Purpose of the study: 1. To be acquainted with the possibility of applying Senge’s learning organization principles in Irbid high public schools as seen by principals and teachers 2. To be acquainted with the individual differences of the participants about the possibility of applying Senge’s learning organization principles in Irbid high public schools related to the social type, experience and qualification 3. To be acquainted with the suggestions presented by principals and teachers in Irbid high public schools regarding the possibilities of applying Senge’s learning organization principles


Tomorrow’S Teacher Leaders: Nurturing A Disposition Of Leadership, Jana Hunzicker, Twila Lukowiak, Victoria Huffman, Celia Johnson Oct 2009

Tomorrow’S Teacher Leaders: Nurturing A Disposition Of Leadership, Jana Hunzicker, Twila Lukowiak, Victoria Huffman, Celia Johnson

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Until recently, the terms teacher and leadership were not often mentioned in the same sentence. Educational leadership was synonymous with school administration, and teachers viewed themselves as followers rather than leaders. Over the past fifteen years, this perception has changed. Due to federal mandates such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Response to Intervention (RtI), teacher roles and responsibilities have expanded (Le Cornu, 1999) and distributed school leadership has become the norm (Danielson, 2006; Harrison & Killion, 2007).


Academic Rank: The Impact On Full-Time Faculty Salaries At Public Rural Community Colleges, Jay Leist Oct 2009

Academic Rank: The Impact On Full-Time Faculty Salaries At Public Rural Community Colleges, Jay Leist

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

This study examined academic rank systems and their impact on full-time faculty salaries within one of the most economically challenged sectors of American public higher education: the rural community college.


Global Business Leadership: Lord Krishna As Role Model For Global Leadership, Ratish Kakkad Oct 2009

Global Business Leadership: Lord Krishna As Role Model For Global Leadership, Ratish Kakkad

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Five Pandavas under the guidance of Lord Krishna attended a 55 days training programme on Leadership. Their grandfather Bhishama Pitamah was lying on a bed of arrows on Krukshetra battlefield. He gave discourse to them as described in Shantiparva and Anushashan Parva of Mahabharata epic.


Some Psychological Variables Differentiating Between Adolescents With Step-Parents And Those Without Step-Parents, Alaba Adenuga, A. Odusole Oct 2009

Some Psychological Variables Differentiating Between Adolescents With Step-Parents And Those Without Step-Parents, Alaba Adenuga, A. Odusole

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The well being of adolescents has become topic of increasing interest among researchers in general. It is now regarded as something worthy of empirical investigation by researchers in eliciting without faking, the true status of the living and parenting conditions of adolescents (Marks 1998; Leug and Jim Park 2000). Newman (1994) however observed that there has been great increase in divorce rate that is threatening the marriage institution on the pages of parent media and also on the electronic media. Worse still, the failure rate of second marriages has been found to be higher than that of first-time marriages which …


What Is Rigor?: A Qualitative Analysis Of One School’S Definition, Heather Bower, Joelle Powers Oct 2009

What Is Rigor?: A Qualitative Analysis Of One School’S Definition, Heather Bower, Joelle Powers

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

In an era of increasing accountability, school administrators and faculties often find themselves amid a plethora of best practices and strategies aimed at improving students’ academic achievement. In the midst of these discussions, school culture is often hailed as the key to creating effective schools because it defines how people within a particular school are to behave and what they are to value (Stolp & Smith, 1995). Furthermore, it allows administrators to draw attention to some of the culture’s most important aspects: its values, beliefs, and assumptions that create the school’s vision for excellence (Stolp & Smith, 1995). Malloy (2005) …


Educator Perceptions Toward The Iep Meeting, Wade Fish Oct 2009

Educator Perceptions Toward The Iep Meeting, Wade Fish

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The individualized education program (IEP) was the primary component of Part B of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. Through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), the IEP has continued to direct the educational needs, goals and objectives, placement, evaluation criteria, present levels of educational performance, and duration of programming modifications for students receiving special education services (Drasgow, Yell, & Robinson, 2001; 20 U.S.C. § 1400). The IEP functions as the blueprint for services to be provided for students, as IEP regulations identify meeting dates, parental and student consent and accountability, as well as …


Equal Access: A National Comparison Of Federal Grants-In-Aid Awarded At Public And Private Four-Year Degree Granting Institutions, Lee Waller, Sandra Weeks, Steven Westbrook, Karl Payton Oct 2009

Equal Access: A National Comparison Of Federal Grants-In-Aid Awarded At Public And Private Four-Year Degree Granting Institutions, Lee Waller, Sandra Weeks, Steven Westbrook, Karl Payton

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

More than twelve million undergraduate students in the United States benefit from some form of financial aid. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education (as cited in The American Council of Education 2008) indicate that 76% of undergraduates at public four-year degree-granting institutions during the 2003-2004 academic year received financial aid, while 89% of undergraduate students at private four-year not-for-profit degree-granting institutions were aid recipients.


Creating An Electronic Document Center For Ncate Accreditation, Odin Jurkowski Oct 2009

Creating An Electronic Document Center For Ncate Accreditation, Odin Jurkowski

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

This paper will discuss the development of the electronic document center (EDC) at the University of Central Missouri. It will highlight the initial assumptions and planning, discoveries made along the way, and thoughts and ideas as we reflect back on the process. It is hoped that sharing this insight will help those who will be preparing for their own site visits.


Potential Extensions To Transformational Leadership Models, C.R.A. Jackson Oct 2009

Potential Extensions To Transformational Leadership Models, C.R.A. Jackson

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The view adopted in this research was that transformational leadership (Bass 1985; Burns 1978) could be characterised by an ability to bring about significant change in an organization, and that transactional leadership above was inadequate for this task. Since the 1980s, research (Avolio & Bass 2002; Bass 1990; Parry 1996) supported the idea that transformational leadership was more effective than transactional leadership in generating the extra effort, commitment and satisfaction of those being led (Bass 1990). Transformational leadership was a process where leaders and followers raised one another to higher moral and motivational levels (Yukl 1971). As Bass (1990) asserted, …


Successful Leadership In Turnaround Schools: A Case Study About The Center For Creative Leadership (Ccl) And The School Leadership Executive Institute (Slei), Belinda B. Mcfeeters, Emily Hoole Oct 2009

Successful Leadership In Turnaround Schools: A Case Study About The Center For Creative Leadership (Ccl) And The School Leadership Executive Institute (Slei), Belinda B. Mcfeeters, Emily Hoole

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The topic of turning failing schools around has gained significant attention throughout the world within the last decade. Accountability systems from the government to the general community have expressed their concern for this issue, and have called for plans to turn these schools around (Chapman, 2002; Hassel & Steiner, 2003; Levin, 2006; Malen & Rice, 2004; Wong & Shen, 2003). How do principals meet these challenges and successfully turn failing schools around? How can they gain the insight, knowledge and competencies to effectively lead their schools through these challenging times?