Education Commons^™

Journalism Through Learning Design, Geoff Decker

Capstones

Abstract

At its core, journalism is a civic enterprise with a mission to help citizens better understand their world and communities. Fulfilling this lofty mission in today’s digital media landscape poses new and evolving challenges, but it also presents a unique opportunity to reexamine the relationship between storytellers and their audiences. Advancements in the learning sciences in recent decades offer important insights into how the mind works. In teaching and learning, pedagogical experts and practitioners increasingly utilize these insights to refine and implement instructional strategies that increase student engagement, motivation, and learning. This capstone project aims to establish a framework …

An Assessment Of The Professional Development Of Special Education Teachers In Saudi Arabia, Raja Almutairi

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to assess the current state of professional development activities of Saudi special education teachers in comparison to the research-based professional development practices of special education teachers. A survey of professional development evaluation and job satisfaction that describe three components was electronically collected from 613 special education teachers who were actively employed in Saudi public schools during the 2019/2020 school year. The results show that participating in professional development activities contributed to the study’s special education teachers’ satisfaction with their teaching profession. Additionally, the findings suggest that improvements to the professional development practices that are …

An Examination Of The General Education Teacher Responsibilities, Collaboration Practices, And Professional Development Needs To Educate Students With Disabilities In The General Education Classroom, Ashlee Johnson

Culminating Projects in Education Administration and Leadership

The Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has mandates that students with disabilities have access to the general education classroom to the maximum extent possible. Students with disabilities are increasing placed within the general education classroom for more of their school day. General education teachers, in turn, have been tasked with an increase in responsibilities to meet the variant needs of their students. The research concludes the importance of collaborative practices between general education and special education teachers and the need for professional development for educators to build the necessary skills to educate students with disabilities in the general education …

Arts Integration And Teacher Collaboration In An Unprecedented Era Of Online Learning, Natalie Hahn

Theses and Dissertations

The unexpected halt of in-person teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic added another layer to an already sizeable and imperative gap in research on arts integrated teacher collaboration. Research shows that teacher collaboration is essential to effective arts integration and can have powerful, positive outcomes for students and teachers (Burnaford et al., 2007; Burton et al., 1999; Carney et al., 2016; Duma & Silverstein, 2014; Lynch, 2007; Snyder et al., 2014; Upitis et al., 1999; Vitulli et al., 2013), but less is understood about the characteristics of and teacher experiences with collaboration in arts integrated environments. The reconceptualization of …

Professional Development For The 21st Century Teacher: Supporting Teachers In A 1:1 9-12 Classroom, Steven Gilbertson

Leadership Education Capstones

Abstract

Winona Area Public Schools, specifically Winona Senior High School, is in need of a systematic change in the use of technology and the implementation of professional development regarding technology integration. This project aims to research, survey, and create a plan moving forward to better assist the school in creating a vibrant, organic way of professional development and technology usage in the classroom. Information was gathered through an anonymous survey from staff in the high school to gain insight and assess current usage, comfortability, and needs. The research showed a strong usage of technology in the classroom and a willingness …

Teacher Perceptions Of Blended Learning To Support 21st Century Learners, Nikki Hensley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand teacher perceptions of blended learning as an instructional methodology for addressing the needs of diverse learners. The researcher explored the perceptions of teachers who were participating in an ongoing professional development program within their school district. This program focused on improving teaching and learning through the implementation of a blended learning approach. The researcher examined the experiences of teachers as they learned to adapt pedagogical practices to address the learning needs of 21st century students through blended learning. The researcher sought to gain a better understanding of how teachers perceived that …

An Evaluation Of The Impact Of Professional Development On Accessibility To Online Courses By Students With Special Needs At A Regional Four-Year Public Institution Of Higher Education In West Texas, Dallas Anne Swafford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evaluation research, including qualitative and quantitative data, was used in this study to determine the impact of professional development on online courses’ accessibility by students with disabilities. The study focused on online courses and course content. Data collection took place in phases and included self-paced, online professional development and one-on-one support sessions, a pre- and postsurvey, and a focus group interview. The study took place at a regional 4-year public institution of higher education in West Texas. Change theory emerged as the primary theoretical lens guiding the research as the study unfolded.

Teacher Development In Promising School Turnaround Efforts, Andrew Swanson

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The study was developed to examine the teacher development efforts utilized by leaders of lowperforming schools that had shown promising gains in student achievement. A researchercreated quantitative survey sent to school leaders in one state was utilized to analyze the perceived use and effectiveness of various teacher development efforts in supporting student achievement gains at their schools. Overall, the results showed school leaders focused heavily on teacher development to support their school turnaround efforts and that teacher development was effective in improving student achievement. Classroom walk-throughs were found to be an integral strategy in school turnaround and the results also …

An Evaluation Of Teachers’ Perceptions Of Preparedness To Teach In Dual Language Programs, Cari Andreani

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Students whose first language is not English (English language learners or ELLs) make up the fastest growing demographic in public schools. School districts nationwide have implemented dual language programs as a way to help close the achievement gap between ELLs and native English speaking students, however, a main concern of implementing a dual language program is the shortage of prepared and qualified teachers. The purpose of this study was to assist school districts, dual language schools, and dual language teachers in determining what training and support teachers need to be successful in a dual language program. This study surveyed dual …

The Relationship Between The Next Generation Content Area Reading Professional Development Program On The Effectiveness Of Teaching Literacy Strategies In High School Biology Classes, Tia Pridgen Brown

Dissertations

The need for effective content area reading teachers have continued to increase since the introduction of one public school districts’ Content Area Reading Professional Development (CAR-PD) in 2006. In 2011, modifications were made to improve the program, and it became known as the Next Generation Content Area Reading Professional Development (NGCAR-PD). The purpose of this program evaluation is to investigate the relationship between NGCAR-PD certified Biology teachers and their ability to implement reading strategies with science content effectively. The context of this inquiry is a mid-sized public school district that has implemented the program since 2006 at the middle and …

Improved Regional Education Delivery: Reach For The North Program, Elizabeth Anne Sommerfeld

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) has outlined the change plan for a problem of practice for consideration of the education mandate at MY-U’s multiple regional campuses. The overall goal of this plan is to have increased the availability of academically rigorous courses for our regional students. An assessment of the readiness of several stakeholders allowed for a student-centred focus within the political, collegial and organized anarchy paradigms in which the university organization exists. A strategy is discussed to address issues in the administration and university culture while breaking down silos for the multiple campuses. A new organizational framework is offered …

Faculty Advisors' Development Of Academic Advising Knowledge And Competencies, Elizabeth M. Twiton

Culminating Projects in Higher Education Administration

Academic advising is widely touted as essential to retention and student success. Faculty members have advising responsibilities at a majority of colleges and universities. Faculty members typically receive little or no preparation for advising through their graduate education, and advising training for newly hired faculty members is often limited. This interpretive qualitative study explored the experiences of faculty members in developing academic advising knowledge and competencies using the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Academic Advising Core Competencies Model (NACADA, 2017a) as a conceptual framework. Using a semi-structured interview format, I interviewed eight faculty advisors at a mid-sized, public, four-year university. …

National Survey Of Professional Development On Writing Compliant Transition Individualized Education Programs, M. Faith Thomas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A national survey of special education administrators was conducted on current special education teacher trainings, the internal monitoring processes on transition IEPs, and the effect training has on compliance with federal law. In addition, this student researcher examined training and internal monitoring systems to determine if there were any similarities or differences between rural, suburban, and metropolitan school districts. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design gathered survey data from 147 special education administrators from across the U.S. and conducted interviews with 14 participants representing rural, suburban, and metropolitan school districts. When combining survey and interviews data, the results showed that …

Effective Paraeducator Implementation Of Behavior Intervention Plans For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Exploration Of Training And Support Needs, Kristen Nottle-Powell

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this convergent mixed methods study was to describe the training and support paraeducators who work with students with autism spectrum disorder received as they implemented behavior intervention plans based on the Browning-Wright, Mayer, and Saren model. Additionally, this study sought to describe the training and challenges experienced by paraeducators, as well as their training and support recommendations for paraeducators who work with students with autism spectrum disorder with a behavior intervention plan.

Methodology: A convergent mixed methods study was used to describe the training and support experiences, challenges, and recommendations, as described by paraeducators …

Teacher Perceptions Of The Efficacy Of Literacy Coaching As A Valuable Professional Development Practice, Erin J. Stinson-Dioguardi

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived effectiveness of literacy coaching as a valuable professional development practice for teachers in New Jersey provided with literacy coaching support from a school-based literacy coach. This study also explored instructional coaching and the potential impact this support has on teacher practice. The study was designed to identify the successful professional development strategies that instructional coaches in New Jersey utilized to influence teacher practice. This study may be valuable to researchers, school districts, and educators currently or seeking to implement an instructional coaching program as part of high-quality professional development. The …

Into The Cloud: How Professional Development And Leadership Relate To Technology Implementation, Jessica Iovinelli

Dissertations

The skills necessary for 21st century society and the information age require that schools reevaluate their mission, vision, and goals to reflect how they will prepare students for the demands of a world in which immediate access to droves of information has led to increased value placed on what Tony Wagner (2008) has defined as the “seven survival skills”: critical thinking and problem-solving; collaboration and leading by influence; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurship; effective communication; accessing and analyzing information; and curiosity and imagination. For many districts and schools, the response has been adding technology to the menu of initiatives. …

The Primary Dilemma: Determining And Overcoming Barriers To A Focus On Prekindergarten Through Grade 3, Sarah Turner Lukas, Sarah Turner Lukas

Dissertations

In 2017, reporters of national data in regard to reading ability among American, fourth grade students indicated low proficiency and achievement gaps. These results were also consistent within the state and district under study. There is a need to increase the focus on prekindergarten and primary grade education taking place prior to the grades in which federally mandated, accountability assessments for student learning take place. The purpose of this study is to determine the potential barriers to a paradigm shift at the state and district levels from a focus on state-assessed grade levels to prekindergarten and primary grade levels. The …

Examining District Administrators’ Professional Development Decision-Making Processes Concerning New Special Education Teachers, Sarah J. Bacalia

Dissertations

New special education teachers face an abundance of challenges from day one that directly correlate to student outcomes (i.e. classroom management, instruction, curriculum, school culture and operations, test preparation and administration, state standards, parent relations, and interactions with other teachers). District administrators, (i.e. superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum and instruction directors, directors of student services, special education directors, and special education supervisors) play an important role in determining how to best use their districts' professional development time and resources to support new special education teachers as they work to continually improve student outcomes. Therefore, professional development should be a purposeful endeavor. …

Mathematics Coaching, Professional Development, And Teacher Practice, Beth Downing

M.S.Ed. in Educational Leadership Research Projects

Recently, math coaching has begun to be utilized in pockets of communities throughout the country. Coaching is a strategy that can be used to provide on site, continual professional development in a specific area. Although it has been used in literacy for decades, it is new to the area of math. Therefore, research on the effect of math coaching has been limited. There have been a handful of initial studies investigating the relationship between math coaching and teacher knowledge or student achievement, but the results are often conflicting (Althuser, 2015; Killion, 2017; Kutaka et al., 2017; Obara, 2010).

By learning …

Peer Coaching At An Independent School, Lindsay Anderson

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study investigated the effects of peer coaching on an independent school’s culture, professional development, and growth mindset. The participants were eight middle scholar teachers, including the researcher. Each participant volunteered to be a part of a peer coaching pilot team in the spring semester of the 2018-2019 school year. Throughout the course of the pilot program, the participants were surveyed and interviewed independently on the topics of school culture, professional development, and growth mindset. As a team, the participants engaged in pre-observation, observation, and post-observation meetings as well as a final interview to debrief the pilot peer …

Technology Integration Self-Efficacy Reframed Through The Iste Standards: An Investigation Among Urban K-12 Teachers, Frank C. Gomez Jr.

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing a descriptive research design and a theoretical framework based on self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997), this quantitative study examined self-efficacy as a factor on teachers’ technology use and integration efforts in urban K-12 classroom settings of 327 Catholic school teachers in Southern California. To measure teachers’ self-efficacy in using and integrating technology in the classroom, this study employed an online survey that included the Technology Integration Confidence Scale (TICS) version 3, an instrument developed by the researcher which is aligned to the ISTE (2017) Standards for Educators, and seven key demographic questions. Chief among these is the frequency of technology-oriented …

A State Of Emergency: The Experiences Of Teachers In Professional Learning Communities From 1999 To 2018 In A Rural South Carolina School District, Kakela O'Banner Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study was conducted to develop an understanding of professional learning communities and other types of professional development and their impact on building educator capacity on student outcomes in Allendale County School District. This is a small rural underperforming district in which student performance has not improved over time despite the District being taken over by the South Carolina State Department of Education (SCDOE) on two separate occasions between 1999 and 2018. Research methods consisted of semi-structured interviews with a sample of 15 educators and administrators in Allendale, as well as a review of relevant documentation. The findings …

Using Video To Reframe The Teacher Evaluation Process As A Professional Learning Experience : An Action Research Study, Andrew C. Matteo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this action research study was to work with a group of teachers to refine an organizational routine dealing with teacher evaluation with the dual goals of (a) increasing the teachers’ sense of professionalism and improving the technical core of their work—instruction— and (b) moving toward a routine that the district will be able to use in the future. The research question that guided this work was, “How do we experience the organizational routine that I developed using video for teacher evaluation for improving teacher practice as compared to the existing teacher evaluation system, and how does our …

Video Case Materials And The Development Of Collective Professional Knowledge, Victoria D. Bonaccorso

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The dynamic nature of teaching means that teachers are making in-the-moment decisions on a daily basis. Video case study professional development can be used as a way to provide teachers an opportunity to analyze real teaching scenarios to prepare to make these decisions in practice. While work has been done to reveal the effectiveness of using case studies as a teaching tool, there has not been research conducted to determine if video case studies can be used to foster the development of collective professional knowledge. This study utilizes a particular professional development model using video case studies grounded in the …

Reflections Of An Early Literacy Professional Learning Community: An Interactional Ethnographic Case Study Of Transforming Pedagogy Through Reflective Practice, Carly Waters

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teachers have historically been faced with extrinsic factors, such as federal, state, and local mandates, that leave them feeling disempowered (Slattery, 2006; Spring 2018). In response to low reading proficiency, many states have adopted Read by Grade Three laws, some of which require or make optional retention of students that are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade. Laws such as these, though well-intentioned, provide another external force that leave teachers feeling stressed and chained to practices they are told to implement. Effective professional development that targets both strong early literacy pedagogy and the empowerment of teachers may …

The A/Effects Of Implicit Bias On The Academic Success Of Black Students Attending Urban Public Schools In The Northeastern Region Of The United States, Nadine R. O'Garro

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The history of racism in the US is so ingrained in American culture that it has become normalized. This is true even in education. Despite well-documented reports that Black students are being subjectively and harshly disciplined for minor in-school infractions, there is a resistance to discussing how teachers are not being prepared to teach in culturally responsive ways. This study sought to shed light on how the impact of institutionalized racism, manifesting as racial microaggressions and implicit biases, are adversely impacting the classroom learning experiences of Black students in middle and high school. The findings of this study reveal the …

Doctoral-Level Students Experience Adopting Gatekeeping Roles And Responsibilities Within Counselor Education, Evan Smarinsky

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In counselor education and supervision, the term gatekeeping is used to describe the ongoing process of monitoring, evaluating, and remediating a student through their professional identity as a counselor. Gatekeeping is an ethical responsibility of counselor educators and supervisors, both faculty and doctoral-level students who supervise master’s-level students and is often identified as being one of their most difficult responsibilities. Doctoral-level supervisors play an important role in gatekeeping, although they are not involved in formal gatekeeping decisions and have not typically been the focus of research. Researchers have suggested there is a need to develop a better understanding of how …

How Elementary Teachers Demonstrate Leadership In The Classroom To Increase Science Learning, Dipsy Anais Etanislao Gonzalez

Dissertations

In the DR, the need of producing drastic changes in students’ outcomes fostered the adaptation of a professional development (PD) program to improve the public education system. In 2013, the National Institute for Teacher Preparation chose the School Centered Continuous Teacher’s Preparation (EFCCE, acronym in Spanish) PD program to help teachers with the needed transformation. This program aimed to form knowledgeable and skillful teachers who exhibit instructional leadership in the classroom.

This qualitative, multiple instrumental case study involved 10 Dominican science elementary teachers who had completed the EFCCE program and who had self-identified as a teacher actively implementing engaging science …

Exploring The Effects Of An Asynchronous Professional Development With The Samr Integration Model On High School Teachers’ Technology Integration In The Classroom: An Action Research Study, Taylor J. Bradley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the effects of an asynchronous PD on teacher technology integration in the classroom as measured by the SAMR integration model. Teacher professional development is one of the most significant factors in student technology use in the classroom (Hall & Martin, 2008; Murthy, Iyer, & Warriem, 2015). Within a school day there are a number of requirements on teachers in addition to teaching their classes, such as attending parent conferences, department meetings, state mandated training, and many other initiatives that supersede teacher technology training (Garthwait & Weller, 2005). When provided with an …

Preparing Mainstream Teachers To Support English Language Learners, Christopher Cannady

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing student population in the United States. Despite this fact, many classroom teachers lack the specific knowledge, experience, and skills necessary to provide effective instruction to linguistically diverse students. This capstone seeks to answer the question: How can mainstream teachers be better prepared to support English language learners? The final result of this project is a series of professional development seminars covering the pattern of second language development, types of language, the importance of educators maintaining high expectations of their ELL students, the value of culturally compatible instruction, and the unique challenges facing …