Education Commons^™

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 …

The Training Of Elementary Assistant Principals, Nailya Jarocki

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify the most important professional development topics and practices for preparing teachers to become elementary assistant principals, as perceived by panel of experts. An additional purpose was to identify strategies for implementing the most important practices for the preparation of teachers to become elementary assistant principals.

Methodology: A classical Delphi method was utilized to collect perceptual data from a panel of California elementary school principals and administrators at county, district offices of education, and at the university level in California that met specific criteria regarding their education, years of experience, completion …

The Use Of Student Feedback In Teacher Development, Lawrence Jarocki

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of master teachers, administrators, and teacher trainers about the content of Student Evaluations of Teachers (SET) in California high schools. This study also sought to reach a consensus among experts concerning how SETs can be used both in teacher evaluations and in professional development practices and content at the secondary level.

Methodology: A classical Delphi method was utilized to collect perceptual data from a panel of California master teachers, administrators, and teacher trainers that met specific criteria regarding their education, involvement in their professional communities, and their role training …

The Influence Of Administrators On Literacy Instruction Through The Promotion And Selection Of Professional Development, Lucy K. Johnston-Josey

Dissertations

Literacy is a key component to success in school and in life. Literacy has been a focus of education since 1965 when President Jimmy Carter announced a “war on poverty.” Since then, history has shown that educators should place an emphasis on literacy within schools. Because literacy is so important, I set out to explore how administrators influence literacy through the promotion and selection of professional development.

Mississippi was chosen as a basis for the study because it falls below the nation in terms of literacy rates on the National Assessment for Educational Progress assessment. Nineteen participants from four school …

Principals’ Perspectives On The Professional Development Process And Its Outcomes, Sara Kathleen Moore

Dissertations

This study examined principals’ perspectives on the professional development process and its outcomes. Principals are in the best position to ensure a connection between research-based best practices and what actually happens in the classroom, but there is little research on how principals actually select professional development for their staff in the field. This study was conducted in a Midwestern state using data gathered from public elementary school principals in the form of a survey. The sample included all K-5 and K-8 elementary principals on record with the state department of education, with 242 principals responding. It examined how much control …

District Mandated Changes In Technology And Inquiry-Based Instruction, Mulonge Musa Kalumbula

Dissertations

Federal and state mandates aimed at improving the American K-12 school system abound (Spillane, 2004). Federal legislation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002), and state-mandated curriculum are aimed at improving teaching and learning thus ultimately improving student achievement. The purpose of this phenomenology study was to examine the experiences of 7 middle and high school social studies teachers through district-mandated changes in inquiry-based instruction and technology-integrated lessons. By capturing how individual teachers experience mandated changes, this research aimed to discover the existence of policy coherence within a district as it translated federal and state policy …

Factors That Impact Administrator-Teacher Relationships, Patrick Sean Gray

Dissertations

Retaining teachers continues to be problematic for educational leaders across the country. With these numbers steadily increasing, one must examine the reasons as to why teachers are leaving the profession and how school administrators can address these problems if schools are going to maintain and increase their levels of success. Reasons teachers leave the profession can be attributed to the relationship teachers have with their building-level administrator.

The purpose of the study is to identify as well as describe the frequency and relative importance of circumstances that may impact administrator-teacher relationships. A questionnaire, developed by the researcher, was mailed to …

Influence Of Teacher Qualifications, Experience, Instructional Methods, And Professional Development On Student Achievement On The Mississippi Writing Assessment In Grades Four And Seven, Stacy Kihneman Garcia

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if teacher qualifications, experience, instructional methods, and professional development influenced student achievement on the Mississippi Writing Assessment in grades four and seven. The study was conducted in the three coastal counties of southern Mississippi. Participants were fourth or seventh grade teachers who taught in one of the eight school districts that were included in the study.

Participants were asked to provide information regarding their qualifications, amount of classroom experience, preferred instructional methods, and feelings on professional development. Also requested from each teacher was his/her classroom average on the Mississippi Writing Assessment from …

How Do Secondary Science Teachers Understand And Implement Technological Design In Their Classrooms?, Kathryn H. Heroux

Dissertations

This qualitative, phenomenological study examined how ten secondary science teachers from a variety of different schools around the country understand and implement technological design in their classrooms. The results of this study indicate that these teachers were drawn to the tenets of technological design because of its inherent challenge to their own pedagogical strategies, and its ability to stimulate and motivate their students. The future of science education with respect to technological design is examined, and compared with the standards that will emerge in the new science standards soon to be finalized and circulated.

An Investigation Of Support, Goals, And Incentives Among Minority And Nonminority National Board Certified Teachers, Melissa Salana Collins

Dissertations

National Board Professional for Teaching Standards play a pivotal role in the classroom of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT). NBCTs have been recognized for increasing student achievement. There are more than 90,000 NBCTs in schools across the United States, but the ratio of nonminority to minority NBCTs, according to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards report of 2004, was 89% to 11%. The intent of this study was to examine the levels of support among minority and nonminority NBCTs to determine which combination of support factors and incentives would best predict the successful completion of the NBCT process by …

Teacher Professional Development And Its Effects On Reading Instruction, Kristen Lea Suarez

Dissertations

The world of education is an ever-evolving profession. We, as a society, have learned so much about education and how we can better benefit our students. Students depend on education to equip them with the tools needed to become successful. This dissertation addresses the need for and adequacy of today’s teacher professional development in Reading instruction and how that training can translate into more meaningful classroom education.

The writer surveyed elementary Reading teachers in grades 3-6 from two school districts in southern Mississippi to determine their perceptions concerning various elements of the professional development training they received during the 2009-2010 …

The Merit Of Intensive Leadership Development Programs On Building-Level Administrators' Sustainability, Sonja Jean Robertson

Dissertations

With recent research identifying the propensity and ability of principals to lead as a key culprit of school and district failure, it would seem that one of the most reasonable steps should be to better determine how effective specially designed leadership development programs in the area of educational leadership are at not only equipping principals and school-based leaders, but at creating a foundation and a prevailing culture for longevity or sustainability in those positions. If the development of principals and other school-based leaders is vital to the improvement of schools, the effectiveness of the measures implemented to bring about that …

Middle-Level Leaders Perceptions Of Accountability, Deena Cousar Brown

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of middle-level principals personal and school accountability, their perceptions of beliefs and competencies that influence improvement in student achievement and accomplishment of accountability, and their perceptions regarding the adequacy of professional development and preparation for middle-level principals that affect their ability to improve student achievement and perform their leadership role in an increased accountability environment. This study specifically examined differences in the perceptions of middle-level principals' accountability based on the socioeconomics of the school, the number of years of administrative experience, and previous middle-school teaching experience.