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Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2015

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher Education and Professional Development

Professional development

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Education

Teachers' Perceptions Of An Integrated Third Grade Curriculum's Effects On Students' Reading Achievement, Charlene Lane Bazemore Jan 2015

Teachers' Perceptions Of An Integrated Third Grade Curriculum's Effects On Students' Reading Achievement, Charlene Lane Bazemore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School leaders in a Virginia urban school district designed and implemented a reading-infused integrated curriculum to address Grade 3 students' struggles to read and comprehend grade-level text. Informed via a constructivist approach, the curriculum integrated the core subjects, reading, and service learning for developing competent readers, thinkers, and problem solvers. This instrumental case study focused on 13 Grade 3 teachers' perceptions of the integrated curriculum in regards to their students' reading achievement. Qualitative data were collected from face-to-face interviews, students' progress of work documents, and the district's integrated curriculum unit. Open coding was employed to analyze the data. Inductively, triangulated …


The Perceptions And Experiences Of General Education Teachers Toward Cotaught Inclusion Classes, Beth Milhoan Feustel Jan 2015

The Perceptions And Experiences Of General Education Teachers Toward Cotaught Inclusion Classes, Beth Milhoan Feustel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This project study addressed the low rate of general education teachers volunteering to coteach inclusion classes at a large urban high school in southeastern Georgia. This low volunteer rate caused administrators at this school to assign general education teachers, who did not opt in, to coteach inclusion classes. Teachers' efficacy was negatively impacted when they were required to teach classes that they did not volunteer to teach. The model of cooperative teaching advanced by Bauwens, Hourcade, and Friend's work served as the conceptual framework for this intrinsic case study. The purpose of the study was to examine how general education …


Implementing Assistive Technology Through Program Planning, Shaune Lasheane Mckinney Jan 2015

Implementing Assistive Technology Through Program Planning, Shaune Lasheane Mckinney

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Special education (SPED) service providers in the military are often underprepared to use the needed assistive technology (AT) in the classroom. This concurrent mixed-method study sought to explore the attitudes, skills, and quality indicators of assistive technology (QIAT) among 19 currently employed military SPED certified multidisciplinary team members. The conceptual framework of this study was based on the professional learning community model, which holds that the team members work collaboratively to educate the families it serves. All team members completed a quantitative QIAT survey and open-ended questionnaire, and individual qualitative interviews were conducted with a subsample of 8 volunteer staff. …


Teachers' Perceptions Of The Reading Achievement Gap Between High-Achieving Students And Below-Basic Students, Helen Anne Iaconelli Jan 2015

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Reading Achievement Gap Between High-Achieving Students And Below-Basic Students, Helen Anne Iaconelli

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Atlantic Avenue Elementary School (AAES) experienced reading achievement gaps between high-performing students and below-basic students within the school reading curriculum and balanced literacy framework. Vygotsky's theories of scaffolding and zone of proximal development served as the framework guiding this project, which used a qualitative case study design to explore reading teachers' perceptions of the ways in which they were addressing this reading achievement gap. Individual interviews, classroom observations, and lesson plans were the sources of the qualitative data collected from 6 reading teachers. The data were coded manually using emerging and constant-comparative strategies to identify common themes. The themes that …


Instructional Practices Of English As Second Language Teachers, Karen Ann Wallis Jan 2015

Instructional Practices Of English As Second Language Teachers, Karen Ann Wallis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The past decade has seen a significant increase in the emergence of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States. Nationally, a disparity in achievement exists between ELLs and non-ELLs. Relatedly, this problem was evident in a northeastern school district, where ELLs had not made Adequate Yearly Progress 2 years in a row. The purpose of this study was to examine how much time English as Second Language (ESL) teachers spend on a variety of best instructional practices. Constructivism, Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, and Tomilinson's differentiated instruction were the frameworks used to guide this research. A within-group design was …


The Impact Of The Sra Corrective Reading Program On Standardized Testing, Tony Oyola Jan 2015

The Impact Of The Sra Corrective Reading Program On Standardized Testing, Tony Oyola

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The implementation of effective reading programs for special education students is paramount for school success due to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the reauthorization of Individual with Disabilities Education Act. One local school implemented the Science Research Associates Corrective Reading Program (SRACRP) because their special education students did not meet the required proficient or advanced reading scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). The purpose of this quantitative within-group study was to determine if special and regular education students demonstrated growth in reading comprehension after the implementation of the SRACRP. The theoretical foundation …


Supporting Elementary Teachers In Effective Writing Instruction Through Professional Development, Whitney Nash Young Jan 2015

Supporting Elementary Teachers In Effective Writing Instruction Through Professional Development, Whitney Nash Young

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for writing have created a challenge for teachers at an urban elementary school as they struggled to provide effective writing instruction to support the rigorous expectations of the standards. The purpose of this study was to explore elementary teachers' lived experiences of instruction and better understand instructional writing procedures and strategies. The conceptual framework of this study was based on Dennick's work for incorporating educational theory into teaching practices, which combined elements of constructivist, experiential, and humanist learning theories. Research questions investigated how teachers perceived the impact of the CCSS writing standards on their practice …


Countering Student Apathy To Increase Student Engagement, Rebecca Ann Schou Jan 2015

Countering Student Apathy To Increase Student Engagement, Rebecca Ann Schou

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At a suburban elementary school in Maryland, 3 years of data revealed that the school is grappling with the problem of student apathy. While there is a growing body of research on apathy and its effects on student achievement, few researchers have examined the problem from the perspective of the apathetic student. The purpose of this qualitative case study, grounded in the social learning and cognitive development theories of Vygotsky and Piaget, was to explore student apathy and the learning environment at the target school through the perspectives of 8 former students and their parents. The research questions focused on …


Effects Of An Online Skills Program On Ela Achievement Among Ged Students, Gwendolyn Amanda Flowers Jan 2015

Effects Of An Online Skills Program On Ela Achievement Among Ged Students, Gwendolyn Amanda Flowers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

K-12 schools are more commonly using online learning to supplement traditional classroom learning. Previous online adult education researchers have found no significant differences between traditional and online learning outcomes. However, little research has been done with regard to online General Educational Development (GED)-level learning for adults. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the effect of the Skills Tutor program compared with traditional learning on GED student achievement in reading/language arts. The Skills Tutor program was used as a means to address the low GED graduation rates at an adult education program through Memphis City Schools. This research …