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Full-Text Articles in Education
Exploring The Experiences And Relationships Of First-Year Teachers And Mentors, Melanie Jane Strey
Exploring The Experiences And Relationships Of First-Year Teachers And Mentors, Melanie Jane Strey
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Educators have a moral imperative and job-embedded expectation to effectively teach all students, which requires a commitment to continued personal growth. The purpose of this instrumental project study was to explore the lived experiences of first-year teachers and their mentors who teach in a culturally-diverse school district. The conceptual framework was based on supporting adult learning methods through the theories of critical thinking, constructivist perspective, the theory of mentoring, and culturally-instructional teaching. The guiding research questions addressed the perceptions of 5 first-year teachers and 5 mentors regarding individual and shared learning as a result of mentor-mentee relationship. A constant comparison …
The Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program, Ellen Riina Hirsch
The Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program, Ellen Riina Hirsch
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Ineffective professional development is a longstanding problem in education. Locally, the school district in the study lacked a comprehensive system for evaluating their secondary level professional development programs. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the district's professional development program, specifically examining its perceived strengths and weaknesses. The conceptual framework of the study was systems theory and the adaptive schools reform model. The research questions examined the perceptions of various school personnel on their experiences with the current professional development program at the study district's high school. Individual interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 3 teachers, …
Creating Professional Learning Programs That Recognize Teachers As Adult Learners, Nicole Marie Lowe
Creating Professional Learning Programs That Recognize Teachers As Adult Learners, Nicole Marie Lowe
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
According to recent research, approximately 40-50% of teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years, creating a constant need for teachers. There is evidence that creating a supportive working environment through effective professional learning, drawing on adult learning theory, may reduce teacher turnover and increase student performance. This study explored teachers' perceptions about the professional development offerings available to them, how these perceptions influence their decisions to remain at the school, and what types of professional learning experiences teachers want to experience. Fourteen high school teachers participated in individual interviews and 2 focus groups, which were analyzed inductively for …