Education Commons^™

Creating Conversations, Changing Cultures: Case Study Of A Professional Development Plan, Alexis Goldberg

Graduate Student Independent Studies

There's a lot working against authentic demonstrations of thinking, and legitimate avenues of collaboration in our school cultures. We force-feed students high-stakes tests that promote a single "right answer" instead of multiple solution paths. Despite research that suggests teachers learn best from each other, we promote the ideal of the teacher-as-­maverick. Many of our systems endorse closed-set, closed-door thinking that leaves room for neither independent student thinking nor the collaborative generation of ideas.

Breaking cultures this strong, this endemic, is a weighty task. In a yearlong case study, Alexis Goldberg creates and executes a professional development plan that engages with …

After The Final Bell: The Self-Directed Learning Practices Of Elementary Teachers, Susan Renee Wagner

Doctoral Dissertations

Are elementary teachers self-directed learners? If so, do their learning activities outside their classrooms translate into their classrooms? The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship, if any, between elementary teachers’ self-directed learning and activities in their classrooms. A two phase, mixed methods design first utilized a quantitative study from which the results were used to denote the type of data collected in the second, qualitative phase. The quantitative Phase I of this study involved using a survey instrument in order to identify self-directed learners and identify categories of teacher learners. These quantitative data were gathered through the …

Attitudes, Knowledge, And Experience With Dropout Prevention Strategies Of Mississippi Teachers And Administrators, Harold Kirk Lucky

Dissertations

Mississippi has been overly burdened with a high dropout rate for generations but in 2007 began a program to correct this problem based on the requirements of No Child Left Behind that requires all school to reduce their dropout rate. The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes, knowledge, and experiences of Mississippi teachers and administrators with the State of Mississippi’s dropout prevention efforts and ultimately determine if they are supportive of the dropout prevention efforts. The study used a questionnaire designed by the researcher. A total of 386 questionnaires were returned from school districts across the six …

How Graduate Interior Design Programs Prepare Emerging Educators To Teach, Anne Wilkinson-Burke

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Perceptions Of Teachers And Principals In Regard To Teacher Leadership And School Improvement, Carolyn Sue Hartwell Barfield

Doctoral Dissertations

While the importance of effective leadership is undisputed, few studies have addressed what the role teachers have in effective leadership that promotes school improvement. This study draws on data analyzing survey responses from principals and teachers to better understand the perceptions of teachers and principals in regard to teacher leadership and to further examine perceptions of the role teacher leadership plays in school improvement. Also considered were needs, rewards, and barriers to effective teacher leadership, as well as the overall interest teachers have in becoming teacher leaders. The Teacher Leadership Roles survey was developed by the researcher and administered to …

The Personality Profiles Of Pre-Service Teachers: An Examination Of Discipline Differences And Predictive Validity On Future Job Satisfaction, Amy S. Beavers

Doctoral Dissertations

Teacher job satisfaction has been shown to impact teacher retention, attrition and absenteeism (Perrachione, Rosser, & Peterson, 2008). Given the significant investment of resources required to train effective classroom teachers, retention of those teachers is important. Research strongly supports the connection between personality traits and occupational related outcomes such as work performance, career success, and job satisfaction across occupational groups. Developing an understanding of the personality profile of satisfied teachers as a whole, as well as by teaching area, could serve to better equip teachers for the reality of teaching, potentially having the ability to increase job satisfaction. The purposes …

Resilient Leadership In High Poverty Schools, Edward P. San Nicolas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children in high poverty schools often receive inadequate services in dilapidated facilities while enduring inexperienced and unprepared educators (Darling-Hammond, 2004). Communities with a dense impoverished population in turn create school wide poverty, which is ultimately more detrimental than individual family poverty (Books, 2004). With most teachers leaving impoverished urban schools within the first five years, it is no surprise of the difficulty to retain qualified and professional school leaders. As suggested by Haberman (2005), attracting educators with specific qualities to fill these critical roles may be the best route to lasting success. Equally important is the possibility to transform existing …

Comprehensive High School Reform: The Lived Experience Of Teachers And The Smaller Learning Community Initiative, Richard K. Nye

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In an era of comprehensive school reform, it appears that the voice of teachers is seldom solicited or recognized in the process of planning and implementing school-wide reform. The primary purpose of this study was to report the lived experiences of teachers at Timberton North High School (pseudonym) as it related to the Smaller Learning Community (SLC) reform initiative. Research questions addressed how the faculty experienced the SLC initiative and how their experiences were different from their perceived notion of what SLCs were trying to accomplish and in what ways SLCs initiated a socially constructed understanding of educational purposes. This …

How Does Internet Facilitated Communication Impact Teacher And Parent Partnerships?, Mara Paich Grujanac

Dissertations

In 2001, Public Law 107-110, known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, mandated that public schools become accountable for the achievement of all public school students. Included in Public Law 107-110 is a section that mandates that schools involve parents in the functioning of the institution and that parents be involved in their child's education. Schools have been utilizing Internet Facilitated Communication (IFC) to facilitate parent involvement within the school community.

This dissertation concentrates on parent-teacher communication specifically as it pertains to student achievement. This study examined the ways parents and teachers utilize electronic communication to invite …

The Influence Of Schwartz's Values On Teachers' Internet Usage: A Quantitative Study Of Cross Cultural Differences Between European Nations, Meghana Aleti

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the Impact of human values on teacher Internet usage at individual levels across various nations. Schwartz's higher order values: Openness to Change, Conservation, Self-Enhancement, and Self-Transcendence are used as value variables. Teachers' are categorized as primary education, secondary education or college level. College teachers showed heavy Internet use when compared to secondary and primary teachers. Conservation higher order value was most significant among college teachers. Openness to Change and Self-Enhancement values are positively correlated with heavy Internet use among various nations. This study should be of interest to education and policy makers interested in comparison of Internet …

Ganas And The Swan: American Materialism In Mathematics Education, Taylor Berliant

CMC Senior Theses

Math is a unique subject. It is a different type of thinking for many people. Even though topics in math are separate, math is seen as a whole unlike many other subjects. Science, literature, history, art, languages, and physical education, the subjects, in addition to math, that make up the typical high school curriculum, are hardly ever referred to without additional labeling. Many of the subjects even contain topics with nearly incomparable material. The idea of math as a whole, at least in high school, is not completely untrue. A lot of the topics rely on the knowledge of previous …

First Amendment Knowledge Of Classroom Teachers, Gary L. Taft

Ed.D. Dissertations

This research examined the knowledge of the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America possessed by teachers in two secondary high schools in East Tennessee. Additionally, an attempt to evaluate the relationship between church attendance in protestant evangelical churches and the teacher’s ability to address church/state conflicts within parameters previously established by the United States Supreme Court was conducted. Finally, the role of social environment was examined in teacher’s knowledge of the first amendment. Prior research within this context has produced evidence that teachers are in fact not adequately prepared to address church/state conflicts within their …

Workplace Pressures Of Pk-8 Teachers In A Midwestern Archdiocese, Carrie O'Donnell Brink

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this research study was to determine the types of workplace pressures that PK-8 teachers, in a Midwestern Archdiocese, experience. Two hundred eighty teachers participated in the survey. Results from this study indicate that PK-8 teachers express elevated levels of stress in the following areas: income/salary, amount of hours spent outside contract hours on instructional tasks, paperwork required, student behavior/discipline, and implementation of new curricula.

Statistical differences were found in the following areas: female and male stress levels with regard to income; school locale (suburban, urban, and rural) income stress levels; school locale (suburban, urban, and rural) implementation …

Best Practices For Collaboration Between Esl And General Education Teachers, Mike Burgess

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The research begins with a historical overview of ESL service models and explores how different types of collaboration between ESL and general education teachers impact student learning. The historical overview section delves into the origins of ESL and how ESL has evolved since its inception. Also included is information about how ESL programming has changed in response to the type of English Language Learners it serves. The next focus is on the recent trend toward close collaboration between ESL and general education teachers in terms of program effectiveness and the overall strengths and weaknesses of different models.The paper closes with …

Teacher Satisfaction With Professional Development In Rural Elementary Schools In New York State, Adeline Imperiale Basil

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

The Revelation Of Teacher Identity In The Process Of The "Descriptive Review Of A Child", Deven Lynn Horne

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Teaching is a complex relationship of the "I", the "Thou" and the "It" as described by David Hawkins (1974). This study examines the "I", a teacher's professional identity, as it is revealed in a specific professional development activity focused on examining students and student work known as the "Descriptive Review of a Child". Using a phenomenological case study approach, I followed four individual teachers throughout their engagement in the inservice as well as conducted post-interviews to the activity. The theoretical frameworks of the "I", "thou" and "it" by Hawkins and the "core reflection" by Korthagen provided the constructs used to …