Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

A Teacher And Her Language Minoritized Students In A Translanguaging Mathematics Classroom: Activating And Suppressing Our Full Linguistic Repertoires For Increased Mathematical Reasoning And Sense-Making, Ana M. Bogota

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This study delves into translanguaging practices within a mathematics classroom led by a bilingual teacher and attended by language minoritized students. Grounded in translanguaging theory and practices, it investigates the dynamic language interactions between teacher and students, shedding light on the activation and suppression of linguistic features within purported “named languages.” Utilizing diverse data sources, such as audio-recorded lessons and student interviews, the study uncovers patterns in classroom language use. Results highlight the prevalent utilization of the full linguistic repertoire by both teacher and students, especially in elucidating mathematical concepts and fostering conceptual understanding. Furthermore, the study examines how translanguaging …

More Than Just Checking A Box: Teachers' Experiences Of Transformation In Equity-Focused Professional Learning, Melissa E. Moxley

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Pennsylvania has the largest disparity between student and faculty demographics. In fact, over half of Pennsylvania schools employ zero teachers of color. As student demographics change and teacher demographics remain the same, there is an ever-increasing need to train in-service teachers on diversity, equity, and inclusion tenets. Training teachers to be culturally competent requires them to alter their understandings in a transformational way. Often, cash-strapped districts attempt to produce training sessions in-house, developed by administrators who may have little training in the area themselves. This leads to professional learning that is left in the conference room once teachers leave. Research …

Misappropriating Self-Care: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of The Burnout Experiences Of Teachers Who Identify As Women, Kimberly A. Kneller

Education Doctorate Dissertations

“Self-care” is a very marketable term, especially in the COVID era. Coupled with a renewed focus on student achievement, the demands of the workplace on teachers are implicated in a troubling rate of teacher attrition and declining enrollment in preparatory programs. This research utilized a mixed-methods approach in gaining a deeper understanding of the predicament that teachers (who predominantly identify as women) are facing. The survey and focus group data obtained in this study support the framework that teachers are at risk of burnout and feel powerless to avoid it. The lack of power perceived by these individuals is a …

Understanding Your Cultural Identities: A Self-Study Of The Impact Of One’S Cultural Identities On Interpreting Interactions, Shelby L.W. Sammartino

Education Doctorate Dissertations

There is a disproportionality of students of color receiving office referrals for disrespect and defiance because disrespect and defiance are subjective in interpretation by teachers in the classroom. This self-study aims for the researcher to identify and understand the construction of their cultural identities, so they can determine how their cultural identities impact their interpretation of interactions with students concerning disrespect and defiance, how their cultural identities impact their choice of behavior management technique in interactions concerning disrespect and defiance, and how their cultural identities impact their discipline decisions in interactions concerning disrespect and defiance. The data to determine the …

Student And Teacher Perspectives On Asynchronous Learning During The Covid Pandemic, Michele Ehrhart

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The COVID Pandemic shut down schools across the country, leaving K-12 schools unprepared for virtual learning. In this mixed methods study, I examined data gathered from my 8th-grade science classes to assess the effectiveness of asynchronous instruction. My original research question was: How much if at all, did learning outcomes differ as a function of how the lessons were taught (uninterrupted instructional video versus interrupted/interactive Edpuzzle video)? Based on a preliminary examination of data, my study expanded into how self-regulated learning affected students’ comprehension, interest, and motivation. Study results showed no statistical differences in students’ comprehension based on how lessons …

Strength, Beauty, And Resilience: The Impact Of Self Reflection & Exploration Of Memory On Postmodern Feminist Educators, Inside And Outside The Classroom, Maryjo M. Rosania-Harvie

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This study utilizes an autoethnographic methodology, informed by narrative inquiry, to explore the impact of memories on feminist educators. The participants in the study included two of the researcher’s former colleagues and one former student. The study's goal was to examine how the relationships between researcher and participant and the memories they shared impacted them as educators; in the process, the concept of authenticity in educators was examined in relation to the research and the participants’ feminist and postmodern approach. The researcher collected qualitative data through interviews, personal journals, timelining, and an epistolary writing exercise to define authenticity and explore …

Another Empty Seat: Educators’ Experiences With Trauma And Grief After A Student’S Death, Lori G. Berryman

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This phenomenological study utilizes narrative inquiry to analyze four teachers’ perceptions of their lives, occupations, and institutional expectations following a student’s death. Through participant interviews and personal reflections, the researcher observes the effects of a student’s death through a Contemporary Trauma Theory framework. Through this lens, trauma-narratives are a powerful tool in helping those affected by loss reframe the events and understand them in a clearer context. Participants indicated that there is an increase of concern for the parents of the deceased, feelings of guilt and regret, and retraumatization due to the lasting presence of the deceased student. Perceptions of …

The Recovery Coach: An Intentional, Relational Interventionist As A Response To The Covid-19 Incomplete Grade Trend, Melanie A. Turrano

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many crises in education; fair and just grading was but one. During that tumultuous time, colleges improvised and created many “hold harmless” grading policies to provide empathy and understanding to students as well as to retain students otherwise negatively impacted by the inequities in their personal lives as well as the socioeconomic digital divide. One “due no harm” policy enacted at the community college where this study occurred was the encouragement of Incomplete (I) grades that prevented student failure in the short term, but traditionally results in long-term failure when the grade of Incomplete (I) converts …

Blinded By Whiteness: Middle-Class White Teachers’ Explorations Of Identity And Deficit Discourse At The Intersection Of Race, Class, And Perceived Ability, Tracy Driehaus

Education Doctorate Dissertations

A legacy of placing children of color and poverty at the center of the “problem” of race and class in education has left us in a holding pattern marked by a prevailing deficit discourse and problematizing of students. Scholars agree that the predominantly white, middle class, female teaching force who occupy US public school classrooms embody and perpetuate these inequitable educational practices endemic within this system. In this study, a small population of White, middle class teachers--including the researcher--organized within a Professional Learning Community (PLC) explored identity and deficit discourse at the intersection of race, class, and perceived ability. Grounded …

Writing Through Whiteness: Utilizing Personal Narratives To Strengthen The Racial Competency Of White Teachers, Paul F. Walsh

Education Doctorate Dissertations

While the student population in the United States is becoming increasingly diverse, the teaching force is still White-dominant by a large margin. In the 2017-2018 school year, 79% of public-school teachers in the United States were White and non-Hispanic (National Center for Education Statistics). This White-dominant population of teachers is tasked with educating increasing numbers of students of color from diverse backgrounds. With this charge should come the necessity for White teachers to critically consider the complex ways that whiteness characterizes the American education system and their ways of teaching. White teachers cannot navigate issues of race in their schools …

In Search Of Kinship: Traveling Into New Worlds Through Conversation And The Impact On Building Community, Daniel E. Mcclary Ed.D

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This dissertation reports on qualitative research done with a phenomenological methodology on the topic of building community. This was explored through the voices of over 200 participants representing more than 30 countries. Surveys and in-depth interviews examined international experiences and cultural background of participants alongside many stakeholder voices from within higher education, including international and domestic students, faculty, and staff. Though the study and application is focused on a higher education context, the research has broader implications to society in looking at how intentional conversations across cultural symmetry impacts relationships and community building. The data touched on feelings of isolation …

Transforming The Urban Educator: The Power Of Reflection And Its Effect On Teacher Perception, Essential Teaching Dispositions, And Teacher Leadership, Brittany Purr

Education Doctorate Dissertations

To establish the grounds for successful cultural change, within a large urban middle school, members of a school elected Teacher Leadership Team (TLT) engaged in the collaborative sharing and analysis of personal cultural perceptions and essential teaching dispositions. Through the TLT inquiry support team, and their participation in perception interviews and personal narrative reflections, teacher leaders identified and prioritized the successes, challenges, and essential dispositions that are needed to begin the cultural change of Redwood Middle School. Through the implementation of a distributive leadership model, an increase in staff collaboration and support has already begun to plant the seed of …

The Impact Of Relationships On School Culture From Perspectives Of Faculty At A Philadelphia High School, Richman Mathis

Education Doctorate Dissertations

A school's culture is heavily influenced by the development of relationships between students and faculty. This study explores 13 faculty member stories to investigate what is in the culture at a private Philadelphia religious based high school that builds or hinders relationships. To inform this research investigation, evidence was gathered through a three step process: administering a survey, conducting semi-structured interviews, and the co-construction of narrative reflections. Faculty data collected shared moments revealing an understanding of the importance of healthy relationship building as an aspect in culture growth through empowering voices, autonomy, support, genuine love for one another, traditions and …

Stakeholder Perspectives: How Participation In A Work-Based Learning Program Affects Perceptions, Samantha G. Piller

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The concept of disability and how it is perceived varies based on one’s own understanding, prior experiences, position, and interactions with others. By adding the variable of employment into the equation, perceptions surrounding disability can have a significant impact on the disabled community. The amount of significance corresponds directly with the level or degree of one’s disability and other identities. Currently, the separation between employment rates for disabled adults and their non-disabled counterparts is vast (Sametz, 2017). The purpose of this study is to examine some variables that affect employment outcomes for youth with low-incidence disabilities. Guided by theoretical frameworks …

Pathways To Retention Of Alternatively Licensed Special Education Teachers, Meghan W. Sinning

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Special Education teacher retention has been a chronic concern for administrators for the past 45 years. Since 1975 when the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) was passed, providing Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to students with exceptionalities, school districts' ability to hire appropriately licensed Special Education teachers has been a continual concern. Additionally, Special Education teachers’ turnover rate exceeds that of many other content areas in education. The Special Education teacher's attrition rates who have completed an alternate route to licensure program have been even greater than traditionally trained Special Education teachers. The study’s quantitative research has focused on a …

Breaking Barriers And Bread To Build Bridges: How Do Latina/O Families And Schools Develop Meaningful Home-School Relationships?, Cathy A. Shappell

Education Doctorate Dissertations

There is a plethora of research that shows parental engagement is a key contributor to student success. The Latina/o population is the fastest-growing demographic group in our country. Statistical evidence supports that by the year 2050, one out of every three students in our public schools will identify as Latina/o (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Latina/o parents overwhelmingly identify education for their children as a top priority and hope to engage with schools to help improve the educational system and advocate for the needs of their children. However, there are significant barriers that still exist including language, logistical issues, …

The Writing For Healing And Transformation Project, Heather Elizabeth Osborn

Education Doctorate Dissertations

As a qualitative action research study, the purpose of The Writing for Healing and Transformation Project was to facilitate more inclusive writing strategies and to promote individual and collective healing on issues of social suffering and oppression (Kleinman, Das, & Lock, 1997; Pennebaker & Smyth, 2016) for diverse students at a community college located in the northeastern United States. The 18 participants in the study included students in my English II literature and composition course. The theoretical framework encompassed Pennebaker’s (2016) “writing for healing” paradigm, advocating the use of expressivist writing and “social suffering theory,” examining how power structures affect …

Changed Agents: Cultivating Students’ Civic Identity Through Participation In A Social Justice-Themed Book Club As A Subversive Approach To Critical Literacy In Education, Elizabeth Schucker

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Through an embedded social justice-themed book club and approach to subversive critical literacy experiences, students gain the necessary skills-based knowledge, which cultivate civic awareness, identity, and civic agency, inviting them to develop perspective of real-world issues and concerns. Transformative teaching practices engage teachers and students in the joy of the partnership model as social justice-themed texts provide the opportunity for liberation and synthesis. The students who participate in the social justice-themed book club acknowledge and welcome the discourse as co-investigators in the real-world inquiry. While engaging in twelve authentic literacy-based subversive experiences, students challenge their own opinions and cultivate a …

How Will I Thrive? Developing Designer Professional Identity Among Undergraduate Communication Design Students, Denise Bosler

Education Doctorate Dissertations

A designer’s professional identity is constructed throughout a designer’s life and is developed through life experiences and education. While understanding the general importance of a professional identity is often clear to recent design graduates, developing it requires becoming self-aware of what traits constitutes designer professional identity (DPI). Kunrath, Cash and Yi-ling (2016) define DPI as the synthesis of personal attributes and design skills. However, the development of this full complement of DPI traits is often ignored and ill-supported in design education curriculum. A student’s DPI, if under-developed, can be a barrier to successfully transitioning from student to professional. Design educators …

Community-Based Learning: Face-To-Face Tandem Language Exchanges As A Complementary Course Component For Acquisition Of Spanish, Andrew Healey

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Conceptual, in-class communication activities are the most common oral practice foreign language educators provide for L2 learners with the absence of native speakers. In most L2 classrooms in the U.S., Spanish-speaking practice transpires among learners who share the same native language and culture. For this reason, ACTFL encourages language educators to connect with local communities and those abroad to create intercultural interactions that can provide crucial avenues for achieving proficiency benchmarks and shaping globally minded citizens. To provide intercultural language-learning experiences for 16 undergraduate learners enrolled in my Spanish III course, I created a collaboration with a local ESL organization …

Teacher Perception: Secondary Level Skill Development Support For Students With Specific Learning Disabilities, Philip L. Specht

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Defining the special education framework and teacher roles continue to be a challenge as schools face the differentiated needs of 21st-century learners. Delineating the functions and duties of special education teachers (SETs) at the secondary level provides a unique challenge, which is addressed by a midsized suburban high school developing the Inclusive Consultation Model (ICM). This innovative instructional model is school-wide and multi-disciplinary, impacting both special education and academic teachers. Through weekly consultation, the SET supports the content teacher in contributing instructional methods to meet the varied student needs in class. Outside of class, SETs justify the value of their …

The Potential Impact Of Online Learning On Economically Disadvantaged Students, Anthony M. Tartaglia

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Opportunity gaps have consistently been prevalent in the United States’ education system and that continues today. The struggle to provide economically disadvantaged students the equity necessary to ensure opportunities exist, similar to those present for students of economic advantage, remains a pervasive dilemma for which there are few solutions. As technology continually changes the global marketplace, it is doing the same to education. Educators have an enormous impact on the lives of their students, both in and out of the classroom and through their instruction, there are techniques available to ensure that students remain engaged. One such method is by …

The Relationship Between Academic Advising And Student Motivation On The Persistence Of Freshman Exploratory Studies Students, Marlene N. Fares

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Academic advising is associated with increased student retention and academic success. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate a relationship with the student-advisor relationship and locus of control as an essential variable to understand Exploratory Studies students’ success. This study investigated the influence of the advising relationship with Exploratory Studies students and their locus of control as it impacts their overall retention and persistence. Based on Kutztown University (KU) institutional data sources, over 9 percent of freshmen Exploratory Studies students fail at least one course in their first semester at KU. In addition to satisfaction with advising and …

How We Got Here: Testimonios Of Secondary Latina Educators, Leila Little

Education Doctorate Dissertations

In Pennsylvania, the disparity of Teachers of Color in relation to Students of Color is three times higher than the national disproportionality rate (Stohr, Fontana, Lapp, 2018). Fontana and Lapp (2018) suggest this makes Pennsylvania “one of the most disparate states in the country” (p. 2). Specifically, for the Latinx community, the disparity is even greater. In the context of this study, the percentage of Latinx students is more than 70%, while the percentage of Latinx educators is less than one percent. This context provided an opportunity to gain knowledge from educators who learned and worked in spaces where they …

The Effect Of Differentiated Instruction Training On The Instructional Strategies Of Education Trainees At Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Erin C. Brown

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This research examined the effects of differentiated instruction and self-reflection training within a post graduate education trainee program. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of the inclusion of multiple teaching and learning strategies and reflective practice instruction on how education trainees chose, adjusted, and assessed instructional methods in their programs. Differentiated instruction theory, learning style theory, and reflective theory constituted the framework for this study.

The method of analysis was a case study of individual education trainees utilizing multiple data collection methods. Qualitative data was gathered through structured interviews, dialogic seminars, and reflective journals. Constant comparative …