Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Higher-Order Thinking Question Affecting Economically Disadvantaged Students’ Reading Achievement, Ruth Ann Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

Reading proficiency continues to elude a large number of school children, in particular, our economically disadvantaged students (Clark & Akerman, 2006). In a continued effort to decrease the gap between the high-poverty and low-poverty students’ reading scores, this study examined the effect of third-grade and fifth-grade teachers’ use of higher-order thinking (HOT) question levels and student context (whole group, small group, and one-one-one) during reading workshop on economically disadvantaged students’ reading achievement. Teacher questionnaires and researcher observations were analyzed to determine the effect on reading CRCT scores and the two domains within the reading CRCT scores of Literary Comprehension and …

Teacher Retention: What Motivates Highly Qualified Urban Teachers To Stay?, Orlando B. Milligan

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide insight into what motivates highly qualified teachers to remain in urban schools. Research has shown that the single most important factor in a child’s education is the teacher. Consequently, the issues related to teacher recruitment and retention rank as serious problems facing urban schools and the achievement of their children.

The purpose of this study was to examine what motivates highly qualified teachers to remain in urban schools and to identify factors that may contribute to the retention and recruitment of an urban teaching corps. This study also sought to determine if there …

The Impact Of Teacher Licensure Programs On Minority Student Achievement, Rose S. Duke

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

This research examined the impact of teacher licensure routes, particularly those identified as either traditional or alternative on student achievement by comparing Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) end of year scores in math and reading for minority students in grades six through eight during the period from 2005 through 2009. To compare the achievement of students taught by either traditionally or alternatively prepared teachers, the Standards of Learning (SOL) scores were calculated for students and then aggregated for types of teacher preparation. The mean values were compared for statistically significant differences as a function of subject, teacher ethnicity, teacher gender, …

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

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This case study, as documented through notes, self reflection, and interviews, describes the process of making space for a dialogue that enables teachers to share ideas around the beliefs and practices of teaching.

The Reported Needs Of A Teacher Mentoring Program, Kimberly Myers Tillman

Dissertations

The following study was conducted in four public school districts in south Mississippi and involved a combination of 167 administrators, mentors, and novice teachers. The purpose of this study was to measure the reported needs of a teacher mentoring program as perceived by novice teachers, mentor teachers, and administrators. An additional purpose of the study was to examine administrators’ perceptions of how alternate route and traditional route teachers differ in their needs of a teacher mentoring program.

Two multivariate of analysis (MANOVA) tests were conducted to measure the differences among novice teachers, mentors, and administrators in their perception of what …

Teachers' Perceptions Toward Required And Self-Directed Professional Learning, Marla Kay Lambert Hutton

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in the opinions of elementary, middle, and high school teachers concerning teacher required or self-directed professional learning. Additionally, the study investigated differences in teaching experience, professional development in a series compared to in a single meeting, workshop, or conference, rather than ongoing professional learning, and whether the teachers’ perception for professional learning is similar to their administrators’ perception for teachers’ learning.

Research findings indicated there was a relationship between teachers’ preference for professional learning and their years of teaching experience and their level of teaching (elementary, middle, …

A Critical Analysis Of Job-Embedded Professional Learning Within A Distributed Leadership Framework, Ashley Jimerson Campoli

Dissertations

Leadership style and professional learning have been linked to student achievement. Studies have linked leadership styles such as distributed leadership to job-embedded professional learning. However, research is mixed when these two constructs are related to student achievement.

This study evaluated the relationship between distributed leadership and jobembedded professional learning. This study also evaluated relationships among jobembedded professional learning, distributed leadership, and third-grade achievement scores.

The study involved third grade mathematics teachers and school administrators in 46 elementary schools in the state of Georgia. Pearson’s bivariate correlation test was used to explore the relationship between job-embedded professional learning and distributed leadership. …

The Effects Of Scheduling On Criterion-Referenced Assessments In Arkansas High Schools, Sheila Marie Trinkle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the differences in achievement on the end of course assessment in Geometry and the Grade 11 Literacy exam administered to students in Arkansas during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years. The three main types of scheduling are the traditional schedule with seven or eight periods; the A/B, or the alternating block; and the 4 x 4, or accelerated block. The traditional was utilized by 90% of schools in Arkansas during this time frame. The A/B block and 4 x 4 block were used almost equally, each representing approximately 5% of Arkansas schools. …

A Multiple Case Study Of Principals' Instructional Leadership In "Level 5" Schools Of Excellence For Improvement, Janice V. Mccoy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After 28 years of federal and state policy development, regional and local initiatives and various budgetary appropriations, the status of American schools continues to decline. Lyne (2001) reported that Finland, Japan and Korea had the world's highest literacy in reading, math, and science, while the United States ranked 15 in reading literacy, 19 in mathematical literacy, and 14 in scientific literacy. Many factors may contribute to the decline in America's schools. However, with the prevailing economic decline in the United States schools continue to struggle with student achievement, especially students with who are low socio-economic. In addition, to meeting the …

Differences In U.S. Medical School Faculty Job Satisfaction By Gender, Sarah A. Bunton

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increased demands on academic medical faculty have raised awareness about faculty satisfaction and vitality, in part because of the demonstrated empirical link between job satisfaction and retention. Evidence suggests that faculty are affected by their perceptions of what is valued and rewarded in their work environments, and that supportive environments can foster faculty satisfaction. Given the high costs of faculty turnover, it is imperative to understand the factors that contribute to the retention of faculty. A previous Analysis in Brief (AIB) examined key areas of U.S. medical faculty job satisfaction and the disconnect for some faculty between what they value …

Salam Teacher, Sultan Alam

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

No abstract provided.

Career Satisfaction Of Public Secondary School Teachers In Pakistan, Azhar Chaudhary

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Strong and healthy collegial relationships among educators is believed to be a vital element in enhancing school effectiveness and school improvement. Numerous benefits from teacher collegiality have been reported as evidence of the need for building a more effective collegial culture in schools. Regrouping among teachers to promote collaboration in teaching and new configurations of teacher collegiality constitute integral parts of constructive schools (Johnson, 1990). However, in spite of its numerous benefits, collegiality is still a rare element in most schools (Bruffee, 1999; Heider, 2005). This article elucidates some of the common barriers to collegiality among school teachers.

Characterizing The Touchstones Of Educational Leadership: An Analysis Of Distinguished Applied Doctorate Programs, Julie Carlson, Donald Mitchell

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Organizations are ever-present feature of a modern society. We look toward organization for food, education, employment, entertainment, healthcare, transportation and protection of basic rights. Nearly every aspect of modern life is influenced in one way or another by organization. Organizations are social entities that enable people to work together to achieve objectives. Job satisfaction refers to certain experiences and qualities that are related to the ways a person thinks and feels. The feeling of worthwhileness, which an individual has in particular in an occupational position, can be called job satisfaction.

It Is Simple, But Not Easy–Culturally Responsive Leadership And Social Capital: A Framework For Closing The Opportunity Gap, Alisa Taliaferro

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Instructional designers are not often found in a public school setting. However, the leadership an instructional designer can provide, especially as part of a professional learning community (PLC), could help achieve the transformational change for which many schools are looking. With the issues cited by Hoyle and Kutka (2008) in public education today, such as the drop out rate and increased necessity for remedial coursework at the college level, the need for effective instructional design practices being implemented by high school teachers is great. However, as Moallem (1998) notes, “Teachers’ use of instructional design practices is not encouraging (Driscoll, 1989; …

Trends Toward Alternative Teaching Certification And Compensation In Special Education: Considerations And Implications For Traditional Teacher Preparation Programs, Theresa Quigney

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Within a framework of trust markets, this study compares expenses, instructional expenses, and revenues per FTE of not-for-profit and for-profit postsecondary institutions using IPEDS data. Median expenses per FTE at not-for-profit institutions were double those at the for-profit institutions. Median revenue beyond instructional expenses increased at the 4-year-and-above level institutions while decreasing at other levels. Percent of revenue allocated to instructional expenses, other expenses, and excess revenue is presented. Surprisingly, 4-year-and-above, not-for-profit institutions generate more excess revenue per FTE than 4-year-and-above for-profit institutions. Implications of the nondistribution constraint for trust markets and the policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Barriers To Teacher Collegiality, Madiha Shah

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010) there is a significant disparity in life expectance rates between Caucasian males and ethnic minority males in the United States, resulting from factors that include nutrition. While the employment outlook for dietitians and nutritionists is expected to grow by 9.24% through 2018, to approximately 65,000, the percentage of self-employed professionals within the sector is expected to decrease slightly from 8.81% to 8.49% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010).

Communicative Functions Of Repair On Nigerian Students’ Participation In Computer Studies, Alaba Agbatogun

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Doctorate programs in educational leadership have been criticized in recent years for failing to prepare their graduates to effectively serve as instructional leaders in the nation’s schools. Criticisms have included ambiguity of purpose and research foci, weak admission and graduation requirements, irrelevant curriculum, and the lack of applied practice. The purpose of this study was to analyze specific characteristics of thirteen highly ranked applied doctorate programs in educational leadership. Findings revealed that touchstone doctorate programs display many of the features that have been criticized, and that they are largely similar in structure and foci to lower ranked programs.

Gifted Is As Gifted Does, Theresa Monaco

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

In the last decades, interest in instructional process has drawn the attention of linguists to classroom discourse studies (Lee, 2007; Chen, 2007; Hall, 2007; Macbeth, 2004). Such growing attention has been attributed to the importance associated with verbal discourse in meaning making (Chin, 2006). Chin further notes that a common ground available in the literature on pedagogical discourse is the three-turn sequence interaction called “triadic dialogue” (Lemke, 1990 cited in Macbeth, 2004), or Initiation Response Evaluation (IRE) (Menham ,1979 cited in Chin, 2006), or Initiation Response Feedback (IRF) (Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975 cited in Macbeth, 2004). In other words, a …

Modeling Shared Governance At The School And Department Level, Charles Harrington, Martin Slann

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The article explores social capital and culturally responsive leadership theories as a means to understand and bridge differences that arise in diverse educational settings for public school leaders. Issues explored include those related to the educational histories and cultural heritages that students and stakeholders bring with them to the educational setting. More specifically, the article illuminates how the merging of social capital and culturally responsive leadership theories as a conceptual framework for leadership can lead to not only student achievement, but also positive social networking and relationships among school leaders, teachers, and students. Emphasis is placed on the notion that …

Reconsidering Grade Inflation In Higher Education, Megan Mccall

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Organizational climate is the human environment within which an organization’s employees do their work. It may refer to the environment within a department or in an entire organization. We cannot see climate or touch it, but it is there. In turn climate is affected by every thing that is occurring in an organization (Davis & Newstrom 1985). According to Andrew (1971) the term climate is used to design the quality of internal environment which conditions in turn the quality of cooperation, the development of individual, the extent of members’ dedication or commitment to organization’s purposes, and the efficiency with which …

Principals’ Behavior And Job Satisfaction Of Secondary School Teachers, Azhar Chaudhary

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Without question, the concept and practice of shared governance is critical to the health and vitality of any institution of higher education. Perhaps no other characteristic distinguishes American higher education more than this system of participatory governance and oversight. Democratic involvement in institutional decision-making, both operational and strategic, and at the institutional, school, and even academic department level, is necessary for institutional effectiveness and efficiency (Eckel, 2000). However, the issue is not without controversy, as shared governance is second only to tenure as most debated topic in academe (Tierney & Holley, 2005).

The Types And Incidence Of Stressors Of Students In The University Of Ghana-Legon, Samuel Atindanbila, Elma Banyenrejoice

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Over the past two decades, theorists and researchers have consistently cited the importance of effective school leadership in relation to improved educational outcomes (Fullan, 2002; Hallinger & Heck, 1998; Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach, 1999; Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004). The Wallace Foundation recently commissioned an exhaustive research project on the relationships between school leadership and student learning, and the authors concluded that “when principals and teachers share leadership, teachers’ working relationships with one another are stronger and student achievement is higher” (Louis, Leithwood, Wahlstrom, & Anderson, 2010, p. 282).

Trend And Data Analysis Of Homeschooling, Danielle Geary

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Since the inception of the No Child Left Behind legislation, school districts have been faced with a growing need to gather, analyze and monitor more data than ever before in their leadership of schools (Blink, 2007; Kowalski, Lasley & Mahoney, 2008; Mills, 2006). The adage that schools are “data rich” and “information poor”, while comical, is often true. School systems are awash in data and drowning is a real concern for new and soon-to-be leaders. The critical task for school leaders is to turn existing student achievement data into a format that lends itself to answering questions and improving outcomes …

Trends In Expenses And Revenues At Not-For-Profit And For-Profit Postsecondary Institutions: The Nondistribution Constraint And The Future Of The Trust Market, Bonnie Fox-Garrity, Roger Fiedler, Mark Garrison

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

In the United States, every child has the right to an education and is required by law to attend school. The government provides an enormous number of public schools throughout the country, free of charge, in order to ensure education for all, yet there are families who choose to homeschool their children instead. Hill (2010) explains that “homeschooling is not a new phenomenon. In colonial days families, including wealthy ones, educated their children at home, combining the efforts of parents, tutors, and older children” (p.1). He goes on to mention how colonial rural one-room schoolhouses provided a place for the …

Virtual R&D Teams: A Potential Growth Of Education-Industry Collaboration, Nale Ebrahim, Shamsuddin Ahmed, Zahari Taha

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Both the professional literature and non-academic resources are replete with references to both the successes and failures of the current state of education. There is very little doubt that education is receiving intense scrutiny from a variety of sources and in regard to numerous aspects of its implementation. A primary focus of this examination has been the teacher work force, specifically its effectiveness in promoting measurable student growth and achievement. While this is a natural and imperative center of the investigation, it also encompasses ancillary issues, such as the manner in which the teachers are prepared to assume their instructional …

“It Takes More Than Brown Paint To Portray A Realistic African American Character”: Lessons Learned About Teaching Multicultural Literature, Theresa Adkins

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’” shines a light on many issues in public education. The film was released too much fanfare in late September of 2010. It received a lot of media attention and seemed to get everyone talking about American education and how to fix its problems. NBC’s television networks went so far as to dedicate an entire week of programming to the topic of education. Their “Education Week” aired several town hall meetings and debates with leaders in education. However, “Education Week” ended and with it so ended the mainstream media’s coverage of education reform. I had hoped …

Waiting For ‘Superman’: A Review And Commentary, Tony Durr

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

With the advent of the global economy and high-speed Internet, online collaboration is fast becoming the norm in education and industry [1]. Information technology (IT) creates many new inter-relationships among businesses, expands the scope of industries in which a company must compete to achieve competitive advantage. Information systems and technology allow companies to coordinate their activities in distant geographic locations [2]. IT is providing the infrastructure necessary to support the development of new collaboration forms among industry and education. Virtual research and development (R&D) teams represent one such relational form, one that could revolutionize the workplace and provide organizations with …

Table Of Contents - Fall 2011, Fort Hays State University College Of Education

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Academic Leadership Journal Fall 2011 table of contents

An Opportunity For Higher Education: Using Social Entrepreneurship Instruction To Mitigate Social Problems, Matthew Kenney

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Ten elementary school teachers and one Spanish teacher enrolled in Multicultural Children’s and Adolescent Literature expecting to develop a long list of books for their classroom libraries that featured people with brown and black faces. Generally, coming into the course, their primary criterion for appropriate multicultural literature was that it included characters of color. These teachers, students in a graduate reading program, noted repeatedly in course reflection papers and online discussions that they never considered issues of power, privilege, and authenticity in the media in general and in literature in particular prior to their experience in the course. By the …

Instructional Designers As Leaders In Professional Learning Communities: Catalysts For Transformative Change, Shari Smith

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

When it comes to gifted and talented education, once a student has been identified as gifted, educators make it a priority to push them to higher levels of thinking. Higher thinking is one of the desires of these gifted students, however the emotional needs of gifted students can often be lost as they are driven to focus on their academic abilities (Johnson, 2001). Often times the assumption about gifted students is that they come from a two parent home and that they will make good grades no matter what. The following modified verbatim examples will show the impact of not …