Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

The Beautiful Struggle: A Counter-Narrative Study Of African American Male School Leaders, Jamie Crosen Mr

Dissertations of Practice

This qualitative dissertation explores the lived experiences of African American male high school principals in urban and suburban schools across the Chicagoland area. Using critical race theory (CRT) and counter-narrative methodology, the study centers the voices of ten African American male principals to examine how race, systemic inequities, and social justice shape their leadership practices, professional identities, and navigation of racially charged educational environments. These leaders consistently confront institutionalized biases and racialized expectations that limit their professional advancement while reinforcing deficit narratives about African American leadership. Through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, three primary research questions guided this study: (1) …

Using Brief Acceptance And Commitment Training To Increase Psychological Flexibility And Reduce Stress In School-Based Professionals, Rayna Yaeger

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The significant behavioral and mental health concerns of students and staff in public schools within the United States has led to an increased risk of stress and burnout in teachers, which may lead to subsequent physical and mental health related concerns for staff and negative educational outcomes for students. Due to these school-based concerns, action should be taken to meet the needs of staff and students. This study aimed to better understand the effect of brief, group-based ACTraining on teachers’ psychological flexibility, general stress, job-related burnout, and social validity by replicating and extending the findings of Gillard et al. (2021) …

Exploratory Study On The Influence Of Social Skills, Students' Well-Being, And Communication Skills On Smartphone Usage Among Junior Secondary School Students, Sriyanto Sriyanto, Tri Naimah, Aji Heru Muslim, Dedy Irawan, Sri Muryaningsih

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

The escalating smartphone usage (SU) among Junior Secondary School (JSS) students necessitates rigorous investigation of its multifaceted impacts on social skills (SS), communication skills (CS), and student well-being (SW), particularly through the lens of mediation and moderation analysis that current studies have overlooked. This study aims to comprehensively analyze the impact of SU on SS, CS, and SW, considering the mediating and moderating roles of related variables. The research design utilized a survey and a cross-sectional approach involving JSC students in Banyumas Regency, Central Java Province, Indonesia (N=500). Data were collected using a questionnaire developed by adapting standardized instruments to …

Becoming And Belonging: Exploring Teachers’ Insights On Community Interest And Engagement In Waldorf Middle School Students, Monica Laurent

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research explores how Waldorf middle school teachers experience, perceive, and support the development of community interest, engagement, and belonging among the early adolescence years of middle school. Adolescence, particularly ages 11 to 14, is a period of profound developmental transition characterized by intense emotionality, evolving identity, increased peer influence, and growing social complexity. Rudolf Steiner’s philosophical and pedagogical framework positions this stage as a time that leads to the birth of the astral or feeling body, contributing to new levels of self-awareness and the emergence of individuality, the beginning of critical thinking, and moral judgment. This period is also …

The Impact Of The Implementation Of The Interconnected Systems Framework (Isf) On Educators, Kayla Jones

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Amid growing concerns around teacher retention and educator job satisfaction, this study explored how system-level frameworks, particularly the Interconnected System Framework (ISF), could influence key teacher outcomes. While the ISF has been widely associated with improved student outcomes, this research investigated its potential to enhance educator experiences, focusing on working conditions, retention rates, and school climate. Quantitative analysis revealed that schools implementing the ISF or PBIS reported significantly more favorable working conditions and school climate compared to non-implementing schools. Although teacher retention rates did not significantly differ across implementation types, notable variability within the non-implementing group suggests a need for …

Explorations Of Social-Emotional Learning In The Arts, Lydia Boyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this Honors Research Project was to explore social-emotional learning as a practice, to find effective applications for schools, to highlight the connections between the arts and social-emotional learning, and to provide useful methods for the actual implementation. There is a focus on the five main competencies of social-emotional learning which are self- awareness, social-awareness, self-management, relationship-building, and responsible decision- making skills which are translated into various class practices and art projects. Social-emotional learning is a mindset rather than merely a practice and has been practiced latently in education. Art education and social-emotional learning share congruencies in standards, …

Teaching Social Marketing Concepts Through Prosocial Behavior Lenses, Bela Florenthal

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This study investigates the educational value of a prosocial project embedded in a college-level marketing course. Framed through a humanistic and holistic lens, the initiative integrated acts of kindness (AOKs) to engage students in real-world application of social marketing concepts. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected through student reflections and surveys, revealing high levels of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement. Students developed empathy, compassion, and self-awareness, reinforcing the importance of integrating experiential learning into business education. The project also addressed AACSB’s emphasis on societal impact and aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by promoting emotional well-being and civic …

Examining The Psychometric Properties Of The Classroom Whiteness Scale (Claws) Through Rasch Partial Credit Analysis, Jaylene T. Patterson

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

This pilot study examines how whiteness manifests in K-12 classrooms by developing and evaluating the Classroom Whiteness Scale (ClaWS), an instrument designed to assess in-service teachers’ salience and engagement with whiteness-informed practices. ClaWS consists of 21 items across two subscales: one measuring the salience of whiteness-related beliefs in teachers’ pedagogical decisions and the other capturing the frequency of these practices in classroom settings. Rooted in critical whiteness studies, the scale operationalizes key dimensions of whiteness, including ethnocentric monoculturalism, white standardization, white silence, right to comfort, white saviorism, and colorblind racial ideology.

Using Rasch Partial Credit Model (RPCM) analysis, this study …

An Examination Of Preservice Teacher Knowledge Of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) In The Elementary Classroom, Breana K. E. Webb

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines the knowledge of preservice teachers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and how well prepared they might be when supporting students in elementary classrooms. ADHD is a diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder in children and has been increasingly diagnosed over the past several years. Teachers play a crucial role in providing effective instruction to each and every student in the classroom. Managing classroom instruction with diverse learning capabilities and behaviors requires teachers to understand the characteristics of ADHD, as well as instructional adaptations and behavioral interventions, among preservice teachers. Findings indicate that while most preservice teachers recognize the basic …

A Qualitative Study For Parental Involvement In Middle School: Perspectives Of Parents And Teachers, Twana Ivory

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to examine the barriers contributing to low parental involvement in a selected middle school. Parental engagement has been widely linked to student academic success and positive behavior outcomes; however, involvement tends to decline as students enter middle school. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of educators and parents regarding parental involvement, identify the challenges families face, and discover opportunities to strengthen school-family collaboration.

The researcher employed a qualitative research design using a phenomenological approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven participants, including six middle school teachers and five parents. …

Relaciones De Las Competencias Docentes Con El Bienestar En Docentes De Ciencias Empresariales Bajo La Modalidad A Distancia En Una Universidad Privada En Colombia, Camilo Ernesto Aguirre Martínez

Theses and Dissertations

El propósito de esta investigación consistió en determinar las relaciones de las competencias docentes con el bienestar en docentes de Ciencias Empresariales bajo la modalidad a distancia en una Universidad privada de Colombia. El estudio buscó identificar las relaciones entre las competencias docentes y el bienestar psicológico, el bienestar subjetivo y el bienestar social, cuáles de esas relaciones predominan, así como la identificación de cuáles elementos de estos tipos de bienestar contribuyen con el desarrollo de las competencias docentes.

El enfoque de la investigación fue el empírico analítico o cuantitativo, el diseño fue no experimental y su alcance fue de …

Teacher Resilience In South Africa: The Self-Efficacy And Teacher Efficacy Of Pre-Service Teachers Preparing To Teach In A Challenged Context, Carine Jonker, Marien Alet Graham, Liesel Ebersöhn

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This publication addresses a gap in high-quality, quantitative studies on teacher resilience within the less-researched context of the Global South. Specifically, it examines the self-efficacy and teacher efficacy of three cohorts of final-year pre-service teachers in South Africa (N = 1,193). This article aimed to contribute evidence on teacher resilience from an under-researched African context and population. Despite contextual challenges, the pre-service teachers indicated high intrapersonal resilience-enabling pathways, with a statistically significant relationship between their self-efficacy and teacher efficacy. The authors propose an evidence-based framework of how high levels of self-efficacy and teacher efficacy may enable prospective teachers to teach …

Technology-Enhanced Professional Development For Early Literacy: A Comparative Study Of Online Teacher Learning Models In Kenya, Constanza Uribe-Banda

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Growing recognition of early literacy as essential for lifelong learning, along with evidence that teachers’ mastery of foundational literacy instruction influences student outcomes (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; UNESCO, 2020), has led to increased investment in teacher professional development. Despite these efforts, many educators face significant challenges in accessing high-quality training, particularly in resource-constrained settings where geographical barriers and limited institutional support persist. This is especially true in rural Kenyan communities, where teachers often work in under-resourced schools with unreliable electricity and internet connectivity yet bear responsibility for laying critical literacy foundations. The present study examines the potential to deliver effective …

Restorative Leadership: A Generative Exploration With Women School Leaders, Camille Rénée Pauline Tyson Jacobs

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As schools increasingly adopt restorative practices, a parallel shift in leadership is occurring, challenging traditional leadership models like servant and transformational leadership. While research has largely focused on student outcomes, there is a critical gap in understanding how restorative practices influence school principals’ leadership. Given their central role in sustaining and expanding restorative initiatives, this study aimed to address that gap by developing a definitional framework for restorative leadership, grounded in the experiences of women school leaders in grades 5 to 12. Using sensemaking theory, the research examined how leaders conceptualize and apply restorative values in practice. Key questions included …

Pick Up A Frog, Or Pet A Dog; Animals Are Our First Teachers, Allison Ratner

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation’s goal was an attempt to answer the question: What are the emotional, cognitive, and/or spiritual effects of children’s relationships/interactions with animals that potentially impact their development? By utilizing autoethnography, I analyzed instances from my own life where interacting with animals changed me permanently; my thinking, my knowing, my feeling, my judgement, my empathy, my attitude, and my ethics. With a standpoint rooted in the research of experts from the fields of psychology and education, I combined my personal knowledge gained over a lifetime, to grant merit to the profundity of children’s relationships with animals. With the analyzed data, …

A Phenomenological Study To Determine How Expert Avid Teachers Use Collaboration To Strengthen Student Metacognition And Student Self-Efficacy And Determine When It Occurs, Megan Hernandez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine how expert AVID teachers from the California Central Valley describe the use of collaboration to strengthen student metacognition and self-efficacy and how they describe the evidence that indicates metacognition and self-efficacy are occurring.

Methodology: Five Central California school districts were chosen to conduct the phenomenological study on expert AVID teachers. One to two AVID teachers from each of the five school districts were chosen in the study for eight participants. The expert AVID teachers were chosen for having at least five years of experience teaching AVID and being up to …

Using Geogebra To Foster Imagination And Creativity To Build Mathematics Confidence In A Stem World, Joseph M. Furner

Transformations

Math teachers can better prepare all student for a STEM world using computer software like GeoGebra to better prepare our youth for such high-tech careers like that of which Einstein was part of while also emphasizing and fostering creativity in the learning of mathematics. It is critical we have young learners who are confident in their ability to do math and be creative. Teachers today need to check dispositions toward mathematics and address math anxiety while building math confidence in their students. In an ever-advancing world of technology, math teachers need to incorporate such emerging technologies like GeoGebra into the …

Rachel’S Saga: Using Adolescent Literature In The Mathematics Classroom As A Form Of Bibliotherapy To Help Students Overcome Math Apprehension, Joseph M. Furner

Transformations

Math anxiety is prevalent and an understanding of mathematics is critical in an increasingly technological/STEM society, teachers must play a role in reducing the levels of math anxiety of learners. More recently, children's and adolescent literature has been recognized now as a means to teaching mathematics to students through the use of stories to make the math concepts relevant and meaningful. Literature may be used as a therapy to reach students who may be frustrated with math and/or who experience math anxiety. Story and picture books such as Math Curse (Scieszka & Smith, 1995) and A Gebra Named Al (Isdell, …

Indiana School Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Perceptions In The Areas Of Clear And High Expectations, Collaborative Inquiry, And Feedback, Jacinda Smith

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined Indiana public school educators' perceptions of self-efficacy in three instructional practices: setting clear and high expectations, fostering collaborative inquiry, and providing feedback. Using a quantitative approach, it explored whether these perceptions varied by teaching experience (0–5, 6–15, 16+ years), school location (urban, rural, suburban), grade level (PK–2, Intermediate 3–5, Middle School 6–8, High School 9–12), and socioeconomic status of the student population (0–25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, 76%+). Findings revealed significant differences, with veteran teachers and those in rural schools reporting higher efficacy levels than peers in urban settings or with fewer years of experience. These results suggest the …

Front Matter - Jaepl - Volume 29, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Front Matter. List of Board of Directors and List of Editors.

Introduction: The Confusion Of In-Between, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Introduction to Volume 29 of JAEPL. The Confusion of In-Between by JAEPL Editor, Wendy Ryden.

Remembering James Moffett: An Interview And Dialogue With Sondra Perl, Sheridan Blau, Sondra Perl

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Teachers reading these descriptions of Moffett’s teaching are likely to find in them models they too will be inspired to adapt for use in their own writing classrooms, wherever they teach.

Moffett's Corner Introduction, Stephen Lafer, Jonathan M. Marine

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

In this special edition of Moffett’s Corner, Sheridan Blau, former Professor of Practice in the teaching of English at Teachers College, Columbia University interviews the noted composition theorist Sondra Perl in order to solicit her memories of the late James Moffett.

Scholarship As A Source Of Innovation/Inspiration, Curtis Porter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Introduction to Book Reviews: Scholarship as a Source of Innovation/Inspiration

Creative Reading: Using Poetic Inquiry In Research And Teaching, Clancy Ratliff, Abdullah Al Musayeb, Barja Islam, Mithila Mumtaz, Rosol Otear, Simon Richard, Noah Smith, Nuzhat Tarannum, Allyssa Veney

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Creative Reading: Using Poetic Inquiry in Research and Teaching:

Essay and Poetry.

Strom, Kathryn J. And Adrian D. Martin. Becoming-Teacher: A Rhizomatic Look At First-Year Teaching. Sense Publishers, 2017, 138 Pages., Iwona Ionescu

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Becoming-Teacher: A Rhizomatic Look at First-Year Teaching - A Review

Adare-Tasiwoopa Ápi, Sierra And Nathan K. Silva. Gamification In Higher Education: A How-To Instructional Guide. Routledge, 2024, 252 Pages., Willa Swift Black

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Gamification in Higher Education: A How-to Instructional Guide - A Review

Table Of Contents - Jaepl - Volume 29, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Table of Contents - JAEPL - Volume 29

Indisposed To Write: Teaching A Visceral Poetics, Miriam L. Atkin

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay begins from the premise that acts of thinking and writing are shaped immanently by corporeal need. Accordingly, my aim is to sketch a vision of composition pedagogy that acknowledges the moves and modulations of the thinking body. The route I take to get there explores four works of critical prose that mobilize form and content toward a radical re-orientation of body-in-space and body-in-writing. These texts—by Eleni Stecopoulos, Robert Kocik, William James, and Eli Clare—are to varying degrees experimental, demonstrating a manner of textual difficulty that signals the visceral difficulty implied in any act of writing. What follows is …

Contributors To Jaepl, Vol. 29, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Contributors to JAEPL, Vol. 29