Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Providing Access For Students With Moderate Disabilities: An Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program At A Catholic Elementary School, Matthew P. Cunningham, Karen K. Huchting, Diane Fogarty, Victoria Graf

Journal of Catholic Education

After a significant policy change led to the admittance of students with moderate disabilities, St. Agnes School (SAS; pseudonym)—a Catholic PK-8 school in Southern California—implemented an 18-month professional development (PD) program to improve teachers’ inclusive classroom practices. Grounded in the theoretical framework of Universal Design for Learning (UDL; Center for Applied Special Technology, 2015b), the PD program included cyclical, one-on-one instructional coaching sessions that were led by trained UDL coaches and consisted of lesson demonstrations and personalized feedback. While SAS teachers held state credentials, most had very little training to work with students with special needs prior to this PD; …

Leaders Who Learn: The Intersection Of Behavioral Science, Adult Learning And Leadership, Natalya I. Sabga

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines if a relationship exists among three rich research streams, specifically the behavioral science of motivation, adult learning and leadership. What motivates adult professionals to continue learning and how is that connected to their style and efficacy as leaders? An extension of literature to connect Andragogy, Self-determination and Transformational Leadership Theory is explored. Responses to questions adapted from the Carré Model of Adult Orientation and Implication on Learning and Training Activities (Carré, 1997) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Avolio & Bass, 2000) are compared among a sample of adult professionals in leadership positions. Results indicate that learning motivation …

Walking As Ontological Shifter: Thoughts In The Key Of Life, Bibi (Silvina) Calderaro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

With walking as ontological shifter I pursue an alternative to the dominant modernist episteme that offers either/or onto-epistemologies of opposition and their reifying engagements. I propose this type of walking is an intentional turning towards a set of radical positions that, as integrative aesthetic and therapeutic practice, brings multiplicity and synchronicity to experience and being in an expanded sociality. This practice facilitates the conditions of possibility for recurring points of contact between the interiority perceived as ‘body’ and the exteriority perceived as ‘world.’ While making evident the self’s at once incoherence with it-self, it opens to a space beyond the …

The Relationship Between Teacher Attitudes Toward The Common Core State Standards And Informational Text, Marcie Estruch

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study sought to determine the relationship between teachers’ attitudes toward the Common Core State Standards and three predetermined factors. These factors were (1) teachers’ attitudes toward the practicality of pedagogical shift three, balancing informational and literary texts, (2) teachers’ attitudes toward school support with the implementation process of pedagogical shift three, balancing informational and literary texts, and (3) teachers’ attitudes toward the balance of informational and literary texts in comparison with the previous set of New York State standards. Through the use of a teacher survey, the researcher assessed the relationship between teachers’ attitudes toward the Common Core State …

A Phenomenological Study Of First-Career Millennial Novice Elementary School Teachers’ Use 0f Technology, Karla Ontiveros-Karr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to describe the attitudes and understandings for millennial first-career novice (FCMN) teachers toward transformational technology integration in the elementary classroom as it relates to the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge framework (TPACK). Three research questions framed this study: (a) How do millennial first-career novice teachers from the Midwestern United States describe their level of content knowledge, technological knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge (TPACK) to support their teaching practices in the elementary classroom? (b) How do participants describe their approach to instructional decision-making based on their technological knowledge in the elementary classroom? (c) How, …

Faculty And Student Perceptions Of Teaching Presence In Distance Education Courses: A Mixed Methods Examination, Judith Slapak-Barski

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide deeper insight to current knowledge about establishing teaching presence (TP) in online courses. Distance education environments are considered more convenient than traditional learning environments, as they provide more opportunities for learning that occurs in various settings. In distance education environments, effective learning should focus on the interaction between e-learning technologies and educational practice in higher education. Online courses are typically devoid of the visual cues and interaction of the traditional classroom. Online learners may experience an isolation effect as a result of learning in the perceived absence of their peers and instructor. Feelings …

Students: Professors, I Wish You Would.., Norman Eng

Publications and Research

What do students wish they could tell their professors about their instruction but never do? Read their unvarnished responses in this eye-opening post.

Facilitating The Transition From Military Instructor To Academic Educator: Cognitive Apprenticeship In Teacher Induction At The United States Air Force Academy, Thomas T. Swaim

The Qualitative Report

This article examines teacher induction in the military undergraduate education context. The U.S. Air Force Academy relies on approximately 520 military and civilian instructors to educate nearly 4000 future military officers each year. These educators must be highly skilled and unquestionably capable in their abilities to teach these future leaders. Many of these instructors derive from highly technical active duty operational career fields (such as pilot, missile operator, etc.). This article reveals how Collins’, Brown’s, and Newman’s (1989) theory of cognitive apprenticeship is manifested within teacher induction experiences at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Using a qualitative multiple-case study approach, …

Clearing The Pathway To Chemotherapy Certification For Inpatient Nurses, Shari Lee Kellen Rn, Ocn, Onn

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

A clinical nurse leader (CNL) project was conducted, in a medical-surgical oncology unit in a community-based hospital, to evaluate and improve upon the decreasing number of chemotherapy certified nurses. A Likert survey of the nurses provided a self-assessment of competency in handling chemotherapy patients, and perceived barriers to achieving chemotherapy certification. The surveys revealed that nurses felt fearful of exposure to hazardous medications, that chemotherapy assignments were too stressful, and that there was minimal chemotherapy competency amongst leadership. An education program was implemented, covering proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and safe handling, practicing resilience to mitigate stress, …

Lessons Learned While Escaping From A Zombie: Designing A Breakout Edu Game, Wendy L. Rouse

Faculty Publications, Social Sciences

I discovered Breakout EDU over a year ago while researching innovative teaching methods that spark student engagement. Firmly believing in the importance of play and the value of games in history education, I found the Breakout EDU idea intriguing and wanted to try it in my own classroom.

Examining How Video-Elicited Reflection Mediates Teacher Candidates’ Beliefs About English Language Learners: A Multiple Case Study, Monica M. Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

English Language Learners (ELLs) are students who speak a language other than English; they are the fastest growing student population in United States’ (US) public schools and will include over 17 million students by the year 2020 (NCES,2015). The dramatic increase in the ELL student population means that all mainstream classroom teachers will teach at least one ELL within their first year of graduating from a teacher preparation program. However, most US teachers hold misconceptions about ELLs and feel unprepared for ELL instruction (Coady, Harper, & de Jong, 2011). More empirical research is needed to inform teacher preparation programs on …

A Portrait In Black And White: An Analysis Of Race In The Adult Education Classroom, Tealia N. Deberry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adult education is a reciprocal relationship between adult learners and adult education practitioners. As such, it is essential to understand the experiences of adult educators and adult education practitioners as they teach adults. This study focuses on how ideas about race and racism are examined in the graduate-level classroom and the adult learners’ experience as they focus on subject matter that challenges their assumptions and forces them to create new understandings about race. This study examines, through the portraiture methodology, the experiences of a White researcher and the adult learners engaging in dialogues about race in a CRT course.

The …

A Program Evaluation Of A Worksite Wellness Initiative For Weight Loss, Nicholas Martinez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to conduct a program evaluation of ACME’s worksite weight loss initiative and collect evidence relative to the efficacy of the program. An anonymous online survey was administered to participants of the weight loss initiative. The survey was designed to gather information relative to the research questions, which explored the initiative’s barriers to participation, alignment of initiative with the goals of participants, utilization of initiative resources, overall strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement for the weight loss initiative, as well as the respondents’ general profile for the six dimensions of wellness. Reporting of data included …

A Qualitative Content Analysis Of Early Algebra Education Ios Apps For Primary Children, Lissa S. Ledbetter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Educational software applications (apps) on multi-touch, mobile devices provide a promising space to help learners work toward long-term educational goals, like learning with understanding (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). Such goals are particularly relevant in supporting a learner’s efforts to become more mathematically literate. Yet, a number of current apps do not appear to be living up to this potential. As such, this study drew upon the theoretical framework of Learning Science and the conceptual framework of TPACK theory (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) to define curricular characteristics that ideally support primary children’s potential to learn early algebra concepts with understanding, …

Narrating Neoliberalism: Alternative Education Teachers’ Conceptions Of Their Changing Roles, Noah Asher Golden

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The signifier ‘alternative’ in education has largely shifted from progressive or humanizing pedagogies to deficit framings requiring alternate graduation criteria. This development is part of broader neoliberal educational reform efforts that disrupt longstanding conceptions of teachers’ roles. This study serves to investigate long-term teachers’ understandings of their shifting roles in one secondary-level alternative education program in New York City. Specifically, this narrative analysis study explores participating teachers’ meanings around agency and their ability to form the relationships that they argue are central to meaningful pedagogies. Findings demonstrate a sense of loss regarding teacher agency and relationships, and a belief that …

Transformational Leadership For Growth In Changing Times, David Kooharian

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

“Transformational Leadership for Growth in Changing Times” is a personal exploration into a leadership style that is both humanizing and effective. As a parent, artist, teacher, and counselor I have developed a personal form of leading without understanding what I was doing. After researching leadership styles I discovered that what I had been doing was backed by a recognized theory of leadership called Transformational Leadership.

The keys to Transformational Leadership include: Idealized Influence. Leaders behave as role models demonstrating high ethical standards and moral conduct. They are consistent and provide a feeling of confidence that obstacles can be overcome. The …

Integrating Idea Mapping Into Professional Development And Practice: A Guidebook For Educators, Sarah Rose Parsons

Master's Projects and Capstones

The daily metrics of the teaching profession can prove emotionally and physically taxing, especially when compared to the current rapidly growing veil of technological advancement and a lack of support from one’s community and administration in their field. The means of support for professional development, which are often presented in schools for educators, focus mostly on students and content delivery. These programs rarely pay attention to the personal growth of the individual educator. Educators can in turn help themselves if they are provided with the tools and time to do so. Thus, this project seeks to serve that purpose, founded …

Neighborhood Strategizing: Understanding Community Collaborations Within California Bay Area Public Schools, Windi Hazzard

Master's Projects and Capstones

For the better half of a century, education policy has been guided by economics and profit. One after another, every U.S. president since the 1960s has championed legislation that reflects neoliberal ideals of competition and profitable skills. Through the standardization of the public school system, education has become a marketplace rather than an environment for cultivating empowered learners and critical thinkers. The purpose of this field project is to show how communities are challenging the current education system in order to influence education policy in San Francisco, California. I interviewed four participants from two organizations that advocate parents’ rights as …

Barbara Cole, Barbara Cole, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

An Arkansas native, Barbara Cole has worked in child nutrition for the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired for forty-one years. She was also a longtime member of the National Advisory Committee of the National Food Service Management Institute/Institute of Child Nutrition.

Mindfulness For Teachers: A Plan For Intrapersonal And Interpersonal Growth, Bryan Meyer

MA TESOL Collection

Stress is a malady pervasive in today’s culture, which schools are not immune. Teachers are under pressure to raise standardized test scores while students spend more of each day sitting in their seats trying to learn increasingly more abstract concepts at younger ages. All of this leads to a stressful environment. However, there are tools and skills that can be learned to minimize the stress an individual encounters and provide a means to live with more engagement, creativity, and happiness. The author uses his twenty years of meditation and yoga experience to create materials that teachers can implement in their …

Up From Poverty: A Narrative Non-Fiction Study Of Three Female Superintendents From Poverty, Stephanie L. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This narrative non-fiction study was designed to investigate the lived experiences of three female superintendents in the state of Texas who have lived in poverty during their youth and early life. The participating female superintendents were contacted by this researcher through email. The information used in this study was collected from participating superintendents through interviews and analyzed to find the common themes that exist between the lived experiences of each female superintendent from poverty as she progressed through the stages of development in life. The information was also analyzed to ascertain how she was able to elevate out of poverty …

White And African American Elementary Aged Student Perspectives Of School Climate And The Relationship To Academic Achievement, Jeremy Spoor, Rachel Turney

Dissertations

The achievement gap between White and African American students on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) is an educational phenomenon that has been around for generations and yet to be fully understood or eliminated. This study investigated the difference in school climate perceptions between African American and Caucasian (sic) students on a district climate survey and the possible connections to the achievement gap on the MAP tests. The 2015-2016 student perceived school climate survey data from a mid-sized Midwestern urban school district was disaggregated and analyzed to identify specific differences in perception of school climate among the study groups.

MAP test …

The Missouri Student Transfer Program, Howard E. Fields Iii

Dissertations

In 1993, the state of Missouri passed the Outstanding Schools Act. This law was created as a means to ensure that “all children will have quality educational opportunities, regardless of where in Missouri they live.” Section 167.131 of this law states that an unaccredited district must pay the tuition and transportation cost for students who attend an accredited school in the same or adjoining district. This portion of the law became known as the Student Transfer Program.

The Riverview Gardens School District (RGSD) was one of three unaccredited school districts in the state of Missouri in 2013. With close to …

Effective And Ineffective Clinical Teaching And Instruction In Dental Hygiene School, Vicki Gianopoulos Pizanis

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Introduction

Educators who teach in a clinical setting, primarily in healthcare fields, while having knowledge of the subject, having skills in what is taught, and having experience in the field, often have little-to-no training in teaching. This results in instructional practices being based upon intuition and experience. Becoming aware of how qualities and characteristics of clinical instructors affect adult learners’ educational experience through evidence-based research, and using its implications, would help promote more effective instruction and ultimately improve student learning.

Methodology

A mixed methods study using Grounded Theory and Critical Incidence technique was conducted to study junior student, senior student …

The Sustainability Of Career And Technical Education Teacher Preparation Programs In Florida, Lisa Martino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a historical trend of decline in available Career and Technical Education (CTE) Teacher Preparation programs and an increase in CTE course and program enrollments in Florida’s secondary school system. This contradiction in CTE teacher supply and demand raises an important question. What is going on? More specifically, what sustains the remaining programs in the face of this decline?

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore sustainability factors from past and present CTE teacher preparation program educators and administrators to gain a better understanding of this issue. The participant selection for this study was identified from four …

Reducing Recitivism: How To Combat Repeat Suspensions And Improve Student Achievement, Derrick King

FL MED Educational Leadership Capstones

This project is intended to take examine how Mount Olive High School can implement an alternative school program to reduce the number of students who are habitually absent from school, reduce the number of students receiving out of school suspension, and improve this demographic of student’s overall student achievement. This project explains what alternative school is, its pro’s and con’s, and how it has been proven effective in other schools. This project examines the steps which were taken at Mount Olive to implement this program into its school. The project provides data on the effect the alternative school had on …

2017 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 1, Issue 1

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

For our inaugural issue, we reviewed the feedback from our 2016 ETE faculty conference—an event for USU faculty hosted every August on the USU main campus. We identified several of the presenters who received high marks in post-session surveys and invited them to submit a proceedings paper for their presentation. Many responded, and their papers now comprise the majority of this issue. Because most of the articles began as stand-up presentations for a conference, several adopt a first-person narrative style in which the authors share examples of things they have tried in their teaching that have worked. In the process …

The Dynamics Of The L2 Motivational Self System Among Saudi Study Abroad Students, Fahad Alharbi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adult second language acquisition takes time over an extended period of time during which the L2 motivation of learners goes through periods of ups and downs. Dörnyei, MacIntyre and Henry (2015) recognized the inherently dynamic nature of L2 motivation and called for adopting the Complex Dynamic System Theory (CDST) when studying this phenomenon. While using a CDST perspective, this mixed method study drew on Dörnyei’s (2009b) model of the Motivational Self System to examine the L2 motivation of 86 Saudi study-abroad students. Also, the construct of the Anti-ought to Self (Thompson, 2015) and aspects of the Appraisal Theory (Schumann, 2001) …

The Influence Of Technology On Teaching Practices At A Catholic School, Meredith Jc Swallow

Journal of Catholic Education

Supporting twenty-first century skill development calls for necessary changes in teaching practices to encourage contemporary learning outcomes. Research points toward technology integration as a catalyst for supporting shifting pedagogies necessary to enhance learning. As many Catholic educators and leaders are attempting to re-shape Catholic school learning for the twenty-first century, the Catholic school context provides a unique opportunity to understand technology integration and teaching practices. To address the need of understanding the development of teaching practices of Catholic educators in a digital age, this qualitative multiple-case study examines teaching practices of four middle-level Catholic school educators during a one-to-one technology …