Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Upgrading Met Instructors : The Skills And Knowledge Enhancement Demanded By Met Stakeholders, Tarek Gamil

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Backbone Of Classroom Instruction, Bilqees Patel

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of Perceptions Of A Mentoring Program Of Beginning Teachers In A Rural East Tennessee Secondary School., Mike Frazier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers, especially beginning teachers, continue a trend of leaving the profession at alarming rates within the first 5 years resulting in excessive costs to school systems and diminished instructional quality. Some programs, however, have shown impressive results. The purpose of this qualitative study, using an emerging interview process, was to examine the perceptions of beginning teachers in their 1st or 2nd year and those of veteran 3- to 5-year teachers regarding the effectiveness of mentoring and other guidance they received as beginning teachers in a secondary school and to understand their vision of how mentoring should be structured for beginning …

Do Parents' Literacy Beliefs And Home Literacy Experiences Relate To Children's Literacy Skills?, Rebecca C. Norman

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship among parents' literacy beliefs, home literacy experiences, and children's literacy skills. Forty-three children, who attended a university preschool, and their parents participated in the study. Parents' literacy beliefs and the home literacy experience, namely shared book reading, were examined through a self-report questionnaire. One important section of this questionnaire provided information about parents' beliefs concerning literacy acquisition; specifically, whether they believed in a top-down or bottom-up approach. The children were tested individually for emergent literacy skills, including concepts of print, alphabetic knowledge, rhyming skills, oral language skills, word recognition, and invented spelling. The results were …

The Diffusion Of The Reggio Emilia Approach Among Early Childhood Teacher Educators In South Carolina, Julie Hartman

All Dissertations

Growing numbers of U.S. educators are traveling to the northern Italian town of Reggio Emilia to study the innovative, arts-based approach to early education developed in the town's municipal infant-toddler and pre-primary programs now commonly referred to as the Reggio Emilia Approach. And though there is no way of knowing exactly how many educators and early childhood programs across the U.S. are currently making use of the approach, increasing numbers of U.S. colleges and universities are including the approach in both their ECE teacher preparation as well as campus child development programs, suggesting the Reggio Emilia Approach (REA) is diffusing …

In The Name Of Educational Research, Shafqat Hussain

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Should Teachers Become Leaders?, Shamsah R. Dhanani

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Variables Influencing Undergraduate Hospitality Management Majors' Moral Reasoning, Tamantha L. Brooks

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifying factors that facilitate moral reasoning among hospitality management majors are important since it provides insight into their capacity for ethical decision making. This study examines if the variables of age, education level, gender, ethics coursework, or supervisory experience influence hospitality majors' moral reasoning. Participants (n=449) included students taking required hospitality management courses from five Midwestern universities in the United States. The Defining Issues Test II (DIT2) instrument and a demographic supplement were used to collect data. Results showed that there was no correlation between age and moral reasoning; the level of education did not influence moral reasoning; moral reasoning …

Evaluation And Needs-Based Assessment Of Special Education Teachers' Knowledge Of Austism Interventions, Dawn Richardson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is being increasingly identified in children, yet there are only a minimal number of studies examining the use of research-based intervention strategies in a classroom educational setting. This present study examined the use of Discrete Trial Training, Picture Exchange Communication System, Social Stories, Structured Teaching, and Video Self-Modeling by special education teachers with students with ASD. A questionnaire was completed by 91 special education teachers from the Green River Region Educational Cooperative, which encompasses 17 different school districts in the area of western and south central Kentucky. They answered questions about their level of training, knowledge …

Intensive Professional Development In Early Literacy Instruction For Preschool Teachers, Rebecca Brinks

Dissertations

This study assesses the efficacy of using an intensive professional development program to improve preschool teachers' practices related to early literacy. A mixed methods approach was employed to review secondary data from a federally-funded Early Reading First Grant. The population studied consisted of thirty-one preschool teachers at four diverse programs serving low income children located in the mid-western urban community of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The intensive professional development used in this study resulted in significant improvements in the mean scores for all areas of the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) when comparing baseline to the final scores in …

Resilient Teachers: A Qualitative Study Of Six Thriving Educators In Urban Elementary Schools, Paul Giroux

Dissertations

This qualitative research study used elements of phenomenological and narrative research methodology to explore the common characteristics and experiences of a sample of resilient elementary teachers working in urban schools. The six research subjects in this study’s sample each had at least eight years of teaching experience, and each participated in a cycle of three in-depth interviews designed to determine their degree of resilience and to develop a portrait of their personal and professional characteristics, experiences, attitudes and beliefs. Once the data collection phase was complete, data was coded and then analyzed to identify which of the characteristics and experiences …

Leadership-Influenced Practices That Impact Classroom Instruction Related To Writing: A Case Study Of A Successful Elementary School, Barb Johnson

Dissertations

This research studied the practices of educators at an ethnically diverse suburban elementary school which had demonstrated success in the area of student writing, even among at-risk students. The overall research goal was to examine to what extent and how leadership-related practices impacted classroom instruction in a manner that helped produce successful writing scores. A case study approach was used to explore four key leadership-related practices (supervision, curriculum, professional development, and knowledgeable leaders) and their impact on classroom literacy-based instructional strategies.

The study participants included two leaders and fourteen teachers from a single elementary school located in a metropolitan Michigan …

Developing Research And Scholarship At Aku-Ied: Possibilities And Challenges, Anjum Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Vygotsky’S Theory Of The Creative Imagination: A Study Of The Influences On Preservice Teachers’ Creative Thinking Capacities, Stephen J. Worst

Dissertations

This study investigated the effect of formal instruction in the use of creative thinking skills on preservice teachers' capacities for increased creative activity. It emerged from Vygotsky's theory of the creative imagination. Emphasizing the impact of formal schooling on the growth of creative activity, he implied that individuals who are continually adding to accumulation of knowledge develop an abundant imagination from which creativity flows.

This quantitative study used a quasi-experimental design and attempted to test Vygotsky's assumptions within a sample population of 113 preservice teachers. Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking served as the pre- and post-tests that measured the creative …

A Narrative Inquiry Of Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding Their Professional Development Experiences, Theresa Andrea Nugent

Dissertations

The purpose of this narrative inquiry study was to explore teachers' perceptions of their professional development experiences. Qualitative studies are needed to truly understand through "thick rich" descriptions (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) what is happening (or not) from the viewpoint of the classroom teacher in reference to their professional development experiences and related impact on student outcomes. In an era of accountability, teachers' voices are essential for understanding potential connections between teacher learning, via professional development experiences, and improved student outcomes.

This research project involved a purposeful sample of 8 1st-grade and 2nd-grade teachers, identified by their principals as "committed" …

Audio-Assisted Reading With Digital Audiobooks For Upper Elementary Students With Reading Disabilities, Kelli J. Esteves

Dissertations

Audio-assisted reading has been used as an effective instructional intervention for students with learning disabilities (Carbo, 1978; Gilbert, Williams, & McLaughlin, 1996) and with struggling readers (Chomsky, 1976; Hollingsworth, 1978; Hoskisson & Krohm, 1974; Koskinen, Blum, Bisson, Phillips, Creamer, & Baker, 2000; Rasinski, 1990). The strategy involves reading along while listening to an audio recording of a fluent model (Evans, 1997).

The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy of audio-assisted reading with digital audiobooks against the traditional practice of sustained silent reading in terms of reading fluency rates and reading attitude scores with upper elementary students with …

Michigan Elementary School Facility Quality And Its Impact On Student Achievement, Brett A. Geier

Dissertations

Studies on school facility quality and its impact on student achievement have been conducted throughout the nation with varying results. Some studies conclude a significant relationship exists between facility condition and student achievement, while others refute this potential phenomenon. Much of the research concludes that not enough analyses have been conducted to make appropriate generalizations. This research study focused on the condition ofelementary schools in Michigan and utilized the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (M.E.A.P.) examinations in reading and mathematics at the third, fourth and fifth grade levels as the dependent variable to assess the relationship between building condition and student …

Exposing Star Teachers Of Children In Poverty, Bobbi Morehead

Dissertations

Public schools have control over whom they choose to hire to serve as teachers. When quality teachers are hired, all students have a better chance at achieving academic success. It is the responsibility of every public school principal to truly understand common patterns, which can assist teachers to become outstanding teachers, defined in this study as Star Teachers. It is also the principals' responsibility to make sure the work conditions of such Star Teachers are conducive to personal and professional renewal.

The passion to educate all children drives the following research questions: (1) How do Star Teachers describe the significant …

Ora Mae Reeves, Ora Mae Reeves, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Ora Mae Reeves did school lunch before there was school lunch. In the depths of the Great Depression, with four children in public school, Mrs. Reeves walked two miles in rural Vernon, AL, to volunteer to cook hot meals for the students, who brought a canned good from home as payment for their lunch. Update: Ora Mae Reeves, age 101, of Vernon, Alabama, died Jan. 31, 2012, at Aurora Australis Lodge in Columbus, Miss.

New Ways Of Teaching Science, Naheed Anwar

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Higher Education And Police Misconduct In The New Jersey State Police, Steven C. Gerding

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Inside Unlv, Cate Weeks, Diane Russell, David Ashley, Grace Russell

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

School-Wide Screening And Programs Of Pbs: Informing Universal Interventions, Michelle Marchant, Darlene Anderson, Paul Caldarella, Ben Young, K. Richard Young, Adam Fisher

Faculty Publications

Overriding Purpose – to describe a data driven process that can be used to (a) identify areas of school-wide concern (b) aid in the identification and design of universal interventions.

The Effects Of Peer Praise Notes On Socially Withdrawn Adolescents: A Classroom Intervention, Julie Nelson, Natalie Webb, Paul Caldarella

Faculty Publications

Relationships with non-parental adults are vital assets for positive youth development (Scales, 2003). Studies of resilience among youth from at risk backgrounds alerted scholars to protective functions that can be fulfilled by relationships with non parental adults (Werner, 1995)

Adapting The Ssbd For Secondary School Pbs Interventions: Student And Parent Correlates, Michael Richardson, Paul Caldarella, Ben Young, Ellie L. Young

Faculty Publications

One of the most difficult challenges teachers and administrators face is behavior and emotional problems in students. However, some problems are difficult to clearly specify. Screening allows for a better match of treatment with individual needs. Screening allows for prevention and early intervention efforts, which reduce the need for more intensive services.

School-Based Mentoring: An Effective Intervention With Students At Risk For Ebd, Paul Caldarella, Shauna Valentine, K. Richard Young, Michael Adams

Faculty Publications

Relationships with non-parental adults are vital assets for positive youth development (Scales, 2003). Studies of resilience among youth from at risk backgrounds alerted scholars to protective functions that can be fulfilled by relationships with non parental adults (Werner, 1995).

Reading Beyond The Lines, Sultana Ali Norozi

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

A Spring Board To Fly, Aafiyat Nazar

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Jane Jantz, Jane Jantz, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Like many others who have made child nutrition into a career, Jane Jantz came to the profession in a roundabout way. She and her husband moved from California to Mississippi, where farmland is more affordable. She planned to work one year to tide them over from a bad crop – that was nineteen years ago, and Jane loves serving the children more each year as manager of the Okolona Elementary School cafeteria.

Ann Nicholson, Ann Nicholson, Institute Of Child Nutrition. Child Nutrition Archives.

Oral History Project (all interviews)

Ann Nicholson is a role model to all who may want to work their way up through a system. Ann started out in the Okolona Public School System as a cafeteria worker, moved up to be manager of the Okolona Elementary School cafeteria, and has been food service director since 1980. A firm believer in on-the-job training, she is an inspiration to all who work with her.