Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Instructional Architect Teacher Professional Development Handouts, Mimi Recker, Andrew Walker, M. Brooke Robertshaw, Linda Sellers, Heather M. Leary

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Research

Three handouts for the teacher professional development workshops on the Instructional Architect (IA). Starting spring 2009 the face-to-face workshop was changed to be three different days of learning about how to use the IA, inquiry based and problem based learning, evaluation of IA projects with a rubric, and creating IA projects.

Transforming Middle School Science Education Through Action Science, William Robertson

Departmental Papers (TE)

Dr. Skateboard’s Action Science is a curriculum supplement for middle school students that is designed to address content and process objectives in physical science for both the National Science Standards and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The video instruction and twenty classroom activities provide the teacher with a series of instructional tools and content information that can be used to explore and explain the concepts found in the areas of forces, motion, Newton’s Laws of Motion, and simple machines. Action Science can be defined as the use of familiar objects, circumstances and situations within the lives of students in …

Background Checks And Fingerprinting In Public School Systems (Part Iii), Mindy Salmans

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Two events specific to this study occurred in 1999, 1) the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact became effective which provided reciprocity among the states to share records without charging each other for the information, and 2) all 50 states and the District of Columbia were finally members of the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) Clearinghouse which collects information concerning the status of educational certificates and can then share (reciprocate) this information to any interested member of the NASDTEC Clearinghouse. The purpose of this study was to determine whether reciprocity among the 50 states …

Higher Education And Shifting U.S. Demographics: Need For Visible Administrative Career Paths, Professional Development, Succession Planning & Commitment To Diversity, Kristen Betts, David Urias, Keith Betts

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Higher education provides extensive opportunities for individuals seeking careers, career transition, and career advancement. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there are an estimated 6,000 jobs in higher education administration that will need to be filled annually through 2014 (Leubsdorf, 2006). Alice Miller, a consultant with the executive-search firm Witt/Kieffer, “predicts there will be at least a 50-percent turnover among senior administrators (higher education) in the next five to 10 years” (Leubsdorf, 2006, p. A51). Additionally, national research by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACE) (2001) and Fain (2008) reveals that 79% of current community college presidents will …

How Do You Go From ‘Good’ To ‘Outstanding’?, Rima Aboudan

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Many college educators receive a rating of ‘good’ on their teaching delivery. Following teaching evaluations, usually, raters highlight some clear areas for improvement in their rating reports. The challenge for the educator is to characterize what needs to be done and work on the pedagogy advice to gain an ‘outstanding’ rating in the final verdict of the college rating – satisfy those criteria they say, and outstanding you will be. But how? That is the question.

Impaired Faculty: Helping Academics Who Are Suffering From Serious Mental Illness, David Schwebel

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Mental illness affects nearly every family. Recent epidemiological studies conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest over 26% of US citizens have a diagnosable mental illness at any one point in time (WHO World Mental Health Survey Consortium, 2004). In many cases, mental illness does not seriously impact functioning; individuals can still work, create, and teach, despite the presence of an illness. When mental illness intensifies, however, it can impact one’s ability to function in all domains of life, including the workplace. The same WHO survey suggested nearly 8% of Americans have a mental illness serious enough to interfere …

Lessons Learned About Mentoring Junior Faculty In Higher Education, Hersh Waxman, Tracy Collins, Scott Slough

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Mentoring junior faculty in higher education is often thought of as an easy task that every tenured faculty member and college administrator thinks they can effectively do. Most tenured faculty think they know the “tricks of the trade” because they have successfully gone through the process themselves. Most administrators also think they know what to do because they have seen or gained “insight” from viewing the successful and unsuccessful tenure applicants over the last few years. This “lived experience” of tenured faculty and administrators, however, may not be the current “lived experience” of junior faculty in higher education today.

Preparing Students For The College Experience, Stefanos Gialamas, Peggy Pelonis

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Preparing students for College life and most importantly for life beyond high school is a key challenge for many educators and secondary education institutions. Above all, today more than ever, educators must prepare students for the unknown and the unpredictable; careers not yet known to us, opportunities that we can not imagine, and for a world so different that we have no idea what it will look like in thirty or forty years. Hence some of the questions that arise are as follows: what shall we teach our students? What skills do we expect them to develop; and which processes …

Teaching Cultural Sensitivity To Pediatric Residents, Ralitsa Akins

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Teaching cultural sensitivity to healthcare professionals is critical in providing appropriate care to diverse patient populations. Constantly increasing U.S. immigrant population and growing numbers of international medical graduates practicing in the U.S. bring the issue of appropriate cross-cultural training to the forefront of addressing health disparities. Cultural competence training of healthcare professionals and provision of culturally sensitive patient care is the responsibility of healthcare leadership.1 Acquiring awareness and knowledge about cultural differences requires focused development of skills to communicate with patients from diverse cultures; this is a process developed through professional training and experience.2 Few professional continuous education programs have …

Curriculum Reform In American Public High Schools And Its Impact On Minority Students, Jayesh D'Souza

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

It seems like the high school curriculum reform effort in the United States has come full circle. While its development has taken place over time, statistical differentials in academic performance among racial/ethnic groups makes one question, the adequacy of the modern day high school curriculum in addressing the needs of all segments of society. After all, progress in the evolution of the high school curriculum has been slow and no matter what changes were made to it, there always seemed the need for further development. The early stages of educational reform can be traced back to the early nineteenth century …

Perceptual Chasm Between Industry And Academic Leaders On The Quality Of Higher Education, S. Rajasingh, B. Rajasekaran

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

In the context of the Information Technology Revolution, Communication Explosion, the Knowledge Economy and Globalization, India’s production of Professionals is phenomenal. With over 300 Universities and 15,600 Colleges spewing out 2.5 million graduates each year, in terms of the volume of production India trails behind only the US and recently China. Each year India produces 350,000 Engineers, twice the number produced by the US. A recent evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes all over the world, conducted by a Shanghai university, has not a single Indian University in the world’s top 300 – China has six.

A Comparison Of The Leadership Practices Of Principals Of High Schools That Work Schools As Measured By The Leadership Practices Inventory, David Knab

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, leadership is defined as “the office or position of a leader, capacity to lead, the act or an instance of leading.” (Merriam-Webster, 2008). Therefore, one needs to go to the definition of “lead” to discover the true meaning of leadership. Accordingly, to lead means “to guide on a way especially by going in advance, to direct on a course or in a direction, to serve as a channel for ” (2008). Leadership as a verb must mean that individuals are able to motivate people to advance in some direction. Leadership also implies that the …

Y Cant They Rite?: Integrating Writing Assessment Across The Undergraduate Political Science Major, Shala Mills, Bryan Bennett

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Historically, student assessment in the Political Science Department at Fort Hays State University was left to the individual faculty member to embed into his or her courses via exams and writing assignments. Our curriculum and learning objectives were based largely on faculty interest in particular courses and on broad perspectives of what substantive knowledge a political science major should demonstrate. Over the years, writing courses such as advanced research methods and upper division theory courses served as unofficial capstone experiences. As such, approaches and expectations varied depending upon who was delivering the course.

Stress Levels Of School Administrators And Teachers In November And January, Robert Moody, James Barrett

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Teaching today’s young people is not only arduous work, but can be dangerously stressful. Anxiety due to school reform efforts, minimal administrative support, poor working circumstances, lack of involvement in school decision making, the encumbrance of paperwork, and lack of resources have all been identified as factors that can cause stress among educators (Hammond & Onikama, 1997). The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and its subsequential mandated standardized assessments, family responsibilities, continuing education, low salaries, and poor working conditions can also create stress.

A Questionnaire For Incoming High School Ell Students To Better Assist Them In Entering The American Educational System, Narine Balayan

All Graduate Projects

This project is designed to help teachers get a better understanding of the incoming ELL students' backgrounds to better assist these students in the education process and make the transition from their native educational system to the American educational system smoother. Teachers must be aware of ELL students' family situations, lives outside the school, diverse background knowledge and how these things affect reading and writing comprehension, and be able to choose the most appropriate assessment and instruction.

Exploring The Ultimate Role Of Central Office In The Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Professional Development: A Comparative Case Study, Sarah Elizabeth Johnson

Dissertations

Much research has been done on the contributions made by teachers and principals to the field of education (Darling-Hammond, 1998; Glickman, 2001; Hirsch, 1993; Marzano, 2003; Muir, 2001). The role of central office workers in these efforts have, however, been given little recognition or discussion. This study has explored the ways in which central office administrators foster underlying systems that support their districts' professional development processes and structures.

Grove (2002) compares the central office role in professional development to the skeleton of the human body, in which the skeleton is integral to the function of the body and provides the …

Middle School Teacher And Parent Perceptions Of Parental Involvement, Brandon Graham

Dissertations

The purpose of this case study research was to examine the perceptions of teachers and parents towards current parental involvement factors in a suburban junior high school located in the Midwest United States. Such perceptions were compiled by means of surveys based on Dr. Joyce Epstein's Framework of the Six Dimensions of Parental Involvement: (a) parenting, (b) communication, (c) volunteering, (d) learning at home, (e) decision-making, (f) and collaborating with the community (Epstein, 1995). The subjects were N=36 seventh and eighth grade teachers, and N=344 parents of students. The descriptive statistical analysis did show a difference between teachers and parents …

The Relationship Between Pedagogical Content Knowledge And Mathematics Teacher Questioning Strategies, Lynne Smith Nielsen

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an intense two-week professional development program for middle school mathematics teachers, along with follow-up classroom visits, video review of lessons (with feedback), and two six-hour follow-up sessions each semester would improve teacher questioning strategies and promote higher-level questioning based on Bloom's (1956) Taxonomy of cognitive categories. A second purpose of the study was to determine whether, through reflection and instructor feedback, teachers would gain the ability to involve students in high press questioning situations. The third purpose of the study was to investigate whether relevant professional development would result in an …

Del Margen Al Centro: Comentarios Sobre Precedentes Históricos En Relación Al Acceso E Inclusión En Las Escuelas Públicas De Los Estados Unidos, Jaime Grinberg

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Public schools evolved in the USA during the XIX century under the premise of providing equal opportunity in education to all, regardless of family background, social class, or economic resources. Merit, success and achievement would depend on the individual student and will not depend on any other variables except the pupil’s dedication, hard work, intelligence, and ability to perform. If according to the expectations, the system would fail to provide equal opportunity, resources, and equity in programs, resources, curricula and pedagogy, then the system would be failing the premises and expectations of its creation as well as the ideological signifier …

The Impact Of On-Line Training On College Faculty Attitudes And Knowledge Of Students With Disabilities, Wayne M. Pollock

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Due to legislation, advances in technology, and hopefully, a more positive social acceptance, students with disabilities are entering college at a faster rate than has ever been experienced. Data reveal that the largest increase in identified disabilities of incoming college freshmen are in the area of learning disabilities. However, many students with disabilities do not complete their college education, partly due to faculty members' lack of knowledge about various disabilities, less than accepting attitudes, and the lack of accommodations made for them. Using the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP) and the Disability Knowledge Questionnaire, the impact of an …

Technological Literacy In K–12 Teacher Preparation: A Review Of Course Requirements At Accredited Education Institutions, Roger Allan Skophammer

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this study was to determine to what extent, technological literacy courses were required in K-12 teacher education. The study was limited to initial teacher education programs that are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and Teacher Education Accreditation Council. Out of 697 accredited programs in the United States, a random sample of 248 programs was created. A document review of the appropriate course catalogs for initial teacher preparation was conducted. The document review identified general education requirements and options for technological literacy courses, as well as requirements and options for these courses for …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 20, Number 1, Spring 2009, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Message from the President: Where We've Been, Where We're Going - Judy Miller, Clark University

From the editors - Jeanne Albert, Donna Qualters, and Naomi Magliacci

NEFDC 2009 Spring Conference, Friday, May 29, 2009; theme: Connecting the .edus: Using Technology to Connect with Our Students; keynote speaker: Peter Doolittle, Virginia Tech

Online Teaching: Field-Tested Principles of Pedagogy and Practice - Peter Doolittle, Virginia Tech; Krista Terry, Radford University, and Stephanie Scheer, University of Virginia

Spring 2009 Conference Agenda, Friday, May 29, 2009, Middlebury College, Dartmouth College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, New England Institute of Technology, and University of Connecticut

Connecting …

A New Model Of 4-H Volunteer Development In Science, Engineering, And Technology Programs, Bradley S. Barker, Neal Grandgenett, Gwen Nugent

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

New initiatives centered on science, engineering, and technology (SET) in 4-H may be moving away from the long-established adult volunteer delivery model. This shift in delivery may be due to a lack of availability of adult volunteers who possess the necessary SET competencies to effectively lead 4-H clubs. One way to offset this trend may be to blend traditional face-to-face training with continuous training efforts that include asynchronous on-line training modules, synchronous Web-based meetings, and self-directed learning. This new 4-H SET Volunteer Competencies Training Model is being tested in the Nebraska 4-H Robotics and GPS/GIS program.

Need For International Business Concepts In The Curriculum, David Seeley Jr.

International Journal for Business Education

With the continued increase in international business, business education has an obligation to reflect this trend. There are two methods for incorporating international business concepts into the curriculum: infusion and creation. Ideally, this obligation would be completed with a standalone course in international business. However, it can also be accomplished through incorporating international business concepts into current curriculum. Business programs need to include international aspects into the curriculum to help the students understand the economy in which they live.

A Look At The Beginning: Strengths, Weaknesses, And The Support Structures For New Teachers From The Perspectives Of Elementary School Principals, Scott Merkel

Dissertations

This research examined the perceptions of elementary school principals regarding their beliefs of the strengths and weaknesses of new teachers. The overall research goal was to examine ways that principals evaluate new teachers, their beliefs of strengths and weaknesses related to effective instruction and the effectiveness of structures established to support new teachers. Participants for this study came from 12 different school districts, four from each of the defined and identified categories of rural, urban, and suburban districts. As a secondary focus, a comparison was examined between each of these categories.

A phenomenological approach was used to guide this qualitative …

Night Vision Goggles Or Rose Colored Glasses: A Unique Perspective On Training The Library Graduate Assistant In Instruction, Mary Todd Chesnut

The Southeastern Librarian

A review of the course descriptions for the twelve ALA-accredited Library and Information Graduate Schools in the southeastern states identified that the majority offer only one or two elective course related to library instruction (see appendix). These courses cover topics such as curriculum design, learning theory, best practices for teaching, and information literacy strategies. Some graduate program curriculums do not offer specific courses in library instruction, instead including it as a topic in a broader course such as Academic Libraries or in conjunction with a school media specialty.

A Shared Challenge: Improving Literacy, Numeracy And Science Learning In Queensland Primary Schools, Geoff N. Masters

Assessment and Reporting

Following the release of Queensland results in the 2008 National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) late in 2008, the Premier, Anna Bligh, requested an independent review of literacy, numeracy and science standards in Queensland primary schools. The review was asked to examine available data on the performances of Queensland students and, drawing on international research evidence, to provide advice in the areas of curriculum, assessment and teacher quality. In particular, the review was asked to identify existing effective practices, to propose ways in which these could be …

Fourth And Fifth Grade Departmentalization: A Transition To Middle School, Tak C. Chan, Daniel Terry, Harriet J. Bessette

Faculty Articles

The difficulties involved in the transition for students leaving elementary school, where there typically exists little departmentalization, to the middle school, where departmentalization is the primary structure, have often been noted by scholars. While some studies cited in this work indicated a decrease in student achievement with the implementation of departmentalization, this approach should not be categorically rejected. In this regard, this study examines how elementary students can begin to be better prepared in fourth and fifth grades to enter the departmentalization system.

Inside Unlv, Shane Bevell, Diane Russell, Michelle Mouton, Gian Galassi

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

No.2, April 2009: Vision As An Impetus For Success: Perspectives Of Site Principals, Franca Dell'olio Ed.D., Kristen Anguiano

Education and Policy Briefs

Findings from the first two years of a 3-year evaluation of the PROMISE Model pilot are presented in this policy brief that seeks to understand the extent to which school principals know, understand, and act upon research-based principles for English Language Learners (ELL) and their intersection with the California Professional Standards for Educational Leadership related to promoting ELL success. Surveys and focus groups were used to gather data from school principals at fifteen schools throughout Southern California including early childhood, elementary, middle, and high schools. School principals identified several areas where PROMISE serves as a beacon of hope in promoting …