Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

When Teachers Are The Gatekeepers Of Gifted And Talented Programs: Potential Factors For English Learners' Underrepresentation And Possible Solutions, Isabel Haller-Gryc

Journal of English Learner Education

The inclusion of English learners (ELs) in gifted and talented (GT) programs is an issue needing attention as data reveal that this group is still disproportionately under-represented. This article discusses the concerns when the GT identification process is dependent upon general education teacher referrals. Teachers’ implicit biases, lack of familiarity with the knowledge and skills required to work with English learners, and a lack of understanding of what "gifted" looks like in diverse students are identified as potential contributors to an inequitable gifted identification process that many ELs experience. The author discusses perceived solutions to combat the under-representation that results …

Is Your School An A.S.S.E.T.?: Focusing On School Mental Health And Equitable Instruction, Emily Meeks Focused Minds Education Group, Taneesha Thomas

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This workshop provides Educators classroom resources that can be used within existing curriculum frameworks to enhance the mental health literacy of both students and teachers.

The session suggests strategies to implement strategic, systemic and sustainable changes which promote academic growth, resiliency and wellness.

Incorporating Social Justice And Equity As Themes In Math Circles Online, Matthew Jones, Sharon Lanaghan, Carolyn Yarnall

Journal of Math Circles

The CSUDH Math Teachers' Circle chose a focus on equity and social justice in 2020. The national focus on social justice caused us to reflect on what we can do to affect change regarding issues of equity and social justice in our society. In addition, the global pandemic caused us to shift our circle online, which presented both obstacles and opportunities. In this paper, we expand upon how we addressed various challenges faced in facilitating an online Math Teachers’ Circle, focusing on our experience facilitating sessions focused on equity and social justice and participants' reactions to this experience.

Writing Through Whiteness: Utilizing Personal Narratives To Strengthen The Racial Competency Of White Teachers, Paul F. Walsh

Education Doctorate Dissertations

While the student population in the United States is becoming increasingly diverse, the teaching force is still White-dominant by a large margin. In the 2017-2018 school year, 79% of public-school teachers in the United States were White and non-Hispanic (National Center for Education Statistics). This White-dominant population of teachers is tasked with educating increasing numbers of students of color from diverse backgrounds. With this charge should come the necessity for White teachers to critically consider the complex ways that whiteness characterizes the American education system and their ways of teaching. White teachers cannot navigate issues of race in their schools …

Teaching Preservice Teachers In The Time Of Covid: What’S Worth Keeping?, Kathy Liu Sun, Jennifer L. Ruef, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Madeline Ahearn

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

As we begin to transition from online instruction to in-person, we (four mathematics teacher educators) reflect on how COVID-19 impacted our instruction and address the question: what will we take back to in-person instruction? This article includes our individual reflections and an analytical synthesis of them. Findings reveal that there were unanticipated ways that human connection and consideration arose from teaching online, much of which we want to maintain in some form when returning to brick and mortar classrooms. We conclude by highlighting the value and importance of reflection for our own well-being.

A Path To Equity: Solving New York's Teacher Turnover & Quality Challenges, Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College

Prepared to Teach

This white paper frames both the case for and an approach to addressing persistent teacher quality, diversity, and turnover challenges in the State of New York. A growing set of research and promising practice informs the report, which is intended to offer a high-level understanding of the complexities around how the economics of teacher preparation both drives educational inequities and can be shifted to promote educational quality and equity by investing in funded teacher residencies.

Seeking Clarity In Murky Waters: Nuances Of Equity And Social Justice From A Teacher Perspective, Elaine J. Chan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In this study, I examined interactions between an English teacher and her students to illustrate ways in which issues of equity and social justice may play out in nuanced ways in the implementation of school curriculum in a diverse, Midwestern high school. These stories of classroom teacher and student experiences reveal complexities of how equity and social justice might unfold for students, and be understood by a teacher as she works with her students, to build a body of “teacher knowledge” (Clandinin and Connelly, 1996) that grows as the teacher gains experience. Examining complexities of “teacher knowledge” as a classroom …

Instructors Reflect On How Their Preservice Preparation And Ongoing Professional Development Prepared Them To Address Oppressive Dynamics In Adult Esol Programs In The United States, David A. Housel

Publications and Research

For decades, researchers have asserted that the preservice preparation for instructors of adult emergent bi/multilingual learners (EBLs) in the United States can be inconsistent, and access to ongoing professional development (PD) can be insufficient to address the demands of the 21st century classroom. A previous study conducted by the author revealed that instructors of adult EBLs felt adequately prepared to teach English, but they often felt ill-equipped to address the learning challenges and oppressive dynamics that might manifest in their adult English to Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) classrooms. This convergentmixed methods studywas a preliminary attempt to address these issues. …

Equity Through Growth Mindset, Raven Robinson-Wilson

STEM Integration

This activity occurred during a live, class session that included a focus on equity by addressing, “What qualities and mindsets can we foster in STEM students?” First, we reviewed Growth Mindset Theory, but re-imaged with an explicit focus on equity, with connections to STEM. Then, the teachers were presented with several growth mindset scenarios. The teachers worked in groups by reading the scenarios, elaborated on the context where they might encounter the situation, then improvised how they might respond. They wrote out plans for what they would do.

More Than Just A Seat At The Table: Shared Governance For Graduate Student Mentorship, Katherine Canazzi

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Since its inception, public education in the United States has billed itself to the masses as an “equalizer” that “prepares the citizenry.” Although there are varying institutional types in higher education, Americans believe the myth that higher education is an extension of the same K-12 educational values. Despite higher education teaching the components of civic engagement separately, the skills are seldom combined for students to practice. Students do not learn how to transfer or combine these skills into their “real lives” outside of higher education. Since graduate students are electing to further their education, higher education has an increased responsibility …

Linguistically Responsive Leaders: Working With Multilingual Students And Their Families, Aprille Phillips, Joan Barnatt, Kara Viesca

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The demographic composition of the United States (US) has transformed since the early 1990s with immigrant arrivals from Mexico and Central America. Education leaders frequently exit preparation programs without content focused on opportunities around working successfully with multilingual students. This qualitative case study explores the implementation of online learning modules focused on engaging multilingual students and their families that were embedded into advanced leadership preparation coursework. Utilizing data (e.g., classwork, fieldnotes, semi-structured interviews) collected from 10 participants, findings include recommendations for stronger preparation on multilingual learners and flexible learning experiences that encourage the application of knowledge in professional practice.

Leadership For Change: Teacher Education In Afghanistan: A Decade Of Challenge In Reconstruction, Reform, And Modernization In A Post Conflict Society, Susan Wardak

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation used interpretive case study methodology focused on the story of rebuilding the national education system of Afghanistan destroyed by decades of conflict. The study documents the challenges and progress in preparing adequate and qualified teachers for the nation. The dissertation is based on critical analysis of available documents tracing events, policies, and programs. The research asks: What are the critical leadership strategies and organizational frameworks that promote or impede institutional change? What are the barriers to change in teacher education in a conservative Islamic society? The dissertation is unique in that this story of educational intervention in a …

Using Dyadic Observation To Explore Equitable Learning Opportunities In Classroom Instruction, Alyson L. Lavigne, Thomas L. Good

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Because of poverty, many children do not receive adequate prenatal care, nutrition, or early childhood education. These inequities combine to ensure that many students enter school with considerably less academic content knowledge and skills for learning than their peers. Teachers and schools did not create these gaps, but they must address them. The impact of schools in reducing gaps has been explored for decades only to yield inconsistent findings. One possible reason for these contradictory results is because these studies ignore classroom process. We argue for the inclusion of process in research on opportunity and achievement gaps to better articulate …

What Really Matters For Instructors Implementing Equitable And Inclusive Teaching Approaches, Tracie Marcella Addy, Philip M. Reeves, Derek Dube, Khadijah A. Mitchell

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Supporting instructor implementation of equitable and inclusive teaching approaches is a critical area of focus in educational development. However, there is limited empirical evidence on factors that either support or hinder instructors’ implementation of inclusive teaching. The results of this national survey study reveal several predictors of instructors’ utilization of inclusive teaching approaches and reported obstacles faced. For this sample, knowledge of inclusive teaching was a statistically significant predictor of implementation, as was being from a non-STEM discipline. Responses highlighted promising approaches, several of which can inform the efforts of educational developers.

Where Are The Students In Efforts For Inclusive Excellence? Two Approaches To Positioning Students As Critical Partners For Inclusive Pedagogical Practices, Alison Cook-Sather, Tracie Marcella Addy, Anna Devault, Nicole Livitskiy

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Most educational development for inclusive excellence does not draw directly on the experiences and perspectives of students. This article presents two different approaches to positioning undergraduate students as critical partners in developing inclusive pedagogical practices. Co-authored by the directors of and student partners who participated in each approach, the article defines inclusive excellence and inclusive teaching and provides selected examples of partnership work that strives for equity and inclusion. It then describes our different approaches, discusses potential benefits of launching student-faculty partnership work through these approaches, and offers recommendations for developing pedagogical partnership efforts for inclusive excellence at other institutions.

Rethinking Standardized Testing From An Access, Equity And Achievement Perspective: Has Anything Changed For African American Students?, Michael Couch Ii, Marquisha Frost, J. Santiago, Adriel Hilton

Journal of Research Initiatives

This study examined standardized testing and its effects on African American students. The authors focused on three perspectives: access, equity, and achievement about students' academic success in their K-12 educational experiences and how the quality of their education and test scores impacted their college acceptance rate, respectively. The three perspectives are specific to the works of Dr. Asa G. Hilliard and Dr. Barbara A. Sizemore, both of whom were passionate about the academic success and progression of students of African descent. Their many works embody a fight against standardized testing for students, especially those of color, and work toward a …

Sensemaking For Equity And Agency : Stem Teacher Learning Through A Community Of Practice Model, Karen Anne Woodruff

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The current vision for science education is to improve learning for all students by enacting teaching practices that make rigorous science content accessible to diverse learners. Science education, as a field, is shifting focus to be practice-based and equity-centered as students and their ideas become the focal point of the profession. The enactment of this vision calls for professional learning opportunities for teachers that support sensemaking and enactment of reform-based practices. This design-based study is an exploration of how ten science teachers negotiate issues of equity and professional agency in their teaching of the science and engineering practices through identified …

Awareness, Advocacy, And Activism: A Self-Study Of Social Justice Supervision Of Secondary Science Teacher Candidates, Stephanie A. Arthur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the demographics of public K-12 schools continue to shift towards a wider representation including students of color and students from low-income households, it is critical for new secondary science teachers entering the field to be prepared to teach science that is culturally responsive to their students’ needs and communities. As teacher candidates continue their pedagogical growth while in their final clinical internships in high-needs schools, there is great potential for the university supervisor to support their development within a social justice framework. By encouraging and supporting teacher candidates to include culturally responsive approaches in the biology, chemistry, physics, and …

How Can Early Childhood Educators Promote Equitable Outcomes Through Trauma-Informed Practice?, Elizabeth Terry

Graduate Teacher Education

An abundance of research acknowledges the effects of trauma on children from an early age. Prolonged and severe trauma in early childhood can lead to adverse outcomes in important areas of development, such as one’s physical, mental, and social-emotional well-being (Morsy and Rothstein, 2019). Children present school systems and educators with the task of addressing this important, but infrequently considered issue. Trauma has lasting effects regardless of age, but the impacts of trauma during childhood are especially profound during such formative years. Children require safe spaces to learn and flourish as individuals, therefore it is important that early childhood educators …

Disrupting Evasion Pedagogies, Kara Mitchell Viesca, Tricia Gray

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

As we have researched in schools and reflected on our own teaching, we have come to recognize the lie and our untruthfulness that permeates many of our cultural scripts (Gutierrez et al., 1995) and practices as teachers. It is within these cultural scripts and practices that inequity is perpetuated and humanizing learning evaded. Thus, what we term evasion pedagogies, serve to sustain the status quo and are powerful tools to maintain oppressive projects like white supremacy, heteronormativity, gender binaries, patriarchy, ableism, classism, and linguicism. In this piece, we examine the notion of evasion pedagogies as a powerful lie in practice …

Dual Language Effectiveness To Narrow Achievement Gaps: A Quantitative Correlational Study, Belinda Reyes Ed.D.

Journal of English Learner Education

An increase in the English learner (EL) population is evident in public schools throughout the United States. Academic achievement gaps between ELs and non-EL peers persist from early childhood through the post-secondary level (Florida Department of Education, 2019c). The gap in the literature is the lack of studies analyzing the language acquisition of ELs enrolled in dual language programs to narrow the achievement gap of ELs. Transformative Learning Theory and the Dynamic Systems Theory are the foundation of the theoretical framework. Key research questions seek data on the relationship between standardized assessments measuring language acquisition and academic performance of third-grade …

Representation Of African American/Black Men Educators In K-12 Public Schools: Impact On Recruitment, Retention, And Responsibilities To Education, Tekyesha Gault Anderson

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Almost seven decades after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v Board of Education decision, African American/Black men are still vastly underrepresented in the K-12 public education profession. For this qualitative, phenomenological research study, a small sample of this demographic of educators, who chose to enter and remain in the profession, shared their lived experiences. Three research questions informed this study: (1) What are African American/Black men’s perceptions of their representation in the K-12 public education profession? (2) What are African American/Black men’s perceptions regarding their entrance and retention in the K-12 public education profession? and (3)What are African American/Black men’s …

Examining Teachers’ Practices And Perspectives Of Family Engagement In A Rural High School Setting, Meredith Gulledge

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

Once considered an additional support for schools, family engagement became a more essential aspect of education to help connect teachers with family members in an effort to increase positive academic outcomes among students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the current practices and perspectives of family engagement practices promoted by classroom teachers who currently teach at a high school in a rural setting. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and the Teacher Efficacy Theory based on Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory were two influences of the theoretical framework for this study. The two research questions examined teachers’ current practices …

How Can School Leaders Support Teachers In Becoming Culturally Proficient? Lessons From Teachers And School Leaders That Support Culturally Relevant Teaching Practices, Sherri Simek Rodriguez

Dissertations

This study was a program evaluation of educator cultural proficiency in a suburban school district in Illinois from 2019-2020. The primary research question explored was how school leaders can support teachers to become culturally proficient in order to support underserved students. Employing a qualitative research methodology, with data gathered from school leader and teacher interviews, and document analysis, this study identified key components to improve culturally proficient practices. Policy implications and recommendations highlight the following: ensure that all staff members examine and eliminate institutional beliefs, policies, practices, and teaching that perpetuate racial inequalities; implement culturally relevant practices; and prepare all …

Measuring Up: A Case Study Of School Finance Equity Among Five Middle Schools, Christen A. Cohoon

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between intra-district per-pupil expenditures in five middle schools in within the same school division using an equity audit. Broadly, the distribution of resources was examined. Specifically, how intra-district per-pupil expenditures influenced horizontal and vertical equity measures was explored. The questions central to this study were: (a) Does variation exist among schools? (b) What is the per-pupil expenditure by school? (c) When examining per-pupil expenditures, what differences exist? (d) To what extent does the district funding system meet the standards for horizontal and vertical equity? The history of educational funding was …

Lesson Study: A Proposed Intervention For Professional Development Of Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Instruction In A Multicultural Classroom, Michael L. Hixon

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This paper responds to the proposed implementation of lesson study as a professional development intervention for multicultural instruction in the United States. It includes an investigation of the literature in relation to the use of higher-order thinking skills, Banks’s four approaches for integrating multicultural instruction, and lesson study as a proposed professional development intervention in multicultural instruction. The conclusion provides a discussion of insights into K–12 educators’ needs for professional development opportunities to ensure that they provide diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environments for all of their students. Creating diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning opportunities for students would be meaningful …

Adapting A Critical Friends Consultancy To A Virtual Environment, Rebecca Cheung, Jennifer Robinson, Rebecca Rufo-Tepper, Jessica Charles

Graduate School of Education

This inquiry brief explores how a cross-institutional consultancy project examining anti-racist teacher and leader preparation adapted to a virtual environment amid COVID-19.

“You Sound Like A Good Program Manager”: An Analysis Of Gender In Women’S Computing Life Histories, Rose K. Pozos, Michelle Friend

Teacher Education Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Through the eyes of professional women in computing, we can better understand the impact of workplace structures, higher education pathways, and the particular closed nature of the tech industry. This study of women’s life histories contributes to the work of in-depth qualitative examinations of CS learning contexts and psychological studies investigating phenomena such stereotype threat which contextualize the experience of women in computing environments. Drawing inspiration from Margolis and Fisher’s work drawing the “blueprints” of the “boy’s clubhouse” of computing education [20], as well as McDermott and Webber’s analysis of when math learning occurs [22], we ask when, where, and …

The Evolving Middle School Concept: This We (Still) Believe, Lisa Harrison, Penny A. Bishop

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The Successful Middle School builds upon many decades of commitment to the middle school concept. The fifth edition of AMLE’s landmark position paper amplifies the importance of responding both to young adolescents’ developmental needs and to their social identities. The edition’s release amidst a global pandemic and increasing protests against racial injustice reminds us that responding to the full diversity of student experience is not optional. It is critical to helping young adolescents--and indeed the world--to thrive, now and in the future.

Leadership Insights: Life Stories Of Three Individuals' Paths To National Leadership In Prek-12 Education For Sustainability, Alice Altfillisch Earle

Educational Studies Dissertations

Abstract This study focused on the narratives of three national leaders in the field of Education for Sustainability (EfS) for the purpose of illuminating pathways to leadership in PreK-12 EfS for educators and school leaders. Stanger’s (2011) eco-sociological model of human development and learning was used as a framework for examining contextual influencers of participants’ formative experiences associated with family of origin, land/places where they grew up, and education as well as pivotal experiences that informed their Prek-12 EfS leadership development. Five themes related to sustainability also served as core concepts throughout this study: positionality, spirituality, social justice, equity, and …