This study sought to determine relationships between the independent variables of teaching years of experience and participation in Reading Endorsement professional development offered through Brevard Public Schools and the dependent variables of student outcome measures, as determined through teacher aggregated reading Value Added Model (VAM) scores. The significance of the study was that it will add to the literature by being the first study of its kind for the Brevard Public School District. This study will also provide information as to the reading instruction preparation effectiveness examined through student performance outcomes. This study used multiple statistical procedures to analyze the data in order to answer four research questions. A bivariate correlation, an analysis of variance, an independent samples T-Test, and a factorial analysis of variance were used. The study’s findings demonstrated that there was not a correlation between the years of teaching experience and the teachers’ VAM scores of the targeted population, yet when categorically grouped teachers with six or greater years of teaching experience had statistically significant greater VAM scores than those with less years of experience. There was not a statistically significant difference among teachers of varying Reading Endorsements.

This study provides an empirical analysis of the primary assumptions of a newly implemented teacher evaluation system, namely that the specific teaching practices evaluated are related to student achievement, and that teacher-directed professional growth plans effectively shape teacher practices in a particular domain. Results of the study are intended to inform the interpretation and the refinement of the Volusia System for Empowering Teachers (VSET), which aims to build capacity in the Volusia teacher work force and ultimately to improve student performance (School Board of Volusia County Team Volusia, Race to the Top application, 2011). This study focused on 14 pilot schools within one school district that implemented VSET as a new teacher evaluation system. The data used in this study were drawn from a multi-metric teacher assessment used in VSET and measures of student achievement. The VSET evaluation model consists of three metrics that are assigned according to the specific categories of a teacher. Two of the metrics, the professional growth plan rating and the educator observation rating are based on Charlotte Danielson’s “Framework for Teaching” (Danielson, 2007). The third metric, the valued added score is a measure of the teacher’s impact on student learning. The current study focused on determining if there was a correlation between teaching practice and student achievement and to what extent teaching practice was impacted by teacher self-selection of components for professional growth in the teacher evaluation model. The findings suggest that there is not a statistically significant and reliable relationship between the value added score and teacher practices across components, as assessed by VSET evaluators. Follow up analyses did, however, show that higher evaluator observation scores are associated with improved school iv grades, suggesting a relationship between teacher impact on student performance. The results support the assumption that the successful completion of the VSET professional development growth plan is associated with teacher’s instructional practices in the identified component.

Introduction: Students with disabilities are underrepresented in post-secondary education, including health professional programs. They experience higher rates of attrition and lower rates of graduation compared to their non-disabled peers. Some research indicates that educators engage in ableist practices preventing students with disabilities from successfully completing these programs. Educators report difficulty meeting the myriad of professional and educational expectations in professional programs. Rehabilitation professions provide a unique opportunity for research given their emphasis on participation and inclusion. Purpose: The purpose of this program of research was to explore the educator perspective in the accommodation of students with disabilities in professional rehabilitation programs. Method: There are three studies that constitute this thesis. The first study is a critical discourse analysis in which the most relevant texts in the accommodation process were examined. The second study is an institutional ethnography informed study, whereby university-based educators were interviewed about their actions in the accommodation process of students with disabilities. The final study is an interpretive description that involved interviews with fieldwork educators who provide disability-related accommodations to students in their work settings. Findings: The texts involved in the accommodation process revealed varied and conflicting discourses and subject positions for educators in rehabilitation programs. University-based educators identified tensions reconciling the focus on students in the post-secondary education context with the focus on clients in the healthcare context, for which they were preparing students. However, fieldwork educators were generally at ease with the accommodation process as they integrated accommodations into the broader goal of learning. Implications: This body of work provides insight into the reasons why educators may struggle with the accommodation process in professional rehabilitation programs. It also identifies potential solutions for educational programs and future directions for research. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Students with disabilities experience difficulty entering and graduating from health professional programs, including rehabilitation. This group of students face challenges in meeting all the requirements for their programs. Through three discrete studies, this thesis explores educators’ perspectives on the accommodation process of students with disabilities. The first study demonstrated that the most relevant documents to the accommodation process require educators to take on conflicting roles. The second study showed that university-based educators struggle with the focus on students at the university, which seemed to be prioritized over the focus on clients in healthcare, the context for which educators prepare students. The final study illustrated that fieldwork educators did not experience these struggles. Rather, they accommodated students as part of the students’ learning journey. These studies help explain why educators may have difficulty with the accommodation process of students with disabilities and offer solutions for educational programs and future research.

Family-centered care (FCC) is recommended as “best practice” across a variety of pediatric service settings, as it yields better health and wellness outcomes for clients, and greater work satisfaction for practitioners and administrators (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2012). However, providers in multiple health care fields report challenges with translation of FCC concepts into their practice (Bamm & Rosenbaum, 2008; Graham, Rodger, & Ziviani, 2008; Lawlor & Mattingly, 1998; MacKean, Thurston, & Scott, 2005). Therefore, the aim of this doctoral project was to understand the barriers to FCC implementation, and to propose ways for supporting practitioners to enact FCC in their practice. The resulting solution is Better Together, an on-line professional development course designed to empower health care providers to become ambassadors of FCC and effectively enact the FCC practices in their daily interactions with clients and their families. The Better Together course content and structure are based on findings from a review of the literature specific to identifying core skills and knowledge essential for effective FCC practice, as well as best practices for professional development instruction. Methods for course implementation, funding, and dissemination are described, as well as a research plan for program evaluation.

As the delivery of occupational therapy (OT) services via telehealth has dramatically expanded after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 (AOTA, 2022), the effective utilization of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) along with psychosocial skill proficiency is at the forefront of healthcare within a mounting mental health crisis (WHO, 2022). Despite the essential application of ICTs, occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) apparently lack knowledge, skills and confidence utilizing telehealth effectively (Aboujaoudé et al., 2021; Campbell et al., 2019; Chike-Harris et al., 2021; Corey, 2019; Hermes et al., 2021; Hoel et al., 2020; Larsson-Lund & Nyman, 2019; McClellan et al., 2020; Miranda-Duro et al., 2021). Moreover, research suggests that OTPs further lack confidence incorporating psychosocial abilities and personal attributes, such as therapeutic use of self (Anderson & Halbakken, 2020; Birken et al., 2017; Taylor, 2020). These obstacles jeopardize the distinct value of OT in mental health, as well as the overall viability of the profession. The Technology Training Program (TTP) is a multi-module, curriculum-based ICT skills training intervention that promotes professional advancement in these areas of clinical practice. OTP proficiency in technology and psychosocial skills is a crucial investment that promotes overall competence and self-efficacy to successfully meet global challenges and healthcare demands within a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

This research study investigated how professional mathematicians understand and operate with highly-abstract, advanced mathematical concepts in their own work. In particular, this study examined how professional mathematicians operated with mathematical concepts at different levels of understanding. Moreover, this study aimed to capture what factors influence professional mathematicians' level of understanding for particular mathematical concepts. To frame these research goals, three theoretical levels of understanding were proposed, process-level, pseudo-object-level, object-level, leveraging two ways that Piaget (1964) described what it meant to know or understand a mathematical concept. Specifically, he described understanding an object as being able to "act on it," and also as being able to "understand the process of this transformation" (p. 176). Process-level understanding corresponds to only understanding the underlying processes of the concept. Pseudo-object-level understanding corresponds to only being able to act on the concept as a form of object. Object-level understanding corresponds to when an individual has both of these types of understanding. This study is most especially concerned with how professional mathematicians operate with a pseudo-object-level understanding, which is called pseudo-objectification. For this study, six professional mathematicians with research specializing in a subfield of algebra were each interviewed three times. During the first interview, the participants were given two mathematical tasks, utilizing concepts in category theory which were unfamiliar to the participants, to investigate how they operate with mathematical concepts. The second interview utilized specific journal publications from each participant to generate discussion about influences on their level of understanding for the concepts in that journal article. The third interview utilized stimulated recall to triangulate and support the findings from the first two interviews. The findings and analysis revealed that professional mathematicians do engage in pseudo-objectification with mathematical concepts. This demonstrates that pseudo-objectification can be productively leveraged by professional mathematicians. Moreover, depending on their level of understanding for a given concept, they may operate differently with the concept. For example, when participants utilized pseudo-objects, they tended to rely on figurative material, such as commutative diagrams, to operate on the concepts. Regarding influences on understanding, various factors were shown to influence professional mathematicians' level of understanding for the concepts they use in their own work. These included factors pertaining to the mathematical concept itself, as well as other sociocultural or personal factors. / Doctor of Philosophy / In this research study, I investigated how professional mathematicians utilize advanced mathematical concepts in their own work. Specifically, I examined how professional mathematicians utilize mathematical concepts that they do not fully understand. I also examined what factors might influence a professional mathematician to fully understand or choose not to fully understand a mathematical concept they are using. To address these goals, six research-active mathematicians were each interviewed three times. In these interviews, the mathematicians engaged with mathematical concepts that were unfamiliar to them, as well as concepts from one of their own personal research journal publications. The findings demonstrated that professional mathematicians sometimes utilize mathematical concepts in different ways depending on how well they understand the concepts. Moreover, even if mathematicians do not have a full understanding of the concepts they are using, they can still sometimes productively leverage this amount of understanding to successfully reach their goals. I also demonstrate that various factors can and do influence how well a professional mathematician understands a given mathematical concept. Such influences could include the purpose of use for the concept, or what a mathematician's research community values.

Thesis advisor: Matthias von Davier / Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are used by many educators for professional development (PD). However, only a few studies explored what educators’ goals in PD-MOOCs are and whether educators with different goals interact with MOOCs in different ways. These issues are addressed in three related studies described in this work. First, I conducted a literature review on MOOCs for educators and identified underexplored topics and underutilized data collection and analysis methods. I found that a few studies looked at educators’ learning motivations and none linked them to complex engagement patterns as measured using log data. In the second study, I used natural language processing (NLP) to identify teachers’ motivations in four MOOCs (n = 3,212) based on their responses to open-ended and Likert-style survey items. I also examined the association between these motivations, participants’ intention to complete the course, and actual completion. Three motivation groups were identified: Intrinsic, Professional, and Prosocial (i.e., taking the course to help students or improve the educational system). Participants with intrinsic motivations were less likely and those with prosocial motivations were more likely to plan to complete the course or to complete it even after accounting for initial intentions. In the third study, I compared the engagement processes of the three motivation groups in one course (n = 969). I found that the intrinsic motivation group was the most engaged during the course, but the prosocial group was the most engaged by its end. The prosocial participants were also the most interested in the course’s forum. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for the study of MOOCs and educators’ PD in general. They can, for example, be used to enhance PD design in a way that helps educators meet their individual goals. Rethinking the design of educators’ PD courses this way can potentially affect their teaching practice and thus, improve education for their students, as well. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics & Assessment.

Thesis advisor: Martin M. Scanlan / Problem and Purpose: Professional learning has the potential for significant impact within the realm of teaching and learning. District and school-based leaders spend valuable time mapping professional development calendars and planning learning opportunities for staff. In addition to the time spent, professional learning has a significant impact on the budget. Planning and implementing professional learning is a timely and expensive endeavor. However, professional learning often falls short in delivery. Impacts are limited and sometimes even negative when staff have a bad experience. During a time of crisis, professional learning is paramount as all stakeholders respond and adjust. Time is of the essence during a crisis. As a result, effective delivery of professional learning is critical for managing and maintaining the instructional core. The purpose of this study is to further explore and understand what influences teacher professional learning and instructional practices. Additionally, this study will seek to identify the ways in which principals create the conditions to support teachers’ professional learning. Understanding teacher learning and leadership support for learning will help practitioners to design for learning that has an impact. Methods: To answer these questions, a qualitative case-study of one medium sized urban district in Massachusetts was studied. The district reflects a diverse student body that includes English Language Learners, students with disabilities, and students identified as high needs. Interviews, observations, and document review were utilized for data collection. Analysis of the data was informed by Communities of Practice. Implications: In order for professional learning opportunities to be meaningful and to have an impact, district and school based leaders should remain mindful that learning is a social endeavor. Balancing vertical and horizontal power with creating space for partnership will contribute to professional learning plans that are productive for teachers and that engage principals in creating the conditions to support teacher learning. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

A professional practice instructor (PPI), as an evaluator of student performance in professional practice, makes important decisions as to whether nursing students are meeting course requirements. Several nursing education studies have reported that students whose performances are deemed unsatisfactory in professional practice courses nonetheless continue to receive passing grades. While this phenomenon, known as “failure to fail,” has been documented in studies involving nursing preceptors, it has yet to be the subject of an in-depth exploration among PPIs. Utilizing Gadamer’s (2011) philosophical hermeneutics and Fleming, Gaidys, and Robb’s (2003) hermeneutic methodology, this qualitative study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of PPIs (n = 8) in evaluating unsatisfactory student performance within three educational institutions using a collaborative undergraduate nursing program (UNP) in Southern Ontario. This study revealed that evaluating unsatisfactory student performance is an emotionally draining experience for PPIs. The perception of an overwhelming workload and complex challenges can make it difficult for PPIs to assign a failing grade to a student, especially among novice PPIs. Furthermore, both assigning a failing grade and failing to fail students were found to have a negative impact on all participants in this study. Amid these difficulties, ongoing critical reflection and seeking collegial support and feedback were deemed helpful in validating a PPI’s decision-making, as well as alleviating the emotional aspects of grading experiences. While this study reinforces that stressors are inevitable when evaluating unsatisfactory student performance, they may be ameliorated through the creation of mandatory multi-modal orientation programs for all PPIs within educational nursing institutions. Furthermore, mentorship programs for novice PPIs might better prepare and support them in coping with the complex issues related to managing failing students. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In 2018, the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW) implemented an additional screening question for prospective social workers registering with the College, requiring applicants to indicate if there is any sign they have a physical or mental condition or disorder that “could affect [their] ability to practice social work in a safe manner.” This Health Declaration policy was created within a broader context of increasing surveillance and punishment of social workers conducted by the College, on the grounds that fitness to practice social work is a bio-moral-medical quintessence that some possess and others lack, and which social work elites must identify in order to “protect the public.” This thesis undertakes a critical discourse analysis of publicly available documents provided by the College. I draw from critical disability studies, anti-colonial scholarship, and postmodern work to establish the College as an organ of the Canadian settler colonial project. I use the term “safe-ability” – distilling the Health Declaration’s language and that of their other rules, communications, and decisions – calling attention to ideological fiction operating within ableist/sanist and colonial logics, the basis of its authority to punish social workers and “protect” the public. The College uses terms like unfit, incapacity, and incompetence to conjure threat of risk throughout their documentation, showing significant investment in broadcasting lies about disabled people. College disciplinary documents show that social workers have been found to be unfit on the basis of statements about their health, inherent abilities, mental/physical examinations, and even charges of unfit conduct outside the scope of their duties as social workers. Legal and medical discourse is invoked to give the appearance of objectivity and to authorize power. I show that the OCSWSSW perpetrates abuses under cover of the fictitious entity “safe-ability” – a colonist ableist/sanist fabrication used to justify and valorize such professionalizing institutions that ought to be abolished. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)