The purpose of this study was to examine associations between academic entitlement and attitude toward learning, perseverance for goals, and identity processes. Participants included 364 undergraduate students, ages 18-29. Results revealed that overall, participants in this study reported low academic entitlement. Nevertheless, students who reported higher academic entitlement reported lower attitude toward learning (mastery approach), and lower perseverance for goals (consistency of interest, perseverance of effort). In addition, students who reported higher academic entitlement were more likely to score higher on diffused, foreclosed, and moratorium identity processes (ideological and interpersonal domains). Lastly, results indicated that participants who reported higher academic entitlement fell into the age category of 18-20. Overall, it appeared that students age 18-20 reported higher academic entitlement, lower attitude toward learning, perseverance for goals, and were more likely to score higher on diffusion, foreclosure, and moratorium. Older students age 21-29 appeared to be more likely to be achieved.

acase@tulane.edu / Although the theoretical basis supporting the use of trauma-informed approaches in schools is promising, evidence for mechanisms of facilitating their acceptability among teachers is limited. Findings from implementation science indicate that foundational professional development training during pre-implementation activities can generate teacher support for a new approach, which is essential to successful formal implementation. Theoretical models point toward enhanced teacher knowledge of the approach as a predictor of such support. The current study examined whether foundational professional development training increased teacher knowledge of a new school-wide initiative, trauma-informed approaches, and evaluated that knowledge growth as a predictor of teacher perceptions of acceptability for trauma-informed approaches. Feasibility and system fit, two domains of perceived social validity of trauma-informed approaches, were assessed as potential moderators of the association between knowledge growth and acceptability. Although the training significantly increased teachers’ knowledge of trauma-informed approaches, knowledge growth did not predict acceptability ratings. Feasibility and knowledge growth did not interact to predict acceptability ratings. However, individuals providing higher ratings of system fit demonstrated a positive relationship between knowledge growth and acceptability. When system fit ratings were lower, knowledge growth predicted lower acceptability ratings. Findings provide partial support for foundational professional development training as a pre-implementation tool and identify factors that influence pre-implementation acceptability of trauma-informed approaches among teachers. / 1 / Elizabeth McIntyre

Purpose The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to determine the educational needs of the personnel of the five directorates at Hill Air Force Base; and, (2) to design an educational program to meet those needs. Procedure This study consisted of three phases: Phase One. This phase consisted of identifying the behavioral items that we re us ed in developing the Q-Sort instrument. This was accomplished by a review of job requirement data, by an examination of Project Hy Production, and by personal interviews of the Air Base educational specialists. Phase Two. This phase consisted of the development of a Q-Sort instrument to be administered to a random sample of supervisory and non~supervisory personnel from each of the five directorates. The respondents ranked the Q-Sort items into seven categories which had been assigned numerical values by the researcher. Mean scores were computed for each statement. Rank order was then established by using the mean scores. The Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the degree of agreement between the categories of respondents. Phase Three. This phase consisted of the development of the organizational structure of the total program. Included was a specific identification of the areas of knowledge that would best satisfy desired behavior, and an explanation of the general education phase of the total program. Findings 1. The behavioral items identified from the above indicated o sources were many and varied. Each emphasized the need for knowledge in English and mathematic skills. Knowledge of the myriad logistics processes were all mentioned as desired behavior. 2. The rankings by the supervisory and non- supervisory personnel of the vocational statements were also varied but a high level of agreement concerning the importance of the English and mathematics skills was evident. 3. A high level of agreement was evident between supervisory and non- supervisory personnel concerning their opinions of the importance of the Q-Sort items. The correlation coefficients ranged from .832 to .904 for the five directorates. 4. A core area and five specialty areas were developed from the information derived from the Q-Sort instrument. The combined core and specialty areas constituted the major for the total program. 5. The design of the total program was reversed, requiring the student to complete the major first then the general education requirements. The general education phase was designed to allow the student to complete it by independent-guided study. Conclusions 1. All personnel consider a knowledge of English skills highly important in the performance of their jobs. 2. Skill in the use of mathematics and statistics was considered to be of intermediate importance. 3. The personnel in each directorate ranked a knowledge of the vocational skills related to the activities they were currently performing as highly important. 4. There was considerable agreement between supervisory and non-supervisory personnel in their opinions of the importance of the behavioral statements. 5. The educational needs of the government employee could best be satisfied by incorporating the reverse plan and the independent-guided study philosophy into the design. Recommendations 1. A study similarly designed be made at another aIr materiel area to determine the level of agreement between the personnel at the base and those of the Ogden Air Materiel Area. 2. A similar study be made at other government entities to determine the educational needs of the employees of those installations. 3. This study be replicated in approximately five years to determine what changes should be made in this program. 4. A study designed to test the effectiveness of this program be made.

Ongoing teacher professional development is an essential part of the wellbeing of the schooling system and successful outcomes for students. In the past, teacher professional development has been used to describe an often �top-down� method of training to meet systemic needs while taking little account of teacher's individual needs. This approach often conceptualises the teacher's life as a dichotomy with the personal and the private separated and unrelated. In contrast, teacher professional development in this study is conceptualised as a journey that includes encouraging and discouraging turns. The journey is explored through the experiences of two primary and two secondary drama educators using Hargreaves and Fullan's (1992) organisers: teacher development as knowledge and skill development; teacher development as self understanding and teacher development as ecological change. The study focussed specifically on teachers of drama. Of the four educators two were beginning teachers, one primary and one secondary and two were experienced teachers, one primary and one secondary. The teachers were interviewed over twelve months. Narrative vignettes were developed from the interviews. As the context for these teacher journeys was pivotal, the influences on the teaching of drama in New South Wales were investigated. This included an exploration of the major issues that have influenced the development of drama education both internationally and in Australia. The concluding reflections from this study suggest that there is strong interaction between teachers' personal and professional lives. Teachers' personal circumstances, family histories and schooling backgrounds all have an important influence on their work as teachers. Significantly, issues related to drama education's history and current context reflected these teachers' classroom realities. The teachers argue that they understand their professional development needs best and should have influence and ownership of their own professional development experiences. They found aspects of their tertiary training and teacher induction unsatisfactory. The two beginning teachers in this study struggled to survive the difficulties of their first year and both seriously considered leaving teaching. The teachers describe self understanding through distinct phases of development that are made unique by each teacher's personality and context. The teachers saw subject identity and pedagogy as important to their professional identity. They report that times of crisis often lead to positive changes in their professional development journeys. The ecology for these teachers was made up of several complex issues that are resistant to change and there were a number of impediments reported by the teachers that arise from their teaching ecologies. Two of the teachers have used a change of context to improve their satisfaction and confidence levels. Two teachers described beneficial experiences with supervisors in the school setting. If beneficial ecological change is to occur, education systems must attend to the needs of teachers and provide opportunities to teach unimpeded by systemic obstacles. The study calls for changes in professional development and for the recognition of the multilayered nature of the teachers' journey. The study calls for a reconceptualisation of teacher professional development that recognises each teacher's ecology and self understanding. The renewed impetus for arts education will only be successful if the complexity of the teachers' journey is recognised and systemic obstacles are removed.

The major purpose of the study was to analyze the role of the normal universities in China in the field of teacher professional development. In order to achieve this purpose, the following two questions guided this research: 1) What efforts are normal universities in China making in continuing teacher education? 2) What are the factors that support or inhibit normal universities in these endeavors? The research includes case studies of four Chinese normal universities as well as a comparison to the work of universities in Ontario, Canada. In-depth interviews were utilized as the major data collecting method, and document review was used as a supplementary method. The participants included university administrators, university teacher educators and government administrators. The study outlined the current state of normal universities’ work in the field of in-service teacher education by reviewing the larger policy context around teacher development in China and how it contributes to the development of this work. In addition, the study identified key issues and major challenges normal universities face in taking part in in-service teacher education system. The study found that government policy on in-service teacher education in China is currently dominating the work of provincial governments and normal universities. The training programs delivered by normal universities are often university-based, intensive teacher learning and result from contracts between universities and either central or provincial governments. Normal universities often feel poorly prepared in terms of institutional structure, promotion standards, and the number of well-qualified teacher training experts. Although willing to take an important position in the overall in-service teacher training system, normal universities lack confidence that they will be given consistent policy and financial support and are unclear about the direction of in-service teacher education reform in the future. Key findings of this study can be used to inform the role that Chinese Normal Universities might play in in-service teacher education that could lead to higher quality teaching and learning both at the university and school levels.

Classroom discipline is often a primary concern of teachers. Little is known, however, about the extent of teachers' knowledge, training, and skills with behavior management issues. This study was conducted to examine teachers' training with specific behavioral strategies, their personal level of proficiency in resolving these problems, and to determine if teachers consider the function of aberrant behaviors when deciding upon treatment interventions. A survey was developed to address these issues. The survey was distributed to teachers in four south-central Kentucky counties and two western Kentucky counties. Of the 350 surveys distributed, 209 were returned for a 59.7% return rate. There were 177 regular education teachers and 32 special education teachers included in the sample. Results of this study indicated a relatively high percentage of students exhibited problematic behaviors to the point that an intervention was necessary to resolve the problem. The highest percentage of teachers received training in behavior management strategies through a workshop/in-service. The majority of teachers reported they received training in a variety of behavioral methods, with the training perceived as only moderately helpful. When asked to rate their skills in resolving specific behavior problems, teachers reported their skills to be at a moderate level. The majority of special education teachers had heard of the term functional assessment although less than half received any training in this procedure. Most of the regular education teachers indicated no knowledge of functional assessment. Most teachers did not consider the function of the problematic behaviors when deciding upon treatment interventions. The results revealed a strong need for improved training in classroom management strategies. Future research is needed to determine more effective strategies to train teachers in classroom management.

This dissertation was an exploratory investigation of the residual effect of novice primary teachers on reading achievement scores. The study employed the theory of pedagogical content knowledge as a basis for understanding teacher expertise and comparing the expert teacher to the novice teacher. The research sought to answer two major questions; (a) Is there a statistically significant difference between the reading achievement, (measured two years later) of students taught by teachers of differing experience levels in primary grades and the state mean for the appropriate grade level? and (b) Is there a statistically significant difference among the two-year-later reading achievement of the groups of students based on teacher experience levels? This study used student reading achievement test scores from the CTBS/5 Achievement Test published by CTB/McGraw Hill. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) using a series of nine Mests and three analysis of variance tests (ANOVAs). While the findings of this study indicated that there were no statistically significant differences among the groups, the author discussed several limitations to the study. In addition, proposals for future research in the area were presented. The final pages of the dissertation posit that school system administrators must use the information on novice teachers available to them to implement and strengthen programs of teacher recruitment, placement, training, and retention.

The major purpose of the study was to analyze the role of the normal universities in China in the field of teacher professional development. In order to achieve this purpose, the following two questions guided this research: 1) What efforts are normal universities in China making in continuing teacher education? 2) What are the factors that support or inhibit normal universities in these endeavors? The research includes case studies of four Chinese normal universities as well as a comparison to the work of universities in Ontario, Canada. In-depth interviews were utilized as the major data collecting method, and document review was used as a supplementary method. The participants included university administrators, university teacher educators and government administrators. The study outlined the current state of normal universities’ work in the field of in-service teacher education by reviewing the larger policy context around teacher development in China and how it contributes to the development of this work. In addition, the study identified key issues and major challenges normal universities face in taking part in in-service teacher education system. The study found that government policy on in-service teacher education in China is currently dominating the work of provincial governments and normal universities. The training programs delivered by normal universities are often university-based, intensive teacher learning and result from contracts between universities and either central or provincial governments. Normal universities often feel poorly prepared in terms of institutional structure, promotion standards, and the number of well-qualified teacher training experts. Although willing to take an important position in the overall in-service teacher training system, normal universities lack confidence that they will be given consistent policy and financial support and are unclear about the direction of in-service teacher education reform in the future. Key findings of this study can be used to inform the role that Chinese Normal Universities might play in in-service teacher education that could lead to higher quality teaching and learning both at the university and school levels.

In this dissertation the relationships among teachers' classroom contexts, teaching practices, personal practice theories and their learning from reform-based professional development were examined. This study is based on the cases of three high school science teachers whose participation in the Information Technology in Science (ITS) Center's professional development experience (PDE) resulted in different perceptions and interpretations. Qualitative and quantitative data, including classroom observations, in-depth interviews, teacher-generated written work from the PDE, and student classroom perceptions were analyzed and compared. The within-case analyses revealed that each teacher's thoughts, actions and perceptions were highly congruent. The cross-case analysis illuminated variations among the cases. Bandura's (1999) model of triadic reciprocal causation was applied as an interpretive frame. This frame was used to connect five indicators used in the study to coherently compare and evaluate the alignment of each teacher's thoughts, actions, and perceptions with the vision of reformbased teaching promoted by the ITS Center's PDE. Results of this interpretation show that the differences among the cases stemmed from the different problems the teachers believed reform-based teaching methods addressed. Recommendations for the design of PDEs include the importance of (a) focusing on flexible learning goals that can be meaningful and appropriate for all teachers, (b) understanding and engaging teachers' prior knowledge, (c) making changes in teachers' thinking visible and (d) keeping in mind the challenges involved in changing practice to reflect the recommendations of reform. Recommendations for future research include the development of learning trajectories for teachers with different orientations toward reform and deepening our current understandings of teacher educator expertise.

Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has become increasingly used within academe. There has not been much research, however, into how much CRP is being used within the public school system. I am particularly interested in the area of professional development. This report seeks to answer the questions, how have issues of diversity influenced professional development in the past, and how is the theoretical framework of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) used within professional development today? I begin with the reasoning behind my exploration of these questions and the problems that we are facing today within the educational system. I then provide an in-depth description of what I understand to be culturally relevant pedagogy. A historical survey of culturally-centered professional development is then presented, followed by a look at current research and writing on culturally relevant professional development. / text