This descriptive study investigated the development of the 5 dimensions of the professional learning community model in 5 economically disadvantaged and diverse Texas elementary schools, which demonstrated improvement in student achievement on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) over a 5-year period. Each of the schools were given the highest performance rating of Exemplary during the 2008 school year according to criteria developed by the Texas accountability system and had changed from an Acceptable rating in 2004. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of the development of the 5 dimensions of the professional learning community model in improving exemplary Texas elementary schools and to identify and compare the possible commonalities and differences existing between the schools on the 5 dimensions of professional learning communities. The 5 dimensions of the professional learning community model investigated in this study include: 1) shared and supportive leadership, 2) shared values and vision, 3) collective learning and the application of learning, 4) shared personal practice and 5) supportive conditions (collegial relationships and structures). The method used in this study was a mixed method approach that employed a questionnaire, individual principal and teacher interviews and school performance documents to collect data. The questionnaire data was analyzed through descriptive and analytical statistics while the interviews were investigated by identifying and documenting emergent patterns and themes. The findings from this study suggest that sustainable professional learning communities are evident in the high performing schools selected for this study. The study implies the culture of these schools is supported by relationships fostered by trust and mutual respect and their success is attributed to the collaborative, collegial and collective learning of the staff. Staff members from these schools are focused on student learning while campus leadership, grade level and vertical teams provide the structures for sharing leadership and collective learning. The principals in these schools engage in supportive behaviors that facilitate professional community while districts assist schools as professional learning communities in part through organized data and resource personnel.

Research demonstrates those who fail to learn to read well face unfair and lifelong societal disadvantage (Allington, 2011; Castles et al., 2018; Frontier, College, 2018). The number of children who fail to learn to read proficiently remains unacceptable and persists even as research suggests practices to help struggling readers (Allington, 2011; Castles et al., 2018). Building upon dismal findings from literacy networks and evidence from empirical research this study addresses this problem by exploring how contextual factors influence teachers’ learning and practice and student early reading achievement through two research questions: 1) How do contextual variables at the school, board and provincial level influence the planning, delivery and uptake of early reading professional learning opportunities? 2) How do teachers perceive the relationships between (a) their professional learning experiences, (b) their classroom early reading practices, and (c) student reading outcomes? This complexivist multiple instrumental case study explores the role of context upon teachers’ (N = 6) perspectives in three diverse schools (rural, urban and suburban) in one school board with the voices of principals (N = 3) and board-level reading experts (N = 3) providing additional layers of context. Within-case findings demonstrate the importance of meeting local teacher and student needs. Contextual networks represent pathways leading to learning, teaching and student reading development. Cross-case findings reveal the universal needs of the participants for meeting students’ core social and academic needs. Finally, a conceptual framework depicts the interaction of contextual factors within the teaching, learning and student achievement process. Theoretical, empirical and practical implications anchor a discussion proposing a research agenda situating teacher early reading learning into a professional learning collective compassionate to the learning needs of teachers who in turn can be more responsive to the local and universal needs of their students.

Cette étude entend proposer une histoire des élèves de la danse de l'Académie de musique au XIXe siècle (1783-1913). À travers l’étude des étapes de la mise en place institutionnelle de cette école émerge l'identité des élèves de la danse comme apprentis danseurs. Au-delà d'une histoire administrative, ce sont bien les conditions socioéconomiques de l’enfance au travail que révèle ce travail de thèse. Des questions économiques relatives à leur formation aux pratiques culturelles de la danse, les élèves de l'Académie de musique sont au coeur de la vie urbaine et théâtrale parisienne du XIXe siècle. Enfin, l’examen de la circulation des danseurs et des pédagogies à l'échelle européenne a permis d’identifier les mécanismes d’un discours de domination culturelle, construit et revendiqué par l'Académie de musique, à l’échelle du monde occidental. / This study aims at introducing a story of the Music Academy ballet students in the 19th century (1783-1913). The ballet students’ identities and their positions as apprentices come to light through the different steps of the institutional setting-up of that Academy. This thesis goes beyond administrative history and unveils the genuine socioeconomic conditions of children at work. For many reasons going from economic issues concerning their training to ballet cultural practises, the Music Academy students are at the heart of urban and theatrical life of XIXth century Paris. Eventually, an analysis of the ballet dancers ‘ freedom of movement and of the different teaching methods in Europe allows to pinpoint the mechanisms of a cultural domination speech, built by the music Academy and claimed to come from it too, throughout the Western world .

No description available.

In the present study, a description is made of the teacher leader's role in an externally initiated professional initiative. LISA-PLOT (Linking Instruction and Student Achievment – Professional Learning Observations of Teaching) is a ULF (Developement, Learning and Research)  project where the fields of knowledge within the Swedish subject's didactics and school improvement research together with practice. This master's thesis is placed in the field of knowledge for school improvement and more specifically with a focus on organization and management. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the knowledge about the asignment of the teacher leader in an externally initiated and organized initiative. This has been done by answering two questions: What similarities and differences appear in the teacher leaders' descriptions of what happens when they carry out their leadership assignment? What supportive and limiting arrangements can be distinguished in the practice of teacher leaders’ within LISA-PLOT? The theoretical starting point has been taken within the practice theory, and specifically the theory of practice architectures has been used to analyze the result (Kemmis et.al., 2014). The study has a qualitative approach, where data collection has taken place through interviews with the teacher leaders and observations of teacher leader meetings together with the academy. The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are that the practice of teacher leader´s in LISA-PLOT has involved several different tasks. The main task has been to lead the collegial learning in the use of the PLATO elements through observations and feedback. To be able to do this, different practical actions and communication with different people have been required. Despite the fact that most teacher leaders have been in an unknown context, strong relationships have been established between participants and the teacher leader. To keep the teacher leader´s practice in place, there have been various arrangements that have been both supportive and restrictive. Based on this study, it becomes clear that the arrangements are practically related, but the arrangements move between the different dimensions and they can also vary from being supportive to being limiting. / I föreliggande studie görs en beskrivning av lärledarens roll i en externt initierad professions­satsning. LISA-PLOT (Linking Instruction and Student Achievment – Professional Learning Observations of Teaching) är ett ULF- (Utveckling, Lärande och Forskning) projekt där kunskapsfälten inom svenskämnets didaktik och skolförbättring forskar tillsammans med praktiken. Denna mastersuppsats är placerad i kunskapsfältet för skolförbättring och mer specifikt med inriktning på organisering och ledning. Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om lärledarens uppdrag i en externt initierad och organiserad satsning. Det har gjorts genom att besvara två frågeställningar: 1.      Vilka likheter och skillnader framträder i lärledarnas beskrivning av det som händer när de utför sitt ledaruppdrag? 2.      Vilka stödjande och begränsande arrangemang kan urskiljas i lärledarens praktik inom LISA-PLOT? Den teoretiska utgångspunkten har tagits inom praktikteorin och specifikt har teorin om praktikarkitekturer använts för att analysera resultatet (Kemmis et.al., 2014). Studien har en kvalitativ ansats, där datainsamling har skett genom intervjuer med lärledarna och observationer av lärledarträffar tillsammans med akademien. De slutsatser som kan dras utifrån denna studie är att Lärledarnas praktik i LISA-PLOT har inneburit flera olika uppgifter. Den huvudsakliga uppgiften har varit att leda det kollegiala lärandet i användandet av PLATO-elementen genom observationer och återkopplingar. För att kunna göra det har det krävts olika praktiska handlingar och kommunikation med olika parter. Trots att de flesta lärledare befunnit sig i en okänd kontext har det knutits starka relationer mellan deltagare och lärledare. För att hålla lärledarens praktik på plats har det funnits olika arrangemang som har varit både stödjande och begränsande. Utifrån denna studie blir det tydligt att arrangemangen praktiskt hör ihop, men arrangemangen rör sig mellan de olika dimensionerna och de kan också växla från att vara stödjande till att vara begränsande. / LISA-PLOT - Linking Instruction and Student Achievement-Professional Learning Observations of Teaching

This research set out to explore how a group of nine educators from a Catholic Church school in Malta, who have attended the Let Me Learn professional Learning process (LMLpLp), experienced personal and professional transformation. This study investigates those factors influencing participants in their transformative learning journey. It also explores the dynamics of transformative learning and whether individual transformation affects the school’s transformative learning experience. More specifically this study set out to explore how teachers who participated in the Let Me Learn professional Learning process have experienced transformative learning. This study takes a qualitative phenomenological approach. It seeks to identify phenomena of personal and professional transformative learning through the perceptions of the educators participating in this study. Through the use of the semi-structured interview it seeks to gather ‘deep’ data. This data represents the voices of these educators in narrative, thus emphasising the importance of the personal perspective and interpretation. This allowed this research to understand the subjective experience, motivation and actions of the participants. The Literature review informs the questions asked during the interview. The interview was used as a tool for gathering information regarding values, attitudes and beliefs of participants. Each interview was transcribed, translated (when response was given in Maltese) and categorised according to Mezirow’s ten stages. Excerpts from each stage were further processed to generate themes. The themes were later streamlined and an acceptable interpretive framework was created. Each interview excerpt was then analysed through the framework. Once all interviews were coded, detailed narratives were written. These narratives are meant to help the reader reflect on the process of transformative learning. It underscores those factors highlighted by the participants, which helped bring about both personal and professional transformative learning. This research has identified that individual constructs are strongly determined by an individual’s personal learning characteristics. Awareness of these personal learning characteristics (self-knowledge) helped educators assess their practice and understand how their personal characteristics were determining their approach to teaching and affecting their interpersonal relationships with students and colleagues. This research showed that transformative learning is a mutually interdependent experience. Individual transformation amounts to, and is influenced by, the collective transformation. This study highlighted the role of the school community in the pursuit of personal transformation. Yet another important finding of this research is the importance of a shared language of possibility. Through a shared language, a learning community can create a dialogic environment through which intentions, beliefs and interventions can be shared among the professional community. This research accentuates the importance of a shared language as a means of articulating a change in perspective. The study identified three main agents of change. The Let Me Learn team, as promoters and experts of this particular learning process; the teachers, who internalised the process and applied it to their practice; and the school’s senior management team, who internalised the Process, positioned it into the larger vision of the school and created a conducive environment through which the whole school community was empowered to take responsibility to bring about change in practice. A number of implications emerge from this study that could inform policy on teacher professional learning. A major implication concerns the importance of a shared language – a language that reflects the shared values and ideological position of the community. Such language frames the learning process, makes learning visible for teachers to be able to respond effectively with strategies that respect each learner’s learning preference and makes learning visible to the learner himself. Another implication from this study arises from the finding that the transformative learning process of any individual educator and effectively of the whole school community, goes beyond the effectiveness and limitations of any one professional development programme. True and deep-seated transformative learning comes from within the individual educator. This statement has serious repercussions on any professional development programme that aims to aid participants in their quest to transform their practice. This study also emphasised the importance that any professional development needs to be seated in the local experience and needs of the school community. Any attempts at developing comprehensive, nation-wide projects with pre-packaged approaches, are doomed to fail. What this research has shown is that for effective professional development, the identified outcomes need to correspond to the local needs of the school, rather than the national guidelines, detached from the realities of the particular school. Finally, this study accentuated the importance of incorporating mentoring support in any professional development proposal. Delivery of information and skills without follow-up tend to lead to superficial application. Transformative learning presupposes a period of shared reflection on practice and collegial mediation of ideas through contact between teachers and their leaders and on-the-job support from their professional development mentors.

School-based professional learning communities (PLCs) have become an important means of “building capacity” among teachers in a wide variety of areas, including those with a subject focus. Very often, these PLCs are mandated by administration, and operate under an established structure. This paper describes an attempt by a mathematics coordinator and school level “lead’ teachers to establish relatively informal PLCs in mathematics in an effort to improve mathematics teaching, and thus student learning, in an environment that focused very much on literacy. The four PLCs created are discussed, as are the opportunities and the challenges that go with the relative freedom offered to the teachers. Sustainability is a central challenge to these groups.

No description available.

Teachers who are not adequately prepared to teach struggling students often seek employment elsewhere rather than be ineffective with those students. When teachers leave the classroom, this has a vast impact on student learning. For the past 9 years, a high school in the southeast United States for students at risk of not graduating has had an average annual teacher turnover rate of 31.25%, nearly twice the national rate of 15.9%. The purpose of this study was to learn the kinds of training and knowledge teachers believed would help them to succeed in teaching students struggling to graduate. Constructivist theory served as a framework for this qualitative case study design that sought to answer what are the needs of teachers of at risk learners, and learn the kind of support they needed. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 9 core teachers during the 2014-2015 school year and document analysis of professional development yielded data that were analyzed for emergent themes. A key theme was a perceived lack of adequate support from both the school and the district. Participants wanted help from psychologists and mental health counselors, professional development (PD) to develop content-specific strategies and alternative pedagogical strategies, and time for collaboration with colleagues. Based on study findings, 3 days of PD training were developed that will allow time for teachers and administration to work together. Results also provide research-based data that may be applicable to other schools and school districts serving a similar population. Supporting teachers of students at risk of not graduating should improve teachers' job satisfaction and retention, and improve student achievement, resulting in positive social change for society.

Male African American students with disabilities in a South Carolina school district have received a greater proportion of discipline referrals and exclusionary consequences than have other demographic groups. The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to explore classroom management strategies that may reduce this disproportionality. The conceptual framework was Skinner's applied behavior theory, which states that to change behavior, the environment must be changed. The qualitative guiding question investigated teacher beliefs about best classroom management practices. The quantitative research questions were intended to provide a description of discipline preferences. Quantitative data were collected through the Behavior and Instructional Management Scale (BIMS) survey (n = 20). Qualitative data were gathered from interviews with and observations of teachers of male African American students with behavioral disorders. Descriptive statistics of 20 BIMS responses indicated that participants' self -reported preferences were instructional management strategies and approaches that emphasized organizing the learning environment. Qualitative interview and observation data were analyzed using axial coding and a matrix. Findings indicated that although participants could identify disciplinary best practices, they lacked confidence to implement them. Based on these results, a professional development workshop for teachers was developed to implement research-based classroom management practices. This project will introduce social change for teachers by improving their efficacy in managing challenging behaviors and increasing instructional time. Students will also benefit from improved productivity in the learning environment.