When Tennessee Department of Education adopted Common Core in 2010, Tennessee implemented New Critical ideas associated with the college classroom, but did not present this connection to English teachers. Comparing high school education reforms like A Nation at Risk (1983) and TNCore to the New Critical works of Cleanth Brooks, T. S. Eliot, John Crowe Ransom, Robert Penn Warren, William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley, reveals that New Criticism is the literary method grounding current ELA education reform. Referencing Deborah Appleman’s Critical Encounters in Secondary English (2015), Diana Ravitch’s The Death and Life of the Great American School System (2010), and questionnaires completed by Tennessee teachers, this study tracks New Criticism’s influence from the college classroom to the high school classroom. Presenting English teachers the history behind what and how they teach will equip them to explain their methodology to students.

<p> As school leaders continue to attempt to integrate technology into today&rsquo;s classrooms, 1:1 laptop initiatives are becoming increasingly more prevalent and certainly more affordable than ever before. School leaders must be able to justify the expenditure by the direct impact the integration of the laptops make on classroom instruction and learning. Preparing and supporting teachers to teach and facilitate learning with these new technological tools is a necessity that cannot be overlooked in ensuring the success of 1:1 laptop initiatives. This study examined the impact of various professional development preparatory factors on the instructional change that occurred immediately after implementation of a 1:1 laptop initiative within three high schools. Significant differences were observed between the teachers&rsquo; perceived value of different types of professional development activities, including learning to use hardware, software, content management and instructional delivery platforms, as well as learning to integrate technology into instruction. Significant changes were also observed in each of 11 different instructional activities when comparing teacher practice pre-1:1 laptop initiative implementation and during implementation. Correlations between the amount of time teachers had access to their own laptops prior to the 1:1 implementation and the change in frequency of use of the instructional activities indicated limited significant results, as did the correlations between the length of professional development preparation designed to prepare teachers for the 1:1 laptop initiative and the change in frequency of use of the 11 instructional activities. The final correlations between the teachers&rsquo; perceived value of the four professional development activities and the change in frequency of use of the 11 instructional activities also yielded limited significant results.</p>

<p> The research design is a quantitative causal comparative method. The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) which measures student scores included assessments in mathematics and reading. The design study called for an examination of how type of small learning community (SLC) or the type non-SLC high school environment affected student achievement in FCAT mathematics, FCAT reading, graduation rates, and entrance into college/post secondary education, employment, and teacher job satisfaction using analysis of variance. Results indicate that students who participated in SLCs were more likely to graduate from high school than their non-SLC counterparts. SLCs seem to be supportive of both high school completion and education beyond the high school diploma. Participating teachers provided self-reported levels of employment satisfaction using the Mohrman-Cooke-Mohrman Job Satisfaction Scales (MCMJSS). Results of the ANOVA analysis indicate that SLC teachers do demonstrate a significantly higher rate of job satisfaction than their non-SLC colleagues indicate the probability that the relation between the variables found in the sample (<i> p</i> &lt; .001) was significant. The results of this study were that SLCs improve student graduation rates, students&rsquo; entering college and post-secondary education and further expanded the empirical evidence that teachers in SLCs have increased job satisfaction.</p>

<p> This study investigates the effect of participation in high school-community college partnership activities on teachers&rsquo; reflective practice. It examines the responses of teachers from one suburban high school, one urban high school and one urban charter school located in the Upper Midwest of the United States, gathered via semi-structured interviews. The partnership activities took place during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. </p><p> The experiences of the teacher participants can be located in the phases of the reflective practice cycle, which consists of: having a catalyzing experience, seeking additional information, reframing and challenging assumptions, and testing through action. By engaging in collaborative activities, teachers accessed feedback on the needs of students and insights regarding different pedagogical approaches. This information fed the cycle of the reflective practice by causing teachers to have catalyzing experiences, motivating them to seek additional information, helping teachers to reframe and challenge their assumptions, and providing them with opportunities to test new ideas. </p><p> Besides supporting the cycle of reflective practice, the results of this study also connect to several tenets of teacher professional development in the literature. On one hand, this study&rsquo;s findings align with much of the literature regarding collegial collaboration, teacher motivation, and the execution of professional development over time. On the other hand, these results raise questions about forms of feedback that influence teacher reflection and whether experience is always a necessary precursor to teacher learning. </p>

<p> Grit, defined as the tendency to pursue long-term goals with sustained zeal and hard work, was shown to predict achievement in academic, vocational, and avocational domains. In 2009, Duckworth and Quinn found that grit predicted student effectiveness in school and the concept of grit was largely unrelated to talent. Grit provided incremental predictive validity for achievement outcomes, particularly in settings of high challenge. From the combination of persistence, self-control, and more broadly, conscientiousness, emerges the concept of grit. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to compare the relative grittiness of students from two different high school settings. The first of these was a non-traditional technical high school. The second was a traditional suburban high school. One hundred students from each high schools took the Grit-S survey to determine their level of grit. It was found that students attending the non-traditional high school and students attending the traditional high school had no statistically different level of grit. However, students from the non-traditional technical high school had an observably higher level of self-reported grit. Teachers and administrators were interviewed to determine their perceptions about grit. Qualitative analysis of their responses rendered three commonalities. The first theme was a definition of grit rooted in persistence and self-motivation. The second theme was the need for adults to model grit for the benefit of their students. The third theme was a lack of difference between the genders in perceived grit or academic prospects. </p><p> This dissertation expanded on the research of Grit and Student Performance as it relates to students who attend a non-traditional technical high school and students who attend a traditional high school. There was a lack of previous research comparing these two distinct types of high schools. After the data was gathered and analyzed no significant differences were found. This dissertation provides ideas for future research and its results may possibly change attitudes about students in both high school settings.</p>

<p> This embedded case study explored and described the delivery of career development activities by high school counselors (n=9) at predominantly Latino high schools within a Southern California school district. Using the ASCA National Standards as a guide, participants were queried about their adherence to said standards. The following themes emerged: (a) The Need for Parental Involvement in Students&rsquo; Education, (b) Counselors&rsquo; Barriers to Delivering Career Development Activities, (3) Perceptions of a Potential Career Development Course, (4) Career Exploration, (5) and Lack of Accountability for ASCA Standards. The results from the questionnaire highlighted inconsistency among the participants&rsquo; delivery of career development competencies. Limitations include a small sample size and questionnaire flaws. Implications include the need to track fidelity for ASCA National Standards, improve parental involvement, reduce non-counseling tasks, and reduce the student-to-school counselor ratio. Recommendations for future research for educators in predominantly Latino high schools are provided.</p>

<p> This study investigated the relationship between attention to student thinking during lesson planning and the level of cognitive demand at which tasks are implemented for six pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher education program that focuses on attention to student thinking during planning and instruction. Lesson plans were examined for attention to student thinking using two coding schemes, and samples of student work were examined to assess the level of cognitive demand at which tasks (associated with the enacted lesson plans) were implemented during instruction. Other planning related data sources were qualitatively drawn upon to support the extent to which pre-service teachers focused on student thinking with regard to planning. </p><p> One of the lesson planning coding schemes provides numerical scores indicating different degrees of attention to six elements of student thinking. The level of cognitive demand of task implementation for each lesson was able to be coded as high or low. In particular, the quantitative analysis suggested a trend that as overall attention to student thinking during lesson planning increases the odds of high level task implementation become greater compared to the odds of low level task implementation. Given a small sample size the quantitative results need to be considered within their limitations.</p><p> Qualitative analysis examining attention to student thinking during planning and task implementation supports the quantitative trend. In particular, the qualitative analysis suggests three findings. The first finding is that the two pre-service teachers who demonstrated the most attention to student thinking with regard to planning were the only pre-service teachers who implemented all of their tasks at a high level of cognitive demand. The second finding is that when receiving specific planning based support for a lesson as part of a university assignment, all the pre-service teachers were able to implement the task at high level of cognitive demand. The third finding is that a large majority of lessons using tasks accompanied by detailed planning support sources were implemented at high levels of cognitive demand.</p>

<p> A significant issue facing high schools is preparing students for their transition to college. High school students who are the first in their family to attend college have more difficulties preparing for this transition. Studies have explored the transition experiences of first-generation college-going students participating in partnership programs, showing that not all program components strengthen the transition experience for this population (Domina &amp; Ruzek, 2012; Jordan, 2006; Watt et al., 2008). Since participation in these programs may contribute to a successful transition experience, it is crucial to expand our understanding of how participation helps these students overcome the numerous challenges in the transition process (Barnett et al., 2012; Choy, 2001).</p><p> This qualitative study involving interviews of 20 first-generation students examined how a district-level high school to community college readiness partnership program facilitated a successful transition from high school to community college for first-generation college-going students. The study drew on a conceptual framework involving cultural capital (Bourdieu &amp; Passeron, 1977) beyond the &ldquo;deficit&rdquo; model (Ovink &amp; Veazey, 2011), social capital (Coleman, 1988), and ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1977).</p><p> Participants described both partnership program components and individualized attention through human resource relationships as being pivotal contributors to their positive transition experience. Although participants stated that the partnership program addressed many barriers to support their successful transition to community college, their transition experience remained challenging at times. Participants shared that their parents&rsquo; inexperience with the college process gave them a feeling of &ldquo;being on their own&rdquo; during the transition from high school to community college. As a whole, however, participants stated that they had a successful high school to community college transition because the partnership program gave them the background knowledge they needed. In addition, participants shared that with guidance from the partnership program, they felt more prepared than they would have had they not participated in the partnership program.</p><p> Based on participants&rsquo; transition experiences, this study offers a deeper understanding of the aspects of the partnership program that support a successful transition experience, with implications for existing and future programs, as well as policy.</p>

The effectiveness of school-based health education in changing behaviour and health outcomes is limited. This in part can be attributed to the types of classroom exchanges taking place within health education lessons. There is an evident need to examine the potential link between pedagogy and health education. This study comprises a social ecological examination of the implementation of the Welsh Government’s Personal and Social Education (PSE) policy, which seeks to promote health behaviours alongside social and economic wellbeing. A socio-ecological (SE) perspective aims to understand the different influences on practice and take into account individual, social and organisational level influences on implementation. An exploratory case study is used to examine practice in four systematically selected secondary schools from two local authorities in Wales (FSM entitlement >20% and <10%). Methods incorporate analysis of national and local policy documents, interviews with implementers at local authority (n=5) and school level (n=11), lesson observations (n=12 lessons) and pupil focus groups (n= 23 pupils). The findings suggest that a lack of clarity about how PSE should be implemented in schools seems to lead to uncertainties among implementers. These uncertainties are exacerbated by a focus on graded performance that has shaped school staff beliefs and organisational arrangements. A performance focus also re-emerges in classroom practice that is mainly characterised by a transmission of facts although some competency-focused classroom exchanges are apparent. There is some limited evidence of pupils’ understanding and generalising health knowledge and self-reported self-regulation of health behaviours.

This thesis investigates potential connections between the development of social capital and education outcomes in English secondary schools, and particularly the influence of leadership on these. The investigation is underpinned by four themes emerging from a review of literature as gaps in current knowledge: • how social capital is activated and developed, and the role of school leadership; • whether the development of social capital can be separated from socio-economic status; • understanding the role of young people in relation to social capital in a school • examining the balancing and reconciliation of competing stakeholder demands. The resulting enquiry adopts a long-term case study approach, over two years, in three schools. It uses mixed methods, including semi-structured interviews with a range of internal and external stakeholders, attitudinal surveys, and scrutiny of relevant school documents. Drawing on grounded theory, the research methodology takes as its starting point each head’s own perception of their intent, and seeks understanding of the process and effects of change in their context. The analysis is influenced by insights from complexity theory in rejecting simple models of linear causation, drawing instead on concepts of emergence, connectedness and feedback to aid understanding. Empirical findings, whilst showing clearly the importance of context, also indicate some common strands of importance across each case. These suggest emergent new insights into the nature and place of students as leaders, blended models of connected leadership that extends beyond the school, and a more organic model of organisational growth. Those findings are crystallised into a possible theoretical model for a next stage of school improvement. This addresses the importance of families and communities in supporting the personal and social development of young people and enhancing their motivation for learning. These conclusions are, at this stage, necessarily tentative and opening up avenues for further enquiry, for which suggestions are offered.