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<p> Chinese students have historically come to study in the United States at the college and post- secondary levels. In the last ten years, this phenomenon has spread exponentially to the high school level, but scant research exists on this topic. This paper investigates why Chinese students come to study in U.S. high schools, who these students are, what their academic and social experiences are, and what can be done to support them. A qualitative study was conducted, with one on one interviews with 14 high school students from three different high schools, one all male school, one all-female, and one co-ed. Cultural capital theory (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1977) underscores and helps illuminate the data. While the findings mirror those of research completed at the college level, something deeper emerged. Chinese students possess the cultural capital to make this journey, and the habitus that gives them the courage and perseverance to navigate it, but that capital and habitus doesn't always transfer to the field of the U.S. high school environment. While Chinese students perceive students and teachers as helpful and kind, there is much more U.S. high schools can do to support them. In the end, Chinese students use the traits they've learned from their families and their culture to meet their goals, escape the Chinese style of education and the <i> Gaokao</i> exam, acclimate to the culture, and go on to attend U.S. colleges. </p>

<p> This research utilized performance autoethnography and case study methodologies to explore the ways in which White female pre-service teachers&rsquo; perceptions of race and gender are informed by their reading of four counternarratives about Black females written by Black female authors and their participation in a book club. Specifically, this study looked to uncover how engaging with a practical classroom tool like children&rsquo;s literature books in a book club format creates a transformative space for White female pre-service teachers to critically interrogate notions of race and gender. Performance autoethnography allowed for an exploration of how I contributed to and was affected by the book club setting as a Black female and teacher educator. Case study methodology was used to explore the research questions more directly to capture the essence of the bounded system of the book club. </p><p> A review of literature revealed teacher education needs more structured spaces to support pre-service teachers&rsquo; ability to have conversations about race, gender, and other categories of diversity. This study focused particularly on White female pre-service teachers as they make up the majority of the teaching force in the United States. Additionally, focus was given to White female pre-service teachers as the literature shows that White women tend to use &ldquo;white talk&rdquo;&mdash;or ways of talking about race which allows them to protect themselves from having a conversation about race. </p><p> The results of the study are presented in the order of the books read by the pre-service teachers and myself. The findings show that the pre-service teachers did not experience the counternarratives as counternarratives, they reappropriated the texts to fit their dominate narrative. Further, the pre-service teachers were more comfortable having discussions of gender rather than race. The discussion provides description of how each book resonated with the pre-service teachers by focusing on how they conceptualized the messages presented in each counternarrative. Implications of this study for teacher education as well as further research are also provided.</p>

<p> Learning social skills through play is an important aspect of a preschool child&rsquo;s development. Young students who are not developing normally, such as those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders, tend to exhibit more difficulty in their social skills development. As a result of this serious deficit, these skills must be taught by the teacher once the child begins their journey through education. Thus, it is necessary for the special education teacher to embed different teaching strategies into the curriculum so as to teach children with ASD the proper social skills effectively and efficiently. </p><p> The goal of the present study was to determine if the reading of a social story and the discussion of that social story on a daily basis can positively affect the behavior and social skills of a preschool student diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The student under study was a 4-year old male who presented with limited social skills. The teacher/researcher applied a social story intervention that included the reading of a social story on a daily basis, a comprehension check that was followed by a modeled play scenario between the student and the teacher/researcher. The study was conducted for a period of 5 weeks. The teacher/researcher used comprehension checks, field notes and partial interval record forms in order to measure growth in student behaviors and social interactions. The results of this study indicated that applying a social story intervention on a daily basis can effectively improve a preschool ASD student&rsquo;s social skills and provide that student an opportunity to be socially successful during structured and unstructured dramatic play time.</p>

<p> Throughout the history of teacher education, the final fieldwork experience has often been called the single most influential experience in teacher preparation programs (Burns, Jacobs, &amp; Yendol-Hoppey, 2016; Feiman-Nemser &amp; Buchmann, 1986; Parker-Katz &amp; Bay, 2008). Though this experience has been expanded to include fieldwork experiences throughout many teacher education programs (Guyton &amp; McIntyre, 1990), the final fieldwork experience remains the closing activity and the lasting image of teacher preparation (Feiman-Nemser &amp; Buchmann, 1986; Rosaen &amp; Florio-Ruane, 2008). Given its importance, though, researchers know relatively little about it. &ldquo;The knowledge thus produced is akin to the quantum theory of physics; we know what goes in . . . and what comes out . . . but not what occurs in the interim&rdquo; (Guyton &amp; McIntyre, 1990, p. 524). Given the current reforms in mathematics education and mathematics teacher education (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2010; National Governors Association Center for Best Practices &amp; Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010), Guyton and McIntyre&rsquo;s observation is still relevant today.</p><p> During the final fieldwork experience, university-based and school-based mathematics educators must work together on behalf of the novice to marry university-promoted theory (especially reform-oriented theory) with the practical classroom expectations of day-to-day teaching life. Though there is much research on how this kind of work should be done and the dilemmas that have arisen during fieldwork (e.g., Knight, 2009; Loughran, 2006; Nolan &amp; Hoover, 2004; Sergiovanni &amp; Starratt, 2006; Sullivan &amp; Glanz, 2013), we have little information about the experiences of the mathematics educators who collaborate during final fieldwork. Furthermore, we have very little information on how these educators navigate mathematics reforms to prepare teachers of mathematics. </p><p> This multi-case study was designed to investigate three novices, their school-based mentors, and their university-based mentor (me) who collaborated during a year-long final fieldwork experience at the close of a middle school mathematics teacher preparation program. To write single case reports that illuminated our collaborative experiences, I wrote the &ldquo;stories&rdquo; of each triad. To collect these stories, I used individual and group interviews, paired conversations, asynchronous text interviews, conference observations, collaborative fieldwork artifacts, my own practitioner-researcher journal, and three cycles of participant member checks. After verifying the veracity of the stories of each triad, I engaged in cross-case analysis to make assertions about the commonalities and unique circumstances that defined these fieldwork cases. This study adds to teacher preparation fieldwork literature by evoking a response from educators working in the field and providing them with examples of open dialogue that created more empathetic collaborative experiences. The study also provides evidence that the empathy generated by sharing stories can create more productive and effective learning experiences for the novices involved. In particular, open dialogue provided the collaborators in these cases with a platform for acknowledging pedagogical differences, negotiating fieldwork expectations, and setting and meeting novices&rsquo; professional goals. For future investigations of teacher preparation fieldwork collaboration, this study provides evidence that a practitioner approach to research affords the researcher exceptional access to the stories of novices and mentors and establishes empathetic bonds that can make the telling of those stories both illuminating and respectful of the voices they represent.</p>

<p> Preservice special education teachers need to develop essential teaching skills to competently address student academics and behavior in the classroom. TeachLivE&trade; is a sophisticated virtual simulation that has recently emerged in teacher preparation programs to supplement traditional didactic instruction and field experiences. Teacher educators can engineer scenarios in TeachLivE&trade; to cumulatively build in complexity, allowing preservice teachers to incrementally interleave target skills in increasingly difficult situations.</p><p> The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of TeachLivE&trade; on preservice special education teachers&rsquo; delivery of error correction, specific praise, and praise around in the virtual environment and in authentic classroom settings. Four preservice special educators who were teaching on provisional licenses in upper elementary language arts classrooms participated in this multiple baseline study across target skills. Participants attended weekly TeachLivE&trade; sessions as a group, where they engaged in three short teaching turns followed by structured feedback. Participants&rsquo; proficiency with the target skills was analyzed on three weekly assessments. First, participants&rsquo; mastery of current and previous target skills was measured during their third teaching turn of the intervention session (i.e., TeachLivE&trade; training assessment). Next, participants&rsquo; proficiency with all skills, including those that had not been targeted yet in intervention, were measured immediately following intervention sessions (i.e., TeachLivE&trade; comprehensive assessment). Finally, teachers submitted a weekly video recording of a lesson in their real classroom (i.e. classroom generalization assessment).</p><p> Repeated practice and feedback in TeachLivE&trade; promoted participants&rsquo; mastery of essential target skills. Specifically, all participants demonstrated proficiency with error correction, specific praise, and praise around on both the TeachLivE&trade; training assessment and the more complex TeachLivE&trade; comprehensive assessment, with a strong pattern of generalized performance to authentic classroom settings. Participants maintained proficiency with the majority of the target skills in both environments when assessed approximately one month after intervention was discontinued. Implications of the study are discussed, including the power of interleaved practice in TeachLivE&trade; and how generalization and maintenance may be impacted by the degree of alignment between virtual and real teaching scenarios.</p>

<p> School Capital has been shown to affect school setting, effectiveness and student achievement. Schools are a system within society that utilizes the social resources of social networks to develop an engaged school setting. This study applied a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu&rsquo;s concepts of social capital. This study examined the school capital, the mobilization of social networks, and social resources available for student engagement at an intermediate school. This qualitative study used an interview protocol and narrative inquiry approach. Using NVivo software, eleven participant interviews were coded and analyzed for emergent themes in the areas of school capital. Four dominant themes emerged, these included: Obligations to the learning process; social networks that highlighted relationships between school members; a sense of trust between student and teacher; and positive relationships within the school community. The findings from this study suggest that feelings of connection to teachers, students, and their peers helped to engage students in the classroom. Students from the study indicated that high expectations, high interest projects, and socially engaged activities provided opportunities for student engagement. Implications and recommendations for practice and future research are also discussed as part of this study.</p>

<p> What are the most effective coaching practices in the context of school-wide professional development? Teacher coaching is onsite professional development aimed at working with teachers with what they need most. Although coaching holds much promise, there is little agreement surrounding the role of the coach and what the coach should be doing in the context of school-wide professional development to make the greatest impact on teacher practices. The purpose of this study is to explore practices that contribute to a change in teacher instructional practices relating to four major components: (1) Leadership Team; (2) Whole School Coaching; (3) Group Coaching; (4) Teacher Coaching; to determine the relationship between these four components; to offer a comprehensive teacher coaching model. Due to the complex nature of change, this research is seated in the context of change variables such as environment, management, coaching styles, and change theory.</p>

<p> An online study was conducted to ascertain the potential of two independent variables, teaching self-efficacy and critical thinking skill (via a self-efficacy survey and a critical thinking appraisal) to predict four aspects of professional engagement (via a teaching career aspirations survey) among 95 self-selected early-career K-12 teachers. A regression model was attempted across the four aspects of professional engagement surveyed: planned persistence (PP), professional development (PD), professional leadership (PL), and planned effort (PE). However the data violated regression assumptions, necessitating non-parametric analysis. Analyses using Kendall&rsquo;s tau showed a significant correlation between teaching self-efficacy and all four dependent variables (&tau;_PD = .34, <i>p</i> &lt; .01; &tau;_PL = .29, <i>p</i> &lt; .01; &tau;_PP = -.09, <i>p</i> &lt; .01; &tau;_PE = .41, <i>p</i> &lt; .01). Critical thinking did not show a significant relationship with professional engagement. Two post hoc studies investigated these results. Non-parametric analysis showed a significant relationship between critical thinking scores and the critical thinking appraisal completion time (&tau; = .15. <i>p</i> &lt; .05). <i>T</i> tests showed no significant differences between a sample (<i>n</i> = 27) of the main group (<i>N</i> = 95) and a retained group of participants who completed the surveys but did not complete the critical thinking appraisal (survey only group, <i>n</i> = 27). The significant relationship between teaching self-efficacy and career engagement in this study warrants further attention.</p>

<p> This study investigated the role of the school administrator in helping teachers to use instructional practices that led to improved student learning outcomes. The data indicated that teachers were comfortable learning from other teacher-leaders in the school. Teachers responded favorably to opportunities to participate in collegial observation and being provided specific feedback to stimulate growth. The study also confirmed that teachers looked to the school administrator to provide necessary resources and funding for professional development opportunities. Teachers need to be provided ongoing opportunities to learn and grow together through meaningful grade-level team meeting. </p><p> This study took place during the 2010&ndash;2011 school year, and investigated individually and collectively four initiatives: reorganizing grade-level team meetings to facilitate better coordination, collaboration, and peer consultation; gearing professional development opportunities toward proven learning strategies; engaging the teachers in reflective practices for self-improvement; and engaging the teachers in keeping professional growth logs. Teachers were asked to respond to a questionnaire created by the principal, to complete feedback forms as a follow up to each professional development workshop, and to evaluate the effectiveness of grade-level teams using a scoring guide. An analysis of MAP and Tungsten data, teacher created goals/outcomes, and walk-through data was used to evaluate student growth, as well. </p><p> A narrow focus on analyzing and using data to make instructional decisions had an impact on standardized test result. The instructional leaders were responsible for helping staff to understand and interpret data, create short-term and long-term goals, monitor the progress and celebrate success. </p><p> An underlying theme evolved during the study, encompassing the importance of the school leader to build positive relationships and lines of communication with the staff to guide them toward the improvement of instructional practices. </p>