The overall aim of this study was to replicate and extend Hoff, Ervin, and Friman (2005) and to investigate whether a functional assessment, including the intervention, could be implemented within a mainstream New Zealand classroom, with students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and with the teachers implementing the interventions. Experiment 1 included 2 participants, Joel diagnosed as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Brad who met study inclusion criteria. Descriptive assessments (based on interviews and observations) of the functions of the target behaviours were conducted to produce hypotheses. Two interventions for each student, based on these hypotheses, were selected in collaboration with the class teachers. The interventions were implemented, first singularly and then in combination, using a multiple-baseline design with alternating treatments after the baseline period. They all decreased target behaviours to some degree. One intervention, the token economy, was the most effective with both students. Social acceptability questionnaires showed all procedures were acceptable but of the interventions the token economy was the least favoured by teachers and most favoured by students. Both participants in Experiment 2 were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 and also compared hypotheses about the function of behaviour resulting from the Motivation Assessment Scale to those from the descriptive assessment as used in Experiment 1. The Motivation Assessment Scale provided a different hypothesis for one student and it is suggested that this scale is not useful with these students. The two interventions were selected for each student based on the hypotheses. These were designed to be easier to implement and to have more student involvement in their implementation than in Experiment 1. A multiple-baseline design with alternating treatments after the baseline was used and each treatment was evaluated alone. Three of the four interventions decreased target behaviour, the exception was self-management. The social acceptability scores for these interventions were high for both the teachers and students. The overall findings replicated Hoff et al.'s (2005) findings and showed that functional assessment of behaviour could be successfully used with students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in a mainstream classroom. They also showed that the teachers could successfully implement the interventions derived from the hypotheses to decrease target behaviours and that decreasing the difficulty of implementation of the interventions increased the acceptability of the interventions by the teachers.

The problem with which this study is concerned was that of developing an understanding of teacher attitudes toward collective bargaining. The investigation was initiated so that members of school boards, administrators, and those associated with professional organizations could have the needed knowledge to permit them to deal realistically with employer-employee relations. There were two purposes for conducting this study. First, an effort was made to determine the specific attitudes these teachers possess toward collective bargaining. The second purpose was to analyze the teachers' background characteristics to determine whether classifications such as sex, academic degree, experience, assignment level, professional memberships, or age have an impact on these attitudes.

This cross sectional survey study examined the perceptions of classroom teachers in urban regions of Kars Province including its towns and teacher educators in Kafkas University about the new elementary school curriculum in Kars Province. It also revealed their perceptions about the strengths and weaknesses of the elementary school curriculum, students&rsquo / educational needs from the window of local characteristics of Kars, and classroom teachers&rsquo / needs with regard to the new elementary school curriculum. The data were collected from classroom teachers based on the responses they gave on a survey questionnaire and from interview data with teacher educators that was collected through a semi-structured interview form. Data gathered were analyzed utilizing content analysis method. The major findings of the study revealed the following about that the new elementary school curriculum: (1) active student understanding and common skills were mentioned / (2) its appropriateness to students&rsquo / level / (3) relevancy to students&rsquo / everyday life / (4) its comprehensiveness / and (5) variety that were somehow achieved. On the other hand, the findings also showed that there were problems with regard to the new elementary school curriculum: (1) lack of parental involvement to educational process in Kars / (2) over crowding of classrooms / (3) insufficient materials in schools / (4) insufficient in meeting local characteristics and conditions of Kars.

The present study is concerned with selected factors that may strongly influence classroom teachers to refer young children for possible placement in special classes when the children are functioning near the borderline for placement on the basis of intelligence test scores. Particular attention was given to the contribution of student attributes (i.e., sex, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and classroom behavior) and teacher attributes (i.e., age, sex, ethnic background and teaching experience) to the referral patterns of teachers. Also considered were the size of school enrollment, school locale, and interactions among student, teacher, and school variables. It was concluded that the teachers in the population studied responded to the case histories on the basis of certain selective biases. However, the relationship of these biases to referral decisions was less obvious and considerably more complex than has been suggested previously in the professional literature. At the same time, the presence of any bias in the referral process seemingly warrants careful consideration and points to the -need for greater emphasis in pre-service and in-service training programs upon the objective evaluation of students as an integral part of educational planning.

RETENTION OF ACCOMPLISHED VETERAN SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS by Russell Brett Hardin Almost 30 percent of new teachers flee the profession after just three years, and more than 40 percent leave after 5 years (Allen, 2005). Studies conducted by Borman and Dowling (2008), Guarino et al. (2006) and Ingersoll and Smith (2003) indicate that teacher attrition rates are also high in the later years of teaching careers. While these rates of attrition reflect both public and private school teachers, numerous studies have found that private schools see higher attrition rates, potentially damaging an independent school’s ability to fulfill its stated mission (Ingersoll, 2002; O’Keefe, 2001; Provasnik & Dorfman, 2005). While research exists about teacher attrition and retention issues in the early years (Borman & Dowling, 2008), limited research exists about the factors that impact retention of veteran teachers. The purpose of this study is to examine a specific school context in which many successful, veteran, social studies teachers have remained in the same school setting while teaching the same age groups and to determine why those teachers have returned to their classrooms each year. The focus of this study is: What are the factors that keep veteran social studies teachers engaged and excited about teaching and learning? To examine why veteran teachers have stayed in a specific school context teaching the same age groups, I used interviews, informal conversations, and document analysis to build narratives that reflect on the career paths of six teachers. Each of the six teachers who participated in this study taught at the same institution for over 15 years and has at least 20 years as a full-time instructor in the classroom. The qualitative research methodology of grounded theory provided the most appropriate guidelines and tools to examine this group of veteran teachers. The results of this study indicate that to retain veteran teachers, schools may want to consider providing teachers with substantial autonomy over curricula and actively support teachers in discerning and pursuing their own goals for professional development. Schools that are able to build a learning rich environment for their veteran teachers may be more likely to retain an engaged and successful faculty.

The purpose of the study was to explore the problems of first three-year classroom teachers who graduated from regular teacher education programs and alternative certificate programs. The study also aims at examining the problems in relation to the type of certification, gender, cities they work in, institutions they graduated from, age, graduation year, recruitment year, teaching practice, number of teachers in the schools, class size, and type of classroom they teach. The subjects of this study were elementary school classroom teachers, from Ordu, Samsun and Sinop. A total of 300 teachers in these cities were ! asked to fill out a questionnaire. Of the 300 teachers, 275 teachers (128 females, 147 males) completed and returned the questionnaires. The researcher for the purpose of data coll! ection prepared a questionnaire that consisted of a 19-item de! mographi c data sheet, and 24-item five points Likert type questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations, as well as t test, and ANOVA. The findings indicated that classroom teachers mostly face problems in teaching compound classes, applying, and understanding the body of current laws, rules and regulations, teaching the reading and writing to elementary school students, in developing supporting teaching materials and in getting students participate to the course. The findings also indicated that the alternative certification teachers experience more professional problems than the regular education teachers. It was observed that gender,! city, teaching practice, number of teachers in the school, cl! ass size , and type of classroom they teach did not affect the problems experienced by the teachers.

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore through a social constructivist framework the similarities and differences emerging from a set of Canadian and Chinese award-winning picture books published between 2004 and 2014. In addition to the application of Radical Change characteristics to the picture book set, responses of eight participants in Canadian and Chinese academic and teaching contexts were also explored through semi-structured interviews related to conceptualizations and use of children’s picture books. Child-image and theme were investigated through content analysis. The exploration illuminated that the most frequent child-image was child who encounters difficulties. Child-as-problem solver and playing/imaginative child were more reflected in the Canadian titles, while the Chinese titles included more child-as-narrator and moral/life model. The theme of moral/life lessons was frequently represented by the selected titles, whereas the biggest difference between the two cultural categories was imagination/fantasy, with the Chinese study set involving it far less often. The most obvious Radical Change type was changing forms and formats. The most important purpose of using picture books in both Canadian and Chinese contexts appeared to be books as teaching tools. There has been a considerable amount of imagination/fantasy or children with authentic characterization/special needs in the selected books, yet the participants believed there was a dearth of the particular theme or child-image in current picture books. This study indicates potential for further comparative studies of Canadian and Chinese award-winning picture books, and extends the knowledge of picture books, to address current gaps in the literature, particularly as available research relates to the creation, evaluation and use of picture books.

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Gone are the days when the school librarian was the austere custodian of the books. Twenty-first-century standards progressively call for librarians to step in as instructional leaders, connecting educators and students to materials, methods, and technology across the curriculum. In an age of increased accountability through never-ending standardized testing, as well as the implementation of Common Core standards, classroom teachers need all the support they can get. To add fuel to the fire, numerous states have reduced their budgets, leaving reading specialists and literacy coaches short in terms of time and materials. Students who once received differentiated instruction or reading intervention are overlooked or underserved. Where can teachers and reading specialists receive support to help close the achievement gap? Librarians to the rescue! Currently, school librarians are discovering yet another dynamic leadership and role: coteacher with classroom teachers and reading specialists in the library learning commons. This article explores strategies for librarians to implement differentiated instruction in collaboration with classroom teachers and reading specialists using a coteaching model. Keywords: school librarians, literacy coaches, reading specialists ********** Librarians have long worn many hats that improve the learning of students in the school. These include instructional leader, technology specialist, promoter of reading initiatives, and guardian of books. Once again, librarians find themselves called upon to sport yet another: coteacher with classroom teachers and reading specialists. With a focus on preparing students to be college and career ready, the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) ask students to grapple with complex grade-level texts and write research papers. Even at the kindergarten level, students engage in rigorous learning that asks them to participate in shared research and writing projects (National Governor's Association, 2010). In this article we suggest that this rigorous learning requires teachers to join forces with others in the building to ensure student success. Thus the librarian, reading specialist, and classroom teacher form coteaching teams that address difficult concepts in such a way that the library becomes a learning commons (Loertscher, 2014). In this learning commons space, learners experience scaffolded support with print and differentiated instruction (DI) (Tomlinson, 1999) to address the achievement potential of students as they engage firsthand with the learning tasks set forth by the CCSS. In the learning commons, the library functions as a dynamic arena where librarians, reading specialists, and classroom teachers bring individual talents to the instructional process in a coteaching team. The idea of the learning commons still allows for print books to play a vital part in instruction; however, digital technologies also play a large role. Due to the rigor of the CCSS, this idea of a learning commons comes just in time. For the past ten to fifteen years, administrators have continuously called upon librarians to take a larger role in the literacy arena (Robins & Antrim, 2012). Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs (AASL, 2009a) contends that librarians are uniquely positioned to affect reading outcomes of students. In many school districts, administrators have asked librarians to provide collaborative support to classroom teachers to identify materials and methods to support struggling readers. While in other districts, administrators have asked librarians to lead response to intervention groups. While these efforts to suggest and provide materials hold potential, they fall short due to the fact that one individual has limited impact in comparison with what teams of librarians, reading specialists, and classroom teachers might achieve in a learning commons. LIBRARIANS' ROLE IN COLLABORATIVE TEAMS IN THE LEARNING COMMONS If the expectation for librarians extends beyond the support already provided to include coteaching while also attending to duties in the library, what should librarians do? Build upon what they already know! Librarians regularly assist with the analysis of assessment data to determine students' and teachers' needs, the integration of technology, the provision of resources, and the implementation of instruction in the physical library space. For decades, librarians' instruction consisted of isolated units of study. These discrete units stand in stark contrast to Turner's (1993) suggestions that librarians join forces with teachers to plan instruction that extends and enriches classroom curriculum. The American Association of School Librarians (2009) calls for librarians to collaborate with instructors to create relevant instruction that motivates students to be lifelong learners. While collaboration is not a new idea, what is new are the dynamics that make up the coteaching team and ways to facilitate the alliance. Librarians support coteaching teams by serving as a connective agent with a physical and virtual venue: the learning commons. During the coteaching team's planning phase, librarians supply a common virtual space within the learning commons that expedites planning. The virtual learning commons alleviates planning concerns of distant geographic spaces and incompatible release times. …