<p>  </p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>According to the Center for Disease Control, approximately one in 44 children are identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD at the age of 8 in the United States (Centers for Disease Control, 2022). As the number of children with ASD is increasing, so do the concerns of early childhood educators about how to help them (Schafer Whitby et. al, 2015). The generally accepted criteria for ASD includes a deficit in communication and/or language, restricted and/or repetitive interests, indicators started manifesting young, the symptoms cause diminished functioning. Communication difficulties in children with ASD can be challenging for educators to handle (Grygas Coogle et al., 2018). Educators in a general education early childhood classroom may not be prepared to handle the influx of students with ASD due to their lack of knowledge and skills about appropriate communication strategies.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The master’s degree special project contains two separate elements: a survey and the development of a handbook. The purpose of the IRB approved study was to investigate common communication strategies and research-based strategies being used with students with ASD in an early childhood setting. The survey sought licensed teachers’ responses on their levels of understanding about communication strategies and recommendations for future professional learning and training materials. </p> <p>Twelve early childhood educators (PreK-2) from one urban elementary school, in a midwestern state were sent the anonymous 11 question Qualtrics survey, including rating questions and open-ended questions. Nine educators completed the survey. The results revealed teachers’ lack of familiarity and knowledge about communication strategies for students with ASD. All nine participants answered they had no previous specific training on ASD and communication strategies in college and zero hours of professional learning on communication strategies for students with ASD during the current school year. Educators also rated themselves as poorly or moderately prepared to teach children with ASD and their communication deficits. Not a single participant rated themselves as well prepared or very well prepared.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The study results and previously published research indicated the need for the professional learning handbook to provide early childhood educators with research-proven communication strategies written in a teacher friendly manner. The special project handbook has six sections: play strategies, environmental adaptation, visual supports, motivation, sensory integration, and collaboration with parents. ASD is multifaceted and complex for educators, and many of their struggles are rooted in the area of communication. These strategies were designed for students with ASD but can also be applied with all students.</p>

<p dir="ltr">This qualitative narrative inquiry studied the career journeys of five Black school principals from Indiana with five or more years of experience in their role. The purpose of this study was to understand the following: (a) the experiences of each participant including who influenced them to pursue the principal role, (b) their successful endeavors as principals, (c) the obstacles they have faced along the path to the principalship, and (d) their beliefs as to why they have persisted in the role for at least five years.</p><p dir="ltr">The data were collected through two rounds of individual semi-structured interviews with the participants. Each round was at least three weeks apart. This protocol sparked rich discussion from which five themes emerged: (1) relationships vs. results, (2) scholarship, (3) perseverance, (4) ongoing issues, and (5) mentorship. Each of these themes was revisited with each participant in the second round of interviews.</p><p dir="ltr">The analysis of the data from this study led to three specific assertions that are discussed in the final chapter. Assertion #1: Effective professional mentorship has a positive impact on Black principals’ ability to persevere. Assertion #2: Black principal perseverance is fueled by reflection and intrinsic sources of inspiration. Assertion #3: A disposition toward life-long learning has a positive impact on a Black principals’ ability to persevere. These assertions and the corresponding implications were developed after a careful examination of the current literature on school leadership and the Black principal experience. This study can be utilized as a purposeful tool to recruit, develop, and retain Black educators generally and Black school leaders specifically.</p>

<p dir="ltr">This dissertation includes three manuscripts that explore the construct of teacher-readiness for integration of computational thinking (CT) skills in their teaching. The first manuscript is a retrospective observational study that builds a binomial regression model to predict teachers’ competence in CT procedural skills using factors such as number of professional development trainings taken, time since last training, subject taught, educational background, teaching experience, and whether they currently teach CT. This study provides insights for professional development providers to better design CT trainings. Some of these insights are then incorporated in the second study which is a design case of an online gamified professional development for K-12 teachers. The second paper provides design precedents for professional development providers of CT for better CT integration in K-12 education. The third study is a phenomenological multiple case study that investigates teachers’ CT self-efficacy, autonomous motivation, and goal relevance beliefs towards CT. It captures teachers’ understanding of what CT is and what its value is to the subjects that they teach. Together, the three studies holistically understand teacher readiness for integration of CT through teachers’ own perspective and provide key insights into how they can be better prepared for this change.</p>

Today's urban schools are composed of students from diverse cultural backgrounds and varying levels of academic readiness. At the same time, approximately 88% of teachers are White and middle-class. The dispositions of teachers have important educational ramifications. Teachers' beliefs structure the classroom atmosphere, influence perceptions regarding the abilities of students, and impact how they teach and expect students to learn and behave. In order to foster an accepting and productive learning environment, teachers must have cultural awareness. To ensure that all learners receive a solid academic foundation, teachers must be able to instruct dissimilar students. Special educators have been trained to work with students with unique, special needs, but the reality of today's demographics - and special education classrooms in particular - mandate that they also have the cultural knowledge to effectively serve diverse students. Perceptions and attitudes of elementary special education teachers regarding their cultural awareness and beliefs need to be explored. This study examined the cultural awareness beliefs of elementary special educators working in urban school districts located in southeast Texas. The research also needs to ascertain whether ethnicity or length of service effected such teachers' cultural awareness beliefs. Using the Cultural Awareness Beliefs Inventory (CABI) instrument, the investigator gathered self-reported data from 54 participants. The reliability and validity of the instrument were determined to be sound by previous investigators. The CABI contains eight major components: Teacher Beliefs, School Climate, Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, Home and Community Support, Curriculum and Instruction, Cultural Sensitivity, Cultural Awareness, and Teacher Efficacy. Data were analyzed using percentage analysis and one-way analysis of variance. The findings include: 1) Participants had favorable perceptions towards the School Climate, Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, and Cultural Awareness variables; 2) Participants had unfavorable perceptions regarding Teacher Beliefs; 3) In contrast to some previous research, it did not appear that teaching experience impacted cultural beliefs; and 4) Importantly, it was discerned that teachers' ethnicities yielded statistically significant effects on their cultural awareness and beliefs regarding African American special education students.

Nesta tese, volto-me para a educação sexual dirigida às crianças, buscando problematizar processos de produção das diferenças sexuais e de gênero. Para tanto, examino duas coleções de livros paradidáticos de educação sexual endereçados à infância. Esta investigação sustentou-se nos campos dos Estudos Culturais e dos Estudos Feministas, articulados com a perspectiva pós-estruturalista de análise. O processo analítico dos livros baseou-se no estudo das suas “representações” sexuais e de gênero e na tentativa de explicitar um modo de problematizar tais representações a partir de um processo de “desconstrução”. O modo como o gênero e a sexualidade estão representados produz significados que marcam e constituem não apenas o sujeito e as práticas normais, como também os sujeitos e as práticas “desviantes”, “não-autorizadas”, “anormais”. O procedimento desconstrutivo que procurei ensaiar nesta tese poderá servir não apenas como recurso analítico dos artefatos escolares como também poderá sugerir formas de operar na prática pedagógica da Educação Sexual, em qualquer nível de ensino. Foram problematizados temas como: relação sexual, diferentes famílias, anticoncepção, masculinidades e feminilidades, homossexualidade, maternação, abuso sexual, HIV/AIDS, sexo seguro, educação sexual, sujeito infantil. Questionar a maneira como as diferenças e as identidades são representadas, a partir de um artefato pedagógico, e, por extensão, como essas diferenças são representadas na cultura, foi assumido nesta tese como imprescindível em qualquer processo de educação e de formação de educadoras/es e/ou futuras/os pedagogas/os. / In this thesis I work with sexual education for children with the intention of discussing the production processes of sexual and gender differences. Therefore, I examine two didactical sexual education textbooks addressed to infancy. This investigation was supported by the fields of Cultural Studies and Feminist Studies, articulated with the post-structuralist perspective of analysis. The book´s analytical process was based in the study of its sexual and gender “representations” in an effort to make explicit a way to discuss those representations using a process of “deconstruction”. The way gender and sexuality are represented create meanings that define and constitute not only the subject and normal practices, but also the subject and the “deviating”, “non-authorized”, “abnormal” practices. The deconstructive procedure that I discussed in this thesis can be used not only as a analytical resource of school artifacts but also can suggest ways to operate pedagogical practice in Sexual Education in any educational level. The following themes were discussed: sexual relations, different families, contraception, masculinity and feminality, homosexuality, maternance, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, safe sex, sexual education and infantile subject. To question the way the differences and identities are represented based in a pedagogical artifact and, by extension, how those differences are represented in culture was assumed in this thesis as indispensable in any educational process and in the development of educators and/or future pedagogues.

Nesta tese, volto-me para a educação sexual dirigida às crianças, buscando problematizar processos de produção das diferenças sexuais e de gênero. Para tanto, examino duas coleções de livros paradidáticos de educação sexual endereçados à infância. Esta investigação sustentou-se nos campos dos Estudos Culturais e dos Estudos Feministas, articulados com a perspectiva pós-estruturalista de análise. O processo analítico dos livros baseou-se no estudo das suas “representações” sexuais e de gênero e na tentativa de explicitar um modo de problematizar tais representações a partir de um processo de “desconstrução”. O modo como o gênero e a sexualidade estão representados produz significados que marcam e constituem não apenas o sujeito e as práticas normais, como também os sujeitos e as práticas “desviantes”, “não-autorizadas”, “anormais”. O procedimento desconstrutivo que procurei ensaiar nesta tese poderá servir não apenas como recurso analítico dos artefatos escolares como também poderá sugerir formas de operar na prática pedagógica da Educação Sexual, em qualquer nível de ensino. Foram problematizados temas como: relação sexual, diferentes famílias, anticoncepção, masculinidades e feminilidades, homossexualidade, maternação, abuso sexual, HIV/AIDS, sexo seguro, educação sexual, sujeito infantil. Questionar a maneira como as diferenças e as identidades são representadas, a partir de um artefato pedagógico, e, por extensão, como essas diferenças são representadas na cultura, foi assumido nesta tese como imprescindível em qualquer processo de educação e de formação de educadoras/es e/ou futuras/os pedagogas/os. / In this thesis I work with sexual education for children with the intention of discussing the production processes of sexual and gender differences. Therefore, I examine two didactical sexual education textbooks addressed to infancy. This investigation was supported by the fields of Cultural Studies and Feminist Studies, articulated with the post-structuralist perspective of analysis. The book´s analytical process was based in the study of its sexual and gender “representations” in an effort to make explicit a way to discuss those representations using a process of “deconstruction”. The way gender and sexuality are represented create meanings that define and constitute not only the subject and normal practices, but also the subject and the “deviating”, “non-authorized”, “abnormal” practices. The deconstructive procedure that I discussed in this thesis can be used not only as a analytical resource of school artifacts but also can suggest ways to operate pedagogical practice in Sexual Education in any educational level. The following themes were discussed: sexual relations, different families, contraception, masculinity and feminality, homosexuality, maternance, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, safe sex, sexual education and infantile subject. To question the way the differences and identities are represented based in a pedagogical artifact and, by extension, how those differences are represented in culture was assumed in this thesis as indispensable in any educational process and in the development of educators and/or future pedagogues.

Nesta tese, volto-me para a educação sexual dirigida às crianças, buscando problematizar processos de produção das diferenças sexuais e de gênero. Para tanto, examino duas coleções de livros paradidáticos de educação sexual endereçados à infância. Esta investigação sustentou-se nos campos dos Estudos Culturais e dos Estudos Feministas, articulados com a perspectiva pós-estruturalista de análise. O processo analítico dos livros baseou-se no estudo das suas “representações” sexuais e de gênero e na tentativa de explicitar um modo de problematizar tais representações a partir de um processo de “desconstrução”. O modo como o gênero e a sexualidade estão representados produz significados que marcam e constituem não apenas o sujeito e as práticas normais, como também os sujeitos e as práticas “desviantes”, “não-autorizadas”, “anormais”. O procedimento desconstrutivo que procurei ensaiar nesta tese poderá servir não apenas como recurso analítico dos artefatos escolares como também poderá sugerir formas de operar na prática pedagógica da Educação Sexual, em qualquer nível de ensino. Foram problematizados temas como: relação sexual, diferentes famílias, anticoncepção, masculinidades e feminilidades, homossexualidade, maternação, abuso sexual, HIV/AIDS, sexo seguro, educação sexual, sujeito infantil. Questionar a maneira como as diferenças e as identidades são representadas, a partir de um artefato pedagógico, e, por extensão, como essas diferenças são representadas na cultura, foi assumido nesta tese como imprescindível em qualquer processo de educação e de formação de educadoras/es e/ou futuras/os pedagogas/os. / In this thesis I work with sexual education for children with the intention of discussing the production processes of sexual and gender differences. Therefore, I examine two didactical sexual education textbooks addressed to infancy. This investigation was supported by the fields of Cultural Studies and Feminist Studies, articulated with the post-structuralist perspective of analysis. The book´s analytical process was based in the study of its sexual and gender “representations” in an effort to make explicit a way to discuss those representations using a process of “deconstruction”. The way gender and sexuality are represented create meanings that define and constitute not only the subject and normal practices, but also the subject and the “deviating”, “non-authorized”, “abnormal” practices. The deconstructive procedure that I discussed in this thesis can be used not only as a analytical resource of school artifacts but also can suggest ways to operate pedagogical practice in Sexual Education in any educational level. The following themes were discussed: sexual relations, different families, contraception, masculinity and feminality, homosexuality, maternance, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, safe sex, sexual education and infantile subject. To question the way the differences and identities are represented based in a pedagogical artifact and, by extension, how those differences are represented in culture was assumed in this thesis as indispensable in any educational process and in the development of educators and/or future pedagogues.

Estimates of “Street Youth” (SY) (those who live/work on the streets) show 150 million around the world, with approximately 50,000 in Kenya alone as of 2018. Challenges these youth face remain a significant barrier to national governments achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) targets, as formal schools limit access or fail to provide meaningful and supported learning experiences for SY. However, informal learning spaces that empower youth to solve problems themselves may provide them with the knowledge and skills they are denied by formal schools. SY rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration centers all around the world emphasize and place education at the center of their operations. Recommendations for educational services for SY include providing flexible, alternative education and skills training for youth unable or unwilling to return to school. However, the lack of skilled professionals working with the SY population is one of the most critical challenges.<div>To meet the learning needs of vast numbers of SY, teachers already connected to this population must be trained in teaching more empowering, skill-based courses such as engineering, which are typically complex. Such innovative, problem-centered curricula demand skilled teachers who are prepared to facilitate a more student-centered classroom. However, sub-Saharan Africa faces a shortage of 17 million formally qualified teachers, even for its formal public schools. Therefore, connecting with the teachers in the context and training them in engineering teaching is crucial. Researchers have long argued the need for teacher professional development to be continuous and long-term. Through this dissertation, I present a Design-Based Research (DBR) study of untrained Teacher Professional Development (TPD) in collaboration with three aspiring engineering teachers at an alternative school for SY in western Kenya. I draw on the theoretical framework of Situated Learning and Communities of Practice (CoP) to discuss the outcomes of a three-phase professional development program. Each phase was designed using the recommendation from McKenney et al. (2006) to include three iterative micro-cycles of analysis, design, and evaluation leading to a meso-cycle. In total, three meso-cycles were completed to arrive at DBR’s final phase of reflection and generation of design principles.<br></div><div>In the first phase, teachers in this study adopted reflective practice strategies to increase their awareness of the practice. Analysis from the study showed that the teachers individually and collectively showed resilience to challenging and complex experiences by establishing a strong foundation for the community of practice. In the second phase, teachers engaged in action research to improve both teaching and learning outcomes. Results demonstrated increased active participation of the teachers in their teaching practice, and developed new understandings of engineering teaching. However, the first two studies also showed the challenges limiting the teachers from constructing an engineering teacher identity and unresolved questions about the sustainability of the TPD. Therefore, in the last phase, the teachers adopted mentoring new teachers as a strategy to develop their identities and sustain the engineering TPD.<br></div><div>The findings from the three phases resulted in generation of design outcomes that include a situated understanding of the theory in this fragile context and design principles that are transferable in comparable settings. Implications of this work suggest a sustainable teacher professional development model for untrained engineering teachers in fragile contexts and present relevant design principles for the CoP.<br></div>

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and many changes were made to offer more flexibility for English language learners (ELLs). Historically, teachers have not been well informed of the changes made to the specific requirements of educational policy despite being at the frontline to implement these changes in their classrooms. This mixed methods study includes the development of a comprehensive online survey to investigate how aware Indiana teachers are of the ESSA specific requirements for ELLs and the results of the survey completed by 46 teachers. For the analysis of the survey data, both statistical analysis and visual analytics were employed. Findings suggest that the teachers were not highly informed of the specific requirements of ESSA for ELLs, as well as were not adequately prepared to teach and assess ELLs under ESSA. Accordingly, very few teachers reported that they have made changes to their classroom instruction and assessment practices that would be beneficial for ELLs under ESSA. This study reiterates that the effectiveness of federal educational policy should be examined at the classroom level and suggests that the first step should be to clearly inform the classroom teachers by offering district level professional development, which includes a summary of the changes resulting from NCLB to ESSA. The study further highlights that without informing Indiana teachers of the changes made in federal educational policies, the shift from NCLB to ESSA will be nothing more than a renaming of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Hence, the study underlines that only when these changes are implemented at the classroom level through teachers, all students, including ELLs, will benefit from these new policy changes under ESSA.

Many high school math teachers are not trained for teaching students with mild disabilities. Math curriculum is not typically developed with the needs of students with mild disabilities in mind. Teachers may not be aware of the unique barriers for students with mild disabilities, and strategies to help them master mathematics. The purpose of this study was to identify research-based techniques used by general education and special education teachers for teaching math to high school students with mild disabilities. The study also investigated teachers’ perceptions of and willingness to implement specific strategies to teach math skills to students with mild disabilities. Academic research articles were reviewed to identify strategies. A survey was taken by nine high school general education and five special education teachers who teach math. The results showed a reasonable degree of knowledge, experience, and positive perceptions of evidence-based strategies, especially co-teaching. There were significant differences between the responses of teachers with math teaching licenses compared to those with special education licenses. Based on the existing literature and the survey results, a handbook of resources was created for teachers of secondary math classes to support learning for students with mild disabilities.