<p> There is deep concern the United States is not preparing enough students, teachers, and professional mathematicians and scientists to sustain the economic and scientific development that has made this country great. The problem is that elementary teachers are typically poorly prepared in mathematics, which is ultimately placing students at a disadvantage as they advance through the higher grades and college without a strong mathematics foundation. Educational studies have pointed to the importance of providing elementary teachers with on-going improvement of pedagogical practice in mathematics, but elementary teachers remain underprepared to teach it. The purpose of this mixed-methods research is to study the effectiveness of Lesson Study as a means of professional development for elementary teachers&rsquo; implementation of the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices (CCSS).</p><p> The study focuses on teachers&rsquo; perceptions of Lesson Study and their ability to develop lessons incorporating the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practices and their ability to engage students in developing mathematical thinking. Literature pertaining to Lesson Study reveals the importance of sustained professional development for teachers. In collaboration with the SSD Superintendent and the School Board of SSD, all seven of the district&rsquo;s elementary schools participated in the study focusing on elementary school teachers in grades 2-5 (<i>n</i>=64). Researchers from the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago randomly assigned these teachers into equal groups of either the treatment group (<i>n</i>=32) or the control group (<i>n</i>=32). The elementary teachers who participated in this study were part of the Lesson Study professional development treatment group (<i>n</i>=32) in grades 2-5. The findings suggest Lesson Study can be an effective means of professional development for implementing the Common Core State Standards and the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices. Through Lesson Study teachers can begin to move away from a teacher-centered classroom to one that focuses on a student-centered approach to teaching and learning. Educational policymakers will learn from this study how teachers can benefit from Lesson Study as a type of professional development and how it can support teachers as they integrate new ideas into classroom practice. </p>

No description available.

<p> This qualitative study examines the enactment of culturally responsive teaching practices (Gay, 2010) within two African American elementary teachers' classrooms. Teacher interviews, classroom observations, and classroom documents were collected and analyzed to examine the supports and barriers these teachers encountered as they attempted to enact culturally responsive teaching practices. The descriptive case study reveals that both teachers engage culturally responsive teaching in similar ways. However, the difference in school context makes this effort more challenging for one teacher than another. Barriers included institutional requirements, classroom disruptions, student issues, and teacher isolation. Additionally, by implementing a collaborative coaching model as part of the study design, I briefly explored the role a teacher educator might play in supporting practicing teachers' engagement of culturally responsive teaching. Based on the findings, school structures are critiqued and suggestions for developing systems to support the enactment of culturally responsive teaching practices are introduced.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to determine the degree to which activities within an undergraduate teacher education course in classroom assessment prepared preservice teachers for engaging parents in their children's education. Research indicates that few preservice teachers enter their first classrooms prepared, specifically in the areas of complex tasks such as assessment and parent engagement. Moreover, sound practices in assessment and parent engagement have been demonstrated to have positive impact on student achievement. If designed appropriately, professional development activities for preservice teachers can develop their knowledge, skills, and professional efficacy to enhance student achievement. To address this, preservice teachers enrolled in a classroom assessment course in an elementary teacher education program in a Midwestern U.S. university were given a set of role-playing activities requiring them to consider and respond to typical assessment conversations teachers often have with parents. These role playing activities included (a) explaining to parents the instructional and assessment frameworks used to address the learning needs of students in a class, (b) discussing a recent change in performance with two parents (one whose child improved and one whose child declined), (c) resolving a complaint from a parent about a child's grade, and (d) explaining and interpreting a child's standardized achievement results with a parent. Through a secondary analysis of data, the degree to which these activities did, indeed, prepare the preservice teachers for engaging parents through assessment was studied. As such, a pre-post measure design was used to test whether the experimental group improved as compared to another section (control group) of the assessment class that did not participate in the role-playing activities. Results indicated that participants in the experimental group gained more knowledge about parent engagement and communicating with parents than the control group but did not change in efficacy as compared to the control. Coding and analysis of the preservice teachers' role-playing assignments demonstrated that most of them gained valuable skills in working with parents on assessment issues, and the preservice teachers in the experimental group endorsed the role-playing activities as being valuable for their education as teachers. Results are discussed in terms of possible implications for teacher education.</p>

<p> This study explores the responses of twelve fifth graders to Japanese pictorial texts&mdash; manga (Japanese comics), anime (Japanese animations), kamishibai (Japanese traditional visual storytelling), and picture books &mdash; and their connections to Japanese culture and people. </p><p> This study took place Ca&ntilde;on Elementary School in Black Canyon City in Arizona. The guiding research questions for this study were: How do children respond to Japanese pictorial texts? and What understandings of Japanese culture are demonstrated in children's inquiries and responses to Japanese pictorial texts? The study drew on reader response theory, New Literacy Studies, and multimodality. Data collection included participant-observation, videotaped/audiotaped classroom discussions and interviews, participants' written and artistic artifacts, ethnographic fieldnotes, and reflection journals. Results revealed that children demonstrated four types of responses including (1) analytical, (2) personal, (3) intertexual, and (4) cultural. These findings illustrate that the children actively employed their popular culture knowledge to make intertextual connections as part of meaning making from the stories. They also showed four types of cultural responses including (1) ethnocentrism, (2) understanding and acceptance, (3) respect and appreciation and valuing, and (4) change. This study makes a unique contribution to reader response as it examines American children's cultural understandings and literary responses to Japanese pictorial texts (manga, anime, kamishibai, and picture books).</p>

<p> Historically, new teachers have entered the profession woefully underprepared to immediately be highly effective, primary literacy teachers. The twenty-first century has brought to education extensive reforms in literacy instruction, but are teacher preparation programs keeping up? This research examines the varying levels of perceived preparedness with which new primary teachers are entering the profession. The researcher surveyed K-3 teachers throughout three districts of varying sizes in a northwestern state. The survey focused on determining teachers' perceptions of their levels of preparedness in literacy instruction in general, as well as in the core literacy elements of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and comprehension. The data collection portion of the survey differentiated between new teachers in their first 3 years, practiced teachers with 4-10 years of experience, and veteran teachers with 11 or more years of experience. The practiced and veteran teachers were asked to reflect upon their preparation and their first years of teaching when answering the survey questions. The researcher completed a comparative analysis of the three groups to determine if there has been improvement over time in perceived levels of preparedness for literacy instruction. The survey results determined that this sample population has, in fact, indicated an improvement in the level of literacy-related teacher preparation. This improvement better enables new teachers to be highly effective in primary literacy instruction, to the great benefit of their students.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2320. Adviser: Allison Ryan. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-92) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.D.E.)--Athabasca University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-168). Also available online.