<p> Astronomy is one of the oldest STEM enterprises today. It is a discipline through which technology has been advanced, as well as our understanding of the universe. Further, astronomy is a gateway science that inspires the imagination of young learners, and can be used to promote STEM careers. In order to advance the astronomy enterprise, we must maintain an informed citizenry. The practice of astronomy has changed over time; astronomy today is much different than it was 50 years ago. In an effort to identify the current practice of astronomy, or what it is that today&rsquo;s astronomers do, 478 U.S. astronomers participated in the study focusing on their engagement in three areas of scientific practice; science attitudes, tools and techniques, and social interactions. In addition, astronomers&rsquo; perceptions about career choice, work-related activities they engage in, motivations for doing astronomy, and changes needed in education were also explored. Data were collected over a 3-month time period via an online survey and telephone interviews. Data provided by survey participants provides a solid foundation from which findings and conclusions are drawn. Today&rsquo;s population of astronomers is largely white, male, and older, however moving toward gender balance. The population as a whole places great importance on the practice of attitudes such as thinking critically, respecting the evidence, honesty, and objectivity. Unlike many might think, astronomers spend little time at the telescope collecting data, but rather the vast majority of their time is spent working at a computer. Further, engaging in administrative duties, writing, use of mathematics, searching for funding, mentoring others, and collaborating with colleagues are all critical tools/techniques and social skills in the practice of astronomy today. Finally, pop culture and personal experience plays a significant role in attracting individuals to a career in astronomy, and exploration and uncovering that which is unknown, the thrill of discovery, is what keeps them motivated. This study identified and quantified the activities in which professional astronomers engage, and the findings can be used to design formal and informal learning experiences K through adult to more closely reflect the science of astronomy and the people who engage in the practice.</p><p>

<p> Choosing curriculum is an essential part of what teachers do to ensure students are successful learners. Students in rural areas may feel many current educational practices are biased toward urban education or may not see the need for education in their lives. Connecting students to their &ldquo;place&rdquo; through place-based learning may help rural students become engaged learners and active community members. Place-based learning is a curriculum designed around the locations near students. Students help create the curriculum by using essential questions and inquiry. Although often used in science and social studies classrooms, place-based learning may be used in the secondary English language arts classroom. This study looks at the advantages and disadvantages of using place-based curriculum in a rural secondary English language arts classroom and determines what implications there are for using place-based curriculum as a regular aspect of the rural secondary English classroom. Using surveys, interviews, reflective student writings, and observational data of community members and students, this case study shows one rural secondary English language arts classroom&rsquo;s place-based learning experience.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation describes a mathematics curriculum and instruction design experiment involving a series of embodied mathematical activities conducted in two Colorado elementary schools Activities designed for this experiment include multi-scalar number line models focused on supporting students&rsquo; understanding of elementary mathematics. Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) served as a roadmap for the development of models and problem contexts during the design process, and maintained the focus on mathematics as human activity. Key ideas and insights from scholars who have employed embodied, enactive, ecological, multimodal, and inclusive materialist theories of mathematical activity/cognition on spatiality, human vision, and perception also informed the work. Departing from the sedentary approach to U.S. elementary school mathematics learning and instruction, the designed activities intentionally required students to use their bodies and tools in space to coordinate solutions to mathematical problems. As a design experiment, the research took place in two phases over the course of a year. Phase 1 occurred over 17 days in a suburban 2^nd grade public school classroom, and phase 2 consisted of six 55-minute clinical interviews with six student pairs from two 3^rd grade classrooms in an urban public school. Findings from this research included students using the designed models to support mathematical arguments and to increase levels of precision in their mathematical activity. Themes also emerged around the ways that students responded to affordances and constraints of the models, by shifting orientations, authority, and re-purposing and creating new tools. Multi-scalar mathematical models, activities, and activity spaces afforded novel and intentionally embodied ways for students to participate in model-centric mathematical activity.</p><p>

<p> Achievement data collected within a standards-based education are susceptible to validity concerns, one of which is the alignment of the standards, assessments, and instruction. While educational policies compelled by Standards-Based Reform have begun to address increasing the alignment of standards and assessments, fostering instructional alignment is overlooked. But a Professional Learning Community, which promotes a similar but internally developed standards-based education, encourages practices that foster instructional alignment through collaboration driven by norms. This dissertation used the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum data set in an exploratory quantitative methodology to link the reform efforts with the principal intention to provide educators with accepted alignment practices towards maximizing the validity of the achievement data, examining instructional practices, and ultimately increasing student learning. First, demographic data were reduced to four components that reasonably represented a professional learning community using a reviewer question reduction process and a Principal Components Analysis. Second, the components were incorporated in a fixed-effects regression model to explore the extent to which the components predict instructional alignment based on the years of experience, the grade band, and the survey year. The results varied with the model being statistically significant in all but one group and the regression coefficients and variability explained by the model were both small. However, notable finding included that the variability explained by the model was highest for the less than one year of experience group, components in English were largely positive statistically significant, components in mathematics were infrequently positive statistically significant, and a component composed of professional development questions in mathematics was a negative predictor for experienced teachers and primary teachers. While the finding indicate alignment practices can be predictive of instructional alignment, they also are suggestive that inconsistent implementation of the Professional Learning Community hinders maximizing the use of alignment practices.</p><p>

<p>The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) highlight the importance of students? conceptual understanding, mathematical reasoning, and problem solving in order to prepare students for college and careers. However, the success of this reform effort largely depends on how teachers actually design and implement instruction based on the goals of the new standards. In particular, teachers? concerns about the reform have a significant effect on this change and the implementation of reform curricula. While there exists an increasing amount of research on reform efforts, many questions still remain regarding the implementation of the CCSSM and teachers? concerns. The purpose of this qualitative dissertation study is to investigate the concerns teachers have regarding the implementation of the CCSSM and how those concerns relate to the enactment of their curricula. This study also explores how teachers address the mathematical shift of rigor defined in the CCSSM in connection with the tasks they use and types of questions they pose to their students. This research involved case studies of three Algebra 1 teachers. Each teacher was observed during three different lessons on linear/non-linear functions. Pre- and post-observation interviews were conducted both before and after each lesson was taught. In order to determine how teachers addressed the mathematical shift of rigor, three different analyses were conducted. Mathematical tasks in the teacher guided notes and lesson enactment were explored in conjunction with teacher questions and the use of the eight mathematical practices. Observations and interviews were used to examine how teacher concerns connect to their implementation of the CCSSM. In particular, cases based on the teacher interviews and videos were compared to one another to explore possible reasons why the teachers address the mathematical shift of rigor differently. Findings suggest a complicated relationship exists between teacher concerns and their intended and enacted curriculum. The results of this study showed that teachers at all stages of concern are not providing cognitively demanding lessons nor are they addressing the mathematical shift of rigor. Only during review lessons did two of the three teachers increase the cognitive demand of the tasks and questions they posed during the enactment of their curriculum. Regarding teacher concerns, different factors seem to take account for the complicated relationship between teacher concerns and their enacted curricula. First, the teacher with self concerns had a lack of content knowledge. This teacher was not able to adjust her intended curriculum, followed the textbook closely and had a difficult time addressing student misconceptions. The teacher with management concerns tended to express her students? low abilities in doing mathematics. This teacher thus focused on student ability, only slightly modified the intended curriculum and provided only low cognitive demand tasks and questions. Finally, the teacher with impact concerns had a high interest in student learning. This teacher was able to alter her intended curriculum based on student questions and misconceptions. However, her tasks and questions remained at a low cognitive demand for two of the three lessons. This study has implications for curriculum developers and professional development providers, as well as teachers and school administrators to help ensure the success of reform curriculum.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to explore how adolescent girls perceive and feel about their bodies while they engage in physical education and how they navigate ways to feel comfortable within their own bodies and the physical education environment and (b) to engage in student-centered exploratory projects. Participants were seven ninth and tenth grade girls. Data were collected from focus group and individual interviews, critical incidents forms, journals, and descriptive field notes from observations. Data were analyzed using content analysis and open, axial, and selective coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Results indicated that four primary factors positively and negatively influenced their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in physical education (a) gender issues in coeducation classes, (b) activities offered, (c) 'people' in the class, and (d) public display in physical education. First, the complexity of gender issues in coeducation classes such as; male dominance, gender segregation, and gender stereotypes, influenced their comfort and type of participation in physical education. Second, prior experience and design of the activity enhanced or exacerbated their perceived competence and opportunity for success. Third, friends and other classmates affected whether they socialized and felt comfortable in physical education class. Finally, the public nature of physical education caused participants to fear being embarrassed and exposed their bodies, which allowed them to compare their bodies and skill ability to other girls in class. Collectively, participants' comfort embodied these factors that affected their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in physical education. Participants' comfort influenced whether they did not participate, participated (i.e., blending in), or actually participated. Participants purposely created strategies to thrive or survive in physical education based on their comfort. Furthermore, participants created informational products as a result of their exploratory projects, which were dispersed among faculty and students. Results suggest that adolescent girls are willing to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences when they are provided a comfortable and safe space where they can engage in discourse among their peers. Adolescent girls have a deeper understanding of how they think and feel within their bodies and their stories need to be told and heard.

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA, 2004) now includes language that permits local education agencies to use a process that determines if a child responds to scientific, research based interventions as part of their evaluation procedures. This reauthorization of IDEA 2004 has led to an increase demand for rigorous research on the outcomes of various models of response to intervention (RTI). Many of the components of RTI have a thorough base of empirical support. However, little empirical work has gone into understanding the standardization of service delivery and implementation of RTI in schools. There are two purposes to this study. First, this evaluation aims to provide formative evaluation data which will aid in the improvement of the processes and functions associated with the Clark County (Las Vegas) RTI Model in their critical role of supporting student achievement. Additionally, observations are then placed into a broader context in how they might contribute to the research base regarding implementation and service delivery standardization. Program evaluation data were collected from ten designated RTI schools in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, NV that included structured interviews, surveys, direct observation of meetings, and a review of student intervention cases. Overall, results indicated evidence of an effective use of assessment and intervention tools across schools in a prevention oriented model. Unique examples of intervention service delivery models are discussed along with future directions for research.

While there is preliminary evidence supporting the use of collaborative problem solving teams in schools (e.g., Telzrow, McNamara, & Hollinger, 2000) only a few outcome measures have been explored in relation to these procedures, and the results have been inconsistently demonstrated across projects (Burns & Symington, 2002). Additionally, it has been found that many school teams are inconsistent in their implementation of quality consultation procedures (e.g., Doll et al., 2005). Unfortunately the positive outcomes that have been associated with collaborative problem solving teams cannot be implied in practice until there is evidence that these procedures can be incorporated into real life situations (Telzrow et al., 2000). This research utilized an explanatory case study design to investigate the factors that contribute to quality team consultation procedures in applied settings. The analysis of the permanent products of cases seen by three Instructional Support Teams (IST) during the 2006-2007 school year, revealed that on average IST’s were able to implement five out of seven problem solving steps with fidelity. There was little evidence to confirm that teams provided detailed information on interventions that were implemented, or that treatment integrity data were collected regularly. Higher rates of implementation were found to be weakly associated with both greater goal attainment (r=.203, p=.044) and fewer referrals to special education (r=.230, p=.025). A comparison of mean implementation rates between academic and behavioral problems also indicated that teams implemented the process with greater fidelity when working on academic concerns (t (97) =3.387, p=.001). Focus group discussions revealed that team members and teaching staff considered the IST process to be more effective in addressing academic rather than behavioral problems. IST members identified the following factors as contributing to the success of their teams: administrative support, intervention support provided by specialists and Title 1 staff, participation of experts on teams, and teachers’ attitudes. Teachers and IST members identified time and scheduling to be the most significant barrier associated with the IST process. The supports and barriers to the IST process were interpreted in the context of the studies limitations, and presented with implications for practice and future research.

This qualitative research study examines the holistic experience of secondary classroom teachers who are changing their predominant instructional technique from a mostly traditional teaching method to a student-centered, problem-based approach to curriculum delivery. Using field notes, interviews, focus groups, observations of classrooms and faculty meetings and related document study in conjunction with, and as driven by, simultaneous analysis, the researcher inquired about the nature of implementing change in instructional delivery and those influences that both help and hinder the process. Data revealed four categories with related findings: practices of changing instructional delivery, a teacher focus on students, elements of working within a culture of change, and the personal experience of implementing a change in instructional delivery.

This study examined learning environments in middle school mathematics classes through the perspectives of high and low achieving students. The goal of the study was to determine which classroom learning environment factors are experienced differently by high achievers than they are by lower achieving students. The "What is Happening in Class" questionnaire and results of a standards-based mathematics assessment were used to identify participants with high mathematics achievement and relatively favorable perceptions of their classroom learning environment and students with low mathematics achievement and relatively unfavorable perceptions of their mathematics classroom learning environment. Participants were interviewed in focus groups and selected participants were also interviewed individually. Results revealed that four aspects of the mathematics classroom learning may impact achievement because they can be experienced differently by students who are high and low achievers. These aspects of the learning environment are teacher support, equity, student cohesiveness and task orientation. Teacher support was linked to perceived affiliation with the teacher. Both low and high achievers indicated that teachers seem to be more affiliated with students who are high achievers that answer questions correctly and with students who comply with classroom rules. The equity issues identified by students were related to the amount and type of support that learners get to meet their learning needs. Lower achieving students perceived that it was harder for them to get attention and support for learning needs than did higher achieving students because they perceive that much of classroom attention is directed at praising students for what they already know how to do rather than for new learning. Students described strong preferences for working in self-selected groups. High achieving students were more likely to be able to name and describe classroom processes, tasks, and expectations than were lower achieving students. This study affirms the need for teachers of middle school mathematics to be attentive to pedagogical choices, classroom norms, and the nature of classroom opportunities. The study identifies status issues that arise from certain types of mathematics pedagogy and calls for transparency in classroom norms and strategic grouping practices to improve learning opportunities for lower achieving students.