<p> Do professional development sessions in charter schools produce teacher leaders? This is the main question examined in this study. Professional development was established to help with the leadership process and increase teachers&rsquo; capacities overall. Teacher leaders have been deemed as incredibly important to student success and school reformation. Knowing these facts, the researcher sought to probe the utility of professional development in terms of teacher leadership at a charter school whose main intent was reformation. Through a review of the literature, the defining factors for complicated matter such as professional development and teacher leadership were outlined. The literature review helped the researcher look into the parameters of professional development and teacher leadership at what has been given the pseudonym Variety High School. A sociological case study was carried out at Variety High School during the second semester of the 2013-2014 school year. Analysis of focus group interviews, case study observations, and archival documentation were used to examine the impact of professional development on teacher leadership at Variety High School. While there were instances where professional development and teacher leadership were defined and linked to student success, the absence of teacher leadership opportunities was also linked to professional development practices governed by administrative principles. Ultimately, professional development was seen as a powerful tool to increase or decrease more than just leadership for a teacher but quality and skill in general.</p>

<p> Every year, thousands of teachers participate in California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program in order to complete the requirements needed to obtain a clear teaching credential. Within this program lie various facets of support that serve the needs of beginning teachers and aid them in transitioning from university theory to classroom practice. Despite the long-standing existence of the BTSA program and the changes that have taken place since its development in 1992, the need exists for closer analysis of the programs effect on teaching practices and student achievement. </p><p> This quantitative study analyzes (a) the degree of impact on classroom practice experienced by participating teachers, (b) the components of the program reported to have high levels of strong/moderate impact on classroom practice, (c) the components of the program reported to have high levels of some/no impact on classroom practice and (d) the areas where additional support is desired in order to positively impact student achievement. </p><p> As a means to test the quality and impact of the BTSA program on teachers&rsquo; classroom performances, results from the BTSA Program survey were used. The raw survey data was arranged into a usable format by creating a unified list of questions that aligned across the three survey years. After that, descriptive statistical techniques and data visualization methods were utilized to analyze the data. The study found that there is a year by year decline in average ratings with respect to classroom impact, teacher response for desired support topics, and responses for reasons to not continue teaching. </p><p> This study focuses on the impact of the BTSA Program on classroom practice and student achievement. The study provides credence in revealing the need for changes within the BTSA Program in order to positively affect classroom practices and student achievement. Although this study is one perspective, it recognizes the need for the perpetual quality support of beginning teachers. </p>

<p> This qualitative study explored multimodal biliteracy found in the Arizona-Sonora borderland, a region thriving with linguistic and cultural diversity despite having an English-only policy. According to Reyes (2012) biliteracy is to think, speak, read, and write in two or more languages, and there are various modes for reading and writing in the 21st century (Reyes, Acosta, Fierro, Fu, &amp; Zapien, 2017). This dissertation focused on Spanish and English bilinguals. First, I present a literature review (Appendix A) informed by a sociocultural framework (Vygotsky, 1978) for understanding biliteracy as a social practice and valuing language as a resource (Ruiz, 1987). Funds of knowledge (Gonz&aacute;lez, Moll, Amanti, 2005; Moll, Gonz&aacute;lez, Amanti, &amp; Neff, 1994) is an important component in framing this qualitative study and applying methods informing an inclusive pedagogy for bilinguals. Subsequently, I go over the photographs and multimodal composition presented in two case studies of Spanish and English bilinguals. The first case study (Appendix B) documents biliteracy in the household and local community of bilinguals through photography. It contributes to previous research by Reyes, DaSilva Iddings, and Feller (2016) and the two themes from their analysis: 1) Expanding definitions of language and literacy and 2) Deepening the understanding of funds of knowledge. The second case study (Appendix C) examines how bilinguals critically and creatively expressed their Spanish and English in a multimodal composition. Thinking critically about literacy meant reflecting on their everyday reading and writing practices as bilinguals, while being creative meant thinking about the various modes of reading and writing in two languages. This moves literacy beyond a monolingual and monomodal practice into one that cultivates diversity for equity in education for bilinguals. I seek an empowering pedagogy for bilinguals by valuing and making space for linguistic and cultural diversity in the classroom. Biliteracy is a valuable contribution to class and the learning process of students with more than one language. The primary purpose of this dissertation, like funds of knowledge, was to develop critical innovations in teaching (Moll, Amanti, Neff, &amp; Gonz&aacute;lez, 1992) biliteracy for the 21st century. Findings from the photographs, multimodal compositions, written reflections, and retrospective interviews demonstrate how Spanish and English biliteracy is practiced in various modes (e.g. music, dancing, singing, traditional family recipes, and religious/spiritual altars) in the Arizona-Sonora borderland.</p><p>

<p> Teachers are being asked to implement cultural awareness into their instruction in the 21st century classroom, yet many lack the requisite knowledge and skills to accomplish this. The purpose of this inquiry was to explore the perceptions of teachers who are returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCV) regarding what in their long-term international experience influenced them to include cultural awareness in their instruction. Bennett&rsquo;s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity and Mezirow&rsquo;s transformative learning theory were the conceptual frameworks. The research questions for this qualitative study asked how a long-term international volunteering experience impacts teachers&rsquo; pedagogy and what instructional practices RPCV teachers consider to be influenced by their Peace Corps experience. From 11 interviews, codes were identified and categorized into patterns and themes. There were three key findings. The first was that teachers who are RPCVs recognized their Peace Corps experience provided them with a deep cultural experience that brought about the realization of their own culture. The second was their recognition of their ability to adapt to cultural differences more easily than before they had their Peace Corps experience. The final finding was that RPCV teachers choose to use deep and engaging teaching practices with varied approaches, forms, styles, and subject matter in their classrooms upon their return to the United States. Given the current problem of preservice teachers entering teaching jobs with a lack of cultural understanding, these findings could contribute to positive social change by providing a practical approach for policy makers and universities to increase attention to promoting international volunteering and implementing cultural awareness in their curriculum.</p><p>

<p> This design research study examined how professional development in the context of a research practice partnership developed Algebra 1 teachers&rsquo; collective understanding of the eight Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMPs), part of the Common Core State Standards. Over two years, 15 teachers participated in a task analysis routine that included the alignment of mathematical tasks to the SMPs. Group consensus of these task ratings were analyzed quantitatively using Randolph&rsquo;s kappa, along with a measure of individual contributions to consensus that was based on calculations of pairwise agreement. Task rating discussions, which targeted disagreement in the task ratings, were analyzed qualitatively using a grounded theory approach. The analyses revealed that consensus for SMP alignment decisions increased over time. Practice 4, <i> model with mathematics</i>, was the only practice for which there was a strong consensus that tasks were aligned to a practice. When alignment to SMPs was correlated with task ratings for cognitive demand, a positive correlation existed between demand and practices one through four, but no correlation existed between demand and practices five through eight. Examination of individual raters&rsquo; contributions to SMP alignments showed differences in the use of content knowledge, use of standards definitions, and attention to alignment criteria. Teachers who attended most to the alignment criteria scored highest in their individual contributions to consensus. These findings add to Brown&rsquo;s theories of <i>design capacity for enactment</i> and <i>pedagogical design capacity</i> (2002, 2009) by arguing that curriculum alignment to academic standards is a process of perceiving affordances in curricular materials, and that the process necessarily relies on consensus interpretations of standards and socially developed criteria for alignment. The implications of this study suggest that task analysis is useful, but not sufficient for developing teachers&rsquo; understanding of the SMPs, and that the quantitative methods employed in the analysis of this study could have utility as a formative measure in other professional development and research. </p><p>

<p> Professional development (PD) can be an opportunity to address issues that commonly impede educators&rsquo; efforts to develop their professional skills; build supportive relationships; and leverage teachers&rsquo; past experience; current expectations, and future goals to impact practice and theory. However, opportunities for such learning are often limited; teachers engage in broadly disseminated in-service meetings that are divorced from individual classroom contexts, or voluntarily participate in PD seminars and workshops during the summer months, on weekends, or after school. This research asserts that <i>professional development is not a summer job</i>. Rather, PD should be <i>valuable</i> to teachers, engaging them in continuous discourse that is directly relevant to their individual classroom contexts, <i>and valued</i> by others (including administrators, accreditors, and students) who expect continued improvement among teachers in settings that tend to remain static in structure and routine. By analyzing the derivation, evolution, and iterative refinement of new design principles for <i>Participatory Professional Development</i> (PPD), this three-article dissertation explores (a) the nature of PD as a &ldquo;problem&rdquo; and the &ldquo;challenges&rdquo; that seem to hinder its reform; (b) the ways in which a Research-Practice Partnership affected its practitioner-participants, and (c) the affordances and constraints of using the Design-Based <i> Implementation</i> Research (DBIR) framework to organize intersectional professional development research. This dissertation does not intend to present Participatory Professional Development as a panacea for PD research, nor does it claim to have &ldquo;solved&rdquo; the &ldquo;professional development problem.&rdquo; Instead, it offers a new perspective on a rich field of research that may help educational stakeholders more directly support and encourage continuous and accessible professional development that is valuable and valued. PPD is one design framework. The lessons learned from its inception to its final cycle may be useful for others aiming to design professional development environments that value teacher insight and relationship building in a pragmatic, sustainable fashion.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation examined the emotional and relational aspects of co-design, and how the co-design process for creating caring classrooms supported teacher learning. I drew on key elements of improvement science, as a type of design-based implementation research, to understand teachers as learners and as experts. I elaborated two layers of theory to guide this study. First, I conceptualized caring in the context of intentional relationship building with students, described characteristics of caring classrooms, and identified dilemmas that arise from caring. Then, I explored expansive learning and deliberative agency as concepts for understanding teacher learning. With a small group of teachers, we planned, implemented, studied, and revised the routine designed for improving relationships with students. We created a student survey to learn about students&rsquo; experiences and used data to guide revisions. Through qualitative data collection and analysis, I tested, revised, and refined my high-level conjecture that the co-design process supported teacher learning. The findings suggest teachers had opportunities to demonstrate deliberative agency, learn, and grow professionally. I described the evolution of the design and examined the ways the design team grappled with dilemmas. Teachers engaged in learning as they broke away from old routines to design and implement a new routine in their classrooms. I also examined teachers&rsquo; talk when looking at data and found that in analyzing student data together, talk turned both towards and away from deeper investigations of pedagogical practice and the practical measure. Teachers considered students&rsquo; experiences and feelings within their classrooms, which made the data more salient and contributed to the emotional dimensions of design work. In a case study of one teacher, I found that she grappled with dilemmas connected to the co-design process and caring for students, and she used the design team space to reflect on dilemmas and explore emotions related to the dilemmas. Through this study I show how improving teacher-student relationships requires risk-taking, creating classrooms can be complex, and the design team space can become a site of care.</p><p>

<p> This mixed methods research investigated the relationship between student and teacher perceptions of five motivational components of instruction&mdash;appeal, challenge, choice, meaningfulness, and academic self-efficacy&mdash;and how teachers&rsquo; knowledge of their students&rsquo; perceptions informed their reflection on the quality of instruction. The <i>Student Perceptions of Classroom Quality</i> (SPOCQ; Gentry &amp; Owen, 2004) and <i> Teacher Perceptions of Classroom Quality</i> (T-POCQ; Seward, 2016) survey results of students with gifts and talents (<i>n</i> = 306 for a total of 518 administrations of the SPOCQ) and teachers (<i>n</i> = 23 for a total of 39 administrations of the T-POCQ) who participated in a summer academic enrichment program were analyzed. Significant negative but weak correlations existed between these two groups in appeal and meaningfulness, and their perceptions did not significantly correlate on challenge, academic self-efficacy, and choice. The strengths of all five correlations are weak. Ten teachers who represented various demographic groups participated in guided reflection interviews during which teacher and student survey results were compared. Teachers who did not hold degrees in education and/or lacked previous teaching experience felt a tension between content and motivation, viewing teaching as delivering content efficiently, not necessarily motivationally. All teachers perceived that they provided choice but were surprised when their students&rsquo; perceptions suggested otherwise, causing them to reevaluate their actual use of choice in instruction. Overall, teachers valued the addition of the student perspective during their reflections, indicating that it shifted their focus away from the content and learning activities toward the social-emotional aspects of learning. In addition, teachers valued guided reflection with a supportive peer as it kept them focused, helped them &ldquo;think through&rdquo; the data, and provided a sounding board for potential instructional improvement. Implications for instructional practices and professional development in other K-12 settings are discussed in the summary.</p><p>

<p> Although family engagement has long been associated with positive outcomes, it is not easy to establish, particularly in urban classrooms. Teachers whose ethnic and social-economic statuses differ from that of the typical urban family may be unaware of how to build and sustain those relationships. When teachers do attempt to involve families, it is frequently in a unidirectional approach that often is not effective in urban communities nor meaningful to urban families. Using action research this study addresses the question how does the co-construction of literacy bags during kindergarten (1) facilitate family/school engagement among urban, culturally diverse parents and (2) support their children's emergent literacy? Epstein's theoretical framework of over lapping spheres and methods of family involvement guides our understanding of this phenomenon. This research began by building relationships with seven urban, kindergarten student families through a series of four family/school workshops. Workshops created an environment where families and teachers co-created literacy bags. Literacy bags were the vehicle whereby bidirectional communication supported and strengthened home-school connections. Literacy based activities within individual literacy bags were based on home practices and shared expertise (parent to parent, parent to teacher). Data gathered from workshops and meetings revealed four emerging themes: making it work, distributed expertise, connecting home and school, and more than just literacy. This study provides meaningful information into how families and teachers can work together, in a bidirectional and collaborative approach, to enrich the children's literacy development of urban, low socio-economic status kindergarten students.</p><p>

<p> Recruitment and retention of special education teachers is growing concern nationwide. This problem is especially acute amongst teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing in rural areas. Mentoring of novice teachers may be a solution to this problem; however, little research exists regarding the use of mentorship in deaf education. This qualitative case study explored the nature of the mentor/mentee relationship between novice teachers of the deaf and their mentors in rural areas. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with three dyads of mentors and mentees. An open coding inductive qualitative data analysis revealed five themes characterizing the relationship. Results further indicate that these teachers describe the relationship through descriptors that are unique to either the mentor or the mentee, complimentary to each party, and shared between both parties. Implications of these findings for current practice in the field of deaf education are discussed.</p><p>