This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study investigated the development of children's perceptions of interethnic and interracial friendships by employing the Perceptions of Intergroup Friendships Questionnaire , a measure designed for this study. A total of 103 children (53 Kindergarten and first graders and 50 fourth and fifth graders) attending one, ethnically/racially-diverse, urban, elementary school in a middle-sized Northeastern city, were interviewed employing the questionnaire. In addition, a sub sample of 17 children (7 Kindergarten and first graders and 10 fourth and fifth graders) were interviewed employing a lengthier semi-structured interview format. Results indicate that K/1st and 4 th/5th graders' differ significantly in their perceptions of intergroup friendships with younger children holding more positive perceptions than older children. African American children demonstrated more positive perceptions of intergroup friendships than European American children. Younger children and girls also held more positive perceptions of intragroup friendships than older children and boys. Children involved in intergroup friendships attributed lower levels of these relationships in the higher grades to prejudice and incidents of racist behavior in the school, along with fewer opportunities to interact with children of different ethnicities/race both within and outside of the school context. Children involved in exclusively intragroup relationships attributed lower levels of intergroup friendships to a normative developmental pattern through which children become increasingly more selective and include only "similar" peers in friendships circles. These differing perspectives are based in children's own racial attitudes and experiences of prejudice. Lastly, children shared their perspectives on how intergroup friendships could be better-supported in schools.

The purpose of this study was to explore at-risk (Native Taiwanese) children's habits of mind, applying Vygotsky's ZPD theory in learning habits of mind in math. Workshops were used to teach pairs of siblings' habits of mind. The study was conducted with 62 subjects and 62 siblings or older peers in two elementary schools. Each pair was randomly assigned into either the experimental or the control group. Siblings who were in the experimental group participated in the workshops to receive training that could help the experimental subjects to learn habits of mind. A pretest and a posttest were given to assess their habits of mind in math. Analysis of data revealed no significant differences between experimental group and control group in the pretest. In the posttest, there were significant differences between experimental group and control group in the areas of patterning, describing, and visualizing, but there was no significant difference in the “experimenting” condition. In summary, the data shows that patterning is easy to learn, visualizing comes next, describing is more difficult, and experimenting is the most difficult. All of these habits of mind can be learned through applying Vygotsky's ZPD theory and using sibling workshop, but there is a need for the students and siblings to have extensive time to practice.

Assessment and accountability has been a major influence in public education since the introduction of No Child Left Behind and continue to influence teachers and students with the signing of Race to the Top. In Florida, the value-added model (VAM) is beginning to be implemented into teacher evaluations. These evaluations take into account student gains on NCLB assessments and formal instructional observations. However, teachers have had very little say in the implementation of this new law and the Common Core State Standards. When it comes to teacher understanding of a policy, teacher understanding can play a role in how teachers implement and approach a policy. This instrumental qualitative study (Stake, 1995) focused on the role of VAM and merit pay play in how teachers view their work in the school and school community. Using Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (1984), Control-Value Theory (Pekrun, 2006), and the emerging model from my preliminary study (Pressley, 2014) I focused on how VAM and merit pay impacts teachers' motivation to change their instruction. This study focused on 13 elementary teachers from schools with different grades (one A, two B, and two C) with three teachers from all but one school (C2). Overall, I found that the teachers had limited knowledge of VAM and had negative feelings about VAM being part of their evaluations. These feelings were based on the low value and low control teachers felt regarding their student test scores that are used to determine a VAM score. The teachers did not feel that VAM drove their changes in instruction; however, teachers were still changing instruction. The changes were made either for higher observation scores, student learning or were district mandated. When it came to merit pay, ten of the thirteen teachers did not want to give up tenure for merit pay. The teachers felt there could be mixed impact on the school community because of merit pay depending on the sense of community between teachers within the school or grade level team. Lastly, even though the teachers had negative feelings regarding VAM the teachers were not against teacher accountability. Based on these findings, implications for future research and practice are considered. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2015. / July 14, 2015. / Effective Teaching, Merit Pay, Teacher evaluation, Teacher perspective, Value-added model / Includes bibliographical references. / Alysia D. Roehrig, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathy Clark, University Representative; Susan Losh, Committee Member; Jeannine Turner, Committee Member.

Researchers say that what really differentiates mature age students is not age as much as it is life experiences. How and in what ways does that influence the preparation of pre-service teachers? What happens in the classroom is more related to the teacher than any other variable. All, and especially older student teachers, bring rich experiences and images into the classroom that affect their attitudes, approach, and decision-making. The overall purpose of this research was to learn how life experiences of mature age student teachers influence their learning to teach children in an elementary classroom. Participants are five students between the ages of 38 and 45, who did their student teaching practicum within a traditional teacher preparation program. Data was gathered from three in-depth interviews, three classroom observations with field notes and video tapes, and from selected documents. The Rainbow of Life Roles (Super, 1980) was used to supplement interviews about the life experiences of each participant. Stimulated Recall (Bloom, 1953 and others) was used to discover what past experiences influenced decision making and problem solving. Interview questions focused on participants' interpretation of their life experiences, their perspectives of themselves as learners, workers, and parents, and their ideas about teaching. Based on the data, the following conclusions were reached. (1) Life experiences, from activities such as other jobs, parenting, travel, reading, coaching, and community work were embedded in the perspectives of the emerging teacher serving as a lens or filter through which decisions were made in the classroom. (2) Life experiences provided connections to build upon or barriers to be reconstructed. Examination of prior experiences and beliefs will help to reconstruct these experiences into meaningful ideas about teaching that will be more than an overlay experience that may be washed out in the early rigors of learning to teach. Implications for teacher education include the need for promotion of the examination of prior life experiences to integrate self-knowledge with theory and practice and to remove possible barriers to the development of solid teaching practices.

This qualitative study evaluated the effects of implementing a peer coaching process with ten graduate interns during their student teaching experiences in an alternative, elementary education program. A peer coaching model was provided in combination with an existing and more traditional model of supervision from cooperating teachers and university supervisors. This study explored the ways in which a peer coaching process affected the preservice teachers' reflective and instructional practices, and how it impacted their acquisition and development of collaboration skills. The study also examined difficulties that were encountered and how the process might be adjusted to make it more successful for future use. The findings of this study suggest that a peer coaching process can provide a valuable component to a teacher education program. Having the opportunity to interact with peers provided immense affective support for the interns as well as opportunities for reflective interactions, some of which were centered on inquiry into the craft of teaching. The interns in this study also used the peer observation process to increase their teaching effectiveness by adding to and refining their pedagogical skills. The peer coaching experience offered additional support than that provided by the mentor teacher and resource person, with the interns suggesting that what they learned from peers was different but complementary from what they learned from their mentor teachers and resource staff. While the majority of the interns' perceptions of the peer coaching experience were positive, they were able to offer specific suggestions for improving the process, including the need for additional guidance on facilitating reflection conferences in order to provide more critical and honest feedback to peers. The following four factors appeared to contribute to the successful implementation of a peer coaching process within this teacher education program: (1) Overall opportunities for collaboration were an integral component of the teacher education program. (2) Cohorts of interns were placed in only two sites, one of which was an urban setting. (3) Structured preparation was provided in the peer coaching process. and (4) The peer coaching process was a required program component.

The purpose of the study was to examine students' and teachers' perceptions of instructional alignment in two different units of instruction. Participants were 24 4th grade students and two physical education teachers who turn taught the 4th grade class. Data were collected through field note observations and formal interviews using a semi-structured interview guide with the physical education teachers and 13 students who had participated in both units. Document data were also collected in the form of district curriculum, assessment examples, and task cards. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively. Observational data were analyzed inductively using Cohen's (1987) model of instructional alignment and Doyle's (1977) ecological model. Results indicated that a misalignment existed between the teachers' goals and what the students perceived they were to learn. The misalignment may have occurred as a result of the lack of congruence among the teachers' goals and the fact that students' achievement of the teachers' goals was not tied to a grade.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of teacher collaboration and co-teaching on the response to literacy intervention of elementary-aged students with learning disabilities. The study utilized a multiple-baseline approach. The participants in this study included three second-grade students identified with learning disabilities, their special education teachers, and their classroom teachers from a north metro school district in Colorado. During the baseline phase, students received traditional pull-out literacy interventions and classroom instruction. During the intervention phase, the general education teacher and special education teacher collaboratively planned and co-taught the student's small group reading lesson. Students' literacy skills were monitored weekly using a variety of progress monitoring assessments. Students' oral reading fluency was monitored using the DIBELS Test of Oral Reading Fluency (Good & Kaminski, 2002). Sight word fluency was monitored using the Easy CBM word reading assessment (Alonzo & Tindal, 2007). Decoding fluency was measured using the DIBELS Test of Nonsense Word Fluency (Good & Kaminski, 2002). Overall reading levels were assessed using the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS; Invernizzi et al., 2003). Results were analyzed based on a visual analysis and the percentage exceeding the median (PEM). Results varied among participants. Overall results for oral reading fluency indicated that two students had a moderate response while the third student had a questionable response. The EasyCBM Word Reading assessment results resulted in two of the three students falling in the questionable range while the third student demonstrated a high effect size. A higher level of response was illustrated on the DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency assessment with two out of three students falling in the high range and one student falling in the moderate range. Overall changes in reading level varied for each student. Student One regressed, Student Two increased his reading level, and Student Three remained the same. Teachers filled out a post-study Intervention Rating Profile (IRP) and participated in a teacher interview to measure the social validity of the intervention. The teacher interview and IRP indicated that teachers perceived the use of the co-planning and co-teaching intervention as beneficial for students with academic difficulties. Benefits of the co-planning and co-teaching intervention included the opportunity to learn from each other and the ability to create a bridge from the classroom to intervention setting. Teachers identified scheduling co-teaching opportunities and finding time to co-plan as barriers to the co-planning and co-teaching intervention.^

This case study investigated the planning, implementation, and assessment of a staff development project designed to reduce stress and provide a support base for improved learning by introducing Movement/Relaxation skills to an urban elementary school. Focus of the research was directed towards meeting the needs of differently-abled children in the low income African American community. It examined possible body/mind strategies for making the curriculum more accessible to the active learning style of African American children. The program also took into consideration concerns of the adult learners among the professionals. It acknowledged school improvement as an ongoing process that must appeal to the efficacy of teachers who may commit to change when they feel what they are doing will make a difference. During workshops and coaching sessions, an action team of volunteer educators explored aspects of nonverbal communication in space, ways of bringing Movement/Relaxation into the curriculum and techniques for developing body depth, or inner space, and relaxation. The action team generated a group dynamic that enabled the participants to: (1) share experiences; (2) clarify understandings; (3) encourage each other in the classroom practice of body/mind activities; (4) gain an awareness of nonverbal communication and how to improve teacher/student relationships; (5) realize the value of relaxation as basic to concentration, attention and learning; (6) excite the interest of other faculty members; and (7) foster a more nurturing school climate. Endorsement of the study by central administration strengthened the commitment of school personnel who contributed towards its implementation. Cooperation by the principal, math and reading coordinators, as well as the responsibility demonstrated by school aides were essential to the progress of this research. The time spent working together served to bond the participants and those who lent supportive assistance to their efforts.

The curriculum exists not in books and bulletins, but in the experiences of children, guided and directed by the school, Schools must be concerned, therefore, with materials and methods best adapted to providing the kind of experiences essential to the development of well-informed, thinking, self-controlled boys and girls. / Typescript. / "July 17, 1951." / A paper submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master's degree. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-33).

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Central Element School in Kissimmee, with special reference to planning an adjusted program at third grade level. / "August, 1948." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: W. T. Edwards, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-45).