This grounded theory study examined the perceptions of 14 high school social studies teachers from three school districts in the Central Florida area. They were interviewed to uncover the decision-making process that high school social studies teachers use to choose methodologies when teaching controversial public issues (CPIs). The result was a three-phase model, the CPI Decision-Making Model, in which teachers move through three conceptual phases to decide on a particular methodology. By working through this process, teachers analyze the benefits and drawbacks of different methods for teaching controversial public issues. Significant results from this study included: (a) teachers were choosing to avoid teaching CPIs with standard-level students with student-centered methods, (b) teachers received little to no training in alternative methods and no training in how to deal with controversy in the classroom, (c) teachers possibly overestimated their ability to remain neutral in the classroom, and (d) teachers were learning their methodologies for teaching CPIs through unorthodox means.

This study is an exploration of the aspects related to the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education. The investigation specifically focused on the relationship between teacher perceptions of Response to Intervention (RTI), teacher racial attitudes, and teacher self-efficacy with respect to their special education referral decisions. Teachers assigned to grades K-5 (n=51), from three Florida public school districts, completed an online survey. The survey included reading four vignettes each describing a fictitious 3rd grade, male, Black/African American student and rating the severity of the academic concern, the severity of the behavior concern, and the likelihood that they would refer the student for a special education evaluation. Participants also completed a revised RTI Survey, the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS), and the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). Spearman's correlation coefficients were calculated as well as an ordinal logistic regression. A statistically significant relationship was found between the Unawareness of Institutional Discrimination subscale score of the CoBRAS and the behavior concern for a student described as having mild behavior and academic concerns. A statistically significant relationship was found between the rating of the behavior concern and the Efficacy in Student Engagement and Efficacy in Classroom Management subscale scores on the TSES for the vignette describing a student with a severe reading concern and a mild behavior concern. The teachers' perceptions of RTI, racial attitudes, and sense of efficacy did not appear to have a statistically significant impact on their rating of the likelihood of referral for any of the students described in the vignettes.

The author explores the benefits of making arts experiences and instruction a regular part of the elementary classroom routine and suggests ways to incorporate them. She investigates the connection between the arts and learning, to see how the arts enhance education. Through selected literature, government leaders, business people and educators speak out on behalf of the need for the arts in education. The author offers a variety of ideas and resources that the classroom teacher can use to become more arts minded in her lesson planning.

The purpose of this research study was to predict and explain elementary and secondary preservice teachers' continuance behavioral intentions and pedagogical usage of Twitter, a web based social networking, microblogging platform, to build professional growth and capital. The objective of the research study was to examine preservice teachers' beliefs associated with the specified constructs that formed the latent variables of the hypothesized research model; these latent variables were then measured with their associated indicators or manifest variables, and the relationship between the manifest variables was examined through the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) process. A non-experimental empirical research study was conducted using the survey methodology; purposive, criterion referenced, sampling of elementary and secondary preservice teachers, N=379, was employed using social media platforms and intern listserv at a large Southeastern university. The final sample of N= 250 participants was determined through the process of regression imputation of elementary and secondary preservice teachers' survey responses. The results demonstrated that constructs of the extended Technology Acceptance Model showed significant goodness-of-fit indices and coefficients of determination after analyzing the data from the survey. Implications of this research contribute significantly toward teacher education and training by providing insights into the factors that impact the pedagogical use of Twitter, a web-based social networking and microblogging platform, for building professional capital in preservice teachers.

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