<p> This mixed-methods study sought to explore the impact the role a mathematics curriculum coach has on teacher efficacy and instructional practice. </p><p> School systems across the country are being asked to do more with less money. At the same time, districts are faced with mathematics standards that require a new approach to instruction. In response to these issues, school districts are choosing to implement the role of a mathematics curriculum coach. As a result, the question is raised, &ldquo;are the funds utilized for math coaches being used effectively?&rdquo; This mixed-methods study compared two schools of similar makeup. School A employs a math curriculum coach, while School B employs a general curriculum coach. Through the use of a survey (MTEBI), curriculum coach journaling, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews, this study sought to answer three research questions: (a) What is the impact of the use of a math curriculum coach on teacher instructional practices in the area of math; (b) What is the impact of the use of a math curriculum coach on teacher perceptions of their instructional practice; and (c) What is the impact of the use of a math curriculum coach on teacher sense of self-efficacy? The survey was administered to all teachers at both schools with an overall response rate of 63.6%. The focus groups and interviews were a small random sample of teachers at each school who provided an in-depth view of their perceptions regarding the impact of the coaches on their instructional practice and self-efficacy as related to mathematics. The teachers had high levels of self-efficacy when teaching math and high outcome expectancy. These measures did not change over the period of the study. This study found that the math curriculum coach did have an impact on teacher instructional practices.</p><p>

<p>Visual art teachers, from beginning to veteran, often report experiencing feelings of professional isolation and a desire for content-specific support and collaborative professional learning experiences. Mentoring and Induction Programs (IPs) offered by schools and districts continue to fall short of meeting the needs of beginning visual art teachers in particular. There are a large number of visual art teachers in the state of California, especially in Los Angeles County, yet there are no visual art specific support networks for beginning visual art teachers to help them navigate their first years teaching. Collaborative learning groups, such as communities of practice (CoP), may offer visual art teachers opportunities to learn together and support one another in shared learning, yet none have been formally documented in Los Angeles County as a means of supporting novice art educators. The Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA has established a community of practice called the Teacher Induction Program (TIP) to support beginning science teachers with content-specific pedagogy during their first two years of teaching. Using the TIP as a framework, a visual art professional growth support community was outlined for this study based on the needs and concerns of visual art teachers reported throughout the literature. Beginning visual art teachers in Los Angeles County were interviewed to help the researcher better understand their existing and desired supports, as well as their individual needs and concerns as new teachers. The visual art CoP was proposed to them to elicit feedback about its anticipated values (immediate, potential, applied) based on their lived experiences as first or second year PK-12 public school visual art teachers in Los Angeles County.

<p> The compounding experiences of colonial miseducation of youth of color, neoliberal policies and logics in urban communities, colonial logics that render the role of spirituality in social movements as invisible, and adultism in legal and social institutions constrain the transformative possibilities of youth agency in social movements. This study explored (a) how educators working in youth movements can build a decolonizing paradigm and practice for transformative organizing and (b) new paradigmatic interventions and theoretical directions that can help inform a transformative youth organizing approach. The research was conducted through a decolonizing interpretive research methodology (Darder, 2015a) and utilized the interrelated lenses of critical pedagogy and decolonizing pedagogy, in order to gain a historicity of scholarly discussions about the logics of coloniality, social movement theories, and youth-organizing frameworks across various texts. By utilizing the decolonizing interpretive methodology and decolonizing and critical pedagogy theoretical frameworks, this study found that a decolonizing social movement framework for transformative youth organizing calls for (a) creating counterhegemonic havens that create solidarity spaces between youth and adults; (b) building authentic revolution through communion between youth and adults, community-building, and communion with indigenous peoples and the Earth; (c) cultivating a sense of love that sustains community bonds to facilitate healing; (d) promoting healing through engaging in dialectics and dialogue; and (e) creating opportunities for agency and creation to implement the praxis of transformative youth organizing. The findings support the need for adults seeking to authentically be in solidarity with youth to engage in transformative justice practices that help communities collectively heal from colonial violence and engage in a counterhegemonic praxis of creating new transformative and liberatory possibilities in communities. </p><p>

<p> Although a great deal of research exists regarding various components of the Writing-Based Practice along with best practice of writing instruction, the research that does exist only examines how writing instruction impacts writing. This research study, however, examined whether there is a potential connection between a writing immersion program, the WBP, and growth in both social and emotional awareness. Specifically, the purpose of this Mixed Methods Triangulation Design-Convergence Model (Denzin, 1970; Creswell, Plano Clark, et al., 2003) was to investigate the potential relationship that may exist between the Writing-Based Practice and social and emotional awareness in adolescents.</p><p> The study consisted of the following method of data collection for two-hundred and forty-one eighth-grade students: questionnaires and six case studies which involved interviews, observations, and collecting artifacts. This study was conducted at a suburban middle school in southeastern Pennsylvania. All the parents of the eighth-graders were asked to sign a consent form to allow their child to participate. I surveyed only those students whose parents gave permission. Case study participants were selected based on PSSA 2014/2015 results. Data analysis employed the SPSS software to help analyze the quantitative portion of the study while coding. All qualitative data analysis was conducted by the researcher using conventional and summative content analysis. I trained a second coder for each child in the case studies reliability.</p><p> Results indicated there was sufficient evidence indicating statistically significant positive change for group interaction, risk-taking, and self-perception when exposed to the WBP over the course of the school year. Additionally, there was sufficient evidence to conclude positive change on both creative and analytical writing style when exposed to the WBP over the course of the school year.</p><p> For students to be successful in college and career, social and emotional skills are essential. This research fills a gap in the literature because there is nothing that addresses this problem. If, in fact, the WBP infrastructure does promote social and emotional growth, while also improving writing skills, it is relevant because not only will the students be better prepared for college, career and beyond, they will also grow through self-reflection.</p><p>

<p> This correlational-predictive study investigated the relationship between teacher perceptions of technology use and observed classroom technology integration level using the <i>Technology Uses and Perceptions Survey</i> (TUPS) and the <i>Technology Integration Matrix- Observation</i> (TIM-O) instruments, developed by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT) at USF. Anonymized data were obtained from FCIT that included 51 teachers from a Florida school district who completed the TUPS and were observed using the TIM-O. Linear regression was used to determine the overall relationship between perceptions and technology integration, as well as the overall predictive value of teacher perceptions on technology integration level. Both were found to be statistically significant; a low-moderate relationship existed between the TUPS and the TIM-O, and the TUPS was found to be a predictor of the TIM-O level. In addition, multiple regression was used to determine the relationship between each of the seven areas of the TUPS and the TIM-O level, as well as the predictive ability of each of the TUPS domains on the TIM-O level. Although none of the domains had a statistically significant relationship or predictive value, several subgroups had significant findings in the domains of confidence and comfort, and skills and usefulness. This study supports previous research in teacher perceptions and beliefs and furthers the research by including predictive relationships. Administrators, professional developers, and support staff can use these findings to target teacher professional learning opportunities in technology integration.</p><p>

<p> Teaching in an urban school that serves communities with a high concentration of poverty seems to involve the development of specific, contextually relevant teaching skills. For years, the particular challenges of teaching in under-served schools in the United States have contributed to the attrition of talented, experienced teachers, leaving many urban schools scrambling to find qualified teachers. For this and other reasons, urban charter school leaders frequently hire young, inexperienced teachers. Urban charter school leaders often seek to provide intense support to these teachers in an effort to increase the likelihood of retaining them and providing the students in their classrooms with a high-quality education. This study is grounded in a conceptual framework including three major strands of work: teacher professional development opportunities, professional development for first-year teachers, and teaching in urban environments. This practitioner research study involved collecting contextualized data about professional development opportunities from eighteen first-year teachers at two different points during their first year of teaching. The data from these interviews was used to ascertain how participants reported their experiences of professional development opportunities as influencing their teaching practice. This study&rsquo;s findings demonstrate that participants focused largely on how strategies that were immediately implementable influenced their teaching practice, especially those related to classroom management. Teachers also reported that their experiences of professional development were supported by the growth stance that exists regarding professional development at Explore Schools. In conclusion, this study offers rich data regarding how first-year teachers report professional development opportunities as influencing their practice and offers evidence to support the idea that first-year teachers in urban charter schools may benefit from opportunities that focus on information that can be immediately implemented. </p>

<p> Literature on teacher evaluation describes a flawed system that evokes wide-ranging attempts to &ldquo;get it right&rdquo;. This qualitative study is another effort that seeks to understand its legal and traditional constructs. The goal of this research is to identify growth-producing practices that will transform teacher evaluation into an organic and sustainable process that promotes professional growth. </p><p> Through the interview study design, 26 administrators and teachers shared their perceptions on growth-producing teacher evaluation practices in individualized 60-minute in-depth interviews. The findings revealed that administrators&rsquo; over adherence to rules and legal structures limits the process into mere compliance which challenges the growth-model. Teachers&rsquo; perceptions centered on feedback as a key element in improving practice, and on the effectiveness of the evaluation tool and the evaluator as pivotal elements in teachers&rsquo; professional growth. The overarching theme targeted a collaborative culture that would thrive in a Constructivist Professional Community (CPC), a conceptual framework that was envisioned at the initial stage of the study, and later confirmed to be a feasible teacher evaluation model based on the study&rsquo;s findings. Linda Lambert&rsquo;s Constructivist leadership theory and Wenger&rsquo;s theory on Communities of Practice guided the formulation of the CPC Model. </p><p> This study proposes a transformational culture that conforms with constructivist practices.</p><p>

There is a significant lack of educational research in which teachers’ talk about teaching is not mediated by researchers. In the public sphere, teachers’ voices rarely reach us unfiltered by the media, union and school district representatives, education reformers, and policymakers. What if we could listen to teachers talk about teaching unconstrained by any topic or agenda, in a conversation initiated by them? The StoryCorps National Teachers Initiative (SCNTI) provides an unparalleled opportunity to answer this question. In 2011-2012, hundreds of teachers talked about teaching with someone significant to them. Listening to these conversations enables understanding of teaching from the perspective of those doing the work, in their own voice. This study addresses the meanings and conceptualizations of teaching articulated by teachers. Three basic assumptions guide this research. First, because teaching is an uncertain craft (McDonald, 1992), I suggest poetics of teaching (Hansen, 2004) as a listening lens. Second, because the experiences of teaching are expressed in conversation, I suggest a prosaic approach to language (Morson & Emerson, 1990) which considers form and function. Third, I conceptualize teacher voice as a source of knowledge about teaching and the phenomenon by which we can comprehend its humanity, uncertainty, and unfinalizability (Bakhtin, 1981). Building on this conceptual framework, I propose a unique empirical approach to studying teacher voice: a synthesis of hermeneutics, metaphor analysis, and portraiture. The answer to the question When teachers speak of teaching, what do they say? is in the form of a portrait, a portrait of teaching composed of teachers’ voices. I find that teachers talk about four essential human phenomena: love, learning, power, and purpose. Within these constructs, I provide a critical interpretation of teacher talk about teaching that illuminates the complex and varied nature of teaching work. This study privileges teacher voice—literally and epistemologically—and presents research as an act of listening. It transmits and amplifies teacher voice to constitute a refreshed and reexamined cultural record (Lamothe & Horowitz, 2006) of teaching. And as critical interpretation of human experience, this research invites participation: a response to teacher voice. / Education Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice

Policy makers, practitioners and scholars agree that teachers need sustained job-embedded professional learning experiences to help students meet the demands of new accountability systems, higher education, and the workforce (Smylie, Miretzky, & Konkol, 2004; Valli & Buese, 2007). Research shows that job-embedded learning for teachers can improve student performance (Parise, & Spillane, 2010). Although, researchers generally agree about the core features of effective professional development (Cohen & Hill, 2001; Desimone, 2011), their findings do not provide sufficient guidance to practitioners and policy makers in designing and implementing on-the-job learning opportunities (Hill, Beisiegel, & Jacob, 2013). This dissertation is a qualitative, comparative case study embedded in a larger study, “Developing Human Capital Within Schools,” conducted by the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers. I analyzed collected documents and data from 142 semi-structured interviews of administrators and a diverse sample of teachers from six high-performing, high-poverty schools within one city. Three of the schools are state-authorized charter schools (one a restart of an underperforming school) and three are district schools (one traditional and two former turnaround). In this study, I explored how teachers experienced and assessed three practices intended to support improvements in teaching quality—teacher evaluation, collaborative data routines and peer observation. Teachers and administrators across the sample, described evaluation, first and foremost, as a robust, ongoing improvement process that incorporated frequent feedback to teachers, which they valued. It also played a role in holding teachers accountable for their work. All six schools had structured data routines that required teachers to collaboratively gather, analyze and respond to students’ learning data. Data practices contributed to high expectations for all students and teachers. Finally, the schools had a range of practices that allowed teachers to observe each other, be observed, and in some cases analyze the experience. Teachers’ responses, although generally very positive, differed across and within schools, depending on the school’s ability to address logistical and cultural barriers to peer observation. None of these practices were implemented as discrete, stand-alone initiatives. Instead, the professional learning opportunities at these schools were intensive experiences that teachers described as highly interconnected. / Education Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice

In the current education reform climate, retaining high-quality teachers is a critical aspect of maintaining successful school systems. Charter schools in particular tend to employ a human capital model that recruits young and energetic teachers, but they also seem to experience high teacher turnover. However, all school systems are grappling with the urgent need to retain teachers over the long term. This capstone explores the role of “people development” in service of teacher retention at DSST Public Schools, a high-performing charter network of ten schools in Denver, Colorado. I describe my role leading two major components of work in service of greater teacher retention: (1) developing school leaders to know their teachers deeply by tailoring their coaching and development approaches and (2) building on existing central office structures and systems to prioritize retention and development topics centrally. Through this process, I found that DSST had many best practices spread across many departments in service of developing and retaining teachers. Using a change management framework, I argue that collective ownership of retention is positive, but it must be tethered to a strategy that aligns the competencies of the adults, the conditions for implementation, the culture of the organization, and the broader organizational context. A human capital management strategy can create coherence among these components, the organization, and its people. In the absence of a clear strategy and priorities, DSST may find misalignment between many initiatives that are in service of retention and development. This approach helps to cohere a “suite” of best practices for optimal human capital management and retention of teachers. This capstone offers several insights for practitioners seeking to prioritize human capital and teacher retention efforts, such as aligning human capital goals to the strategic planning process, creating ownership of retention processes across the organization by tying it to principal and central office leader evaluations, and aligning a human capital strategy to the organization’s broader education or improvement strategy.