<p> The focus of the research is to explore how organizational and self-regulatory skills support student academic achievement in math class. The project is a mixed-methods study by taking a close look at the use of graphic organizers as a dimension of organizational and self-regulatory skills. The data sources include an online questionnaire, observation notes, individual interviews, and student semester grades. Participants completed a questionnaire about their organizational and self-regulatory skills, including how they have been using graphic organizers and taking notes. The author reported three focal interviews to grasp further how their organizational and self-regulatory skills surface in different settings, including home, school, work, and other routine areas. This document includes the details of data analyses for any associations between students&rsquo; skills and academic achievements. This research concludes (a) participating students carry sufficient social-emotional competencies. However, there is a disconnection between transferring their &ldquo;cultural&rdquo; knowledge into &ldquo;domain&rdquo; knowledge about self-awareness skills, social awareness skills, and responsible decision-making skills. (b) Both Advanced Algebra and Geometry students demonstrate very similar organizational skills, but (c) lower-classmen seem to have relatively higher self-regulatory skills. (d) The greater self-awareness and social awareness skills and better decision-making skills, higher academic achievement in math classes. The author concluded this paper had potential limitations of the findings and implications for future teaching practices. The results of this study may provide instruction insights about how social-emotional competencies affect student academic achievement in secondary math education.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to investigate if there is a positive relationship between principals mentored through the NewLeaders Assistance Service and the retention of the participants who continued their career in educational administration. The participants for this study were first-year principals from 2001-2016 in the NewLeaders Assistance Service program. The NewLeaders Assistance Service was a comprehensive principal mentoring program with experienced and highly trained mentors. The program was personalized with professional development, on-going support, and individual mentoring. Results indicate that a high percentage of respondents felt the program was critical to their success in the profession with 83.5% remaining in the profession. Additional research needs to be conducted on the ongoing demands of the ever-changing political landscape over extended periods of time.</p><p>

Orientador: Pedro Ângelo Pagni / Banca: Marcus Vinícius Cunha / Banca: Carlos Roberto Silva Monarcha / Resumo: A escolha desse tema se justifica na medida em que, há um número razoável de produções teóricas sobre o pensamento e as propostas político- educacionais de Fernando de Azevedo, poucos foram os estudos capazes de explicitar as fontes teóricas e a concepção humanista nas quais seu discurso e a sua prática se assentam.. Assim, partiu-se da enunciação do problema geral do humanismo enquanto movimento histórico e concepção filosófica, diagnosticado no debate filosófico contemporâneo, e de forma com que esse problema repercutiu entre as concepções humanistas denominadas de moderna contra aquelas acusadas de tradicionais. Nesse aspecto, este trabalho monográfico procurou, de um lado, compreender as particularidades da ação e do pensamento de Fernando de Azevedo ao longo de sua trajetória, assim como focalizar a sua concepção de humanismo, explicitada em sua obra produzida entre 1944 e 1955. E, de outro, elucidar as singularidades dessa ação e desse pensamento embasado numa concepção de humanismo cientifico, frente aquelas filosofias da educação que estiveram presentes no movimento de renovação educacional, entre 1930 e 1955, contribuindo para a compreensão da constituição da filosofia da educação no Brasil. Assim, esse trabalho analisa a trajetória de Fernando de Azevedo de forma didática, porém a ênfase principal é no terceiro momento, o qual temos um Azevedo mais maduro e com a sua concepção de humanismo formado. No entanto, para cada um desses períodos tentou-se estabelecer as similaridades e as divergências de seu pensamento sobre a educação. Por essa razão, esta pesquisa pretende reconstituir o sentido humanista presente no discurso político-educacional de Fernando de Azevedo, compreendendo suas bases filosóficas e a filosofia da educação que o fundamenta. / Abstract: The choosing of this theme is backgrounded in so far as, although there is an acceptable number of theoretical productions about Fernando, de Azevedo's thinking and political- educational proposes, a few studies were able to explicit the theoretical sources and the humanist conception which his discourse and practice were established. Therefore, it was started of the enunciation of the humanism general problem as a historical movement and philosophical conception diagnosed in the contemporaneous philosophic debate and, so that, this problem becomes reflected between these humanist conceptions named moderns contrary to those accused traditional. In this regard, this monographic work, at first, aims to understand Fernando de Azevedoþs movement and thinking particularities along of his trajectory, as well as to focus his humanist conception expressed in his work produced between 1944 and 1955 and, on the other side, to elucidate the uniqueness of these movement andthinking based on a scientific humanism conception, in accordance with these educational philosophy which were present in the educational renovation movement between 1930 and 1955 contributing to the understanding of the educational philosophy constitution in Brazil. Therefore, this work analyses Fernando de Azevedoþs trajectory in a didactic way. Nevertheless, the main emphasis is in the third moment, in which we have a more mature Azevedo with his humanism conception formed. However, in every one of these periods, it was attempted to establish the uniqueness and disagreements of his thinking about education. On this account, this research intends to reconstitute the humanist sense presents in Fernando de Azevedoþs political-educational discourse, understanding its philosophical bases and the eduational philosophy that bases him. / Mestre

<p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the teaching practice and educational beliefs of four middle grades teachers who were identified as effective in forging relationships with their students. In this study, relational expertise is defined as the ability to create a positive connection with students, one in which students feel recognized and valued as individuals. This research answers questions concerning (a) how the teachers define teacher-student relationships, (b) how and why they use relational skills in classrooms, (c) the strategies they use for developing and maintaining relationships and (d) the outcomes of relational teaching they identify. </p><p> Data collection included interviews and classroom observations of teacher participants and the collection of documentary evidence such as teacher evaluations and photographs of classroom artifacts. The data were analyzed and the cases were compared in a search for themes and patterns. The case studies were written as narrative portraits to record the thoughts and classroom experience of the participants and to provide a detailed view of their principles in action. Their stories provide a sense of what it is like to experience the classroom operations of the participants and allow the teachers to explain the rationale for what they do. </p><p> The participant teachers care deeply about the well-being and healthy development of students and strive to provide a nurturing classroom climate that meets the students&rsquo; psychological as well as cognitive needs. Their use of immediacy behaviors and other relationship-establishing techniques was a result of their personal beliefs about effective teaching.</p>

<p> This research paper presents existing literature on intrinsic motivation and applies it to teachers in an environment of high-stakes education reform efforts. It seeks to acknowledge that there has been an increase in level of external control placed on teachers in New York State, and to discuss potential impacts of these efforts on teachers&rsquo; intrinsic motivation according to Self-Determination Theory (SDT). This paper presents survey research designed to examine teachers&rsquo; perception of the impact education reform efforts have had on their role in various work tasks, related to the extent to which they perceive their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met at work. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between participant responses and the theoretical variables at hand. T-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson&rsquo;s correlations were also examined to obtain a greater understanding of the variable relationships. The results of this research indicate that teachers have felt a negative impact on some of their teaching-related tasks; the SDT framework of autonomy, relatedness, and competence needs maintained integrity in this sample; autonomy-support was significantly related to perceived impact of high stakes education reform efforts. The implications of low intrinsic motivation among teachers on students and the educational environment, and implications for future reform efforts are discussed.</p>

<p> The transformative benefits of cross-cultural interaction and the &ldquo;disruption&rdquo; caused by the confrontation with injustice, poverty and culture shock for students through immersion experiences are well-documented. In contrast, however, there is very little research that documents the experience of host communities - those into whom the traveler is immersed. What is the experience of individuals from these host communities? What is the value or significance to them of hosting educational travel groups? What opportunities exist for educational travel programs to be venues for decolonization and social justice work that is mutually beneficial to student groups and host communities? This project is a phenomenological study consisting of in-depth interviews with six native or indigenous community partners who worked with two high school educational travel programs&mdash;one internationally and one domestically. Participants reported a clear understanding of their co-educational role and attached broader global and spiritual significance to that. A number of recommendations emerged for building mutually beneficial relationships in the context of educational travel.</p>

<p> This causal-comparative research study identified the individual adult education philosophical orientations and teaching style preferences of early childhood education faculty members. It also examined the relationship between the educational philosophies, teaching style preferences, and the following demographics: gender, age, academic rank, years of teaching experience, and terminal degree. In addition, this study examined the relationship between theory and practice based on the Principle of Congruity. The concept of adult education philosophical orientations was identified and measured by Zinn&rsquo;s (2007) Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI); the concept of teaching styles was identified and measured by Conti&rsquo;s (1982) Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS); and the Principle of Congruity was identified by Katz (1977). The target population included all higher education faculty members teaching in early childhood teacher preparation programs in college and university settings located in the Northern New England states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont during the 2015 Winter/Spring semester. Purposive sampling was employed and a total of 45 faculty members completed the online survey. The majority (55.6%) of faculty members reported their primary educational philosophy of adult education was progressive, followed by 17.8% identifying with the behavioral orientation. The results also indicated that 62% of the faculty members had an adult educational philosophy that was congruent with their respective teaching style and of the sample (<i>N</i>=45), 57.8% faculty members identified with a learner-centered preference and 42.2% faculty members identified with the teacher-centered approach. Further, the results indicated that 22 (49%) faculty members identified their educational philosophy (progressive, humanistic, and radical/critical) and teaching style preference (learner-centered) were congruent with the Principle of Congruity. Data was analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and ANOVA. Findings suggested there were statistically significant relationships between several of the adult educational philosophies and the overall teaching style; between several philosophical orientations and various factors of the teaching style; as well as between two demographics (age and terminal degree) and various philosophical orientations and teaching style factors. Lastly, the research hypothesis could not be supported and the null hypothesis was retained because no statistically significant relationships were suggested between the progressive and humanistic higher education faculty members and the liberal, behavioral, and radical/critical faculty members in preferences of teaching style.</p>

<p> The National Board Certification is a process for educators who desire to pursue a deeper level of professional development and enhance their teaching practice. This certification process coupled with cognitive coaching involved high levels of reflective practices and deepened self-efficacy evident in this study. This study determined that with the use of cognitive coaching an educator self-efficacy would increase depending on what stage they were on in the process. The researcher provided three groups of participants (National Board Certified Teachers, Candidates in the process of National Board Certification and Did Not Achieve) an opportunity to elaborate on their experience moving through the process using a cognitive coach. </p><p> An analysis of qualitative and quantitative data revealed that the three groups differed in self-efficacy in favor of the National Board Certified Teacher (NBC) group and that on several aspects of cognitive coaching, the NBC group scored higher than the other groups. As well, each group showed support for the coaching process through certification and revealed that with this coaching they were able to achieve a deeper reflective state of mind. </p><p>

<p> Length of time teaching shapes educators&rsquo; competence with intentional integration of democratic engagement in the classroom. This study finding stems from a pivotal understanding of civic engagement refocused and defined as democratic engagement by Saltmarsh and Hartley (2011). The authors determine that <i>democratic engagement</i> as an ideal includes far more than the civic participation element of voting. These authors suggest that for a representative democracy to thrive, communities and civic institutions must partner to create civic agency among not just the individual, but collective, social, and government entities. In this study, educators in a small to medium sized K-6 district are surveyed to identify differing levels of democratic engagement among demographic indicators as identified by Saltmarsh and Hartley (2011). Democratic engagement constructs of community engagement, political voice, civic participation and political knowledge combine to create a Civic Index Scale measure. This measure describes a sample population of highly democratic engaged versus disengaged participants. Identified educators with the most engaged, somewhat engaged, and disengaged civic scores were interviewed for attitudes, beliefs, and professional practice in relation to democratic engagement. A series of two interviews per educator yielded unexpected results. The study found that democratic disengagement does not equate to disengagement in the classroom, poor teaching, or lack of effort to promote citizenship as developmentally appropriate. A disengaged educator in the study was professionally fulfilled, and successfully created classroom community. A medium engaged educator identified in the interview process exhibited highly effective teaching practice as a seasoned professional with lower levels of job satisfaction and difficulty in classroom management. The highly engaged educator in the qualitative analysis exhibited not only effective teaching practice, but also intentional relationship building, and highly effective classroom management. Hierarchical Regression analysis indicated that time teaching, age, race, and gender were significant in the model and that time teaching persisted as a key factor contributing to variance in the model.</p><p>

<p> <b>Purpose.</b> The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how middle school teachers describe their use of the four elements of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management) to reduce student behavioral referrals. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to discover the barriers and benefits to teacher use of the elements of emotional intelligence (EI). </p><p> <b>Methodology.</b> This study utilized a qualitative approach to understand how middle school teachers describe their use of the four elements of EI to reduce student behavioral referrals. In addition, a qualitative approach was utilized to discover the barriers and benefits to teacher use of the elements of EI. A sample of middle school teachers from San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties participated through in-depth interviews. The data were coded to describe similarities and differences in perceptions of how participant teachers described their use of the four elements of EI to reduce the number of written office referrals. </p><p> <b>Findings:</b> Analysis of interview data resulted in 13 themes. Nine key findings were identified based on the frequency of references by study participants. Building relationships with students was considered important, building trust between teacher and student is important as well as establishing structure in the classroom and clear oral and written communication. Reported benefits of EI included better relationships with students, higher levels of student engagement, and more trusting relationships. Reported barriers included student home lives and limited training for EI. </p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> The 9 key findings were summarized as 5 conclusions. Teachers in this study stressed the importance of building relationships, using the four skills of EI to build better relationships, engaging students through EI, and establishing trust with students. Teachers also need additional training to hone their EI skills. </p><p> <b>Recommendations:</b> Further research of outlier teachers at all grade levels across the U.S. should be conducted.</p><p>