I investigated eight preservice teachers’ understandings about culturally responsive pedagogy as they participated in a writing methods course in which they tutored children from different ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds in an afterschool program at a local community center. I also investigated how these preservice teachers demonstrated culturally responsive teaching within the writing curriculum. I recognized the need for research relevant to my own personal beliefs and how to strive for more equitable schools. I want to contribute further to the understandings and insights related to culturally responsive pedagogy. According to the literature, it appears teachers remain unprepared to teach children from diverse populations many of whom continue to fall behind academically. Insufficient information exists in the literature regarding attitudes and understandings of preservice teachers about culturally responsive pedagogy. I utilized a qualitative design, in particular an embedded case study to gain an understanding of a smaller part of the larger case. The larger case was the entire community center, preservice teachers, course instructor, and the elementary students. Data included individual and focus group interviews, course documents, reflections, field notes, and a reflexive journal. I chose constant comparison analysis to find themes within all of the data. I then used within-case analysis to more deeply examine the themes found in the data. In order to gain understanding of these discoveries being relevant to other cases, I employed a cross-case analysis. After multiple readings of the data, carefully analyzing the data through coding and categorizing themes, the following five themes emerged: 1) cultural awareness and integration, 2) student-teacher interaction, 3) influence of the field experience, 4) questions and conversations, and 5) best practices for teaching writing. I also recommend effective aspects of the field experience, which facilitated preservice teachers’ development of deeper understandings about culturally responsive pedagogy as they confronted their conscious and unconscious beliefs. The effective facets in the field experience included one-on-one student teacher interaction, scaffolding critical reflection, and use of best practices in culturally responsive writing instruction.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are common in schools worldwide in the 21st century, in both developed and developing countries. A number of initiatives have been made in the development of ICT related training in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. These initiatives aim to develop future teachers’ ability to teach and deliver the school curriculum, including using ICT in the classroom. Sufficient field experience is essential since the process of undergoing such placements would prepare them in creating new ideas and implementing strategic ways as to how they can effectively incorporate the use of ICT in their lesson plan, class management, and in teaching. The key research question in this study is “Do pre-service teachers in a New Zealand and a Malaysian ITE programme use their field experience to develop their potential to integrate ICT in schools and, what are the similarities and differences between these case studies?” Effective use of ICT in teaching and learning requires the teacher to understand how ICT weaves with pedagogy and content. The Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) theoretical framework introduced by Mishra and Koehler (2006) clarifies the need to understand and develop TPACK to inform integration of ICT in teaching. This research provides two case studies of ICT in ITE in the Asia Pacific region, one in a developed country, New Zealand, and the other in a developing country, namely Malaysia. Both case studies are of ICT in an ITE programme with a particular focus on field experience in secondary schools, within which there are embedded cases of ITE students. This study illustrates how pre-service teachers’ experience and development of ICT knowledge and skill and their understanding of TPACK can support an increase in their teaching competencies. This research provides evidence that field experience is important to support pre-service teachers to develop their teaching competencies with ICT and understanding of TPACK in ways that are transferable into their own practice. This study has also contributed to increased reliability and validity of TPACK instrumentation. The comparative findings of the New Zealand and Malaysian case studies indicate the importance of a range of contextual factors, which suggest that the Initial Teacher Education programme, school curriculum and ICT availability as well as student maturity contribute to the development of TPACK.

abstract: Growing popularity of alternatively certifying teachers has created challenges for teacher preparation programs. Many non-traditional routes into classroom include no full-time mentor teacher. Absence of a mentor teacher in the classroom leaves teachers with a deficit. This study follows ten teachers on the intern certificate enrolled in both an alternative certification teacher preparation program and the Teach for America organization as they pursue a master's degree in education and state teaching certification from a large southwestern university. The five randomly chosen for the treatment group and the control group contained 1 male and 4 female teachers, some of whom teach at public schools and others at charter schools. All were secondary education language arts teachers ranging in age from 22- 29. The treatment used in this study is a job-embedded, professional development, software tool designed to help teachers track their classroom practices called MyiLOGS. The purpose of this action research project was to study the effect using MyiLOGS had on six of the nine areas evaluated by a modified version of the Teacher Advancement Program evaluation rubric, alignment with Opportunity To Learn constructs, and the tool's influence on the efficacy of these first year teachers. The data generated from this study indicate that the MyiLOGS tool did have a positive effect on the teachers' TAP evaluation performances. Also, the MyiLOGS tool had a large impact on the teachers' instruction as measured by the constructs of Opportunity to Learn and their teaching self-efficacy. Implications suggested the tool was an asset to these teachers because they tracked their data, became more reflective, and self-sufficient. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2013

A well-prepared and qualified special education teacher is crucial to the performance of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The prominent educators and federal government encourage the use of extended field experiences in preparing qualified special education teachers. The study examined the strengths and weaknesses of extended field experience in terms of the perceptions of the prospective teachers and teachers of students with EBD. Both individual interviews and a focus group were used to collect data. The results revealed that extended field experience benefits prospective teachers in showing the reality of the teachers' world, self-motivation assessment, and professional development. However, there were some improvements that could be made, including more placement selections and more practical knowledge.

Construction education is dynamic and practice oriented. As such, effective construction programs require significant collaboration with the construction industry. This collaboration, in the form of internship or cooperative programs, increase the student readiness for the job market by providing valuable field experience. Construction programs in the United States (US) established several internship requirements that range from being optional to multiple required internships. This study focuses on scanning the current internship requirements set by construction and engineering technology programs in the US by gathering information including; 1) Number and length of required internships, 2) Internship prerequisites, 3) Internship deliverables, 4) assessment method. The outcome of this study is expected to help construction programs improve their internship or cooperative requirements by considering the prevailing practices developed by other schools. Additionally, the study provides recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of internship for positive experiential learning.

This study explored how preservice teachers perceive the influence and value of an embedded, school-based field experience. Information was gathered from preservice teachers using surveys and a focus group interview. The data collected showed that an embedded field experience tied to a language arts methods course was generally a positive influence leading to great self-efficacy. Further, the data compared similarly to research supporting the notion that embedded field experiences generally have the effect of strengthening preservice teachers’ self-efficacy. Looking at Bandura’s work in Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change, it shows that early interactions and successes will boost the self-efficacy of preservice teachers. This study found that successful experiences help preservice teachers value their embedded, school-based field experiences and help view it as something positive. Even if the experience had its difficulties, preservice teachers were able to learn from the situation and if they ever find themselves in a similar circumstance, they will feel more confident about handling things. Therefore, when these preservice teachers become in-service teachers, they will feel more confident about their abilities compared to in-service teachers who did not have similar experiences in their teacher preparation program.

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This exploratory research study investigated perceptions of practicum counselor trainees to help understand how prepared they believed they were for supervision. Based upon common elements of various developmental models of supervision, this study examined counselor trainees’ perceptions of their preparedness for practicum supervision based upon: (a) expectations of supervision; (b) understanding of the structure and formats used in supervision; (c) receptivity to and use of feedback in supervision; and (d) the evaluative component of supervision. This study also investigated possible explanations as to what factors may lead counselor trainees to feel more or less prepared for practicum supervision. The participants in this study were 156 counseling students enrolled in practicum courses at 27 CACREPaccredited counseling programs across the United States during the spring semester of 2005. The instrument used in this study was the Counselor Trainee Preparedness Perceptions Survey - Practicum Supervision (CTPPS-PS) survey, developed by the researcher. The CTPPS-PS was administered anonymously online through an Internet link distributed to students by practicum instructors or in paper format. To minimize the effects of varying practicum supervision experiences incurred by the sample participants, data collection was restricted to a 30-day period during the first half of the academic semester. Findings from this research revealed significant positive relationships between counselor trainees' overall perceptions of preparedness for practicum supervision and perceived preparation for various aspects of supervision. For the various aspects of supervision, the strongest relationships were found between overall perceptions of preparedness and preparation for what is required in supervision and to accept guidance and support through supervision. The weakest relationship was between overall perceptions and preparation for supervisory evaluation. These research findings also revealed significant positive relationships between counselor trainees' overall perceptions of preparedness for practicum supervision and perceptions of practicum supervision experience to date as well as with comfort experienced with receiving feedback in supervision. Another significant finding was consistently higher overall perceptions of preparedness for trainees being supervised by part-time faculty and for trainees attending universities with doctoral counseling programs. The findings of this study may encourage counselor educators to augment their programs and courses with supervision preparation strategies so that students may begin practicum feeling better prepared than the participants in this study. For supervisors, findings from this study can form the basis for a dialogue at the onset of supervision to determine the needs of counselor trainees, and thus help mitigate potential obstacles to practicum experiences resulting from areas lacking in preparation for supervision.

This study examined the factors superintendents consider when making the decision between commercially developed curriculum or locally developed curriculum. This study was guided by three research questions: (a) What factors does the superintendent consider in selecting a curriculum? (b) How do these factors impact the decision to use a commercially developed curriculum or to use a locally developed curriculum? and (c) How does the decision-making process regarding curriculum selection correlate with other functions of the superintendent and the school district? This qualitative multiple-case study intended to describe the experiences of six school superintendents who have served in this capacity for ample time to have developed a perspective in relation to curriculum choice for their respective districts. During semi-structured interviews, questions posed to the participants were organized around the following themes: (a) importance of curriculum along with time devoted to overseeing curriculum and how this relates to other responsibilities of the superintendent; (b) the factors considered when deciding curriculum choice; (c) the pros and cons of commercially developed curriculum and locally developed curriculum; and (d) the challenges associated with curriculum. This questioning along with the review of documents relating to curriculum guided the development of the findings and provided structure for the reporting of data and analysis. The data collected through the interviews and document reviews were coded according to first-level coding and pattern coding. This research study revealed that overseeing and maintaining a guaranteed and viable curriculum is very time and cost intensive, but the essential piece for student achievement. In addition, in regards to deciding between commercially developed or locally developed curriculum, the superintendents in this study were adamant advocates for their curriculum choice and had justifiable reasons for their choice. The final finding disclosed in this study was that with the role of the superintendent being very taxing, the function of Curriculum and Instruction does not always take priority. In conclusion, with such emphasis placed on having a guaranteed and viable curriculum, as the chief instructional leader, superintendents must put forth a concentrated effort to select a curriculum that will promote and support student learning and success. / text