The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of middle school principals' leadership practices. The researcher specifically examined whether teachers hired under the current principal perceived the principal's leadership practices differently than teachers who were already at the school when the principal was hired. Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Practices Inventory On-line was used to determine whether there was a difference between group perceptions.Thirty-eight principals who were members of the Indiana Middle Level Education Association participated in the study (41 % of principal members). Survey data was collected using the LPI-Online. Principals responded to the 30 item LPI-Online Self. Teachers responded to the LPI-Online Observer. Principals distinguished teachers hired from teachers who were already at the institution when the principal was hired.A statistically significant difference (p < .05) was found between the perceptions of the hired and inherited groups on three of the five leadership practices: Challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart. There was no statistically significant difference in principal and hired teachers' perceptions, or between principal and inherited teachers on subscales inspiring a shared vision and modeling the way.Based on the findings from this study, the researcher suggested there are important dynamics involved in the changing of team members, especially the principal during times of school change initiatives. Based on the findings from this study the researcher concluded principals and hired teachers tend to exhibit a more positive interpersonal relationship than the principal and inherited teachers. / Department of Educational Leadership

A teacher may say, "I have twenty years of experience," but just what does it mean? This study suggests explanations for the meaning of "Experience," not by looking at the number of years in a classroom, but at what teachers did in those years that could make the teaching experience equivalent to years of personal growth and development. Three Middle Level Science teachers' experiences were observed over two separate units of instruction. Teachers were engaged in conversations before, during and after every observation, such that their talk gave meaning to teaching. The teachers, early in their units, experienced tensions (stresses and anxieties) that affected their planning and implementation of teaching. The study determined that the teachers' learning experiences and personal growth were directly related to how they met the challenge of tensions. One teacher with very little science knowledge met the challenge of tensions in teaching by integrating her new science knowledge with her English and History knowledge and repertoire. She developed new practices that increased her energy and confidence in such a way that became self-sustaining experiences and growth. Two other teachers, despite science backgrounds, were less successful in meeting the challenge of tensions in teaching. Each found that the contents of the selected units required study and preparation, yet the teachers acquired information rather than truly learning the new subject matter. These teachers, in meeting the tensions of teaching, felt their energies wane, which reduced their dedication and effectiveness. As a result, neither teacher experienced personal growth. The negative experiences resulted in each teacher becoming more entrenched in a lecture mode of teaching to escape the tensions that existed. Learning new subject matter can produce tensions leading to experiences which affect teaching and potential for teacher growth. Incremental amounts of growth are possible, but only if a teacher responds positively to and meets the challenge of tensions in teaching, minute by minute, class by class. / Graduation date: 2003

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Educational Leadership

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-93). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xi, 109 leaves, bound 29 cm

This dissertation offers an intimate view into the emotional life of a queer teacher while she lived and taught middle school in a conservative rural Northern Californian community during the years 2020 to 2022. Acknowledging the emotional weight felt by many educators as they confront challenges in and outside of their academic curricula, this study offers a framework for recording, examining, and analyzing the wobble moments (emotionally difficult events) experienced by teachers in ways that may relieve some of their associated tension and stress. Through reflections on teacher journal entries, this autoethnographic study demonstrates how emotion, dialogic, and queer theories may be used to rethink and reconfigure the narratives of our emotional experiences. The author argues that by engaging in emotional dialogue, teachers may gain new insight on and deepen their relationships to their practice and profession, as well as to their students and colleagues. Ultimately, it is in her analysis of these relationships that the author finds solace and lightens some the emotional weight of teaching.

Quality physical education is important to adolescent health and physical well-being. For urban schools, contextual and environmental constraints often make school-based physical education challenging. A good fitness testing program has the potential to promote physical activity and fitness. Attitude theory posits that attitude influences how teachers do their work. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of urban middle school physical education teachers toward physical fitness tests and their relationship with student performance on fitness tests. Middle school teachers (N = 124) were recruited from urban school districts on the east and west coasts of the United States. They completed the Physical Education Teacher Attitudes toward Fitness Tests instrument (Keating & Silverman, 2004) whose scores have been validated and also provided demographic information. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for overall teacher attitude and teacher attitude subdomains and correlational statistics to examine the relationship between each component of teacher attitude (overall, affective, and cognitive) and the percentage of students in the Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ) on various components of the FITNESSGRAM. Correlations also were examined by various teacher demographic variables and for boys and girls. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the differences in fitness tests performance variables by demographic and profession-related variables. Teachers’ overall attitudes toward fitness testing were just higher than neutral, signaling positive attitudes. Among the findings, the affective subdomain of teachers’ attitude on the enjoyment of using fitness tests results was found to have a significant positive relationship with the percentage of students in the HFZ for the push-up test. Additional significant positive relationships between the percentage of students in the HFZ on the tests and various components of attitude were also found for girls. The findings suggest that teachers’ affective attitude may have a relationship with students’ performance on fitness tests and that relationships may be different for boys and girls. The relationships for teachers’ attitude toward enjoyment of using fitness tests results suggests teachers may use them to design activities and lessons that lead students to engage in more physical activity and thus improve their levels of fitness.

Diversity across U.S. classrooms is on the rise which is leading to renewed calls for teachers to meet individual learning needs. Studies indicate the failure to address individual learning needs can lead to higher rates of student disengagement, off-task behaviors, and diminished learning outcomes. Differentiated instruction is an approach to teaching that meets the growing diversity of individual learning needs by considering students' readiness, interest, and learning styles. Differentiated instructional approaches help teachers meet individual learning needs by allowing them to modify instruction as needed. However, despite the apparent benefits of differentiated instruction, teachers are hesitant to abandon other educational models. Research has shown beliefs about student learning influence teachers classroom practices. If teachers do not possess beliefs supporting differentiated classroom practices, then calls for additional implementation may go unheeded. Thus it is important to examine teacher beliefs that may help or hinder implementation of differentiated instructional practices. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher beliefs connected to teaching, learning, and differentiated instruction in diverse classrooms. This study used qualitative case study methodologies to interview, survey, and observe the beliefs and practices of four white, female, veteran middle level educators operating in diverse classroom settings. Data analysis revealed the following themes: (a) differentiated instruction is considered essential, (b) teachers' diversity definitions influenced their differentiated instructional strategies, (c) the classroom environment influences teachers self-efficacy, and (d) professional development sessions support differentiated instructional practices. Conclusions drawn from this study may be used to help improve teacher practices--and ultimately learner outcomes--by informing teacher preparation and professional development, state and local educational policies, and curricular reform efforts.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a relationship between transformational principal leadership style, a safe school climate, and school safety (specifically, the number of reported fights and reported bullying incidents) in Broward County, Florida’s middle schools. This study also investigated if a relationship exists between transformational leadership and a safe school climate, transformational leadership, and the number of bullying incidents and student fights, and a safe school climate and the number of bullying incidents and student fights. The study surveyed 12 middle schools located in a large, urban district in south Florida. Principal leadership style was determined from the MLQ-5X, school safety climate was determined from the school district’s Annual Customer Survey, and the reported number of fights and bullying incidents recorded in the school district’s Discipline Management System were collected via records request for each participating middle school and tallied. Pearson correlations were conducted to examine the bivariate association between the leadership dimensions, a safe school climate, and school violence. Separate multiple linear regression models were used to examine the following relationships: leadership style and the number of reported fights and reported bullying incidents; leadership style and a safe school climate; and a safe school climate and the number of reported fights and reported bullying incidents. The findings suggested that there were no statistically significant correlations between leadership style (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire), and bullying or fighting, and no statistically significant correlation between principal leadership style and middle school climate. There was a statistically significant correlation found between school climate and the number of student fights. The significance of this finding is important because it illustrates the adverse impact fighting has on student safety, which, in turn, adversely affects the school climate. Therefore, it is up to the school leader to create a climate where everyone feels safe can focus on student achievement. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Building upon previous research on the importance of students' motivation for their learning and academic success, this study sought to examine how students' motivation in the classroom may impact the way their teachers' treat them. Specifically, data from 423 middle school students and their 21 teachers were used to examine the extent to which student engagement and disaffection (individually and in combination) in the fall predicted changes in teachers' provision of motivational support from fall to spring of the same school year. The study also examined whether these relationships might differ by student grade or gender, and whether the effects of each component of motivation can be buffered or boosted by the level of the other component. Overall, results provided partial support for study hypotheses. As expected, engagement and disaffection (as reported both by students and by teachers) individually predicted changes in teacher motivational support over the school year, such that engaged students were more likely to gain teacher support across the school year whereas disaffected students were more likely to lose teacher support. Assessing the unique effects of engagement and disaffection suggested partial support for their combined predictive utility, although less support was found for teacher-reports than student-reports. Across time, student-reported disaffection demonstrated unique effects on changes in teacher support but student-reported engagement did not. For teacher-reports of engagement and disaffection, neither component of motivation predicted changes in teacher support above and beyond the other component. Across reporters, mean-level gender differences in the constructs of interest were consistent with expectations based on previous research suggesting that girls tend to be more motivated than boys in school; however, despite these significant differences in mean-levels, there were few gender differences in the strength of the reciprocal effects of student motivation on teacher support. Of the 12 tests for gender differences in the links between student motivation and teacher support, only two were found, and both cases demonstrated significant gender effects of the same form, such that engagement and disaffection demonstrated significant reciprocal effects for both genders; however, the effects were significantly stronger for boys. As expected, examination of mean-level differences in engagement and disaffection as a function of grade suggested that student motivation and teacher support decline as students progress through middle school. In general, significant reciprocal effects of student motivation on teacher support across time were found for students of all grades for both student- and teacher reports; however there were some grade-level differences in the strength of those associations. Results indicated that engagement and disaffection were more important predictors of changes in teacher support over the school year for older students (8th graders) than for younger students (6th or 7th graders). Finally, the expected interaction between engagement and disaffection was only partially supported and only for teacher-reports. Specifically, as predicted, the relationship between teacher-reported engagement and teacher support was stronger for students who were low in disaffection, suggesting low disaffection boosted the positive effects of engagement. At the same time, and contrary to expectations, instead of the relationship between disaffection and teacher support being weaker for students perceived as highly engaged, these relations were actually stronger such that disaffection was a stronger predictor of losses in teacher support for highly engaged students than for their equally disaffected but less engaged peers. Implications for educational interventions and daily classroom practices are discussed. This study, by utilizing a two time-point design, a diverse at-risk student population, and measures from both student and teacher perspectives, attempted to make a contribution to the sparse but potentially important research literature on how student's motivation can shape their experiences with teachers in the classroom.