This exploratory study examined how well elementary language arts teachers participating in a federal project to raise students' critical thinking abilities scored on tests of critical and creative thinking. Furthermore, it investigated the ways in which these teachers of the language arts have developed their understanding of critical thinking skills, what types of training they bring to the classroom which might enhance the teaching of critical thinking skills, and the methods by which they foster critical thinking in the classroom. Finally, this study examined the relationship among teacher scores on critical and creative thinking tests, their professional development hours, and results on a scale of teacher behaviors.;The study was a mixed design that employed the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Assessment, the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults, the Wenglinsky Questionnaire, and an interview protocol. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data and a correlation was run to determine if a relationship existed between tested dimensions.;Overall, the research findings suggest that experimental teachers sought professional development options that dealt with higher order thinking skills more regularly than did comparison teachers. Familiarity with higher order thinking skills may have enabled this group to achieve a slightly higher score on a critical thinking test existed. Implications for practice suggest that further research should replicate this study with a larger sample size to substantiate findings.

Low socioeconomic students represent a population in public schools which is underrepresented and underserved in the talented and gifted programs. Part of the problem may be due to teachers' and parents' abilities to recognize giftedness in economically disadvantaged potentially gifted students and to nominate them for a gifted screening.;The present study attempted to determine if a training program for teachers and parents would increase the valid referral rate of potentially gifted economically disadvantaged students. Teachers at one school received an oral presentation and written summation of economically disadvantaged potentially gifted student characteristics. Teachers at a second school received the written summation only, while third school served as the control.;Results indicate a significant improvement in the teachers' understanding and awareness of traditional, nontraditional, and parent/home characteristics in general. Teachers from the oral and written presentation group showed a significant improvement in their ability to accurately refer economically disadvantaged potentially gifted students following intervention.;Teachers and parents from the treatment schools referred more economically disadvantaged students following treatment than from the control school, although not to a significant degree. However, these students continued to have difficulty meeting the eligibility criteria of the gifted program requirements, resulting in few new students following the intervention.

This qualitative grounded theory study explored teachers' instructional decisions around planning and practice for technology integration after participation in professional development. The purpose of this study was to determine how a long-term hybrid professional development experience influenced, if at all, math teachers' instructional decisions to integrate The Geometer's Sketchpad into their planning and classroom practice. There are several components for effective professional development suggested in the research literature. Professional development that is sustained over long periods of time, connected to teachers' practice, and provides active engagement in learning by participating teachers' is more likely to result in effective implementation of new skills and pedagogical practices (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Polly & Hannafin, 2010). The seven participants in this study all experienced a seven-month hybrid professional development that was designed using these research-recommended components. The study took place ten months after the professional development. Sources of data included classroom observations, one-on-one interviews, and written lesson plans. Data generation occurred over a three-month span of time. Data were analyzed using constant-comparative methods. A theory grounded in the data found four perceived influences on teachers' instructional decisions around planning and practice for technology integration: curriculum and district expectations; professional development; teaching practices; and internal and external factors. These four influences work together, with curriculum and district expectations being the central influence. The findings from this study have implications for educational leaders around their decisions for technology acquisitions, use expectations and design of technology-focused professional development.

Elementary educators often lack the confidence and skill to teach visual arts to their students because they received very little, if any, formal training in what is a diverse and complex field of study. Teachers who lack confidence in a subject matter will potentially avoid teaching it. As a result, the early visual arts education of entire classrooms of elementary students can become neglected. Giving elementary educators the time to develop their own artistic process and acknowledging the value of educators' artistic voice can benefit teachers by building personal confidence, generating creative flow, providing knowledge about art, promoting a growth mindset, and boosting their enthusiasm for teaching art. It can also build connections to new and invigorating ideas for integrating art into lessons in their own classrooms. As such, it should create benefit for students. Using a combination of a/r/tography, narrative, and action research methodologies, this study researches the experiences of elementary teachers who choose to participate in artistic professional development opportunities provided by the visual art specialist on the faculty in order to see any perceived improvement in perception or confidence they may have in their own artistic abilities and how that has affected their approach to using visual art as a teaching method. Surveys and interviews document their past experiences with visual art, and their responses prior to and during the proposed courses. Follow up surveys, observations, and interviews document any perceived improvement in perception or confidence they may have in their own artistic abilities and how that has affected their approach to using visual arts as a teaching method in the classroom. This study endeavors to discover two things; 1) best practices in giving elementary educators professional development in visual arts content and methodologies to boost their confidence in their own artistic endeavors, and 2) how visual-art professional development workshops translate into visual-art instruction being integrated into the general classroom setting for elementary aged students.

A mixed methodological approach was used to examine the effects of fourth- and first-grade students cross-age tutoring on mathematics anxiety. 37 Fourth-grade tutors, both trained and untrained, helped 37 first graders use multiple strategies to solve mathematical word problems for 10 weeks. A control group of 16 first-grade students completed the problems independently. Pre-test and post-test mathematics anxiety measures were used. Observations were also conducted throughout the study. The measures used for both primary and intermediate students were effective in identifying students with mathematics anxiety. However, quantitative findings showed no difference for fourth- or first-grade students on mathematics anxiety measures. Results of an ANOVA were not significant. The qualitative findings revealed the trained tutors and their partners were the most structured. They tried more strategies to solve problems and stayed on task better than other groups. Untrained tutors and their partners needed more redirection and engaged in more off-task conversations. First graders with tutors received more positive reinforcement than those who worked independently.

Teachers use professional journals such as Science and Children for ideas to incorporate into their own teaching. As such the purpose of this study was to investigate the support offered for integrating engineering education into science instruction. The research methodology for this was a qualitative content analysis inferring categories based on the information presented. Twenty-three issues of the journal were read, spanning two and a half volume years. The categories that emerged were mentioning, implementing, and integrating. Deeper examples of integration were found to match the mapping and infusion strategies presented by the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council (NAE & NRC, 2009) in Standards for K-12 Engineering Education. The need for consistency in publication of the topic and more explanation on the subject is needed for teachers.

This paper examines the characteristics of effective professional development (PD). It discusses the change process in a system and how it applies to an educational setting, including teacher practice and student achievement. This study uses a survey, interviews, and student benchmark assessment data to assess the influence of PD on a district. Four main themes surfaced from the research in this study: past experiences mold beliefs and practices, coherence throughout a system clarifies expectations, individualized professional learning leads to authentic change in practice, and professional development influences the entire system.

Finding a mentor who works well for you can be both challenging and frustrating. Mentor-mentee matching programs are a great idea and work beautifully for some librarians in specific contexts. What happens when you outgrow, mismatch or need specialized or temporal mentoring? How do you understand the scope of your need? How do you get to the “why” behind building this relationship? In this program, audience members will assess their resources and needs, develop a short list of possible mentors for those needs, identify their personal goals and what they hope to provide a mentor through this relationship. Further, audience members will consider how to build an effective relationship with both accountability and an assessment plan to help both the mentor and mentee understand if goals have been met. Finally, time will be given to ensure audience members consider how best to share the skills and understanding they acquire through this relationship.

Finding a mentor who works well for you can be both challenging and frustrating. Mentor-mentee matching programs are a great idea and work beautifully for some librarians in specific contexts. What happens when you outgrow, mismatch or need specialized or temporal mentoring? How do you understand the scope of your need? How do you get to the "why" behind building this relationship? In this program, audience members will assess their resources and needs, develop a short list of possible mentors for those needs, identify their personal goals and what they hope to provide a mentor through this relationship. Further, audience members will consider how to build an effective relationship with both accountability and an assessment plan to help both the mentor and mentee understand if goals have been met. Finally, time will be given to ensure audience members consider how best to share the skills and understanding they acquire through this relationship.

Treatment integrity has a direct impact on early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) outcomes for children with autism. Research suggests that providing feedback can improve treatment integrity in EIBI. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two remote feedback methods, videoconference feedback and email feedback, on treatment integrity. Participants included six teachers who were providing EIBI to children with autism in China. Using a single-case alternating treatment design, each feedback method was associated with a specific teaching procedure, either discrete trial training or incidental teaching. The teachers implemented the two teaching procedures daily but only received feedback during intervention. Results showed that videoconference feedback produced faster mastery of the teaching procedures and better treatment integrity sustainability after the intervention was removed than email feedback. Treatment integrity deterioration was observed during maintenance and follow up. Results of generalization were mixed. In social validity evaluations, teachers expressed preference of videoconference feedback over email feedback in terms of acceptance and effectiveness of the intervention, but they considered email feedback a more efficient use of their time.