The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) on student academic performance and other outcomes. The participants in the study are eight middle schools from an urban Southern California school district that were mandated to implement SWPBIS in 2005.

This research was undertaken to investigate the role of motivation in influencing secondary school pupils to learn effectively. The researcher determined that without teacher motivation, pupils cannot learn to their full capacity. A number of motivational theories, principles and strategies, were found which if used properly can improve classroom learning. The ultimate decision concerning how and when to use them is in the hands of the teachers. Pupils should be inspired to perform and reach beyond their perceived limits which demands different learning incentives. As becoming adults, pupils must be encouraged to achieve positive learning and discouraged from negative behaviour that could harm their development. Learning motives remain the strongest driving force to improve pupils' performance as they change their learning behaviour towards achieving set goals. To re-establish the true meaning of education, both teachers and pupils should act responsibly as both bear blame for education having lost its meaning. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

Research has shown that African American males are performing poorly in American public schools and are disciplined at a higher rate than other ethnic and gender groups. Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) has a long history of success with individual students and more recently in school-wide settings. School-wide PBIS offers schools the ability to tailor their rules, rewards, and consequences to the specific needs and culture of a school. This descriptive and quantitative study sought to determine if implementation with fidelity of SWPBIS positively correlated to reduced disciplinary measures. The object of this study was to determine in what ways disciplinary rates for African American males differ in American public schools that identify as using SWPBIS with fidelity as compared to American public schools that do not implement SWPBIS with fidelity. Disciplinary rates examined included ISS, OSS single incident, and OSS multiple incidents. Descriptive findings indicated that schools that implement SWPBIS show a lower rate of ISS and OSS incidents for African American males. The quantitative findings did not yield a statistically significance between schools with fidelity of implementation of SWPBIS and schools without fidelity of implementation of SWPBIS.

This case study analyzed the perceptions of professionalism among an emerging and distinct occupational sector of community college faculty: community college faculty who teach in baccalaureate programs. The research was designed to address three questions as to the experiences of Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) faculty. First, what are the perceptions of professionalism among the community college faculty who teach in the baccalaureate programs at a multi-campus community college in the state of Florida (herein referred to as Seaside College)? Specifically, what patterns emerged when faculty perceptions of professional identity were examined, first, under the lens of professionalism as established by Larson (1977) and, second, through Boyer's (1990) four domains of scholarship? Second, are these faculty perceptions different from their previously held perceptions prior to the college's expansion into baccalaureate instruction? Third, were there any noticeable differences in faculty perceptions about the individual baccalaureate areas across this college? / by Jeffrey Peter Nasse. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This research was undertaken to investigate the role of motivation in influencing secondary school pupils to learn effectively. The researcher determined that without teacher motivation, pupils cannot learn to their full capacity. A number of motivational theories, principles and strategies, were found which if used properly can improve classroom learning. The ultimate decision concerning how and when to use them is in the hands of the teachers. Pupils should be inspired to perform and reach beyond their perceived limits which demands different learning incentives. As becoming adults, pupils must be encouraged to achieve positive learning and discouraged from negative behaviour that could harm their development. Learning motives remain the strongest driving force to improve pupils' performance as they change their learning behaviour towards achieving set goals. To re-establish the true meaning of education, both teachers and pupils should act responsibly as both bear blame for education having lost its meaning. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

One of the challenges facing education systems worldwide is the motivation of qualified teachers to teach at rural schools. Teaching at rural schools is a challenge as rural areas are characterised by adverse living and working conditions, making qualified teachers prefer living and working at urban schools where conditions are more comfortable. Namibia implemented the financial incentive to motivate qualified teachers to teach at rural schools and improve learner performance. The implementation of the financial incentive in Namibia has received little research attention in establishing its effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the financial incentive on the performance of learners at rural schools, as this performance relates to teacher motivation. To achieve this, a literature study and an empirical investigation were conducted. An interpretivist research paradigm informed the methodology for the study. A mixed-methods research approach, which relied more on a qualitative research design, included a research sample of 28 teachers, five school principals and two education officials. Data were collected through interviews and document analysis. Individual interviews were conducted with education officials and school principals. Focus group interviews were conducted with teachers. Document analysis entailed accessing applicable documents of each research site in the office of the school principal. Textual data were analysed and presented thematically and numeric data were analysed and presented as frequencies and percentages. Key findings established that financial incentive has contributed little to the performance of learners in rural schools. The fact that rural schools are not properly categorised according to environmental challenges results in teachers not receiving realistic financial incentive. Teachers were therefore not motivated by financial incentive, but by other factors relating to being tuned to nature in rural areas, being exposed to lower living costs and enjoying accommodating school leadership and community care. A revisiting of the implementation of the financial incentive is recommended in order to negate shortcomings and enhance the potential of financial incentive to contribute to improved learner performance as steered by motivated teachers. / Educational Studies / Ph. D. (Education)

The problem of indiscipline in schools has attracted the growing attention of researchers in South Africa and the world at large. Learner indiscipline has been variously reflected in behaviours which range from serious ones such as drug abuse, assault, theft, rape and murder, to minor ones such as truancy; all of which negatively affect teaching and learning. While there is agreement on the need to address the problem, there is a great deal of contestation around what strategies and practices are appropriate to instil discipline in schools. Within this debate many countries, including South Africa, have decided to move away from punitive approaches such as corporal punishment and replace them with what is called Alternatives to Corporal Punishment (ATCP). The main aim of this study was to interrogate the consistency that prevails between disciplinary practices and principles of alternatives to corporal punishment and the implications of this for school leadership. A mixed method design was used. The study was conducted in two phases: the first was a survey during which trends in disciplinary practices were established; the second was a multiple case study where in-depth interviews were conducted in five primary schools across different contexts which included farm, suburban, township, rural and informal settlement locations. This study has seven main findings. First, it was found that primary schools in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality experienced minor offenses which clustered around levels 1 and 2 of the ATCP classification. Second, although statistically there was a weak negative correlation (r = - 0.11) between location and behaviour which is not significant (p >. 05) or (p = .46), qualitative evidence suggests a relationship between context and disciplinary offences. Third, principals’ roles in instilling discipline were focused mainly on reactive administrative and management functions rather than on giving leadership designed to inspire alternative ways of behaving. Fourth, principals’ and teachers’ belief in the use of alternatives to corporal punishment revealed ambivalence and lack of understanding. Fifth, measures to instil discipline, even though they were said to be based on alternatives to corporal punishment, placed heavy emphasis on inflicting pain and relied on extrinsic control. Sixth, two disciplinary measures designed to inflict pain were found to be weakly associated, but significantly (p < 0.05) with violent behaviour, lending credence to view that in using certain practices to instil discipline there are socialisation consequences. Finally, the use of some measures recommended by alternatives to corporal punishment yielded some unintended socialisation consequences. The study concludes that there was lack of consistency between disciplinary practices in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality primary schools and the principles of Alternatives to Corporal Punishment. The findings suggest that it is difficult to achieve the consistency without a school leadership which understands that the alternatives call for a paradigm shift in measures to instil discipline. For improving discipline in schools, it is recommended that school principals and stakeholders must focus on measures that are meant to cultivate a new school culture guided by values of self-discipline in order to minimise the need for extrinsic punitive control. For further research, a follow up study based on a probability sample, which should include secondary schools, could be undertaken in order that results can be generalised.

This study explored the role of school-based teacher financial incentives on student academic achievement. Despite great efforts made by Zimbabwean government towards improving the education system in terms of infrastructure development and increasing number of schools, prior and after 1980, not much attention had been paid to the role of teachers’ extra-financial incentives on enhancing teacher motivation which leads to student achievement in and outside classroom situation. Extra-financial incentives differ from government to government depending on the revenue base and political will by such governments to support these teacher incentives programmes. In developed countries, respective governments pay different teacher incentives while in developing countries, parents/guardians or School Development Committees (SDCs) shoulder the burden. This study contented that one of the ways to improve student achievement has been payment of school-based teacher incentives to supplement teachers’ low salaries. While the need to adequately compensate teachers had been a worldwide phenomenon, this is in contrast to Zimbabwean experience after 2014, when Government of National Unity (GNU) came to an end. Zimbabwean government banned payment of teacher incentives under unclear reasons which were widely purported to be political. This research adopted a qualitative approach and as such, collection of primary and secondary data were done using multiple data collection techniques. Techniques included interviews with key informants, focus group discussions and open ended questionnaires in selected secondary schools. Results from this study revealed that improving teacher motivation through school-based incentives had been central to improved student achievement. In schools where teacher incentive system was practiced pass-rates increased, with a sudden decline when teacher incentives were banned. Banning or lack of properly designed incentive systems, where teachers were consulted, was seen as negatively affecting student achievement in selected secondary schools of Makoni District. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)