It is estimated the national teacher shortage will be approximately two million by the year 2010. Thirty to 50% of new teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years. In an effort to improve teacher quality and retain teachers, many states and local school districts have instituted induction and mentoring programs. The state of Utah's Early Years Enhancement (EYE) induction and mentoring program went into effect January 1, 2003. This purpose of this study was to examine how secondary novice teachers experience the mentorship requirement of the EYE program. A phenomenological approach was used to illustrate the lived experience of 19 Utah teachers who completed the mentorship and all other requirements of the EYE program in order to earn their Level 2 License and continue on in the profession. Some of the themes that emerged from the participant interviews are congruent with the literature in terms of the benefits of a mentorship. A majority of participants reported their mentorship was beneficial because their mentor was a source of advice and information; their mentor was a confidant who also inspired confidence; and they got along with their mentor. Included in the study are unanticipated perceptions regarding the portfolio and the Praxis II requirements of the EYE program, giving a more holistic picture of what participants experienced during the mentor and induction process.

This qualitative study addresses secondary educator perceptions of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and student academic achievement. PBIS is a proactive approach with a multitiered framework. When used properly, PBIS can be a tool for school faculty to establish behavioral expectations and procedures, prevent disruptive behavior, and improve the school climate and culture. This phenomenological study was conducted using two secondary schools in West Virginia. Participants were identified and chosen through purposive sampling techniques according to their years of experience teaching and utilizing PBIS interventions. The data for this study included unstructured, open-ended interviews based on three research questions. The questions addressed secondary educator and administrator perceptions of PBIS and high school student achievement, interventions associated with student achievement, and how the program could be adapted to provide increased student academic support. Interviews were transcribed and data were organized by topics and themes coded into various categories. Triangulation, member checks, and rich descriptions supported the credibility of the analysis. The results revealed that five categories emerged, which included: (1) PBIS influences student work ethic, (2) positive reinforcement of high expectations, (3) Student Assistance Team, (4) Advisory, and (5) consistency.

The purpose of this study was twofold: Purpose 1 was to determine to what degree the desirable characteristics of a quality science program based upon the national standards as developed by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) were actually being achieved as perceived by the public school secondary science teachers and supervisory personnel in Tennessee. Purpose 2 was to determine to what degree the quality components of a good science curriculum based upon the national standards as developed by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) were considered to be desirable components of a quality secondary science program by the public school secondary science teachers and supervisory personnel in Tennessee. A random sample was taken from the target population of 1566 public, secondary science teachers and supervisory personnel, grades 9 through 12, from 125 school systems in Tennessee with the same core science offerings which if successfully completed, would allow students entrance into Tennessee Board of Regents institutions. A total of 20 research hypotheses were tested in the null format at the.05 level of significance using a two-tailed test. The Kruskal-Wallis One Way Analysis of Variance test was used to determine the difference in the ordinal data of the two independent groups. The Chi-Square test was obtained on those hypotheses dealing with ordinal and nominal data. The results of the study suggested that significant relationships existed between the perceived level of desirability of a school's science program and the perceived level of achievement of that program for all respondents in regard to the levels of: science background, general education, professional education, professional activities and development, contributions to the profession, and professional attitudes.

This population study of the certification qualifications of the secondary science teachers of the Upper East Tennessee region in 1984-85 was conducted to determine if there was a qualification shortage in any science-teaching area at the beginning of the Comprehensive Education Reform Act (CERA). Data were obtained from the Tennessee State Department of Education Preliminary Report Forms for Staff. Subject certification data and 1984-85 teaching assignment were analyzed to find percentages of infield, out-of-field teaching and the size of the internal pool of active certificated science teachers who were not teaching. Results of these analyses were presented for each system and compiled for the region. Results indicated that qualification shortages as measured by out-of-field teaching were present in all but one regional system ranging from a low of 12% for chemistry to a high of 91% for earth/space science. General science was 22%; biology was 34%; and physics was 47%. Regionally, there were wide variations of these out-of-field teaching percentages. Comparing the internal pool of teachers certificated to teach in the science areas with the number of out-of-field teachers, in all cases, except earth/space science, there was a surplus of internal pool science teachers within the region and within most of the school systems. Implications of this study for school administrators included: (1) the need for studying their science teaching populations and making any changes possible from their internal pools to alleviate any discovered qualification shortages; (2) the prediction that the pattern documented for Upper East Tennessee will be found statewide perhaps with lower in-field chemistry and higher earth/space science teaching percentages; and (3) that without statewide requirements that all teachers be certificated in all subjects they are teaching, the qualification shortage in science teachers will likely continue. Recommendations of the study include sharing the results with the school systems and others involved, setting up a position to do this on an on-going basis for the whole state, doing a follow-up study to see the effect of the science scholarship part of CERA, and publicizing need areas to prospective teachers.

In the United States, there are currently over seven million high school athletes, all of whom are required to take four years of core classes as well as elective classes. Core subject areas consist of math, science, social sciences, and English language arts. Of the four core subject areas, both national and state education committees place emphasis and scrutiny on English language arts. The research within this thesis, conducted in the form of an interview, is meant to explore English language arts teachers' possible attitudes and expectations of their student athletes in concern to their writing abilities. Special emphasis will be placed on secondary English language arts teachers' perceptions of student-athletes' use of the standard conventions of English, such as spelling, punctuation, syntax, and grammar, within their writing. The results of four interviews with secondary English language arts teachers revealed that these secondary English language arts teachers did not hold different perceptions of their student-athletes writing abilities as compared to their non-athlete peers. All four participants revealed that they believe that the student-athletes in their classroom have the same writing abilities as non-athletes, and that being labeled as a student-athlete does not give way to either positive or negative perception of their writing. This exploratory study is beneficial to both student-athletes and English language arts teachers, as it may have the ability to affect change in the way that teachers approach and teach their student-athletes.

This study argued that the purpose of social studies education is intimately connected with civic engagement. The function of civic engagement shifts in accordance with the political roles a teacher plays in the classroom (Westhaimer & Kahne, 2004). The literature review defined the possible parameters of these political roles. The research then explored how secondary social science and elementary teacher candidates, if at all, planned to address the political issue of civic engagement in education and their self-awareness as political actors. This research study aimed to expand the available body of research on this topic by exploring the perceptions of social studies teacher candidates concerning their roles in promoting civic engagement. This study conducted a survey of social science and elementary teacher candidates to qualitatively measure these perceptions. The study found that teacher candidates possessed entrenched conceptions of good citizenry but fail to connect social studies’ primary purpose of civic engagement with the promotion of good citizenry. The study also indicated teacher candidates lack sufficient civic engagement conceptual understanding and corresponding pedagogy to adequately perform their political roles as democratic gatekeepers. Consequently, the study’s educational implications were that social studies teachers’ and teacher candidates’ awareness of civic engagement in the social studies classroom is necessary to facilitate an effective, ethical, and objective education. Additionally, more attention must be given in teacher candidate education to address the political reality of the social science education profession.

This study seeks to identify correlation in the use of graphic organizers in reading comprehension of twelfth grade English language arts students. Specifically, this study seeks to determine if the use of graphic organizers in the teaching of reading has impacts on the reading comprehension of 12th grade English language arts students. The study intends to contribute to closing an information gap surrounding the effects of using instructional strategies such as graphic organizers in reading comprehension in a twelfth-grade English class. The research questions helped to guide this study in identifying descriptive statistics within PSAT reading comprehension scores during the 2021-2022 school year using Prentice Hall workbooks and SAT reading comprehension scores during the 2022-2023 school year using Study Sync workbooks. Descriptive statistics between ESOL PSAT reading comprehension scores during the 2021-2022 using Prentice Hall workbooks and ESOL SAT reading comprehension scores during the 2022-2023 school year using Study Sync workbooks were analyzed. The study followed a quantitative method to study the correlation of graphic organizers on reading comprehension of students in the twelfth grade. A Pearson correlation was used to measure and interpret scores between 2021-2022 PSAT and 2022-2023 SAT was applied to identify correlation significance of using graphic organizers on reading comprehension of students in the twelfth grade. A G-power analysis was calculated to identify the sample size for a Pearson's r correlation for post hoc data. Findings may assist high school teachers and educational leaders to consider implementing graphic organizers as an instructional strategy in reading comprehension to increase student reading achievement.

Online learning provides secondary students with the flexibility to meet learning goals at a time, place, and pace that meets their needs. In order to be successful in online courses, students must exhibit strong levels of self-regulated learning (SRL), including time management, goal setting, and resilience. Understanding the SRL behaviors of secondary online students can help course designers, instructors, and administrators design effective learning environments and provide targeted support to help students be successful in online learning environments. This three-manuscript dissertation analyzes the course pacing behaviors of secondary students enrolled in online courses to attain insight on their self-regulated behaviors. As a proxy for understanding online self-regulated behaviors, temporal variables were examined including the average length of an online study session, the amount of time between study sessions, the average number of study session sand the overall number of study sessions for each participant. The first study investigated the relationships between student demographics and temporal behaviors in relation to their effect on the depth of student understanding on the course midterm exam. The second study explores trends in online temporal behaviors, including the consistency and frequency of engagement in the course, and how these behaviors change over time in relation to student demographics. The final article utilizes student demographics and temporal behaviors to study their effect on academic achievement, as measured by their performance on the Advanced Placement exam. Findings from these studies indicate that online pacing behavior is related to student demographics and previous academic experience while also providing insight into how these variables affect achievement. By understanding the temporal behaviors of online secondary students, personalized support can be provided to strengthen student time management and engagement to promote academic achievement.

According to the Office of Educational Research and Improvement: A Project of the Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research, graduation rates for Native Americans from both secondary and post secondary institutions are dismally low at 58% and 7%, respectively. Some research addresses cognitive preference and other ethnic identity, but research animating the cognitive preference---ethnic identity interplay for high school students is absent. These limitations in access to educational opportunities lead to abbreviated quality life experiences and a restriction in individual efficacy and collective agency. The following project assessed ethnic identity using Phinney's Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure and cognitive preference using Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory version 3.1. The research used both the aforementioned metrics to analyze cognitive preference and ethnic identity for 73 high school participants through the use of both categorical and continuous variables. Analytical procedures utilized descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, bivariate correlation, and analysis of variance. This research confirmed that Anglos and Native Americans have statistically different cognitive preferences, and those preferences were correlated with their ethnic identity. It is recommended that education better meet the needs of the Native American student by emancipating them from an educational system founded and perpetuated on an orientation to the majority's cognitive preference by including multiple information acquisition and processing modalities. Including a range of cognitive preference pedagogies in the classroom will lead to a more equitable educational landscape where the Native American student has the opportunity to be a more successful student.

In many states, local school systems are under pressure to implement educational programs to help students pass the statewide Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (ASK) in science, mathematics, and language arts literacy. The school district in which this study was conducted implemented a high quality teaching professional development (HQTPD) program for grade four teachers in 2008. The research problem was that, at the data site, fourth grade students were not making academic progress, and elementary schools were failing to make adequate yearly progress (AYP). The HQTPD program intervention was grounded in social learning theory. The main research question that guided this quantitative study was whether or not HQTPD affected fourth grade students' science, mathematics, and language arts literacy ASK scores. ASK test scores in science, mathematics, and language arts literacy were collected for 1,185 grade four students. The data were analyzed using a nonequivalent quasi-experimental pretest and posttest control group design, which involved two cohorts of fourth grade students before and after the implementation of the HQTPD program. Empirical evidence revealed that the HQTPD program had a positive impact on fourth grade students' science, mathematics, and language arts literacy ASK scores. The local school district and the surrounding institutes of higher education and professional development providers in this state may benefit from having an awareness of the effectiveness of HQTPD on student achievement. Implications for social change include including more programs like HQTPD that have the potential to increase student academic achievement.