Heeding Hillard’s call for teachers to crack the walls of the matrix (inequitable schooling), this qualitative case study used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory as a theoretical lens and methodological tool to investigate the reflections of three elementary pre-service teachers. The first research question examined participants’ reflections as they were learning about teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students. The second question explored how these reflections connected to their developing culturally relevant beliefs and practices. To investigate these research questions the data sources collected for each participant included a pre/post Love & Kruger questionnaire, three individual semi-structured interview transcripts, eight written course documents, and two individual member written records. Cross case and within case analyses were conducted using a priori and open coding for all data and utilized the analytic strategy of relying on theoretical propositions. The theoretical proposition for this study was that teachers who reflected across systems of influences had more culturally relevant beliefs and practices. Findings from the cross case analysis suggested that (a) participants’ had shared patterns of reflectivity (b) drew upon multiple tools of references when confronted with less culturally relevant teaching in the field and program and (c) some course assignments facilitated participants’ reflection across systems more than others. The results from the within case analysis suggested that (a) participants’ racial identity experiences were the lenses they used to reflect on what being a culturally relevant teacher meant (b) some participants experienced cultural dissonance in the teacher development program as they considered culturally relevant pedagogy and (c) critical reflections across systems of influence revealed more developed understandings of culturally relevant pedagogy. This study offers insights about using critical reflectivity in developing pre-service teachers’ understandings of culturally relevant pedagogy.

A survey of graduates who participated in Project TEAM (School Psychology, Social Work, and Speech/Language Pathology) and Project PREP (Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education) is presented. Graduates completed coursework, seminars and practica that emphasized knowledge and skills related to working with children in the birth through 5 age group and their families. The survey determined in which competencies graduates indicated they were best and least prepared by the program and which competencies were most and least applicable to their present careers. The survey also determined what teaming models the graduates are currently using and would prefer to use in their careers. Results indicated a general trend towards the interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary teaming models as those that graduates would prefer to use. The survey also looked at the process of the programs (i.e., participating in seminars with various disciplines, participating in the practica as a team, taking courses with other disciplines, etc.) to determine whether or not participants benefited from the program's overall organization. Results indicated that graduates agreed with the program process.

A survey was conducted to examine current training practices of NASP accredited specialist programs. Information was gathered through a mailed survey to NASP accredited school psychology Ed.S. training programs across the United States. Of the 97 training programs to whom surveys were sent, 56 surveys were returned and 51 were considered usable (53% return rate). The survey respondents were divided into groups according to self-reported program emphasis. Thirty-one programs reported emphasizing traditional assessment (Traditional Programs), while 20 programs reported other areas of emphasis (Other Programs). An independent t-test indicated that Traditional Programs offer significantly higher amounts of training in traditional assessment than Other Programs. A Chi-square analysis revealed that approximately half of the Traditional Programs have not changed training in assessment; however, the remaining Traditional Programs showed shifts by an equal number of them increasing and decreasing the amount of training in assessment as compared to 5 years ago. Several differences in level of preparation of program graduates were indicated by a descriptive discriminant analysis. These differences are consistent with program emphasis.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is being increasingly identified in children, yet there are only a minimal number of studies examining the use of research-based intervention strategies in a classroom educational setting. This present study examined the use of Discrete Trial Training, Picture Exchange Communication System, Social Stories, Structured Teaching, and Video Self-Modeling by special education teachers with students with ASD. A questionnaire was completed by 91 special education teachers from the Green River Region Educational Cooperative, which encompasses 17 different school districts in the area of western and south central Kentucky. They answered questions about their level of training, knowledge and current use of the five strategies. A correlational analysis was performed to assess whether the years of teaching experience was related to the level of the teacher's training, knowledge and current use of the ASD instructional methods, and whether special teachers who taught a greater number of students with ASD had greater levels of training, knowledge, and current use of the five methods. The study revealed correlations between the numbers of students taught with ASD and some of the levels of training, knowledge, and current use of the interventions.

This exploratory case study examined faculty members’ experiences with the introduction of technological innovations. The introduction of LiveText, a web-based learning, assessment, and accreditation system, to a department in All Star Research University’s (ASRU) College of Education was examined to explore how faculty members navigated this event. Teacher educators are role models for both current and future educators. Therefore their experiences matter as more technological innovations are incorporated in education at all levels. Rogers’s (1995) generalizations about the diffusion of innovations provided the conceptual framework for understanding the factors that influenced the adoption of LiveText as an innovation. A qualitative research approach was used to examine faculty members’ experiences with the introduction of this technological innovation. Data collection methods combined questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and document reviews. Six participants were selected and interviewed about their experiences with the introduction of LiveText. Themes reflected the adoption process of LiveText in one department of ASRU’s teacher education program. The primary themes revealed were a climate of accountability in teacher education, an initiating event, the acknowledgement of a need for change, the process of selecting a solution, communications, utilization, and an evaluation of whether the chosen solutions fixed the problems that initiated their introduction. In addition, a new model, trigger, transition, utilization, and perceptions (TTU-P), was introduced to describe the adoption process. Experiences detailed in this case study will provide valuable insight for other groups in similar situations or circumstances.

The main purposes of this study were to explore teacher participate school-based in-service teacher education and professional development in the Kaohsiung Elementary school. This study adopted the questionnaire-survey approach. 327 sample from forty-four Kaohsiungs¡¦ elementary schools. The instrument for the study: ¡§the Questionnaire of School-Based in-service Teacher Education and Professional Development¡¦¡¦ were developed by the researcher and included two scales, one was ¡§the Scale of School-Based in-service Teacher Education Present Situation¡¦¡¦ and the other was ¡§the Scale of Professional Development¡¦¡¦. The methods for data analysis were descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson-moment correlation. The following four were concluded: 1.The concept of school-based in-service teacher education is one kind from bottom to top, activity that relying mainly on school to in-service teacher education. 2.The teachers¡¦ of Kaohsiung will participate in school-based in-service education present situation of differed in terms respondents¡¦ background variables. 3.The teachers¡¦ of Kaohsiung professional development of differed in terms respondents background variables. 4.There was significant correlation between school-based in-service teacher education and professional development. Finally, some suggestions were raised to the teacher of elementary school, the administration of elementary school, and future research.

The purpose of this study was to determine important elements and placement practices of student teaching as perceived by teacher educators and how well each student teacher perceived his/her quality of experience based on these criteria. Data were collected using mail questionnaires following procedures by Dillman (2000). Three different mail questionnaires were used to gather information from 50 different head teacher educators (35 responding), 77 teacher educators (45 responding), and 204 student teachers from the 2001-2002 academic school year (140 responding). Head teacher educator respondents indicated that the number one placement practice for placing student teachers was that of the cooperating teacher having at least three years teaching experience (mean=4.61) Teacher educator respondents indicated that a cooperating center having access to the World Wide Web (mean=4.79) was the most important element of a cooperating center. Additionally, teacher educators indicated that a cooperating teacher who supports other school activities was the most important cooperating teacher element (mean=4.28). As a whole, student teachers indicated that they learned a great deal from their student teaching experience (mean=4.65) and that the student teaching component of their teacher education program was the most valuable component (mean=4.54). Statistically siginificant relationships between student teacher perceptions of their cooperating center elements and the quality of their student teaching experience existed. The elements with a positive correlation and statistical significance included cooperating center facilities (r=.447) and cooperating teacher and student teacher relationships (r=.853). The correlation coefficient (r=.389) between the level of importance of student teaching placement methods and the quality of the student teacher experience indicated a low positive relationship (Davis, 1971, but was not significant at the .05 alpha level. This indicated that the more time and effort teacher educators spend on placing student teachers may increase the student teacher's quality of experience.

As a teacher educator, I was concerned at the passive roles that pre-service teachers (PSTs) seemed to take in my outdoor education (OE) courses and I believed that more authentic (teacher-like) experiences would assist PSTs to take more active roles. Early in this research I developed a metaphor of PSTs as passengers on the long distance flight (their degree) to the destination (of teaching) to explain some of this passivity. Using a self-study methodology, I examined a variety of ‘authentic’ learning experiences during a semester-long course. Guided by Schwab’s commonplaces, I accessed perspectives of learners, milieu, teacher educator and discipline to provide me with some certainty about the effects of my teaching. The authentic learning experiences included my use of transparent teaching (open journaling and thinking aloud), modelling of proposed graduating teacher standards, fatality case studies and handing over control on an OE camp. As the research progressed, it became apparent that my initial framing of the problem of PST passivity was flawed. In particular, the most authentic experiences of teaching on the OE camp did not necessarily result in the active learning I had anticipated. Through the self-study methodology, I came to realise that authenticity was impeding the learning of some students. I reframed my approach to teacher education and used Schwab’s eclecticism to also acknowledge the equal importance of passive learning, inauthenticity and teacher uncertainty. I argue that this eclectic approach provides a more nuanced and fuller understanding of teaching and learning in the OE course. Finally, I discuss the criteria within self-study for demonstrating improvement and representation of results.

Although previous research has examined the relationship of teachers' school context to both teacher motivation and retention (Coladarci 1992; Hoy and Woolfolk 1993; Uline 2008; Skaalvik and Skaalvik 2010), very little research has looked at the role of teachers' professional development experiences to these outcome variables, nor has the role of motivation in the relationship between school contextual factors and teachers' professional commitment been examined. This study tested a model of teacher motivation that measures the relationships of teacher background variables, professional development experiences, and school climate to teacher self-determination and professional commitment. Teacher self-determination was hypothesized in this model to mediate the relationship between these teacher background and contextual variables to teachers' professional commitment. The fit of the model was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling, with a multiple group analysis employed to determine whether significant differences existed between public and charter school teacher participants. Results of this investigation revealed that with some modifications, the proposed model obtained good fit (using multiple fit indices) for both groups, with parameters allowed to vary freely. Due to possible differences between groups in measurement and structural model path coefficients, models for each group of teachers are interpreted separately. Implications of the final models as well as limitations of the study are discussed.

<p> This monograph presents the perceptions of Writing Center assistance that three groups at community colleges have: composition students, Writing Center tutors, and English instructors. While the three groups have been highlighted often separately in many studies, this study adds to those that compare how the three groups respond to the same issues about writing and Writing Center assistance. The study examines three questions: (1) What are the writing challenges that English instructors, center tutors, and students served in Writing Centers identify and expect the Writing Center to assist students with? (2) How do Writing Center models (mandatory or voluntary) provide or deliver the assistance that is needed? (3) What are the perceptions of the three groups of the efficacy of Writing Center assistance? </p><p> Four community colleges in southern California participated in the study and the three groups included individuals from developmental, college-transfer, and advanced levels. Matching surveys with the same question sequence were used to gather the responses of the three groups, and comparisons of their responses in the form of frequency counts, means, and standard deviation were made. Results reveal: (1) The three groups have differing priorities of what is important in writing. (2) The three groups have differing perceptions of what Writing Center assistance is focused upon. (3) The three groups have a few overlapping recommendations about improvements that Writing Centers might implement. </p><p> The majority of the differing priorities in writing involve the writing process and mechanical/proofreading issues vs. analytical approaches. While tutors and instructors agree on a few writing features, students exhibit wide discrepancy in their priorities. The differences in perceptions of Writing Center assistance also reveal wide discrepancies in what students express that they need help with, what they actually take to the Writing Center, and what they believe they received help with. Instructors and tutors also have differing perceptions of what the Writing Center assists students with, or should assist students with. Survey results also suggest a slight preference for Writing Center assistance being mandatory (requiring attendance) as opposed to being voluntary (not requiring attendance), and the participants recommend that Writing Centers have more tutors, expanded hours, and an interesting suggestion of &ldquo;other&rdquo; for flexibility in how Writing Centers can assist students. The implications for that recommendation for flexibility indicate that additional studies of Writing Centers can yield valuable insights for the ongoing development of Writing Centers.</p>