This qualitative study analyzed and described new teachers' experiences of their first year in their communities of practice. Using a theoretical framework of phenomenological and narrative research, social learning theory, and alternative representations of research, the research design consisted of in-depth and focus group interviews and the creation of collage. Communities of practice research (notably the work of Lave and Wenger) was used as a lens to explore the experiences of first year teachers. Data were analyzed and described using the constant-comparative method. In addition, participants' profiles were reconstructed in the participants' own words using Seidman's (2006) method. Research is needed to assist administrators and experienced educators to understand and support the efforts of their newest colleagues. Attracting, nurturing and keeping our best teachers are goals that are essential to providing quality educational services to our students. As such, this research will have implications for universities, school boards and in-school administrators, teachers' unions, and others who are interested in supporting new teachers in effective and efficient manners.

<p> This mixed methods, case study research examined the teacher education program at Illinois State University (ISU-Normal, Illinois) as related to the views and assessment practices of the dispositions of its teacher candidates. Five years of quantitative and qualitative data from ISU&rsquo;s Disposition Concern form was collected and analyzed currently and formulated the basis for a sequential qualitative study through interviews in order to gain a more holistic picture of dispositions and the dispositional process at this university. In teacher education, content knowledge and pedagogical skills are easier to teach and assess than the subjective nature of dispositions. This grounded theory study found that the very system that views and assess dispositions of teacher candidates may augment the subjectivity of dispositions and its essentials for &ldquo;responsive&rdquo; (Thornton, 2006) teaching which systematically should include clear definitions, assessment practices, communication, and support for both faculty/staff and students.</p>

<p> This qualitative study examines the enactment of culturally responsive teaching practices (Gay, 2010) within two African American elementary teachers' classrooms. Teacher interviews, classroom observations, and classroom documents were collected and analyzed to examine the supports and barriers these teachers encountered as they attempted to enact culturally responsive teaching practices. The descriptive case study reveals that both teachers engage culturally responsive teaching in similar ways. However, the difference in school context makes this effort more challenging for one teacher than another. Barriers included institutional requirements, classroom disruptions, student issues, and teacher isolation. Additionally, by implementing a collaborative coaching model as part of the study design, I briefly explored the role a teacher educator might play in supporting practicing teachers' engagement of culturally responsive teaching. Based on the findings, school structures are critiqued and suggestions for developing systems to support the enactment of culturally responsive teaching practices are introduced.</p>

<p> Previous research has identified student engagement as an important antecedent to student learning in higher education. Although student engagement is viewed as important for learning, a significant number of college students still report frequently feeling bored in their courses. The use of music as a pedagogical tool is believed to be beneficial for promoting student engagement and student learning in higher education sociology courses, yet it has been suggested that sociology faculty members do not commonly incorporate the technique into their courses. The purpose of this comparative interview study is to explore higher education sociology faculty members' understandings of the use of music as a pedagogical tool, and the perceived importance of student engagement to student learning among higher education sociology faculty members. </p><p> In this study, it is found that higher education sociology faculty members believe student engagement can lead to increased student learning. It is also found that higher education sociology faculty members generally identify music as an effective pedagogical tool for promoting student engagement and learning in higher education sociology courses. Interestingly, participants believed the use of music as a pedagogical tool to be an uncommon practice in higher education sociology courses in the United States. As part of their efforts to explain their choices to use or not use music as a pedagogical tool, faculty participants described potential barriers that may impact faculty member choices to use music in their higher education sociology courses. </p><p> Sociology faculty participants in this study agreed that a lack of discussion of pedagogical tools among colleagues and in teaching courses might serve as a potential barrier for the use of music as a pedagogical tool. Higher education sociology faculty participants also identified a lack of knowledge of how to use music as a pedagogical tool as a potential barrier for the use of music in sociology courses. This research suggests that the lack of faculty knowledge of music as a pedagogical tool may be due to the lack of discussion of pedagogical tools both among colleagues and in the teaching courses completed by higher education sociology faculty members. </p><p> Past research has suggested that sociology faculty members need to create an environment that encourages students to be active and engaged participants in their own learning through building a community of learners. This study suggests that higher education sociology faculty members may successfully build a community of learners through using music as a pedagogical tool in their courses. This study recommends that changes at the departmental level need to occur in order to make it easier for sociology faculty members to gain the knowledge required to use music effectively in their courses. Suggestions for practice and future research are provided.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to determine the degree to which activities within an undergraduate teacher education course in classroom assessment prepared preservice teachers for engaging parents in their children's education. Research indicates that few preservice teachers enter their first classrooms prepared, specifically in the areas of complex tasks such as assessment and parent engagement. Moreover, sound practices in assessment and parent engagement have been demonstrated to have positive impact on student achievement. If designed appropriately, professional development activities for preservice teachers can develop their knowledge, skills, and professional efficacy to enhance student achievement. To address this, preservice teachers enrolled in a classroom assessment course in an elementary teacher education program in a Midwestern U.S. university were given a set of role-playing activities requiring them to consider and respond to typical assessment conversations teachers often have with parents. These role playing activities included (a) explaining to parents the instructional and assessment frameworks used to address the learning needs of students in a class, (b) discussing a recent change in performance with two parents (one whose child improved and one whose child declined), (c) resolving a complaint from a parent about a child's grade, and (d) explaining and interpreting a child's standardized achievement results with a parent. Through a secondary analysis of data, the degree to which these activities did, indeed, prepare the preservice teachers for engaging parents through assessment was studied. As such, a pre-post measure design was used to test whether the experimental group improved as compared to another section (control group) of the assessment class that did not participate in the role-playing activities. Results indicated that participants in the experimental group gained more knowledge about parent engagement and communicating with parents than the control group but did not change in efficacy as compared to the control. Coding and analysis of the preservice teachers' role-playing assignments demonstrated that most of them gained valuable skills in working with parents on assessment issues, and the preservice teachers in the experimental group endorsed the role-playing activities as being valuable for their education as teachers. Results are discussed in terms of possible implications for teacher education.</p>

<p> In the wake of new teaching standards and evaluation systems introduced in the United States, teacher collaboration has emerged as a common theme. However, despite these recent changes, teaching is still largely a private act, in which teachers are often secluded from their colleagues. This study investigated the range and variation of the characteristics of teacher collaboration and their impact in a small, suburban school district in Westchester County, NY. These data were initially gathered through a survey and later through interviews and focus groups. The results were analyzed through a mixed methods lens, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This study found that district teachers have some of the structural and many of the interpersonal characteristics favorable to collaboration, the impact of which has led to a strong sense of efficacy and some instructional change. In terms of teacher groups, there was a positive association between the structural and interpersonal characteristics of teacher collaboration and a positive correlation between teacher collaboration and its impact on sense of efficacy and instructional change. It was concluded that the District should enhance the structural characteristics favorable to teacher collaboration in order to impact further instructional change.</p>

<p> Regular education teachers' self-efficacy may be negatively impacted due to a lack of professional development and experience teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Research links teacher self-efficacy with increased student academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine to what degree training on ASD during and following teacher certification and experience had on overall teacher self-efficacy. This one-shot case study was based upon Bandura's theoretical construct of self-efficacy and secondarily on Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy's theory of self-efficacy. The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scales (TSES) was used to collect data from regular education teachers with experience teaching students with ASD in 1st through 3rd grades in a Southern California school district. After the data were assessed for accuracy, missing data, and outliers, the analysis was conducted on 36 cases. MANOVAs were conducted to assess differences on overall self-efficacy. Separate ANOVAs were used since the overall self-efficacy and the subscores were highly correlated. Though the sample in this study was small (n = 36) for data analysis, the effect size showed that training experience and grade levels had a moderate to large effect on teacher self-efficacy (.16, .13, .13 respectively). Therefore teacher self-efficacy has a positive impact on student achievement. Implications for positive social change are self-efficacious teachers increase the academic achievement of students with ASD. In this way, such students can become self-sustaining, dynamic members of the work force and community.</p>

<p> Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify the essential conditions (ISTE) required for technology integration in Professional Learning Communities for building effective teams, promoting collaboration, and endorsing shared decision making processes as perceived by members of the joint Technology Leadership Network of the Riverside County Office of Education and San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, California. </p><p> Methodology: A structured Delphi Study using mixed methods was conducted to find the expert panel's opinions, the members of the Technology Leadership Network in Riverside County Office of Education. Round 1 and Round 3 comprised scaled questions, producing quantitative data. Round 2 consisted of open ended questions, producing qualitative data. </p><p> Findings: Delphi expert panelists ranked shared vision, ongoing professional learning, empowered leaders, and student-centered learning as the top four ISTE essential conditions required for technology integration in PLCs. The Delphi expert panelists also identified the preconditions necessary for technology integration. </p><p> Conclusions: Based on the findings, a transformational plan and a change model were designed to effectively implement technology integration in Professional Learning Communities. The purpose of the plan and model was to provide step-by-step instructions for a transformational change plan for technology integration in Professional Learning Communities. </p><p> Recommendations: To prepare educators for 21st century PLCs, it is crucial to have technology integrated in professional developments. Technology integration is indispensable for PLCs to build effective teams and to have collaboration and effective decision making; however, it is not possible unless PLCs have a deliberate shared vision, embedded ongoing professional learning, empowered leaders at all levels, and data driven student centered learning. The prerequisites, if addressed properly, can provide the strong foundation required for technology integration in PLCs. Yet, the change needs to come within one's self, and educators as lifelong learners are the right people to integrate this change. </p>

<p> Use of free and open source software (FOSS) by teachers in public schools is limited. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were statistically significant differences among teachers who use FOSS in the classroom, teachers who use proprietary software in the classroom, and teachers who do not use software in the classroom at all, with the goal to propose ways to mitigate barriers to implementation of FOSS by teachers in public schools. The research design was quasi-experimental. Independent t tests were used to measure differences among the three groups on the following independent variables: age of respondent in years, years of teaching experience, primary subject area taught, level of education, number of years of experience in using technology, number of district training sessions or technology initiatives attended in the previous 12 months, impact of school site leadership on implementation of technology in the classroom, and impact of district technology initiatives on implementation of technology in the classroom. The results revealed statistically significant differences only concerning the impact of school site leadership as reported by teachers who used FOSS and teachers who used proprietary software. Recommendations to encourage teachers&rsquo; use of FOSS included establishing collaborative processes by instructional staff, administration and information technology personnel to identify and assess appropriate FOSS solutions, training opportunities in the use of FOSS in the classroom, and guidelines to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the selected software solutions (proprietary and FOSS).</p>

<p> Within successful <i>Inclusive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-focused High Schools</i> (ISHSs), it is not only the students who are learning. Teachers, with diverse backgrounds, training, and experience, share and develop their knowledge through rich, embedded professional development to continuously shape their craft, improve their teaching, and support student success. This study of four exemplars of ISHSs (identified by experts in STEM education as highly successful in preparing students underrepresented in STEM for STEM majors in college and future STEM careers) provides a rich description of the relationships among the characteristics of STEM teachers, their professional development, and the school cultures that allow teachers to develop professionally and serve the needs of students. By providing a framework for the development of teaching staffs in ISHSs and contributing to the better understanding of STEM teaching in any school, this study offers valuable insight, implications, and information for states and school districts as they begin planning improvements to STEM education programs. A thorough examination of an existing data set that included site visits to four ISHSs along with pre- and post-visit data, provided the resource for this multiple case study with cross-case analysis of the teachers and their teacher professional development experiences. </p><p> Administrators in these ISHSs had the autonomy to hire teachers with strong content backgrounds, philosophical alignment with the school missions, and a willingness to work collaboratively toward achieving the schools' goals. Ongoing teacher professional development began before school started and continued throughout the school day and year through intense and sustained, formal and informal, active learning experiences. Flexible professional development systems varied, but aligned with targeted school reforms and teacher and student needs. Importantly, collaborative teacher learning occurred within a school-wide culture of collaboration. Teachers were guided in establishing open lines of communication that supported regular engagement with others and the free flow of ideas, practices, and concerns. As a result of this collaboration, in conjunction with intentional pathways to teacher leadership, teacher professionalization was deliberately and successfully fostered creating an environment of shared mission and mutual trust, and a shared sense of responsibility for school-wide decision-making and school outcomes.</p>