The rise in popularity of mobile technologies, particularly with respect to youth, has created new challenges and opportunities for districts, schools, and classrooms. As more students come to own these devices they have increasingly sought to use them in their schools and classrooms, with or without their schools’ official support. Districts and schools have responded to this encroachment in a variety of ways ranging from establishing policies that dictate common practices across all classrooms to empowering teachers to create mobile phone policies for their classrooms. In this study, I investigated how the conflicting demands of school-level and district-level policies, and student resistance and continuation to use their mobile phones in the schools and classrooms, have influenced teachers’ classroom policies at two schools in different districts. I conducted a series of interviews with district and school administrators, teachers, and students in two schools with different policies guiding the use of mobile phones in the classroom. I found that students resisted district, school, and teacher policies and pushed to use their mobile phones in their classrooms irrespective of their teachers’ wishes. However, although students frequently used their mobile phones for non-educational purposes that detracted from their and their classmates’ learning, many students used their mobile phones for educational and non-educational uses that supported their learning inside and outside of school. I also found that teachers tended to base their classroom policies more on their personal philosophies and the demands of their students than on school and district policies. These policies enabled teachers to explore the potential for students’ mobile phones to support student learning. My research suggests that districts could benefit from articulating clear philosophies regarding the use of mobile phones in schools and classrooms, particularly philosophies that encourage and support teachers in exploring the potential of these devices in the classrooms. These new policies would also benefit from districts ensuring the incorporation of more student and teacher voice into the policy-making process. I also propose a taxonomy of mobile phone use that schools and districts can use to support teachers in aligning their classroom practices with a school’s mobile phone policy.

The questions of how to improve educational practice at scale, and what role scientific investigation can or should play in that endeavor, have been central to the enterprise of education research since its beginning (Dewey, 1929). In one approach, researchers produce evidence regarding the effects of standardized instructional procedures on student learning, and then school- and district leaders manage teachers’ faithful implementation of those procedures. In another approach, teachers are encouraged to use their expert judgment and flexibly apply research-based principles of effective instruction in order to meet students’ unique learning needs. While these contrasting frameworks have each been influential in research and practice, little empirical work exists comparing the relative effectiveness of each of these approaches in advancing outcomes of interest in varying contexts. In the two separate studies that comprise this dissertation, I analyze data from a school-level cluster-randomized trial in which schools were randomly assigned to implement READS – a summer literacy intervention for elementary school students that includes school-based and home-based components – under a fidelity or flexibility management approach. In the first study, I investigate – and find evidence consistent with – the hypothesis that the optimal approach to educational program implementation may be a scaffolded management sequence, in which implementers first develop proficiency with a program through a fidelity phase of management, and then make program adaptations under a flexibility management phase. The second study is motivated by the growing body of theoretical and empirical work demonstrating the numerous ways in which teachers’ social capital affects school improvement efforts. In this study, I investigate the effects of management approach on outcomes related to teachers’ social capital. I find that the flexibility approach caused participants to form more intervention-related consultation ties and caused them to consult more frequently about instructional adaptation, as opposed to implementation. At the same time, the expansion of participants’ intervention-related networks under the flexibility approach may have been offset by participants’ shrinking consultation networks in instructional areas unrelated to the intervention. Both of these studies have implications for research on how school improvement initiatives are introduced and managed.

This qualitative study used design-based research to explore how teachers can be supported to apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in ways that promote disciplinary thinking in English Language Arts (ELA) among diverse learners. Using a purposive sampling strategy, I recruited three upper-elementary teachers who were interested in exploring the intersection of UDL and disciplinary thinking in ELA. This study occurred over eleven months and included three phases: 1) establishing a baseline for each teacher in terms of current practice and current understandings of UDL and disciplinary thinking; 2) collaboratively designing, implementing, and refining an individualized intervention with each teacher; and 3) reflecting on our collaboration. Data were collected throughout these phases via classroom observation, collection of instructional materials and student work, teacher interviews, and regular meetings. The analytical framework for this study joins CAST’s UDL Guidelines and common themes of disciplinary thinking in ELA distilled from the literature and piloted in my qualifying paper. Data were analyzed to determine how teachers’ practice, understandings, and beliefs evolved; how students’ disciplinary thinking evolved; and which aspects of the interventions were useful in developing teachers’ practice, understandings, and beliefs. A case study approach was used to dive deeply into each teacher’s journey, and a cross-case analytic approach was used to uncover common and divergent themes. The findings underscore the potential synergy between UDL and disciplinary thinking and reveal the rich student thinking that is possible when UDL is leveraged for disciplinary aims. Further, the findings contribute to existing conversations on teacher change by exploring the influence of teachers’ preexisting practices and beliefs on their learning trajectories and by identifying the factors and conditions of the interventions that facilitated teacher growth: developing the lenses to “see” evidence of student thinking, leveraging tools for specific aims, and attending to the affective nature of the learning process. Together, these findings have potential to inform leaders in schools, districts, and organizations who seek to support teachers to apply UDL to encourage all learners to engage in disciplinary thinking in ELA—and who seek to support teacher learning at a broader level as well.

In urban schools that serve high numbers of students in poverty, setting high expectations and developing a cohesive and well-sequenced course of instruction are both crucial to students' success. Increasingly, schools are turning to instructionally-focused grade-level teams of teachers to concentrate on and coordinate efforts to improve classroom curriculum and instruction. However, although such horizontal, grade-level teams are common, few schools have vertical team structures that would allow teachers to collaborate between grade levels and contribute to school-wide improvement plans. Such vertical teams regularly convene elementary school administrators and teachers from all grades to discuss students' instructional needs and to plan strategies for addressing those needs in a coherent and coordinated way. Vertical teams have the potential to increase teachers' awareness of the interdependence of their work, to leverage human capital within under-resourced schools, and to engage teachers in developing school-wide improvement strategies. In this study of vertical teams in two sizable elementary schools in a large urban district, I sought to learn how administrators established the purpose and membership of their vertical teams. I wanted to understand whether and how they were able to support communication and coordination of teachers towards fulfilling school improvement goals. Using observations of vertical team meetings and individual interviews with teachers and administrators, I found that even though these two teams were still early in their development, they lacked a clear purpose, a carefully selected membership, and the dedicated leadership needed to make these teams feel supportive and worthwhile for teachers and beneficial for the whole school. Districts and schools that wish to use vertical teams for organizational improvement should strongly consider developing administrators' capacity to define and lead these teams before dedicating the time and resources that vertical teams require.

The topic of this thesis arose out of a desire to meet the need for a practical means of supplementing the preparation of Higher Diploma of Education (H.D.E.) students for their future role as first-year teachers. It was established that this need was not adequately filled by conventional university teacher-training methods. The literature about computerised simulation of role-playing and teaching activities was investigated and the investigation indicated that such simulations had been relatively successful. A published American computer simulation, TENURE, in which the student plays the role of a first-year teacher, was selected for modification to meet the needs of South African students. This program is implemented in the TUTOR computer language and runs on the Control Data South Africa PLATO system. In order to determine the needs of South African students, two groups of Rhodes University students worked through the simulation as it was being modified. The modifications were adapted according to the students' responses to a questionnaire. The simulation has been tested by 72 H.D.E. students and several educationists and the response has been positive

Abstract not available.

La présente recherche se propose d'analyser la préparation au multiculturalisme offerte dans les programmes de formation initiale des maîtres à l'Université d'Ottawa. Limitée aux futurs professeurs de français langue seconde, cette recherche exploratoire de type qualitatif a évalué la formation multiculturelle offerte aux étudiants-maîtres par rapport aux exigences du système d'éducation en Ontario. Après avoir identifié les orientations du système, nous avons examiné les pratiques enseignantes privilegiées dans la formation multiculturelle des futurs professeurs de français langue seconde. Les résultats obtenus font émerger des incohérences entre les exigences du système et la formation au multiculturalisme offerte aux étudiants-maîtres à l'Université d'Ottawa, ainsi qu'un écart entre les programmes francophone et anglophone. À la lumière de ces conclusions, il apparaît comme nécessaire que la Faculté d'éducation prenne des mesures pour rajuster ses programmes de formation initiale des maîtres aux orientations du système et à la demande sociale.

This study examines the process of organizational culture development within a new school of education, focusing on the various factors that influence culture as perceived by faculty. The research is situated within a mid-sized university in Canada. From the data analysis emerged the following factors that participants saw as influencing culture: leadership; other members of the organization; programmatic influences; the mission statement, goals, and conceptual framework; organization structure and size; physical space and location; resource and financial considerations; the fact that everything was new; workload and time constraints; the wider university; other external influences; and the field of study. The significance of the study is threefold. One is that it contributes to a sparse body of literature regarding the development of culture in educational organizations. Secondly, it informs organizations of considerations to be made in regards to the development of culture, and finally, the study informs the research locale.

Dans un contexte de professionnalisation des enseignants, cette recherche examine le processus de construction de la compétence multiculturelle des étudiants-maitres1 en milieu de stage professionnel, en répondant à la question principale suivante: Comment des étudiants-maîtres perçoivent-ils le processus de construction de la compétence multiculturelle en milieu de stage professionnel? À l'instar de Toussaint et Fortier (2001), nous pensons que la compétence multiculturelle devrait occuper une place distincte parmi les autres compétences de l'enseignant. Le cadre de référence de cette étude repose sur une définition opérationnelle de la compétence multiculturelle de l'enseignant adaptée selon Banks (1989) et sur le modèle de compétence professionnelle propose par Le Boterf (2002, 2004). Étude de cas multiples (Yin, 2003) située d'emblée dans une perspective interprétative, la méthodologie observée a utilisé des données de nature qualitative, recueillies auprès de neuf étudiants-maîtres dans une université ontarienne. Des entrevues semi-dirigées ont été menées à plusieurs moments du parcours de formation des participants, soit avant le premier stage en milieu professionnel, après le deuxième ainsi que pendant les deux stages. Présentés sous la forme de portraits individuels, les résultats traitent des parcours de formation professionnalisante de chacun des participants à la recherche, en identifiant les apprentissages perçus et les facteurs qui semblent les avoir influencés. Les caractéristiques personnelles des participants et leurs représentations de l'éducation multiculturelle et du rôle de l'enseignant occupent une place importante dans la description. L'interprétation des résultats a permis de: (1) inscrire l'éducation multiculturelle dans une approche pédagogique différenciée; (2) proposer une définition de la compétence multiculturelle de l'enseignant; (3) préciser son statut parmi les autres compétences de l'enseignant; (4) décrire et analyser le processus de construction de la compétence multiculturelle tel que perçu par les participants et (5) faire émerger un modèle de formation professionnalisante des futurs enseignants, ancré dans le modèle de l'apprentissage expérientiel (Kolb, 1984). 1Le masculin est utilisé dans ce texte à valeur générique, afin d'alléger la lecture.

Considérant (a) que les programmes de formation formels semblent avoir un impact mitigé sur le parcours d'apprentissage des entraîneurs, (b) que ce ne sont pas tous les entraîneurs qui réfléchissent sur leurs actions, (c) que les entraîneurs échangent très peu leur savoir entre eux et (d) qu'il peut être avantageux de combiner des types d'apprentissage individuel et collectif (Raelin, 2000), le but général de la thèse était de documenter deux initiatives visant à favoriser, chez les entraîneurs, l'apprentissage au rôle d'entraîneur. Ces initiatives étaient guidées par les principes du paradigme de recherche participatoire (Heron et Reason, 1997). La première étude a été réalisee avec des entraîneurs de karaté dans un club civil et le chercheur assumait un rôle de pleine participation. La seconde étude s'est déroulée avec des entraîneurs de volley-ball et de basket-ball d'une même éccole secondaire et le chercheur était engagé dans une participation partielle. Dans une perspective de formation d'entraîneurs à partir de leur expérience, nos résultats ont fait ressortir que les principaux défis des chercheurs consistent à (a) négocier leur rôle/implication pour optimiser les apprentissages, (b) aider les entraîneurs à devenir des praticiens réflexifs, (c) faciliter la construction de savoir à travers des activités pouvant inciter les entraîneurs à créer leur CdP et (d) identifier clairement la réalité du milieu. Nos résultats indiquent également que des approches telles l'objectivation clinique, l'Action Learning et l'Action Science peuvent stimuler la construction de savoir dans la mesure où les entraîneurs peuvent surpasser les principales barrières au processus d'apprentissage que sont le manque de temps et l'attribution d'un certain pouvoir à l'intérieur du groupe.