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<p> Preschool teachers must overcome the pressure to become more academic in lieu of a whole child development curriculum approach in order to preserve developmentally appropriate practices and shape well-adjusted future citizens of society. In order to achieve this, it is important to give a voice to preschool teachers to better understand their struggle and to find effective resolutions. This is only possible through a qualitative case study that employs observations, interviews, and a focus group with an inductive analysis approach to the data. The development of the whole child will only be attainable through national policies that are supported by sound research and ongoing teacher training that is aligned with that research. When theory and practice are aligned, it provides more opportunities for teachers, parents, and the rest of the community to advocate for the same goals, which ultimately benefits children.</p>

<p>The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how educators describe their lived experiences with regard to addressing social skills challenges for children with ASD and what meaning can be derived from the experiences of those educators. Digitally recorded semistructured interviews were conducted with twelve educators working in school settings in Southern California. The participants held a variety of titles and all participants had at least six years of experience teaching social skills to children with ASD. Findings from this study resulted in five major thematic groups: (a) defining social skills; (b) how social skills are assessed; (c) program characteristics; (d) instructional and standardization challenges; and (e) critical factors. Study findings primarily indicated a need for a more structured approach to research due to the diversity within the ASD diagnosis and the complexity and broad nature of social skills. Two major recommendations for future research evolved from this study. First, future research should systematically explore the varying characteristics within the ASD population and how intervention strategies or intervention types impact the subpopulations within the ASD diagnosis. Finally, research should explore social motivation as a possible pivotal characteristic for successful social skills development and whether it is possible to cultivate motivation. </p>

<p>RATHBONE, RITA J., Ed.D. Teacher Leadership, Power, and the Gendered Space of Teaching: Intersections and Discourses. (2015) Directed by Dr. Carl Lashley. 172 pp. Relying on critical feminist understandings of power, this study explores how the gendered expectations and intersectional identity of women teachers impacts their negotiation of power in the practice of teacher leadership and social justice advocacy. This study takes a critical stance towards the existing body of literature and challenges the current feminized and patriarchal understanding of teacher leadership. Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, a group of practicing teacher leaders examined their lived experiences as teacher leaders. The participants reported experiencing gendered expectations in their teaching contexts of support/nurturing, passivity, collaboration, normative gender expression, and all-encompassing teacher identity. Practicing teacher leadership in this gendered environment was a balancing act that required the ability to be a ?chameleon.? The complexity of teaching and intricate nature of connections and networks allowed teachers to pick and choose a variety of strategies and resources with which to negotiate power. The study finds that much of the work of teacher leadership involved negotiating the interpersonal and cultural domains of power in order to develop coalitions of diverse stakeholders to resist the oppressive forces found in the structural and disciplinary domains. The teachers reported often having to ?play against? negative assumptions of their ability to be leaders based on race and gender. The study concludes that the scholarly understanding of the practice of teacher leadership must be redefined to include the social justice focus of much of its practice, the intricacy of teachers? networks, an understanding of power as multidirectional and multidimensional, the nuance of gendered norms found in teaching, and the unresolved paradoxes that teacher leaders face every day.

<p> The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study was the identification of teachers&rsquo; perceptions of professional development during the transition to and implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the classroom. National reform efforts driven by an increased need for skill acquisition applicable to diverse needs in an ever-expanding global economy and increased demands for teacher accountability in the realm of student achievement requires additional teacher professional development. This study applied the constructs of social learning theory and constructivism in developing both the research questions and subsequent interview questions used during the data collection phase. Identification of overarching themes and patterns in participant responses provided crucial information relevant to the ongoing development of teacher professional development training opportunities from which teachers improve and expand pedagogical knowledge while applying CCSS in classroom instruction. The key emergent these derived from data analysis include, Theme 1: Sharing informational resources; Theme 2: Engagement and active participation; Theme 3: Collaboration enhances implementation; and Theme 4: Implementation and support. This study has the prospective to provide positive progress in the development and delivery of professional development aligned to teachers&rsquo; stated interests and concerns.</p>

<p> The researcher explored the lived experience of adult online college honor students (AOCHS) with the goal of describing critical factors that support academic success. The study addressed a gap in the literature concerning how the technology and virtual context of adult online college education are perceived, interpreted, and employed by the most successful students in undergraduate online college degree programs. Participants described how they perceived their online learning experience, what meaning they attribute to this experience, and what strategies they employ to achieve academic success in the online learning environment. The study was based on Deming&rsquo;s total quality management philosophy, Nonaka&rsquo;s theoretical context for knowledge generation, and the community of inquiry (CoI), a conceptual framework for online education. An online questionnaire and individual telephone interviews were used to gather qualitative data, which were analyzed using thematic coding and analytic induction to address the study&rsquo;s purpose and answer the research questions. Follow-up interview subjects were purposefully selected to provide a heterogeneous sample based on self-reported demographics, priorities, and motivations. Results showed that honor students&rsquo; expect that the technologies and user interfaces in online college classes should be as engaging and effective as social media, online entertainment, and Internet commerce technologies that they use in their nonacademic lives. That online instructors should be active and encouraging participants in the learning process. And that students&rsquo; personal, academic success is supported by a mature self-image and work ethic, effective time management and workload planning, clear and timely communication with faculty members, positive collaboration with classmates, and fluent use of learning technology.</p>

<p> The National Board Certification is a process for educators who desire to pursue a deeper level of professional development and enhance their teaching practice. This certification process coupled with cognitive coaching involved high levels of reflective practices and deepened self-efficacy evident in this study. This study determined that with the use of cognitive coaching an educator self-efficacy would increase depending on what stage they were on in the process. The researcher provided three groups of participants (National Board Certified Teachers, Candidates in the process of National Board Certification and Did Not Achieve) an opportunity to elaborate on their experience moving through the process using a cognitive coach. </p><p> An analysis of qualitative and quantitative data revealed that the three groups differed in self-efficacy in favor of the National Board Certified Teacher (NBC) group and that on several aspects of cognitive coaching, the NBC group scored higher than the other groups. As well, each group showed support for the coaching process through certification and revealed that with this coaching they were able to achieve a deeper reflective state of mind. </p><p>