<p> Over several decades, school reform efforts have been mounted in order to improve student learning and to prepare students for a global community. In 2010, governors from the fifty states met and supported the establishment of national standards, the Common Core State Standards, to prepare students for college and careers. Georgia adopted the Common Core State Standards, and as with any new curriculum adoption, professional development is usually provided. During the 2011&ndash;2012 school year, school systems across Georgia provided various professional development opportunities for teachers to learn about the Common Core State Standards. The purpose of this study was to examine teachers&rsquo; perceptions of their Common Core professional development and utilized a survey consisting of multiple choice and open-ended questions. Three hundred seventy-two educators from sixteen school districts across the state of Georgia participated in this study. Three main themes emerged: Teachers prefer working in smaller, collaborative groups in professional development; teachers were satisfied with their school and school district&rsquo;s training but did not receive consistent follow-up, modeling, or coaching afterwards; teachers utilized websites developed to support the Common Core State Standards and relied on their colleagues in order to learn more about the curriculum and to implement the standards.</p>

<p> Teachers need training to integrate technology into classroom curriculum, activities, and pedagogy. The adoption of the Common Core State Standards and statewide computer based assessments, coupled with technology&rsquo;s rapid rate of innovation and change, has only increased the need to help support teachers&rsquo; development of these necessary skills. The purpose of this project was to create an online-based e-learning professional development training module for teachers to develop their technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) and skills. The design of the training module incorporated e-learning design principles, adult learning principles, and current research on developing teachers&rsquo; TPACK. To provide feedback on the design, teachers from two middle schools in Southern California were invited to use the training module, and were surveyed regarding their experiences. Results of the survey indicate participants gained knowledge and skills for using their school computer lab, integrating technology into their classroom instruction, and overall, were pleased with the e-learning training module.</p>

<p> Teacher education researchers have argued that teacher candidates must learn to attend to students&rsquo; disciplinary thinking if they are to improve student learning. In history education, such attention must focus on student thinking about evidence because interpretation of evidence is at the heart of historical discourse. This study explores how four teacher candidates who had learned to attend to students&rsquo; historical thinking in a social studies methods course engaged in the practice of eliciting, interpreting, and responding to that thinking during their internships.</p><p> Data collected over a nine-month period included observations of candidates in their methods courses, a pretest administered before the methods course, observation of at least four lessons per candidate in the internship, interviews with teachers after each observed lesson, and analysis of methods coursework. Case study analyses indicated that two of the candidates elicited, interpreted and responded to students&rsquo; historical thinking while another did not, and a fourth did so only under certain conditions. The cross-case analysis showed that although all of the candidates used methods course tools in the internship, some were unable to use these tools to elicit students&rsquo; historical thinking.</p><p> While three of the four candidates noticed historical thinking and considered that thinking in determining an instructional response, what candidates noticed was limited to the scope of their instructional objectives. Only one candidate consistently responded to student thinking in evaluative ways, and all four struggled to deliver responses that maintained a focus on student reasoning. Instead, candidates preferred to demonstrate their own reasoning, either by building on a student idea or simply as a means to make a point not directly related to a student idea.</p><p> This study highlights the interconnected nature of eliciting, interpreting, and responding to student thinking and offers insight into how teacher educators can facilitate attention to student historical thinking. It also points to factors that are important for the development of this ability including candidate disciplinary knowledge and the social contexts of learning. Furthermore, this study provides a framework and analytical tools that can enable future researchers to examine this phenomenon more deeply.</p>

<p> In the state of Missouri, 550 public school superintendents were selected to have their district teachers participate in a study to provide information regarding the perception of teacher tenure. Approximately 64,000 PreK-12 public school teachers in Missouri were sent an 18 question online survey designed by the researcher to assess Missouri public school teachers&rsquo; perception of teacher tenure. A sample of 497 Missouri teachers participated in this study. Sub-questions of the purpose of the research study were adapted from Kersten (2006): (1) When teachers achieve tenure, are they more effective and highly qualified? (2) If teacher tenure was eliminated, would student achievement increase? (3) Does the teacher tenure law in Missouri protect good teachers from arbitrary dismissal? and (4) Do teachers have knowledge of the proposed revised tenure law in Missouri? The respondents were prompted to identify gender, years in current position, education level, description of grade levels in school building, and school district&rsquo;s region. The research study findings produced several conclusions which included the following: (1) Teacher tenure in Missouri does not determine if teachers are effective and highly qualified; (2) Abolishing tenure or changing the current tenure law will not improve student achievement; (3) Tenure is perceived to protect competent teachers from arbitrary dismissal; however, incompetent or ineffective teachers are seldom dismissed; and (4) Many teachers have knowledge of the proposed revised teacher tenure law in Missouri, and they learned of the upcoming legislation from professional teaching organizations.</p>

<p> This thesis examined graduate level students' experiences of (mainly gender) diversity in the online classroom. The philosophical framework for this study came from John Rawls' work utilizing the veil of ignorance as a strategy to create more objective determinations free from situational and circumstantial biases. Both critical pedagogy and the theory that individuals construct social and cultural meaning through communication provided the theoretical foundations for the thesis. The study analyzed experiences of the students via their contributions to the online discussion boards. The study also utilized interviews of current and former students to discuss their experiences with diversity in their online classrooms. The study came from an understanding that diversity represents a unique component of the online classroom and rests in the idea that students can all benefit from the diversity of other students' experiences. This work provides a jumping off point of analysis on how best to facilitate discussions of diversity in the online classroom. Facilitating these discussions can become a primary way to break down systemic and institutionalized inequalities that exist for minority groups. Thus, this research, while not the end point, can provide a continued impetus to discover ways to make the online classroom a place of equalized learning to maximize its purpose for all students regardless of their identity. Chief findings in the study indicate the following (not-exhaustive) items: students overwhelmingly report that they value diversity conversations; students do not seem to think that conflicting ideas represent an inherent negative; and student's see the role of the instructor in facilitating, but not inserting personal commentary into the diversity discussions.</p>

<p>Although all organizations and institutions should consider accessibility when developing online content, inaccessibility is a recurring issue in recent literature pertaining to online learning environments (OLEs) and faculty accessibility awareness. The goal was to describe how online faculty gain knowledge regarding accessibility, to explore the lived experiences of online faculty who have worked with students who have disabilities, and to gain a better understanding of how faculty experience the process of accessibility implementation. The following research questions guided this study: How do faculty in OLEs experience encounters regarding accessibility for students who have print related disabilities? How do faculty in OLEs experience the journey of developing the skills needed to provide accessibility for students with print related disabilities? What aspects of accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) do faculty members practice in OLEs and what meaning do they ascribe to the lived experience of providing these accommodations? An interview guide was used to address the research questions. Participants were recruited from the Online Learning Consortium and Assistive Technology Industry Association for participation in phenomenological interviews, which were recorded and then transcribed verbatim. The transcripts of these interviews were analyzed to determine eight super-ordinate themes: Accessibility and usability awareness of online faculty; interactions and relationships between faculty, students, various departments, and outside organizations relating to SWDs and accessibility; different perspectives and experiences of faculty who teach courses within programs that have an emphasis on accessibility, AT, or working with people with disabilities; faculty experiences and perspectives of working with SWDs and providing accessible materials in OLEs; faculty training and experience with accessibility and people with disabilities; faculty autonomy within OLEs as it relates to creating accessible content; accommodations and accessibility features used in OLEs; as well as LMS accessibility and usability. The results of this study led to several implications regarding training and support services for faculty, students, other staff, and administration within online programs, best practices for implementing accessibility, as well as recommendations for future studies.

This study explores a teacher’s perceptions and teaching practice with culturally and linguistically diverse children and families. A qualitative case study, it follows one in-service pre-kindergarten teacher at a public school. To provide rationales of the study, the researcher adopt culturally responsive teaching, funds of knowledge, developmentally appropriate practice, anti-bias multicultural education and English as a second language learning theories as the conceptual framework. Data were collected through formal interviews, informal conversations, and observations and analyzed using the constant-comparative method. The findings display the results of the study in three aspects: creating a cohesive multicultural community, helping culturally and linguistically diverse children’s English development utilizing their home languages and cultures, and establishing reciprocal relationships with those families. The study finds that a cohesive multicultural community can be created by building caring relationships among community members, by reflecting the children’s cultural and linguistic backgrounds in teaching practice and by practicing anti-bias multicultural education. This study shows the ways of helping the children’s English development according to five themes: understanding the children’s different English abilities, creating a class environment reflecting the children’s home languages and cultures, matching language mates, collaborating with bilingual teachers, and utilizing children as the language experts. This study also finds that reciprocal relationships with culturally and linguistically diverse families can be established by understanding diverse families’ backgrounds, by increasing cross-cultural communications, and by utilizing family resources in her teaching practice. This study reveals that the children’s learning experience can be enhanced when integrating their cultural and linguistic knowledge into class learning. The presented examples and descriptions in this study demonstrates the explicit and practical ways of how teachers can cultivate the children’s cultural and linguistic knowledge base, reflect this knowledge base in their class learning, help the children’s English development, and establish reciprocal relationships with families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Thus, this study will be a source of detailed practical information for teachers, teachers’ educators, and educational administrators in early childhood education. / text

“Becoming” is a natural phenomenon that is experienced throughout one’s life, and yet it does not appear to involve a simple process. This study was about how preservice teachers become teachers. As such, it was focused on the developmental processes that preservice teachers experience as their conceptions of teaching and their teacher identities change throughout their teacher education program. Although the two developmental aspects have been importantly considered by teacher educators when setting goals for teacher education and have been popular topics to educational researchers, few studies have explicitly observed how conceptions of teaching and teacher identities are related to each other in preservice teachers’ professional development trajectories. In a longitudinal study that tracked eight preservice teachers for three semesters of their teacher preparation, naturalistic observations of student teaching and semi-structured interviews served as the primary data sources. Data analysis was inductive and interpretative, using the qualitative methods of grounded theory. All of the preservice teachers in the study experienced conceptual change in their conceptions of teaching toward the direction aligned with their teacher education program, though their developmental patterns varied in terms of nature, speed, and distinctiveness. In the process of conceptual development, preservice teachers’ attention shifted from a focus on self to a focus on students, which I called an outward journey. They also evolved their teacher identities throughout the program with increasing confidence in becoming a teacher every semester. The formation of their teacher identities began by recognizing self as a teacher as positioned by others and continued with self-cultivation as a teacher, a process I called an inward journey. Needing continuous validation and reflection, the two journeys were closely related, sharing some characteristics and mechanism of growth and reciprocally influencing each other. Through interpretation of the data, I concluded that these two journeys cannot be separated from each other but, instead, should be integrated into external and internal development of becoming a teacher. As lifelong learners, preservice teachers are beginning the continual journey of becoming a good teacher throughout their career. / text

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of principals and assistant principals regarding the training and preparation afforded assistant principals in selected schools in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The research questions were as follows: RQ I : Is there a significant relationship between graduate training programs for assistant principals and preparedness for the principalship? RQ2: Is there a significant relationship between the prior employment training that assistant principals receive and preparedness for the principalship? RQ3: Is there a significant relationship between participation in the role of the principalship and preparedness for the principalship? RQ4: Is there a significant relationship between the leadership attributes that the assistant principals possess and preparedness for the role of the principalship? RQ5: Is there a significant relationship between the aspirations of the assistant principal and the preparedness of the principalship? RQ6: Do independent variables such as years teaching, age, race, highest degree earned, present position, gender, educational institution attended, type of certification: years as assistant principal, size, location, or type of school have a significant bearing on the perceptions of principals and assistant principals regarding training activities for the principalship? In this study, a survey questionnaire was used to document the perceptions of 70 principals and 100 assistant principals regarding the training and preparation afforded assistant principals in selected schools in the metro-Atlanta area as preparation for the successful principalship of schools. Demographic information and principal and assistant roles and responsibility data was also gathered. This study found a positive correlation between perceived importance of formal university graduate course work and preparedness for principalship. The study also revealed that having a written job description outlining specific duties while in the role of assistant principal is significantly related to preparation for principalship. Assistant principals in this study received the lowest ratings on the ability to handle effectively resource allocation. In addition, previous experience with budget and finance was noted as one of the most important areas of expertise one must gain when participating in the role of principalship. To the extent possible, principals should involve their assistant principals in decisions concerning planning and developing the school budget; managing fiscal, human, and material resources; utilizing the physical plant; and monitoring and reporting on resource use.

<p> Due to narrowly defined quality measures, teacher preparation in Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio and LifeWays pedagogies is not recognized in many state ECE professional development systems. The problem is compounded by Quality Rating and Improvement System&rsquo;s child care program ratings, which rely on teacher qualifications as a component of program ratings. Limitations, due to philosophical dissimilarities pertaining to the spirit of the child, ill-fitting measurements of quality, and policy exclusion make it difficult for alternative pedagogy communities to meet qualifications or to obtain scores that count. This is exacerbated by narrow definitions regarding national versus regional accreditation in teacher preparation programs. U</p><p> sing a transformative, mixed-methods approach, this study asks, &ldquo;What is the role and relevance of alternative pedagogy teacher preparation to the professional development system, and where does it fit in the current policy landscape nationwide?&rdquo; As a follow up question, the study seeks to answer, &ldquo;What is the process for change?&rdquo; Through the use of surveys, interviews, and a cultural context model, a way forward is mapped. </p><p> Registry policy makers in 28 states and 46 teacher preparation directors, across three types of alternative-pedagogy teacher preparation programs, assisted in data collection, resulting in a recognition baseline. Public sources were used to triangulate a composite snapshot of this national policy situation, demonstrating appropriate policy inclusion in six out of 17 states&rsquo; career pathways and/or data collection in ECE workforce registries. Cumulative data revealed alternative pedagogy teacher recognition levels across the country and revealed how relevant policies evolved to become system inclusive. The study concludes by inviting community representatives to respond and to share their experiences and thoughts. Actionable study outcomes, community-developed recommendations, and an advocacy map were circulated in three of four alternative pedagogy communities. </p><p> Using a cultural equity paradigm, the study elucidates power relationships between alternative pedagogy teacher preparation and national/state efforts towards ECE professional development and quality improvement policy systems, illuminating where federal and state policy/initiatives are shaping, responding to, and limiting the alternative-pedagogy teacher preparation pipeline in the United States. Recommended courses of action encourage policy collaboration and a cultural shift from policy power over, to power with policy.</p>