abstract: Online teacherpreneurs are current and former PreK-12 teachers who share their original classroom resources in online marketplaces where teachers download them for a small fee. Online teacherpreneurs’ resources are becoming prolific in classrooms today. Meanwhile, online teacherpreneurs stand to gain financially and professionally. This exploratory study drew on conceptual frameworks from entrepreneurship and teacher leadership to describe the practice of online teacherpreneurship in terms of the characteristics of the people who participate, the school environments in which they work, and the possible impacts they experience. An exploratory sequential mixed methods design was used. In phase one, 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted with online teacherpreneurs who ranked in the top 1% of sellers on TeachersPayTeachers.com for profits earned. In phase two, the results of the interviews were used to develop a quantitative survey, which was distributed to an international sample of 412 TeachersPayTeachers.com sellers with various levels of experience and sales success. Results from both phases were analyzed separately and together, indicating that online teacherpreneurs viewed themselves as helpful, hard-working, creative, and organized. While some online teacherpreneurs worked in supportive school environments, others worked in unsupportive or ambivalent schools. Most online teacherpreneurs kept their online business and classroom teaching separate. They reported that online teacherpreneurship involved a variety of practices including creating educational resources, collaborating with teachers, collaborating with fellow teacherpreneurs, and engaging in entrepreneurial endeavors such as marketing. They also believed they experienced impacts including improvements to teaching practice, teacher leadership opportunities, and some professional stressors. Implications for online teacherpreneurs and other stakeholders including teachers, school and district leaders, and teacher educators are considered. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine the perspectives of selected high school administrators and schoolteachers regarding the extent to which schoolteachers should be involved in making educational decisions in light of the recent educational reform initiatives in the State of Qatar. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews that centered on schools’ developmental and implemental decisions related to educational goals and policies, curriculum and instruction, schools’ administrative policies for teachers, and for students. Participants included 182 school administrators and 480 schoolteachers who completed the 40-item questionnaire while five school administrators and five schoolteachers participated in the interviews. Findings demonstrate that school administrators were more enthusiastic than schoolteachers about schoolteachers’ involvement in making decisions related to school’s educational goals and policies. School administrators and schoolteachers recorded some similar responses regarding schoolteachers’ involvement in decision-making in the area of curriculum and administrative policies for students but there were differences between schoolteachers and administrators in several areas related to administrative policies for teachers. Findings also indicate differences between the perspectives of male and female school administrators, male and female schoolteachers, and the citizen and expatriate schoolteachers. A number of recommendations are made that highlight the importance of considering schoolteachers’ involvement in any educational reform attempting to improve the decision-making process and the educational system.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / This qualitative case study examined the perceptions of school and district leaders about fostering teacher leadership, specifically to support emergent bilingual and Latinx students in a public school district in the state of Massachusetts. The most recent model of transformational leadership developed from Leithwood’s research in schools (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000) served as the conceptual framework. Data collection included 13 individual semi-structured interviews with district, building and teacher leaders as well as field notes and document reviews. Findings indicated that school and district leaders perceived they support formal and informal teacher leadership practices for emergent bilingual and Latinx students. Top-down approaches to collaboration and professional development impacted the development of teachers as leaders, creating barriers and challenges in each of three components of transformational leadership (setting direction, developing people, and redesigning the organization). Recommendations include establishing a collective vision for promoting and developing teacher leadership. Future research could be designed to better understand how teacher leadership is enacted to support issues around equity and social justice, and how we might encourage more teacher leadership among marginalized groups. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Teacher attrition, particularly in hard-to-staff urban schools, is a problem addressed by many researchers. Although this research often focuses on novice teachers, those with three or fewer years of experience, there is a growing body of literature that examines second stage teachers, those with between four and 20 years of experience. Like their novice colleagues, these second stage teachers are also at risk of leaving the profession, which can have negative consequences for students. While much of the research focuses on reasons why teachers leave the profession, there is a growing interest in understanding how teachers reach the decision to remain in the profession. Psychological theory and existing scholarship on the work lives of teachers provides one conceptual framework for exploring the topic of teacher retention. The theory of basic psychological needs explains that teachers, like employees in all other professions need to feel fulfillment of the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in their professional lives. This contributes to their sense of job satisfaction, or enjoyment, which then makes it more likely for them to remain in the profession. One potential way to help second stage teachers meet these needs and experience job satisfaction is through teacher leadership roles, such as mentoring. The current exploratory study used qualitative methods to interview urban second stage teacher leaders to learn how their experiences fulfill their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, lead to a sense of job satisfaction, and influence their decision to remain in the profession. The participants in this study all had between four and 20 years of experience and all served in a leadership role as a mentor to pre-service teachers through an urban teacher residency program. They shared details and experiences of their professional lives from their decisions to become teachers in the urban school district, through their novice stage of teaching, and into their second stage of teaching, including the decision to take on the complicated leadership role of serving as a mentor to a pre-service teacher through a yearlong residency program. The participants shared experiences which indicated fulfillment of the three basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. They also shared that they felt a sense of satisfaction both from their work as classroom teachers and their role as mentors. Although they experienced need fulfillment and job satisfaction, participants also shared sources of dissatisfaction, and many explained that they were contemplating leaving the profession, with some feeling that teaching is no longer a long-term career. One noteworthy finding is that participants expressed a desire for feeling like a professional, which played a large role in the career decisions they made.

<p>One goal for educators today is to prepare students to succeed in a globalized world. The connection between teachers’ experiences of student educational programs abroad and teachers’ perceived growth in their instructional abilities to prepare globally competent students served as the focal point of this study. The qualitative method of grounded theory was utilized, and focus groups and interviews were conducted. Teachers who previously led students during educational programs abroad volunteered to participate in this study. Following the creation of transcripts for the focus groups and interviews, the data were analyzed using the constant comparative method (Glasser, 1965), and participants confirmed the categorization of the data. Seven emergent themes were identified and included: (1) perspectives, (2) empathy, (3) global conditions and current events, (4) cultural differences, (5) intercultural communication, (6) classroom environment, and (7) intercultural lessons. From these themes, three assertions were gleaned: (1) Opportunities should be provided for teachers to reflect on their own perspectives and consider the perspectives of others; (2) Both local and global opportunities should be promoted to teachers to experience other cultures; and (3) Professional development sessions for teachers to explore global competency instruction should be offered. The seven themes support the continuation of teachers’ involvement in student study abroad programs, and the three assertions offer recommendations to equip principals with approaches for promoting teacher leadership and improving global competency instruction. </p>

The study has investigated teacher leadership and its importance in the subject of religious studies at upper secondary school in Sweden. The study investigates how teachers handle and counteract conflicts and prejudices within the subject of religion and what challenges exist. A qualitative method has been applied in the thesis, this to interpret and analyze the results of the survey study. A social constructivist theory has been used as a theoretical framework. The study shows that teacher leadership is of great importance for the profession as well as the subject of religious studies. Leadership is adapted in relation to, among other things, student groups and teaching subjects. The teachers involved in the study believe that they have good leadership, despite the lack of leadership training within the framework of their teacher education. The results show that unmotivated pupils, prejudices and ignorance are key challenges in the subject of religious studies at upper secondary level in Sweden. According to the teachers, the challenges are met with an open approach as well as fact-based discussions to counter prejudice and oppression.

While much is known about the benefits of professional learning communities as supportive structures for teaching teams to work together to increase student learning opportunities, team development requires strong administrators and teacher leaders. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher leaders' perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of professional learning communities in the middle school setting. With a foundation in constructivist and organizational learning theories, differences in teacher leaders' perceptions were investigated based on gender, number of years teaching at the schools, and number of years on the school leadership team. Within a nonexperimental, quantitative research design, 380 participants were invited and 127 responded to the Professional Learning Communities Assessment-Revised (PLCA-R) survey. A t test for independent samples was used to examine gender differences, and one-way ANOVAs were used to analyze differences in perceptions based on number of years teaching and number of years on the school leadership team. The results revealed no statistically significant differences for any of the variables on any of the PLCA-R domains, but there was a statistically significant difference (p = .013) in the PLCA-R overall scores for years of teaching experience. The information from these overall scores reflects a strong relationship between the number of years teaching, either 6-10 or 11+, and the domains in the survey. Results of this study add to the research on middle school professional learning communities and may contribute to positive social change by providing information on the perceived strengths and weaknesses that exist in professional learning communities.

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Although the concept of culturally responsive practices (CRP) began in the 1990’s, intentional study and professional development varies across schools and districts with limited impact on sustained pedagogical efficacy and shift, which is particularly concerning during the current socio-political climate. This phenomenological case study examined the impact on participants studying culturally responsive practices in peer led professional learning communities as a blueprint to feasibly address adult skill gaps. The study centers on four core questions on the impact of the initiative in general, the ability of participants to address implicit bias, the use of peer facilitation, and additional unforeseen factors related to this method of learning. Each participant ultimately indicated significant growth by moving from a technical approach to adaptive and cognitive shifts within the 6-month study, increased emphasis on reflective practice and elevated urgency to address culturally non-responsive practices. Finally, core conditions for successful implementation of peer-led professional learning communities studying culturally responsive practices are discussed. Schools and districts who recognize the need for staff to improve in cultural proficiency have few excuses pertaining to their ability to engage in this critical work, provided they have the courage and will to address implicit bias and culturally non-responsive pedagogy which negatively impacts BIPOC students across the nation and world.