Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are the fastest-growing group of children with special education needs. ASD affects individuals from all walks of life, regardless of race, ethnicity, educational levels of family members, or socio-economic backgrounds. People on the autism spectrum have difficulty communicating and establishing socio-emotional connections with other human beings, making teaching those with ASD challenging for their human teachers.Most research in the field of autism has focused on the clinical aspects of the condition and on the individuals who are on the spectrum. However, research into the perception of the teachers charged with educating ASD students is more limited. In addition, while a wide range of technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and social robots, have been used in various forms to assist with teaching ASD students, research into teacher perceptions with respect to the use of these technologies is also limited. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher perceptions of the use of a social robot as a teaching assistant to help them educate students on the autism spectrum. Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, this study was conducted under unprecedented circumstances, when all schools throughout the United States were closed, and all teaching was conducted online using video conferencing technologies. Teachers from an autism specialist school in northern California were asked to use a social robot as a teaching assistant with a selection of ASD students during their online Zoom-based video conference teaching sessions. Data were gathered through observations of these sessions and through teacher interviews and a focus group. This study was conducted using the persuasive technologies conceptual framework. This framework was enhanced to include the teacher as a new persuasive influencer. The findings from this study revealed that ASD teachers found the social robot to be a useful tool to use as a teaching assistant. In particular, teachers found the use of a social robot teaching assistant offered a new approach to teaching and new ways to communicate with and engage their ASD students. Overall, students responded well to instructions and feedback given by the robot. However, student reactions ranged from neutral to very engaged, based upon the complexity of the task the student was undertaking and their general interest in technologically related topics. Importantly, no student reacted negatively to the inclusion of the robot. This report highlights a variety of operational challenges that the teachers experience in integrating the robot into their teaching practices and identifies a range of future research opportunities.

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Brain development in children has always been fascinating to me; it was the reason I chose to major in Early Childhood Education. I have often wondered how the expectations and behavior of parents and teachers affect young children academically. Specifically, how do early gender messages from adults, peers, and the popular media have a powerful impact on the development of young brains? The professional responsibility of all educators is to help every child reach their full potential. This thesis explored the potential impact early childhood educators have in developing and reinforcing stereotypes that can affect children academically by surveying teachers about their own backgrounds, thoughts and feelings about their male and female students. Confirming my belief that most teachers had similar backgrounds I was able to find that among the 59 respondents surveyed; 98% were female, 81% attended mixed gender public schools, 85% grew up in a two-parent home and 90% had a father working full-time outside of the home. While looking for similarities in descriptive language I was able to find that given a choice of 14 words from a word bank teachers used the same terms over and over to describe their male and female students. Teachers chose words that described physical characteristics when recalling their male students and chose emotional words when they were asked to describe their female students. When teachers were asked to recall which students they believed to be the most challenging in their classrooms and to identify the gender of these students, they identified male students three times more than their female students. I was left wondering if the mostly female teachers who all shared similar backgrounds were transferring unconscious bias onto their students. Why was the descriptive language they used so similar? Why were males students identified as challenging so much more than female students?

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The purpose of this study was, given the elimination of a Type I barrier, to investigate how teachers utilized the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and what barriers teachers perceive to be present that may inhibit technology are barriers technology integration in the classroom. This qualitative study was designed based on the naturalistic inquiry approach (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Through purposeful sampling, this study took place in a suburban school division within the U.S. that has eliminated a Type I barrier, technology access to secondary teachers and students. The site was chosen due to the abundance of technology available to teachers and secondary students within the school division. Ten secondary teachers that participated were in various stages of their profession and years of service within the school division and represented various secondary schools within the division. The findings suggest that teachers fail to fully implement all of the ISTE NETS when it comes to integration in the classroom. Insufficient time to plan and prepare for activities that would integrate technology into the classroom was among the external factors most of the participants listed as to why their instruction did not always utilize technology. Although the division has eliminated a major barrier through its one-to-one laptop initiative, the findings indicated further external, Type I barriers existed. Results of this study suggest the key elements to the barriers that inhibit integration continue to be Type II barriers, teacher beliefs towards technology and teacher-centered pedagogy. / Ed. D.

Teacher evaluation systems were developed and implemented to increase accountability but also to increase teacher effectiveness. A review of the research and findings of previous teacher evaluation studies demonstrated the need to further examine the feedback in evaluation systems and their role in teacher professional growth. The purpose of the study was to identify the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the feedback teachers receive from the teacher evaluation process, how they perceive the impact of feedback on teacher growth, and what professional development has been offered because of the feedback. This descriptive study used qualitative data and quantitative data derived from a modified version of the Teacher Evaluation Profile (TEP) survey. The findings from this study indicated that teachers perceive the quality of feedback they received to be lower than administrators perceived the quality of the feedback they gave, specifically in regards to the frequency of the feedback and quality of the information contained in the feedback. In addition, there was a significant difference in the perceptions of the quality of feedback between elementary teachers and administrators and secondary teachers and administrators. Though teachers and administrators both perceived the working relationships as positive, few teachers reported making adjustments to their teaching practices in response to the feedback received. Teachers did not perceive teacher professional growth from adjustments made in their teaching practice in response to the feedback. Teachers also noted few opportunities for professional development suggested in feedback. As suggested by the findings, professional development needs to be specific in regards to providing effective feedback. Finally, teachers, with the help of administrators, need to focus on creating goals and growth plans with specific professional opportunities to help teachers grow professionally and positively impact student outcomes. / Ed. D.

Through a singular case study, this research enquiry seeks to explore teacher perceptions about the development of a concept-based curriculum program (called as the Conceptual Curriculum by the school), in the context of an International Baccalaureate (IB) World school in the Middle East, and the intended and unintended outcomes of the initiative. The study employs Bernstein’s (1975) theories of classification and framing, and curriculum recontextualization, as an analytical framework to interpret findings. The study is informed through methods such as reading and analyzing of curriculum documents, conducting semi-structured interviews, and the distribution of a web-based questionnaire to teachers. Findings in this research inquiry revealed that, though teachers expressed the experience of creating and delivering the Conceptual Curriculum as sometimes being challenging and frustrating, a vast majority of the teachers prefer a flexible curriculum framework versus a prescriptive curriculum. However, findings also revealed that, though teachers seem to enjoy the freedom and flexibility of working with broad curricular frameworks as opposed to prescriptive curricula, there seem to be some fundamental questions pertinent to curriculum recontextualization remaining unanswered, for which perhaps teachers seek answers from qualified curriculum development personnel. Findings reveal that when broad curricular frameworks get recontextualized, the lack of consensus amongst teachers on what counts as essential knowledge is often a matter of concern. Findings reveal that in curriculum recontextualization, when having to negotiate between a “multiplicity of pedagogic fields” (Cambridge, 2011, p. 129) teachers seem to be inherently aligning to something that is a “crystal clear benchmark” such as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP), as opposed to something that is more flexible and open-ended such as the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP). The disciplinary focus of the Conceptual Curriculum and the tendency of teachers to align more towards the IB DP rather than the IB PYP (even in lower grades such as 7 and 8) has thus resulted in a quick transition from the “weakly classified” (Bernstein 1971, p.49) inter-disciplinary IB PYP curriculum to a “strongly classified” (Bernstein 1971, p.49) Conceptual Curriculum with disciplinary focus. Findings from this study reveal that teachers see the value and purpose in teaching for conceptual understanding, but this, when coupled with having to choose curriculum content and developing a coherent curriculum has made the experience both challenging and burdensome for them. Findings also reveal that practical agendas of the school, such as addressing limited time and staffing issues assume priority over lofty ideals when the curriculum is recontextualized, thereby indicating that school-based curriculum initiatives lose rigor and form, in the cracks of everyday practice. Findings in this study thus suggest that when teachers are offered the possibility of working with flexible curricular frameworks, realities of everyday practice take over. This often leads to teachers self-prescribing the curriculum, thereby making the process self-mandated, which in effect defeats the very purpose of the school-based curriculum development initiative undertaken.

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine whether there is a significant relationship between teacher perceptions of administrator leadership focus and student growth in reading and mathematics for elementary and middle schools in nine school systems located in northeast Tennessee during the 2012-2013 academic year. Specifically, this study was an analysis of the leadership focuses of trust and respect, collaboration, shared leadership, data use and analysis. All data were collected through public online databases. Teacher perceptions of administrator leadership focus were gathered from the Tennessee Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning (TELL) Survey and data on student growth in reading and mathematics was collected from Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS). The analysis of data was constructed from 75 schools in nine school districts located in northeast Tennessee that educate students in any grade spans ranging from fourth to eighth grades. The research revealed that the relationship between teacher perception of administrator leadership focus in the areas of trust and respect, shared leadership, and data use and analysis and student growth in both reading and mathematics were not statically significant. Additionally, The results of the correlations for teacher perception of leadership providing opportunities for collaboration and student growth in reading and mathematics yielded different results. There was not a significant relationship between teacher perception of leadership providing opportunities for collaboration and student growth in reading. However, there was a significant relationship between teacher’s perception of leadership providing opportunities for collaboration and student growth in mathematics.

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This thesis focuses on why prospective teachers want to teach. It argues that prospective teachers draw on their own perceptions of what teaching means to them and that these perceptions are clarified and refined during the initial stages of their university study. Firstly, it examines what attracts and holds first year student teachers to teaching and whether they really want to be teachers. Secondly, it compares students’ perceptions of teaching at the start, during and at the end of their first year of their first year of university studies. Finally, it identifies the kind of early experiences at university and school sites that can either strengthen the initial commitment to become a teacher or might lessen the original desire to teach. The context of the study is a regional university in a provincial city in Central Queensland. The selection of constructivism as a theoretical framework informed the research approach and allowed data to be gathered in a case study format using an iterative process to permit probing and identification of change, and reconstruction of relevant issues. In this research, data was collected through three individual interviews with nine first year prospective student teachers at the beginning, mid and end of that year. Constructivist analysis concepts were employed to draw from the data coded patterns, themes and issues displaying student teachers’ emerging perceptions of their first year of learning how to teach. The thesis reports that student teachers in their initial year were enabled to articulate their co-construction of what it means to be a teacher. During the year they were able to build up their construction of what it means to be a teacher which, over time, alleviated earlier uncertainties as their decision to teach was affirmed. The process of construction of being a teacher identified qualities, knowledge and skills identified from the start to the end of the program, building from perceptions to reality, from the old to the new. Conceptions of teaching as work, and the importance of relationships in teaching contributed to the satisfaction of student teachers and helped affirm their commitment in anticipating their future as a teacher. The findings of the study exemplify that a well-structured, collaborative teacher education program in the initial year will attract and retain many prospective teachers. This thesis gives a wider understanding of the first year of a teaching career. The research builds a contemporary picture of what prospective teachers think about teaching in their first year of a teacher education program. The issues and problems identified in the context of a regional campus, underpin the results of this research. This research enables students’ voices to be heard and will inform teacher educators and others involved in teacher education to examine specific cases in the attraction and retention of prospective teachers.