Teachers tend to think that they can handle students appropriately and objectively. Moreover, teachers think that their trust in students is based on students¡¦ behaviors and is independent on their emotions. However, recent studies have found that emotions or moods may intervene in one¡¦s judgments or decision-making processes. Based on the Affect-as-information Model and the Affect Infusion Model, this study investigated whether the valence of mood among teachers would affect their trust in students in the student misconduct context. Specifically speaking, I conducted an experimental study to examine if teacher trust in students would be enhanced with a positive mood, whereas their trust in students would be lowered with a negative mood. One hundred and fifty-one teachers were recruited to participate in this experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three mood states (positive vs. negative vs. neutral), which was manipulated by the emotional event-recollection technique. After the mood manipulation, participants were asked to rate each of students¡¦ reasons for common misconduct behaviors is trustworthy or not respectively. Results showed that teachers in the induced positive-mood condition exhibited a tendency toward trusting in students¡¦ reasons for misconduct behaviors, whereas those in the induced negative-mood condition revealed an inclination toward mistrusting in these reasons. Besides, differences in the tendency between trust and mistrust were not significant for those teachers in a neutral mood-state. Findings of this research supported the predictions suggesting that moods may impact teacher trust in students.

The purpose of this study was to examine the proficiency or lack of proficiency of prospective teacher education students at two-year community colleges to use and integrate instructional technologies. In addition, this study also examined the perceived perceptions of prospective teacher education students levels of preparedness to use instructional technologies in their future classrooms. Participants in the study were students in a teacher preparation program. The survey was administered to students from six community colleges in the southeastern part of the United States. The Prospective Teacher Education Students Survey was developed and administered to a sample of 109 prospective teacher education students. Results of the study revealed a low proficiency in technology use for database, ethical use understanding, and spreadsheet. Prospective teacher education students reported greater proficiency in computer operation, word processing, and internet use. Low frequency and effectiveness were reported in the use of technology mediated instructional strategies for synchronous communication and simulations. Results indicated higher frequency and effectiveness in technology mediated instructional strategies for word processing and Internet use by students. Generally, students perceived their level of preparedness to implement various technology skills as somewhat well prepared . Descriptive statistics, raw percentages, and independent t-tests were used to analyze the data.

The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine the relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and cultural awareness of students of color, and teacher ethnicity, level of teaching certification, years of teaching experience and gender. During the 2005-2006 academic school year, data was collected from teachers teaching in a large urban school district, located in the southeastern portion of Texas, to examine teacher‟s working with diverse populations of students in diverse communities. The Cultural Awareness and Belief Inventory (CABI) was used to collect this data. The CABI measures teachers‟ beliefs and cultural awareness when working with African American students in comparison to their counterparts of other ethnicities. This study examined the data collected from teachers teaching students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. The data collected in this study was examined based on four descriptive characteristics, teacher ethnicity, teacher gender, level of teaching certification (elementary or secondary), and years of teaching experience. Data collected from African American teachers and European American teachers were examined for statistically significant differences. The results indicate that there is a statically significant difference in the beliefs and cultural awareness of African American and European American teacher‟s teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. There was not a statistically significant difference in the beliefs and cultural awareness of teachers teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grade in relationship to teacher gender, level of teaching certification (elementary or secondary), or years of teaching experience.

This thesis intends to explore the relationship between teachers¡¦understanding of the missions and roles of the Teachers¡¦Association and their degree of participation in Kaohsiung County. It aims to: (1) analyze the teachers¡¦ understanding of the missions of the Teachers¡¦ Association.(2) analyze teachers¡¦ understanding of the role of the Teachers¡¦ Association .(3) explore the relationships between teachers¡¦ understanding of the missions of the Teachers¡¦ Association and their degrees of participation .(4) explore the relationship between teachers¡¦ understanding of the role of the Teachers¡¦Association and their degrees of participation. ¡@ To fulfill these purposes, two strategies are employed: issuing questionnaires and holding interviews.The first step is to collect the effective specimen of 472 teachers came from different schools and one-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the difference that teachers with different background work on the teacher Association. At the same time, I analyze the Teachers¡¦understandings on the missions of the Teacher Association and roles were further analyzed by multiple regression analysis. From the different understanding, we can forcast the degree of the Participation in Association. The second step is according to obvious survey results from the first step, to design a five half-structured interview survey. I will interview the teachers with various backgrounds. ¡@¡@The results show: first, teachers have very good understanding of the missions and roles of the Teachers¡¦ Association; second, teachers¡¦ degree of participation depends on the content of the activities; third, the perception of retaining the teachers¡¦ dignity and promoting their profession varies between different sexes; fourth, teachers with administrative positions or not also differ in their perception in striving for teachers¡¦ rights and influencing educational policies; fifth, a teacher¡¦s seniority affects his perception in striving for teachers¡¦ rights and influencing educational policies; sixth, the location of schools affects teachers¡¦ perception in influencing educational policies; seventh, different sexes also vary in their perception in legal, professional, and supervising organizations; eighth, a teacher¡¦s perception in a professional organization is associated with the scale of a school serving; ninth, the perception in autonomous and supervising organizations differs between teachers with administrative positions and teachers without¡Ftenth, a teacher¡¦s perception in autonomous organizations is related with his seniority¡Feleventh, a teacher¡¦s perception in autonomous organizations have something to do with the location of the school¡Ftwelfth¡Athe degree of a teacher¡¦s participation in the teachers¡¦organization can be best shown by their understanding of the services the Teachers¡¦ Association provides. According the above analysis outcome, I bring up five suggestions for a Teacher Association are given.

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The purpose of this study was to identify effective recruitment and retention initiatives for African American and Hispanic teachers. The research examined recruitment and retention initiatives used by school districts utilizing a survey instrument administered to a sample population of African American and Hispanic teachers within selected school districts in Texas. The sample population of 335 African American and Hispanic teachers was asked to provide their knowledge and perception of recruitment and retention initiatives that were relevant to them in their employment with a school district. The results of the survey instrument were examined for the similarities and differences in the recruitment and retention initiatives for African American and Hispanic teacher populations as perceived by the sample population of teachers. The subjects of this research study were African American and Hispanic teachers employed in school districts with a teacher population of at least seven percent of both African American and Hispanic teachers and a student population of at least 10,000 students reported to the Texas Education Agency. There were fourteen school districts selected based on this criteria, and four school districts agreed to participate in the study. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher??s recommendations include: (1) The top recruitment initiatives for African American and Hispanic candidates are humanistic factors: contribution to humanity and helping young people. Recruiters should emphasize these areas along with the location of job and financial assistance programs offered by the school districts to improved recruitment. (2) Attention should be given to the establishment of programs that focus on introducing the education profession to students in the middle school and high school settings. (3) Job satisfaction and job security are leading retention initiatives for African American and Hispanic teacher which can be accomplished by improving working conditions and increasing administrative support in a school district. (4) Provide opportunities for increased parental communication, participation and involvement in the school system to help increase retention with African American and Hispanic teachers. (5) Further study could determine if there is a relationship between the effective recruitment and retention initiatives and the years of experience of teachers.

School districts across the country are faced with teacher shortages in critical need areas such as special education and bilingual education. Further complicating this shortage is the movement to augment the existing teaching force with minority teachers in order to more closely reflect the changing demographics of the student population. Many states/districts have turned to alternative routes to teaching certification as the answer to expedite the recruitment of teachers. A largely untapped resource for new teachers can be found among the talented paraprofessional employees already employed within the school districts. Paraprofessional employees working in today’s classrooms offer a wealth of classroom knowledge and experience in these potential teachers. Districts seeking to recruit these employees as potential students need information on how to support and promote the hiring of teachers representative of minority groups that reflect the demographic composition of the student population. The primary purpose of this study is to identify the obstacles faced by paraprofessionals in a large urban school district who aspire to become certified teachers by pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Using naturalistic inquiry techniques, paraprofessionals wishing to become teachers completed questionnaires and participated in individual interviews. The data were examined and categorized using qualitative techniques in order to identify recurrent and common emerging themes where community colleges and universities can work to increase their support of these students and where school districts can increase levels of supports.

Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) continues to be one of the most commonly diagnosed disorders in school-aged children As teachers are important gatekeepers for referring students who are in need of special services or classroom modifications, understanding what teachers know about ADHD and the factors that may lead to referral are important. First, the present study examined whether or not teachers were sensitive to academic achievement when making special education referrals. Second, the present study also examined if teachers could differentiate between ADHD behaviors and non-ADHD behaviors. Third, it examined the role of general teaching self-efficacy and self-efficacy related to teaching students with ADHD in making referrals and fourth, what are the sources of information teacher access for information about ADHD.

Alternative teacher certification (ATC) programs are one method created to help alleviate teacher shortages (Cox, Matthews, & Assoc, 2001; Hallinan & Khmelkov, 2001). While much debate has arisen over ATC programs, very few have empirically examined their impact on the teaching pool (Darling-Hammond, Berry, & Thoreson, 2001; Darling-Hammond, Chung, & Frelow, 2002; Goldhaber, 2000; Ingersoll, 1999; Shen, 1997, 1999). The present study was designed to explore differences by certification type and program characteristics based on novice teachers' demographics, educational attainment, sense of self-efficacy, and sense of preparedness to enter the classroom. Results from the present study suggest ATC programs are somewhat diversifying the teaching population by bringing in more minorities and science majors, but do not appear to be bringing in more experienced scientists and mathematicians nor do they appear to be alleviating the teacher shortage. In this sample, traditionally certified teachers felt better prepared than ATC teachers with the biggest differences on Promoting Student Learning. Regardless of certification route, prior classroom experience was a strong predictor of Overall Preparedness and a teacher's perception of his or her ability to be an effective teacher. For ATC teachers, a positive mentoring experience was a strong predictor of Overall Preparedness. The discussion of whether or not ATC programs should exist should now be replaced with a discussion of how to ensure that these programs produce better teachers and improve student learning. The underlying theme from the present study was that, in order to feel prepared and have high self-efficacy, novice teachers needed instruction in the majority of the components identified by research and by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (1996), including positive mentoring experiences, field based experiences, and curriculum based on child development, learning theory, cognition, motivation, and subject matter pedagogy. Results from the present study support the assertion that teacher preparation programs, program components, mentoring experiences, and field-based experiences do impact teacher effectiveness in the classroom.

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Cultural Awareness and Beliefs Inventory (CABI). The CABI consist of forty-six items that measures urban teachers’ cultural awareness and beliefs on a Likert-type four-point scale. In addition, this study also examined the extent the CABI determined statistically significant differences by demographic characteristics, such as teachers’ ethnicity or years of teaching experience. During the 2005–2006 academic year, data for this study was collected from the Cultural Awareness and Beliefs Inventory (CABI). Approximately 1873 Prekindergarten through Grade 12 teachers, employed by an urban public school district located in southeastern Texas, completed the survey. Construct validity was determined by internal consistency, content validity, convergent and divergent validity. To investigate the internal structure, an exploratory factor analysis, EFA, yielded an eight-factor, 36-item inventory. The eight factors, Factor I: Teachers’ Beliefs, Factor II: School Climate, Factor III: Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, Factor IV: Home Community School, Factor V: Cultural Awareness, Factor VI: Curriculum and Instruction, Factor VII: Cultural Sensitivity, and Factor VIII: Teacher Efficacy were examined by a jury of experts to establish the content validity of the eight-factor, 36-item inventory. Convergent and divergent validity was established for six of the eight constructs by conducting a Pearson product moment correlation. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was conducted to measure the internal consistency reliability of the 36-item CABI. The reliability was established at .83. Further, the alpha for the eight factors, or scales, ranged from 46 percent for TE to 88 percent for CRCM. Differences in the teachers’ perceptions by teachers’ ethnicity were determined for TB, CRCM, CS and TE. Follow-up Scheffe post hoc analyses indicated that African American teachers had significantly more positive perceptions of TB, CRCM, and CS. Hispanic American teachers had significantly more positive perceptions of TE. Differences in the teachers’ perceptions by years of experience were determined for CRCM and HCS. Follow-up Scheffe post hoc analyses indicated that teachers with more years of experience had significantly more positive perceptions of CRCM than first year teachers. First year teachers had significantly more positive perceptions of HCS.