Reading is a basic skill for survival and those who have reading difficulties in early grades continue to struggle in school and later in life. Previous studies have shown that instructional procedures that incorporate basic language constructs with literacy instruction are helpful in improving reading skills. It has also been shown that many teachers and reading professionals are not familiar with such concepts. The purpose of this research is to explore reasons for classroom teachers' poor preparation to teach literacy skills and how this situation might be improved. First, a basic language constructs survey assessing self-perception, knowledge, and ability (46 items, Cronbach's a = .903) and based on recommendations by the National Reading Panel and reading research was administered to university instructors of EC-4 reading education (n=114). Forty-eight of these university instructors completed the survey after at least two years of participation in a professional development program (Higher Education Collaborative, HEC) geared towards the incorporation of scientifically-based reading research (SBRR) and research-based reading instruction (RBRI) into teacher preparation. The other sixty-six university instructors completed the survey prior to their participation in the professional development program (HEC). Second, the same survey was administered to pre-service EC-4 teachers (n=173) at the completion of their reading education coursework. Fifty-five of these pre-service teachers had been taught by the "HEC university instructors." The other 118 pre-service teachers had been taught by "non-HEC university instructors." Results indicate non-HEC university instructors and their pre-service are not familiar with basic language constructs and how to teach these concepts to primary level children. However, while room for improvement exists, HEC university instructors and their pre-service teachers did perform statistically significantly better on the survey than their counterparts. This study indicates pre-service teachers need better preparation in teaching the basic language constructs of the English language and university instructors often lack the knowledge to prepare teachers with such information. However, professional development programs designed for university instructors might be one way to help improve the situation.

This study aims at the faculty evaluation current situation analysis to make the discussion analysis, the research object contains 96 academic years three universities in Taiwan proceed faculty evaluation . The methods of this study are the analysis of literature, the analysis of documents and semi-structured interviews. The results of this study include of following: 1.Analyzing, reorganizing, inducing the practical practice of the demestic and foreign faculty evaluation, and establishing the criterions of the faculty evaluation for this study. 2.Comparing and Analyzing the faculty evaluation laws difference of three universities in Taiwan . 3.Comparing and Analyzing the faculty evaluation administer mechanism difference of three universities in Taiwan . 4.Comparing and Analyzing the faculty evaluation the current problems difference of three universities in Taiwan . 5.Proposing suggestions for improving the faculty evaluation to the authorities of education and public and privately universities in Taiwan acccoding the findings of this study.

Abstract The study aims to develop the Teacher Belief Scale. The subjects were 533 junior high school teachers in Kaohsiung, receiving the Teacher Belief Scale from March to June in 2009. There were four subscales in the scale, including the Teacher Role Identification Subscale, the Creative Teaching Behavior Subscale, the Student-centered Education Subscale, and the Multiple Learning Subscale. The results showed (1) Cronbach¡¦s £\ for the subscales ranged from .629 to .790, with an overall Cronbach¡¦s £\ of .810; (2) the male teachers got higher scores than the females in the Creative Teaching Behavior Subscale; (3) teachers who graduated from general universities got higher scores than those from normal universities in the Creative Teaching Behavior Subscale; (4) teachers with administrative position got higher scores than homeroom teachers and teachers with other service in overall Teacher Belief Scale; (5) teachers with administrative position got higher scores than homeroom teachers and teachers with other service in the Teacher Role Identification Subscale; (6) in the Creative Teaching Behavior subscale, teachers with administrative position got higher scores than homeroom teachers and full-time teachers; (7) in teaching experience, analyzed through Scheffe post-hoc comparison, only scores of teachers with 1-4 year experience were significantly higher than those of teachers with 5-9 year experience in the Student-centered Education Subscale; (8) there were no significant difference in teachers¡¦ teaching subjects analyzed through Scheffe post-hoc comparison.

Environmental issues are at the forefront of public scientific inquiry. There is a pressing need to change the way we do things in order to reduce the human impact on the environment (Brower, 1999; Bierbaum, 2007). Environmental education is one key for implementing change (Disinger, 1982). Ijams Nature Center’s “Living Clean & Green!” program was developed with this goal in mind (P. Beute, personal communication, September 11, 2007). Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior and Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera’s (1987) model of Responsible Environmental Behavior were used in this study to determine if behavior change occurred among adult participants of this program over a three-month period. Instructor interviews, workshop observation, pre-/post knowledge surveys, behavior questionnaires, and post telephone interviews were used to examine the characteristics of the program, participant knowledge, intention to engage in environmental behavior, and actual behavior change. The results indicated that participants did learn information in the course of the program, and intentions to change behavior were predicted by the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991). However, three months after the workshop, actual behavior change was not predicted by the theory, although behavior change did occur in a majority of participants. Unfortunately, participants did not connect changes in their behavior with overall environmental issues and human impacts on the environment. This program, offered through Ijams Nature Center, is effective in its goal to change human behavior, although its impact may increase if audiences can connect their individual behaviors to overall environmental impacts.

School accountability has become critical under the No Child Left Behind Act. As struggling schools strive to reach mandated proficiency levels, is it possible for an art teacher to contribute toward students‟ success by integrating math content into art lessons? This study attempts to show that without schedule changes, additional funding, or added training, an art teacher can support the efforts of classroom teachers as evidenced by increased scores on standardized math tests. The research used a Non-Equivalent Groups Design and examined pre-test and post-test scores for two groups of students. The population for this study is 3,800 elementary school children who attend Project GRAD schools. The experimental group which received integrated instruction is a convenience sample. It is comprised of 360 students who attend the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades at two of the Project GRAD schools. The control group is made up of 3,440 students who did not receive the experimental instruction. The test scores were analyzed using t-test for normal distribution of scores, and a confidence level of .05 was selected. The results of this research indicate positive results from integrating math content into the elementary art curriculum.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University OF MICHIGAN.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1924. / Vita. Published also as Contributions to education, Teachers College, Columbia University, no. 140. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University OF MICHIGAN.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University OF MICHIGAN.