In 1992, the state of Texas awarded a number of inducement grants to collaboratives of universities, schools, and service centers to develop field-based professional development schools (PDSs) and provide preservice and inservice teachers with extensive professional development. This study investigated the design and effects of the professional development models in these Texas Centers for Professional Development and Technology (CPDTs). This study used qualitative data collection and analysis procedures. Raw data were collected in the form of individual interviews, focus group interviews, documentation, and fieldnotes. Forty-six interviews were completed involving a total of 83 respondents representing all partnering entities: university representatives, school representatives, education service center representatives, and policymakers. Documentation included annual and quarterly reports, grant applications, and program approval requests. Fieldnotes included observational data from site visits. Data analysis was an iterative process using a constant comparative analysis of coded categories emerging fromtranscribed data. This comparison examined: the vision of professional development as perceived by the respondents, the enactment of professional development as experienced by the respondents, and the effects that the CPDT initiative had on professional development as perceived by the respondents. This study revealed 18 themes that were common across all eight Texas CPDTs. The themes revealed patterns of vision which included: developing a common ground, breaking barriers, evolving visions, and partnership tradeoffs. Patterns of enactment included formal and informal professional development opportunities. Patterns of effects included: empowerment of teachers, updating of university faculty on public school issues, better prepared classroom-ready interns, and more attention for K-12 students. Another pattern of effect included the distraction of "technology toys" and the difficulty keeping pace with new technologies. The study provided strong evidence that relationship building processes are crucial for building a sustained learning situation for a community of learners. The themes also provided information regarding the demands of institutionalizing and reculturing required to sustain the Professional Development School model.

This dissertation study deems faculty development critical to meeting challenges associated with retirement, potential professor shortages, increasing adjunct populations, unprepared faculty, and accreditation standards in the community college. The study centers on seeking a current, in-depth understanding of faculty development at Metro Community College (a pseudonym). The participants in this qualitative study consisted of adjunct and full-time faculty members and administrators who communicated their perceptions of faculty development. The analysis discovered faculty member types (progressive and hobbyist adjunct and proactive, active, and reactive full-time faculty) who invest themselves in development differently depending on their position and inclination to participate. Faculty members generally indicated a desire for collegiality and collaboration, self-direction, and individualized approaches to development whereas administrators exhibited a greater interest in meeting accreditation standards and ensuring institutional recognition. The study also discovered a need to consider development initiatives for adjunct faculty members. The dissertation proposes an improved partnership between the adjunct and full-time faculty and the administration.

The problem of this study is to determine to what extent crafts are being taught in the junior high schools, and the type and extent of training of those teachers teaching crafts in the junior high schools of Texas.

A study to determine whether there is any relationship between teacher training and college training, between turnover of teachers and departmental training, and between grade point average, honor society students, and turnover of teachers.

For a long time there has been a growing conviction among the music graduates from colleges in Texas that the training of music teachers has been limited both from the standpoint of the number of hours offered in music for a degree and of the adequacy of the training received. The trends in music teacher education in Texas need to be evaluated in order to determine whether or not teacher training in this state is adequate. In comparing the adequacy of the school curriculum as far as the number of hours and courses is concerned, McEachern's A Survey and Evaluation of the Education of School Music Teachers in the United States will be used as a source of comparison, since this study is inclusive of the curricula of colleges over the United States.

The problem under consideration in this study is a description of teacher preparation for elementary school health instruction. The dissertation is organized into six chapters, which are as follows: Introduction, Review of Related Literature, Procedures for Collection and Treatment of Data, Input from Texas Teachers, Competency-Based Health Education, and Summary and Recommendations. The following recommendations are made: (1) the program should be implement into the undergraduate tacher preparation program; (2) revision should be made based upon data collected during implementation; (3) research to produce objective questions for pretesting and posttesting purposes in each of the competency areas would be beneficial; and, (4) the Dearborn College Health Knowledge Test should be administered to those students who complete the program, and a comparison of scores made.

This dissertation focused on the study of the Spanish academic language proficiency of novice bilingual teachers during the act of teaching mathematics in elementary grades. Four first year teachers in a large urban school district in central Texas participated in the study. At the time of the study two participants were fully certified and had attended four-year teacher preparation programs. The additional participants had completed all certification requirements including content examinations and the Texas Oral Proficiency Test (TOPT); they were completing their certification requirements through alternative certification programs. The study sought to identify the moments in their teaching of mathematics in Spanish when their instruction broke down, i.e. when they appeared unable to communicate ideas to students, and the reasons for these breakdowns. Findings revealed that the teachers in the study demonstrated linguistic and/or pedagogical breakdowns and that certain factors influenced their knowledge and language competencies. Linguistic breakdowns were manifested when teachers switched to English, used repetitive language when teaching, or provided limited academic language. Pedagogical breakdowns were identified as a lack of: student talk or discussion, effective teacher questioning, or diverse presentation of content. Overall, the teachers struggled with limited language in Spanish and limited pedagogical reasoning skills while teaching mathematical concepts to their students. These limitations were exacerbated by the pressures of high stakes testing and countered by the fact that all four teachers shared linguistic and cultural affiliation with their students. This collective case study was conducted from within a constructivist theoretical framework focusing on theories of academic language, communicative competence, and Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective of learning. Recommendations for future training and practice of bilingual teachers are provided specifically on the importance of Spanish language proficiency of this group of educators. / text

This inquiry is an autoethnography of my experiences as a Black American male serving as a methods of social studies instructor to preservice teachers. Although some may deem this study as subjective, I have embraced that designation to provide insider information to others that face intersectionality and to inform institutional practices in teacher education programs.

This study uses teacher employment data provided by the State Board for Educator Certification to examine the similarities and differences between initial employment and attrition rates of teachers trained in three prevalent types of Texas teacher preparation programs; alternative certification programs (ACP), the centers for professional development of teachers (CPDT), and traditional certification programs (TCP). The population for the study includes all Texas teachers who completed training in these programs in 1995, 1996, and 1997. The study found that ACP participants gain employment as Texas public school teachers at a significantly higher rate than their CPDT and TCP trained peers in year-one after completion of their training. However, ACP completers experience higher attrition rates in each of the subsequent years investigated. The study concludes that the overall cumulative attrition rate of new teachers trained in these programs is not as pronounced as originally presumed, but that low production levels cannot keep up with the growing demand for new teachers. Teacher preparation program leaders must seek ways to recruit and train more teachers.

This study analyzes the congruence between the objectives of secondary-level English methods courses in Texas universities and the objectives of the state-mandated high school curriculum (the essential elements) in language arts. A questionnaire was used to obtain information from 26 English methods instructors at 22 universities in Texas. The data obtained from these questionnaires reveal that these instructors strongly emphasize preparing prospective English teachers to teach the essential elements of composition. Other significant findings include: (1) the lack of emphasis in the English methods course on strategies for teaching the essential elements of language, when those elements are unrelated to composition, and (2) the lack of uniformity which characterizes the organization of the English methods course at major Texas universities.