The research presented here is of a sort almost never seen in today's social science work. Attempted here is a hermeneutical examination of teacher education literature of the 1970's, with the goal of revealing what otherwise would and generally does go unseen by most who practice and study teacher education, the tacitly held and taken-for-granted pre-judgements or prejudices which make such teacher education the reality it is. That is to say, the aim of this research is to "go behind what is said" in this literature in order to reveal the questions to which the literature's contents are the answer. This is necessary because such prejudices, such questions, determine in the first place the sorts of answers which can be given, by excluding other questions and points of origin, and thereby structure the form and content of teacher education as it is lived. The more specific purpose of this "going behind what is said," apart from merely revealing such prejudices, is, however, to examine them after they are revealed in order to reach a judgement as to whether or not some portion or, perhaps, all of these prejudices reflect a belief in and devotion to the alienated consciousness of technological thinking. This revelation and this judgement are presented in a chapter of nine sections: Professionalism; Management, Control, and Systems; Humans as Substances; Rationalism, Empiricism, Knowledge, and Morality; Learning, Teaching, and Academics; Education as School; Selling Materialism; Meritocracy and the Perfectability of Humans; Freedom, Participation, Community, and Power. These investigations leave little doubt, it seems, that teacher education and teacher educators in the United States during the 1970's, and by inference today also, are engrossed in and committed to technological thinking as the founding source of such work, and that such belief and commitment threaten not only teacher education as a viable human event but also the entire education "enterprise" as an authentic activity of human living.

The purpose of this multi-case study was to identify the influence of professional development experiences on the changing reading practices of third-grade teachers in low-performing schools. Schools were chosen to participate based upon a steady increase in reading achievement scores despite failing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and being placed within the Corrective Action Phase of No Child Left Behind. Six teachers from 4 schools were chosen as participants based on the changing reading practices they reported on an initial survey of 13 teachers. Interviews, observations, focus groups, and collection of archival data was completed over the course of 5 months in order to determine the influence of professional development on their reading practices. It was determined that teacher change following professional development is heavily influenced by the domain of power the directive or development is coming from. A continuum was developed to illustrate the relationship between these varying domains of power and their influence on changes made within reading practice. The changes were categorized as tending toward self-propelled or compelled changes. Teachers within this study reported higher levels of change when they were personally vested in professional development experiences and when those experiences met the immediate needs of their own personal growth or the growth of the students in their classroom. / by Michelle Vaughan. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The main purpose of the study was to explore the relationships between self concepts of beginning teachers as measured before and after an internship year. The second purpose of the study was to examine whether there were significant differences between beginning elementary teachers' expectations/experiences, attitudes and views before and after a year of participation in the Beginning Teacher Internship Program. A comparison of differences in perceptions between the findings obtained from the beginning elementary teachers and their cooperating principals was also conducted.The populations for the study included 138 beginning elementary teachers and 120 cooperating principals.Nine research questions were developed and tested using the data from participants who responded to this research. The t test at the .05 level of significant difference was administered in this study.The following results were obtained:1. There were no significant differences in the self concepts of beginning teachers from before participation in comparison to those self concepts held after a year's participation in the Beginning Teacher Internship Program as measured by the Self-perception Inventory. Within the instrument, three items of 36 yielded significant differences.2. There were significant differences before the start of the internship year between the expectations (7 of 12 items), attitudes (6 of 10 items), and views (3 of 3 items) held by beginning teachers and those held by their cooperating principals. Beginning teachers held more positive expectations, attitudes and views than did their cooperating principals.3. There were significant differences in 11 of 12 items after a year's experience with BTIP between the reported experiences of beginning teachers and the observed experiences of beginning teachers as reported by their principals. Beginning teachers reported more positive experiences than their principals.4. There were significant differences between the expectations/experiences (11 of 13 items), and attitudes (6 of 10 items) held by beginning teachers before and after participation in the BTIP.The educational implications of these findings were presented. Recommendations for further research and replication were also presented. / Department of Educational Leadership

The primary purpose of this study was to examine educators’ perceptions of how students’ social and emotional needs impact the educational environment and to determine if participating educators felt prepared to meet their students’ social and emotional needs. The research was conducted in two Midwestern states using an online survey instrument. The study participants included in-service teachers, former educators, college faculty, and graduate-education students, all of whom were solicited using a convenience sample method. Participants were solicited from graduate-level education classes and from a public school system. The participants varied in numerous ways including age, gender, educational training and teaching experiences. Data gathered in the study was used to examine the relationships between the educators’ initial teacher training and the educators’ perceptions concerning the importance of meeting students' social and emotional needs in the classroom. The majority of educators (93%) ranked meeting students’ social and emotional needs in their classrooms as either important or very important. Many educators reported that they believed meeting students’ social and emotional needs impacted the students’ learning. Most educators (81%) indicated that their initial teacher did not properly prepare them to meet their students’ social and emotional needs. Additionally, 75% of the educators reported that they would be interested in receiving more training in this area. Some of the educators’ responses appeared to be related to their education, experience and training. Special education teachers were most likely to suggest that meeting students’ social and emotional needs would improve their students’ learning. Early childhood educators ranked the importance of meeting students’ social and emotional needs significantly higher than did their colleagues who were working with older students. Educators trained during or after 2002 felt better prepared in areas concerning social and emotional needs than those trained before 2002. The results of this survey indicate that educators perceive social and emotional learning to be an important topic and are interested in receiving more training in this area. More research is needed to solicit opinions from educators across the United States on how to best prepare and support classroom teachers in the area of meeting students’ social and emotional needs. / Department of Elementary Education

No description available.

Currently in the United States there are more than 4 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students in K-12 public schools (Bochenek, Brown, & Human Rights Watch, 2001). Despite the prevalence of LGBT youth and the diversification of family populations, teacher preparation programs rarely acknowledge "queer" aspects of multiculturalism (Letts, 2002). As a result, a majority of K-12 educators enter the field of teaching unwilling and/or unprepared to engage with queer issues as they relate to students and families, curriculum, and instruction. The culture of silence around homosexuality can put queer youth at risk and deter school stakeholders from addressing queer issues, the discussion of which can lead to deepened understanding, increased empathy, and social action. Employing critical social theory as a theoretical framework, this paper examines the promise of increased awareness about and use of queer-inclusive pedagogy and curriculum in pre-service teacher education. It is argued that such inclusion is necessary to counteract heterosexism in schools that reinforce gender norms and impart heteronormative values. Guided by interpretivist inquiry, the current multiple-case study describes how eight pre-service teachers encountered, made sense of, and responded to sexual and gender diversity in their K-8 field placements. Findings are presented in individual case descriptions followed by a cross-case synthesis and suggest that pre-service teachers came into direct and constant contact with queer issues. Participants' overwhelming desire to process and make sense of their encounters as a means of supporting students as well as negotiating their own personal sense of identity also emerged from the data. The implications of these findings for pre-service teacher education are discussed as is a proposed framework for queer inclusion and next steps for future research.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the development of preservice teachers' beliefs in regard to diversity concepts and issues. The current study finds a positive development in preservice teacher candidates' professional beliefs about diversity as shown through observations, interviews, and document analysis at the beginning and end of upper division coursework in an elementary education degree program that infuses diversity throughout the program. Reflection is at the core of the goals of the college of education in which this program resides. Findings from this study revealed that through reflection and discourse, a majority of the senior students did show development in their professional beliefs about diversity concepts and issues. These findings may add to literature on program evaluation in the study of diversity concepts and infusion throughout upper division coursework. This study was limited due to an extremely low response rate and other spurious factors. / by Cynthia R. Schaub. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The purpose of this project was to create a booklet useful to teachers, one that would increase their technological competence and so encourage them to use new technologies.

The problem of this study concerns the structure and content of teacher education programs in colleges and universities which are members of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). A questionnaire was developed and consisted of four sections: (1) general background information of the respondent; (2) questions relating to the live NCATE standards using a Likert scale of 1 to 3, regarding respondent's teacher education program; (3) general information concerning Bible credit hours required, critical problems and factors considered in job placement of graduates; and (4) an opinionnaire concerning current issues in teacher education, significant changes in respondents' programs and cooperative and unusual program arrangements. One hundred questionnaires were mailed to the 100 collegiate members of ACSI in 1987. Of the 75 returned, 57 were usable. This represents a 57 percent response rate. Based on the information provided by the chairpersons participating in the study, the following conclusions are drawn relative to ACSI teacher education programs: 1. The influence of an outside agency, such as the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), seems to benefit teacher education programs. 2. State accreditation of teacher education programs appears to be important to both NCATE and non-NCATE accredited programs. 3. Of the five NCATE standards, knowledge base for professional education was the standard that seemed to be the strongest to ACSI collegiate members. 4. ACSI schools emphasize biblical and theological education concurrent with teacher education. 5. Institutions with NCATE accredited programs seem to be satisfied with NCATE accreditation, although institutions with non-NCATE accredited programs seem to favor additional accreditation from an organization other than NCATE. 6. The small number of ACSI programs accredited by NCATE may be due to (1) theological conflicts, (2) fiscal requirements, (3) the amount of work involved in the accreditation process, or any combination of the three.

The concept of middle level schooling has existed in the United States since the early 1900s. During the early 1960s, middle level schools were organized to meet the unique developmental needs of early adolescents. Yet, special training, preparation and/or certification for aspiring teachers who wish to work at this level are not available in the majority of states. Many state licensing agencies provide either elementary or secondary certification, which historically was believed to be adequate for middle level teaching. This study investigates the special preparation and training needs of middle level teachers as perceived by teachers and administrators in a suburban school district which was involved for several years in the implementation of innovative practices for middle schools. Middle level educators in this district had received in-service training and were engaged in considerable discussions on research related to effective middle schools. Thirty teachers and 10 administrators were surveyed about their own levels of preparation and their concepts of the elements of model preparation programs for middle school teachers. In a follow-up interview process, including a sample of the survey respondents, interviewees discussed in-depth their district's middle school programs; the impact of a state grant focusing on middle school organizational and instructional issues; and their perceptions about staff development needs of middle school personnel that were not being addressed. The data obtained through survey responses, interviews, and examination of district documents showed that the majority of the sample personnel received their training in middle school concept areas through formal in-service opportunities and/or on the job experience. Furthermore, a majority of the participants endorsed and expressed a need for the following: a special preparation program for middle school teachers containing field experience at the middle level; training in the unique developmental needs of the early adolescent; and, special training in a variety of instructional strategies. Results also indicated that the sample personnel were not aware of the school district's own studies on middle level schooling and were dissatisfied with the current programs, which they felt had suffered as a result of a lack of effective leadership at the district and building levels.