This research was a case study focusing on one particular setting in an attempt to provide insights into and clarifications of the factors that influenced the decision of a faculty to initiate or not to initiate a proposed innovation. The case study approach was chosen because it was felt that this approach would impose as few constraints as possible on either potential data or antecedent variables. Data for the study were gathered using direct observations of people, events, and documents; informal conversations with faculty members; surveys of the entire faculty; and formal interviews with selected faculty members. In addition to using multiple methods of collecting data, internal validation was increased by using comparisons of data from three groups of respondents identified as high-networkers in the faculty, outliers in the faculty, and nonfaculty personnel in the school. The findings of the study indicated that (a) how the proposed innovation affected the difficulty of the job faculty members were expected to perform, and (b) the influences of subgroups within the faculty had strong perceived effects on the faculty's decision to be in favor of adopting or not adopting the proposal. Factors originating outside the faculty were perceived by the faculty as having very little effect on the faculty with the exception of the influence exerted by the school principal. The perceived effects of the organizational climate of the school and of the faculty's philosophical compatibility with the proposed innovation were determined to be inconclusive. The effect of various personal characteristics of faculty members on the decision-making process of the faculty was found to vary from very little (for the age of the faculty member), to moderate (for gender and years of experience), to inconclusive (for the subject taught by the faculty member). / Ed. D.

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This dissertation explores the impact of the state public sector legal environment as a determinant of the governance content of faculty collective bargaining agreements. Using content analysis, the legal environment and contractual content are reduced to quantities that may be explored through the lens of population ecology. Legal environment is determined to have a significant impact on the development of contractual content and individual factors of governance and statutory form are identified. Specifically, the statutory scope language and reservation of management rights are seen as the primary environmental forces determining policy and rule issues in contractual content. Further, the relevant temporal element for an ecological model appears to be the tenure of public sector bargaining in each state. National affiliation, institutional type and other temporal variables do not have a significant impact on governance language. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.

The purpose of this research was to study the attitudes of Korean and American early childhood educators concerning gifted children and programs aimed specifically at meeting their needs. The study examined general attitudes towards giftedness and gifted education programs and factors that might affect those attitudes. The study also examined desirable environments for young gifted children. Twenty-item questionnaires were developed and logically divided into six sections (identification, teacher environment, classroom environment, parent environment, educational rights, and program). A systematic process of development, analysis, and refinement of the questionnaire was done. The questionnaires were given randomly to American educators attending the 1996 National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) conference. A random Korean sample included early childhood educators listed in the Korean Association for Early Childhood Education Directory (1995-1996) and the Korean Association for Child Care Directory (1995-1996). All subjects were members of one of three groups: (a) teacher educators, (b) teachers, and (c) administrators/directors. The surveys found agreement between Korean and American early childhood educators on the importance of knowing the strengths of individual gifted children, the need to stimulate higher order thinking skills, the rights of gifted children to an appropriate education, a perception of more work for the teacher to add these options, and a feeling that gifted programs would be difficult because of the large number of children in classes. The teachers also agreed that it is not difficult to assess or identify gifted preschoolers and having programs for the gifted is not elitist, but that parents should have the main responsibility for meeting the needs of gifted preschoolers and that many gifted strategies are good for all children.

Southern Baptist-Related college faculty attitudes and opinions on areas of higher education most important to the professoriate as identified by the Carnegie Foundation in its 1989 National Survey of Faculty are described in this study and compared with the data from the survey reported by the Carnegie Foundation in The Condition of the Professoriate: Attitudes and Trends, 1989 and Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. The data were compared in the eight areas: goals of collegiate education, academic standards, attitudes about student life, teaching, research, and service, status of the profession, views of the institution, participation in decision-making, and general observations of higher education.

This study investigated the effects of teacher background variables on fourth grade reading achievement data collected from the 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) using a causal-comparative research design. Teacher quality variables related to teacher credentials, instructional methods, training, and support were selected from the NAEP background questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used to examine teacher background information and fourth grade reading NAEP scaled scores using measures of central tendency, independent t-tests, analysis of variance, and Tukey’s HSD post hoc analysis. Findings suggest that certain teacher quality variables positively impact fourth grade reading achievement. Significant differences existed among fourth grade reading scaled scores for the following variables: teaching credentials [region (p < .05), traditional preparation route (p < .001), highest degree earned(p < .05), years of experience (p < .001)]; instructional methods [reading aloud by students (p < .01), questioning character motives (p < .01), student selection of reading materials (p < .001), explaining/supporting text (p < .05), identifying main theme (p < .001), time spent on reading (p < .001), primary language arts integration (p < .05)]; teacher support [instructional grade level support/technical assistance by reading specialist (p < .05) and mentoring (p < .05)]. This study expands the current literature on teacher quality by exploring the effects of teacher variables on reading achievement.

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.

In recent years in the United States, an increasing number of people are learning Mandarin, the dominant Chinese language in China. Because of the shortage of Mandarin teachers, many visiting teachers from China with Chinese educational background are teaching Mandarin in the U.S. schools. In the U.S. classrooms, these teachers are challenged to adapt to a new setting. This experience can lead them to changing their teaching identity, that is, their basic beliefs, attitudes and practices about teaching. Understanding how Chinese teachers may form a new teaching identity in the U.S. context serves to inform future professional development activities designed to increase their competence as teachers in U.S. classrooms. The purpose of this study was to describe and explain what is visiting Chinese language teachers' identity and how the identity changes might take place when they teach Mandarin in U.S. classrooms. The broader goal is to find ways to encourage Chinese language teaching competency in the U.S. classrooms and to foster cross-cultural communication. In this study, I used mixed methods research to study 14 visiting Chinese language teachers with Chinese educational background to find out how they perceive their teaching and how they teach in the U.S. classrooms. My findings were: (a) visiting Chinese language teachers changed their teaching attitudes, beliefs, and teaching practice in U.S. classroom; (b) teachers with a high teaching identity on Teaching Identity Survey maintained a high level of teaching identity after four months of teaching in U.S. classrooms; and, (c) visiting Chinese language teachers who changed their teaching identity engaged in critical reflections on their teaching practice, and learned from both Chinese and U.S. teachers. To have a positive impact on Chinese language teachers' identity and increase the likelihood of success, two implications are evident. First, Chinese language teachers could benefit from the professional development program with a focus on cultural differences and U.S. classroom management strategies. Second, U.S. schools and Chinese language programs need to create opportunities for teachers to learn from each other and build a professional community.

This is an exploratory, interpretive study, focusing on classroom communication experiences of Chinese teaching assistants (CTA) in a U.S. university. The research asked: What are CTAs' experiences communicating in the U.S. university classroom? How do they interpret their experiences from their own perspective? And what is their emergent adaptation pattern to the U.S. university classroom?

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