published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

Enhancing the cultural diversity of faculty has emerged as a prominent issue in the 1990's. While Black, Hispanic, and American Indians have made incremental gains in terms of their representation in majority institutions, they remain clustered in the lower ranks of the faculty and generally take longer to achieve tenure. Efforts to increase the representation of minority faculty have focused on intensified recruitment, with less attention paid to further career development once a minority individual has achieved faculty status. The research presented herein explores the evaluation, promotion and tenure process of a Research I university to determine the structural and ideological barriers to minority faculty advancement. The research focuses on concepts of merit, excellence, and quality that form the cornerstones to evaluation standards, and the values, attitudes and behavioral expectations that underlie those standards. Using critical theory as the conceptual framework that drives the inquiry, the findings indicate that the pervasive ideology of merit, being universalistic in nature, does not easily accommodate diversity and trivializes racial, class, and gender issues while perpetuating a system of structured inequality.

The problem of this study was to determine if the teachers of Algebra I rated highest and lowest according to the Texas Teacher Appraisal System differed significantly in a measure of achievement. The analyses indicated that there were significant differences in achievement between the classes taught by the highest and lowest ranked teachers.

M.Ed. / This study focuses on the misconceptions that exist among teachers in the field of unifying themes in Biology teaching. The researcher feels confident that teachers are well underlain in their field of study, and that meaningful teaching occurs in Biology classes. His concern is that the fundamental unifying themes in Biology that enables pupils to reach higher cognitive levels of thought, are not utilised fully in pupils and teachers, learning and training. Investigations of these phenomena are being done through misconceptions that may occur at teachers of Biology. This forms the main aim of the study. The researcher feels that the fewer misconceptions' teachers have, the better students will be taught. Qualitative and quantitative research methods are being used to maximise the research effectiveness. Trough these methods the researcher found that teachers are well underlain in their studies but lack utilisation of unifying themes in the learning environment. Teachers concentrate on one or two themes, ignoring the remainder. The researcher hopes to make a meaningful contribution to the teaching of Biology as well as to improve the quality of teacher training programs in Biology didactic courses through awareness of these phenomena.

M.Ed. / GENERAL AIM To investigate the components of teacher competence and how these aspects can be managed to enhance teacher effectiveness. GROUP AIM To investigate the components of effectiveness and how this can enhance teacher competence. SPECIFIC AIM Determine the contribution of curriculum interpretation towards improving effectiveness in the teaching and learning situation; To obtain teacher opinion as to the extent that curriculum interpretation enhances effectiveness; and Devise a possible strategy whereby curriculum interpretation support effectiveness and enhance teacher competence.

The purpose of this non-experimental study was to determine whether teacher cognitive and behavioral agility relates to student achievement as measured by their value-added model (VAM) score and their performance evaluation measured through the Marzano instructional practice (IP) framework, and whether that relationship is moderated by contextual variables. Cognitive agility, measured through the Strategic Thinking Questionnaire for Teachers (STQ T TM), refers to the leader’s ability to use their repertoire of thinking skills. Behavioral agility, measured with the Strategic Leadership Questionnaire for Teachers (SLQ T TM), relates to the leader’s ability to use a wide array of leader influencing actions. Teacher VAM score is the percent of the teacher’s students that met or exceeded a statistically predicted score on the end of year assessment. Teacher IP scores were also collected and were based on classroom walkthroughs, and other factors, conducted by their respective school-based administrator(s). The study included 75 teacher participants at the middle and high school levels and used correlational, linear regression, moderator, and mediation statistical analyses. The research findings indicate that cognitive agility continues to be a significant predictor of behavioral agility and that both cognitive and behavioral agility were significantly related to VAM or IP in teachers over the age of 50. Additionally, VAM scores significantly increased through the use of reframing and IP scores increased when utilizing bridging leader actions. However, it was also found that VAM scores were negatively correlated to the managing leader actions in the total population. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this study was to determine if teachers who use thinking and leading actions have higher student achievement as measured by the teacher’s Value Added Measure (VAM) score. A quantitative non-experimental design investigated the relationships between teacher cognitive and behavioral agility and student achievement. Cognitive agility, measured through the Strategic Thinking Questionnaire for Teachers (STQT ), refers to the leader’s ability to use their repertoire of thinking skills. Behavioral agility, measured with the Strategic Leadership Questionnaire for Teachers (SLQT ), denotes the leader’s ability to use a wide array of leader influencing actions. Teachers were surveyed and the data were analyzed through correlation and multiple regressions to determine the relationship among the variables. Although the cognitive and behavioral agility was not correlated with a teacher’s VAM score, the results indicate that teachers do perceive themselves as leaders in their classrooms. Educational leadership certification, higher degrees, and years experience of a teacher did moderate the relationship between local VAM and both cognitive and behavioral agility. The sub-scales of systems thinking and transforming of the survey instruments also were significant to the results. Theoretically, this study contributes to the teacher leadership literature, focusing on the classroom teacher and their effect on student achievement. Practically, with educational accountability changing the landscape, school districts should train teachers to engage in leadership skills, reward teachers for earning a Master’s degree in leadership, and work to retain high quality teachers who are leaders within their classroom. Greater student achievement could be the result. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection