The purpose of this study is to describe the perceptions of faculty development programs by two groups of full-time community college faculty members—arts and sciences instructors and vocational-technical instructors. To guide the development of this study, the following research questions were formulated. 1. Do organized faculty development programs have the same impression on the arts and sciences faculty members as on the vocational-technical members? 2. What specific effects do these faculty members believe that faculty development programs have had on instructional strategies, related faculty activities and professional attitudes? 3. To what extent do these faculty members perceive that the faculty development program is related to the reward system? 4. To what degree do faculty members perceive that institutional or departmental innovations have resulted from faculty development programs. What types of innovations have occurred, and what types should occur?

The aim of this study is to determine a sound method of conducting a workable program of in-service training for teachers. This problem will apply to the medium size high schools of Texas, with an enrollment ranging from three hundred to five hundred pupils in high school.

The purpose of this study is to make a survey of the Child Study Program as it has been carried on in Corpus Christi since 1944, and to determine if the work has been a definite help to the teachers participating in the program.

The problem with which this study was concerned is an investigation of physics instruction in Texas public secondary schools. The purposes of this study were to investigate the status of physics instruction and to determine the in-service needs and preferences of the physics teachers in Texas public secondary schools. Data were collected by a questionnaire that was sent to a stratified random sample of 100 teachers. The questionnaire was evaluated by a panel of advisors and pilot tested. The bases for stratification were relative school size and geographic location. Usable returns were obtained from 69 respondents.

This study analyzed participants in an online professional development and certification program can to see if they could predict the learning value of individual distance education tools. The Texas Center for Educational Technology (TCET) funded by the Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) designed the Technology Applications Certification Program (TACP). In the TACP, students are offered four graduate level classes which, when combined, meet the standards for the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) Technology Applications certification. The four courses that comprise the TACP are Computers in Education, Introduction to the Internet, Multimedia in Technology Applications, and Introduction to Video Technologies. The first course started in January 2002 with approximately 706 participants in 40 cohorts across the state of Texas. The TACP combines two different worlds of technology training. Half of the coursework was completed through asynchronous content and discussions, while the remaining classes were hands-on classes in local district computer labs. These face-to-face meetings enabled learners to get hands-on training with direct assistance. Between the online and face-to-face segments, a variety of learning tools were introduced to the participants. Participants were surveyed through the online Snapshot Survey in January and again in September.

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Web-based instruction has fast become a common component of higher education. Although such instruction began as a supplemental form of interaction, it has now become a basic aspect of many college courses and degree programs. If teacher and student are not in the same place at the same time, it becomes necessary to introduce a communications medium that will not only deliver information but also provide a channel of interaction between them. This study focused on faculty training and development programs designed to impact Web-based instruction in higher education at the five largest state-funded universities in Texas within a college of education. The instrument used in this study was developed by the research to collect data relating to faculty perception of training and development opportunities available to them at their institutions, perceptions of administrative support, and technical support. The objective was to determine if there was a relationship between these items listed above and faculty members' levels of confidence and perceptions of effectiveness when teach Web-based courses. The population consisted on 151 faculty members at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, the University of Houston, the University of North Texas, and Texas Tech University. This research study suggests that full-time tenure track faculty members at the five largest state-funded universities in Texas perceive that the amount of formal training they have received increases their ability to teach Web-based courses effectively and that the amount of formal training received also increases their perceived level of confidence when teaching Web-based courses. The researcher discovered similar results when faculty members were asked about their perceived level of institutional commitment and current initiatives for teaching Web-based courses.

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A gap exists in education research in the area of district support for campus-based professional learning communities (PLCs). The current study was an examination of practitioner perceptions of district structures and practices that support the development and sustainability of PLCs in public high schools. I examined the perceptions of 341 teachers, campus administrators, and district administrators in a suburban North Texas public school district with three comprehensive high schools. Using a sequential mixed-method design, quantitative data from an electronic survey and qualitative data from face-to-face interviews were collected and analyzed. The findings revealed a generally positive view of central office support among the participants, including consistent ratings from each high school, each campus-level position, each content area, and each level of experience in the district. There was some misalignment of perceptions between campus-level and district-level staff. The study also uncovered a set of best and worst district practices, the six PLC strengtheners and six PLC inhibitors, which were synthesized into a set of recommendations and guidelines for district support for high school PLCs. From participant feedback, I concluded district support is needed and desired by high school practitioners and there are specific district practices and structures that are most effective. While the study results provide a practical set of recommendations for school districts for supporting high school PLC efforts, expanded research is necessary to confirm transferability to school districts of diverse sizes, locations, and demographics.