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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1925. / Vita on label mounted on p. 127. Published also as Journal of educational research monographs ... no. 4. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: p. 126-127.

The major purpose of this study was to determine the problems that public school systems encounter when attempting to involve principals and teachers in the process of curriculum improvement. A second purpose was to identify the procedures that school systems use to improve curriculum and the extent of principal and teacher involvement in the curriculum decision making process. The study was conducted through two strands of inquiry. The first strand involved the distribution of a Curriculum Improvement Survey to all communities in the state of Rhode Island. Of the thirty-five Directors of Curriculum, twenty-six completed and returned the survey. Their responses provided a broad spectrum from which to view how, individually and collectively, curriculum improvement was being implemented in response to national and state initiatives. The second strand was an ethnographic study of several different committees within a local school community that were involved in various aspects of curriculum improvement. Findings suggest curriculum improvement is a shared responsibility among a cross section of individuals within school systems. The primary initiators and major determinants that influence the curriculum improvement process were identified. Most school systems reported having long range plans for improvement that are guided by administrative regulations and are implemented within varying cyclical time frames. Smaller districts where administrators and teachers wear “different hats” than in larger systems appear to be less formal in their approaches to curriculum change and the improvement process is on-going without regulations. In regard to participation in the process, the survey responses and the plans suggest that principals and teachers are given ample opportunities to participate in decision making to improve curriculum, however, their degree of participation varies with the type of decision they are being asked to make. The major problems in implementing curriculum improvement that were identified by the twenty-six school systems included insufficient time educators’ lack of curriculum theory and practical experiences; insufficient funds; and contractual considerations. The in-depth study of one school system also documented these problems, as well as: the lack of a common language for deliberating and writing curriculum; personal attitudes and professional ability levels that hinder role fulfillment; inequitable treatment of task force committees by administrators; and pressures to serve as a “rubber stamp” for principals and administrators to ensure the fulfillment of their political agendas. Recommendations for future research are suggested to determine ways to strengthen communication between the state and local school levels; to identify how institutions of higher learning may better prepare educators for curriculum leadership; and to examine the role of Director of Curriculum in order to identify leadership characteristics that are essential to curriculum improvement on a system wide basis.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--George Peabody College for Teachers, 1934. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 59).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1961. / Sponsor: Gerald Dykstra. Dissertation Committee: Harry Robert Wilson. Bibliography: leaves 246-252.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1927. / Vita. Published also as Teachers college, Columbia university, Contributions to education, no. 274. Bibliography: p. 93-102.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 133-146).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-146). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1997. / Title from title page screen, viewed June 7, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Sally B. Pancrazio (chair), Ronald S. Halinski, Dianne E. Ashby, Ramesh Chaudhari, Robert F. Hall. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-152) and abstract. Also available in print.

Despite evidence that an understanding of the individual's interpretive framework is an important factor in understanding effective teaching, there is little research in higher education which addresses this variable. The purpose of the study was to facilitate an understanding of the personal context within which the behaviors and strategies of effective teachers exist. Designed as a case study of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Distinguished Teaching Award winners from 1962 to 1995 (N = 47, 69% of total population, representing all of the Schools/Colleges within the University), it employed a written survey to gain data about faculty backgrounds and adoption of teaching attitudes and activities which the literature has identified as characteristic of effective teachers, followed by in-depth interviews (N = 14) to explore the participants' personal constructions of the process of teaching. The major findings include: all participants' definitions of teaching reflected a constructivist orientation to the process; a consistency in participants' definitions of the major goals and processes of teaching, and motivations and rewards for teaching across age, discipline, and sex; close attention to their own and their students' experiences is the primary source of learning about and motivation for teaching; the goal of relating to students is to facilitate learning, thus participants define an appropriate faculty-student distance in their relationships with students; teaching is considered an activity with intellectual value; evidence of individual shifts in the construction of their goals for teaching and of their relationships with students, their content and the context that parallel established schema for epistemological and intellectual development, indicating the possibility of a psychological developmental aspect to the development of effective teachers. Some implications for further research include the need for efforts to clarify possible epistemological developmental aspects to the development of faculty as teachers, to research the connections between developmental stage and teaching effectiveness and conceptualization of efforts to improve teaching as incorporating more than attention to methods.