The preparation of prospective music educators is a very complex undertaking that culminates with the student teaching practicum. However, the music student teaching experience may have less predictable expectations and results than the curriculum that precedes the event. The two-fold purpose of this study was (a) to investigate the music student teaching practicum in the State of Texas in an effort to establish current levels of success as perceived by the music educators involved in the process and (b) to identify any potentially problematic areas which might be in need of attention or revision. Thirty-six music educators (12 university supervisors, 12 cooperating teachers and 12 student teachers) who were recently involved in the music student teaching practicum in Texas were chosen as the sample in this two-round Delphi study. The first round Delphi survey, based on related literature, achieved consensus on 79% of the 108 item responses, and 15 of the 22 unresolved items reached consensus in round two of the Delphi process. The 34 sample members who completed the study ranked a final item in the second Delphi round concerning suggestions for the improvement of student teaching. The respondents showed a very high opinion of the music student teaching practicum. However, the cooperating teachers' responses were often lower, hence the recommendation that collaborative efforts between universities and public schools be strengthened. Recommendations for improvement were also made advocating: (a) adequate rehearsal time to be afforded the student teacher, (b) expectations to be clearly defined and articulated, (c) classroom management, measurement and media, and content area reading classes to be taught by music faculty, (d) videotaping to be used in the teacher-training and student teaching process, and (e) the length of the student teaching practicum to be extended. Five additional recommendations for improvement were made in areas deemed less urgent.

This dissertation focused on the study of the Spanish academic language proficiency of novice bilingual teachers during the act of teaching mathematics in elementary grades. Four first year teachers in a large urban school district in central Texas participated in the study. At the time of the study two participants were fully certified and had attended four-year teacher preparation programs. The additional participants had completed all certification requirements including content examinations and the Texas Oral Proficiency Test (TOPT); they were completing their certification requirements through alternative certification programs. The study sought to identify the moments in their teaching of mathematics in Spanish when their instruction broke down, i.e. when they appeared unable to communicate ideas to students, and the reasons for these breakdowns. Findings revealed that the teachers in the study demonstrated linguistic and/or pedagogical breakdowns and that certain factors influenced their knowledge and language competencies. Linguistic breakdowns were manifested when teachers switched to English, used repetitive language when teaching, or provided limited academic language. Pedagogical breakdowns were identified as a lack of: student talk or discussion, effective teacher questioning, or diverse presentation of content. Overall, the teachers struggled with limited language in Spanish and limited pedagogical reasoning skills while teaching mathematical concepts to their students. These limitations were exacerbated by the pressures of high stakes testing and countered by the fact that all four teachers shared linguistic and cultural affiliation with their students. This collective case study was conducted from within a constructivist theoretical framework focusing on theories of academic language, communicative competence, and Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective of learning. Recommendations for future training and practice of bilingual teachers are provided specifically on the importance of Spanish language proficiency of this group of educators. / text

This study investigated the beliefs of teachers at a particular elementary campus in North Texas during its first year of implementation of a social emotional curriculum regarding teaching social emotional skills and the influence of those beliefs on their classroom practices. The study drew from the works of Dewey and Bandura in the development of a framework for teacher decision making. A case study design incorporating multiple cases within the case study utilized a mixed-methods approach for data collection and analysis. Ten teachers volunteered and participated in the quantitative data collection, and four of those ten participated in the qualitative data collection through interviews and classroom observations. Data collection methods also included a demographic survey, a questionnaire on teacher beliefs about social emotional learning, and a self-ranking scale of practices related to teaching social emotional skills. Results indicated that although all participants believed social emotional skills instruction was part of their duties as teachers, their practices in teaching social emotional skills varied. Additionally, there was a mismatch between participants’ self-identified practices and the practices that were observed during the study. Administrative support for program implementation was high, but did not necessarily translate to effective practices during the first year of implementation of a particular program. While not significant in this study, variation in teacher characteristics may be important.

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The purpose of this exploratory study was to gain an increased understanding of an independent living skills training program's impact on resilience, social support, and life skills for foster care youth participants. This study used a qualitative case study methodology and involved a purposive sample of 16 ethnically diverse youths and 9 adult staff members of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Youth participants were recruited through one of several state-contracted agencies that provided life skills training to youths in Texas. Data were collected through multiple sources and were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics. Scores on standardized measures of resilience, social support, and life skills, and youths' descriptions of these same constructs were compared. The change in scores on the standardized measure of social support were statistically significant (p=.006; p<.05), while total scores on measures of resilience and life skills were not. Although scores were not statistically significant, scores on the measure of resilience were in the "high" range, possibly indicating high levels of internal and external assets, and scores on the standardized measure of life skills indicated that youths showed "mastery" of approximately half of the life skills. Youths' descriptions of social support, resilience, and life skills were consistent with scores on standardized measures. Participants described biological family members as their greatest sources of emotional support and encouragement and their verbal descriptions corresponded with the internal and external assets defined in the standardized measure of resilience. Most participants had difficulty describing and recollecting life skills information such as managing money and locating appropriate housing, which was consistent with scores suggesting they "mastered" only about half of all items on the life skills assessment. Staff participants cited placement changes and lack of transportation as the most frequent occurring reasons a youth stopped attending life skills training. Findings from this study highlighted the strengths of foster care youth and have implications for future use of strengths-based theories and frameworks, and for gender-specific life skills training. Findings also indicate important implications for teaching life skills to youths in foster care and policies related to independent living services.

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This study was an examination of 20 North Texas high school teachers' perceptions about the effects of bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives on instructional planning and classroom environment. The BYOD initiative at two high school campuses was studied through a qualitative approach, i.e. a collective case study. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations, and reviews of participants' lesson planning documents. The findings indicated teachers had to plan for inequitable technology access, technology support, effective classroom management, and relevant content to support student learning effectively. Teachers participated in professional development focused on planning for student devices, effective use of instructional technology, and classroom management during this type of instruction. Results revealed that, during instruction that included students' devices, teachers believed student engagement and content retention were greater. Observation data also indicated that students were more engaged in the instruction. The interviews and classroom observations indicated that students assumed a more active role in their learning during these lessons, and teachers facilitated and provided more support as needed. Effective planning and classroom management were identified as key components in the success of this type of initiative. Overall, the study supports the necessity for relevant professional development for teachers and campus administrators to ensure the success of BYOD initiatives. Similarly, these two groups should work together to develop the campus framework to support BYOD technology in the classroom.

Although reasons for avoiding help, goal orientation, and social efficacy have been examined in the context of social adaptive help seeking, researchers have not pursued how these constructs influence computer adaptive help seeking. The three studies in this dissertation addressed both social and computer adaptive help seeking. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine if reasons for avoiding help seeking, personal goal orientation, or social efficacy predict social and computer adaptive help seeking for students enrolled in computer-based, developmental mathematics courses in community college settings. The purpose of the first study was to determine if students differentiate among three help-seeking sources: (a) formal, (b) informal, and (c) computer. Study 1 revealed that this population considered two different sources of help: social and computer help. These results were used to formulate the following questions for Study 2 and Study 3: 1. Do reasons for avoidance of help predict social or computer adaptive help seeking? 2. Does personal goal orientation predict social or computer adaptive help seeking? 3. Does social efficacy predict social or computer adaptive help seeking? Study 2 revealed that ability concerns negatively predict social adaptive help seeking and that mastery goal orientations positively predict both social and computer adaptive help seeking. Study 3 revealed that ability concerns negatively predict social adaptive help seeking and that mastery goal orientations and social efficacy for peers positively predict social adaptive help seeking. Additionally, ability concerns negatively predict computer adaptive help seeking, and mastery goal orientations positively predict computer adaptive help seeking. The finding that students who adopt a mastery-goal orientation use both social and computer means to adaptive help seek was not surprising. The finding that students who have ability concerns do not tend to social adaptive help seek is also consistent with previous research. However, the most important conclusion from Study 3 is that students who have ability concerns do not computer adaptive help seek, regardless of the anonymity provided by the computer. More research is needed in this field to examine why students with ability concerns tend to avoid help seeking altogether. / text