This study utilized an action research design with qualitative methods to explore the transformative potential of a multicultural literature curriculum within a general education setting. Providing young students with opportunities to develop perspective taking and empathetic responses to others who are different, offers the critical potential for reducing prejudice. Based on Allport’s (1979) contact theory, originally written in 1954, multicultural literature served as indirect contact, providing access to characters who were different from the students. The design included the researcher’s classroom and a teacher cohort of five third grade teachers interacting with a total of 103 students in a public charter elementary school in South Florida. The selection of third graders was purposeful by the developmental window of social perspective taking identified by Selman (1980). Each teacher utilized the multicultural book set to conduct interactive read-alouds along with critical questions to support the students in understanding the settings and problems and therefore the perspective of the diverse characters. We gathered data from student work samples, audio tapes, cohort meetings, teacher journals, researcher journals, and critical friend meetings. Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis aided in the organization and handling of the quantity of data as Glasser’s (2008) constant comparative method was applied to coding through the action research recursive cycles. Emergent themes and patterns from the data demonstrated positive development in the depth of discussion through improved emotional vocabulary and new understanding of mixed emotions. The variety of storylines offered new knowledge of social justice issues such as immigration, refugees, religious tolerance, slavery, and poverty while developing vocabulary to engage in reading and discussion. The indirect contact experiences with diverse characters and the lessons provided practice in perspective taking and emotional empathy skills. This study contributes to the body of literature using multicultural literature for empathy and perspective taking development and adds to indirect contact studies for prejudice reduction by focusing on younger students and being conducted within an authentic school context. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this research was to study the implementation of a professional learning community comprised of one group of third-grade teachers in a Florida elementary school where the emphasis was on research-based practices in the teaching of mathematics. Investigated were the growth of teachers‟ content knowledge in mathematics, specifically in the areas of multiplication and division, and the effects of their professional learning within their classrooms. Specifically this study looked at whether or not the participation of a group of third grade teachers in a professional learning community PLC improved the mathematical content knowledge of the participants of the study. This research design called for the research to be conducted in three phases. In Phase I, the researcher interviewed all participants using a researcher-designed interview guide. A researcher-adapted survey, based upon previously released items Ball (2008) was administered as a pre-test of mathematical content knowledge,. In Phase II of the study, the researcher documented the activities that occurred within a 10-week long professional learning community (PLC) of third-grade teachers. In Phase III of the research, a post-study interview was conducted with each of the participants by an independent observer to elicit participants‟ perceptions and observations based on their participation in the PLC. A post-test of content knowledge was also administered to the participants. Several themes were identified in the research study. These themes led to recommendations for practice and future research. Themes were related to the lack of iv mathematical understanding experienced by some teachers and the lack of professional development specifically related to mathematics, the value of the professional learning community, and the benefits of sharing current research and best practices. During this study, the participants were able to read and share examples of research-based best practices in mathematics, and participants then used this new information and additional mathematics content knowledge in their classrooms in teaching their students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the performance of Title I third grade students in a central Florida School District differed on tests administered under timed and untimed conditions. Further examined was the literature on reasons for the achievement gap which centered around seven different themes: (a) standardized testing, (b) achievement gap data and identified factors (c) deficit theory, (d) cultural mismatch theory, (e) extended time accommodations, (f) test anxiety and stress, and (g) timed versus untimed tests. Six Title I schools participated in this study by assigning 194 students to take the 2006 Released FCAT Reading Test under either timed or untimed conditions. Although there were no interactions between the covariates and testing conditions, those who were in the free or reduced lunch program or were in exceptional education programs had lower FCAT scores than those who were not. However, when school was included as a moderator, there was a statistically significant interaction between testing conditions and schools on FCAT scores indicating that the relationship between testing conditions and FCAT scores varied for each individual school. A factorial ANCOVA was conducted, and it was found that the mean differences between students who took the timed and untimed 2006 FCAT Reading Test varied from school to school after accounting for the covariates. For two schools, those students who took the untimed tests scored higher than those who took the timed tests. In contrast, those students who took the untimed tests scored lower than those students who took the iv timed test for one of the schools. There was no statistically significant difference for three of the schools. A factorial MANCOVA was used to compare reading performance on the 2006 Reading FCAT between the timed and untimed groups on domain specific tests. The relationship between testing condition and FCAT scores for each domain specific test varied depending on the individual school. Therefore, it could not be concluded from these analyses that testing conditions would consistently result in increases or decreases of student performance on standardized domain specific tests.