ABSTRACT TITLE I ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS’ PERSPECTIVES ON TEACHER PREPAREDNESS: UNIVERSITY-BASED ALTERNATIVE TEACHER PREPARATION FOR URBAN SCHOOLS by Pamela L. Gayles Colleges of education produce the majority of teacher educators in the United States. Additionally, over half of the alternative teacher preparation programs in the United States are administered by colleges of education. However, the literature reveals that few institutions concentrate on urban teacher preparation and that teacher-reform efforts have continuously insisted on high-quality teachers for high-need urban schools. This work addresses the existing gap in the extant research on urban schools by including the voices of school principals that are often unsolicited when discussing teacher preparation reform, particularly reform efforts responding to the staffing needs of Title I urban schools. This study explores the perceptions that Title I principals have of urban teaching, urban school challenges, and, most importantly, of urban teacher preparation. Individual interviews were conducted with four Title I urban elementary school principals from public schools in the Southeast. Additionally, an analysis of documents was conducted from five university-based urban alternative teacher preparation programs. Results from this research reveal that Title I school principals are aware of their staffing needs and challenges and are equally attuned to what they consider to be critical aspects of teacher preparation for Title I urban schools. This dissertation also highlights efforts underway in colleges and universities across the United States that are utilizing urban alternative teacher preparation to address staffing needs in urban schools. These efforts challenge the negative accusations about and allegations against both college of education and alternative teacher preparation programs’ inability to produce well-prepared teachers for all children, especially disadvantaged youth.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-102).

abstract: Through the disciplines of art education, anthropology and psychology the researcher examined research-based traits and characteristics of the creative process among a second year Title 1 urban high school art class. Within the theoretical framework of social justice, this micro-ethnographic study explored exactly what teaching and learning to be creative implies and proposes a potential resolution for art teachers learning how to enhance teaching children how to think creatively. The research proposition is that student creativity occurs as a function of a series of interrelated factors including a nurturing classroom context, strong teacher-student dialogue, strategic questioning, purposeful incorporation of visual culture, and manipulation of content in favor of student interests within the culturally situated context of the art classroom. Navigating teacher-student relationships at moments of creative origination produced results indicating that the art teacher alone is the single most influential factor for enhancing creative outcomes in a classroom. Through incorporation of a variety of collaborative activities and comparative analysis of dissimilar content-driven projects generated evidence that artistic skills and creativity do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. The study finds that the artworks produced evidence based nuances of the creative traits of originality, fluency, flexibility, and elaboration in which profoundly varied in character depending on the content and the context. The study concludes that creativity cannot be strictly taught or learned, but rather that it can be enhanced through teacher nurturing and manipulation of content to encompass a socially intelligent uptake in the culture of art-making. Broader implications are suggested focusing on the significance of creative education and the impact it can have for educational systems, schools and undergraduate programs in art education. The researcher proposes an art education curriculum model that fosters both creative thinking and the unique learning needs of Title 1 urban students. The curriculum suggests the art teacher begin initial instruction by teaching students about the traits, characteristics and obstructions of creativity prior to teaching artistic skills sets to serve as a foundation of creative awareness from the start. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2014

The problem of this study was to identify professional development needs of elementary school principals who are implementing site-based management. The purpose was to develop a prioritized list of developmental needs of principals participating in site-based management in the evaluation of teacher performance, instructional knowledge, behavioral life styles, and other needs as identified by a decentralized decision-making questionnaire. The population for this study was the sixty-one elementary school principals in a large urban school district. The principals were encouraged by the central administrative staff to assume the responsibility of site-based managers during the 1981-1982 school year. Three priority areas involving decision making at the school site evolved. These three areas were personnel, instruction, and budgeting. During the three succeeding years, additional areas of decision making have been added, such as building-level staff development, implementation of flexible student schedules, and provisions for specialized summer programs. Findings of the study showed that there was normality in the assessment of teaching skills by principals, that a significant correlation existed between principals' knowledge of instruction and principals' teacher evaluation scores and that a significant correlation existed between principals' teacher evaluation scores, female principals being more consistent. The findings showed that no correlation existed between evaluation scores and training and age, that there was normality of principals' scores in instructional knowledge, and that there was not a relationship between knowledge of instruction and experience or training. It is recommended that staff development be provided to principals on the philosophy of site-based management and on the role of the principal and that this staff development be given for one to two years prior to implementing site-based management. It is recommended that specific training be provided principals in improving their instructional knowledge, understanding of the authority, and an understanding of the responsibilities that accompany site-based management.

This dissertation utilized constructivism and identity frameworks to describe educators' interpretations of their work in an urban school located on a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street (MLK Streets). MLK Streets have become more associated with the locality rather than the ideas of the late civil rights leader. Accordingly, how educators construct their knowledge of the community is as important as the development of instructional practices. The present case study analyzed data to explore the overarching research question: What are educators' interpretations of the work, the school, and community surrounding their school located on an MLK Street in the Central Valley of California? Emergent themes included urban teacher identity formation, teaching beyond academics, making connections, understanding community layers, and constructing knowledge of MLK Street localities. Findings indicated educators had an implied social justice awareness that led to significant understandings of the socio-cultural, economic, pedagogical influences, and historical understanding within the MLK Street community.

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The disproportionate representation of ethnically and racially diverse students in special education has been an enduring problem in education for the past four decades. However, most of the research on disproportionality has focused on the ethnic/racial variable; the body of research focusing on the linguistic variable is still slim in comparison. As linguistic diversity in the United States continues to rise, teachers will continue to be challenged to meet the needs of the English Language Learners in their classrooms. However, many teachers feel unprepared to deal with this diversity and have difficulty discriminating whether a student’s poor performance is due to linguistic or cognitive factors. Consequently, many English Language Learners are misidentified and misplaced in special education programs. The purpose of this study was to analyze the representation of English Language Learners in special education high incidence disability categories in a large, urban school district in Florida. Cross-tabulations and chi-square statistics were used to analyze the distribution of special education students by ethnicity/race, home language, ESOL status, and English proficiency level; risk ratio and relative risk ratio statistics were used to determine whether the district’s English Language Learners showed under, equal, or over-representation in special education high incidence disability categories. The results indicated that English Language Learners were at the greatest risk for being identified as Specific Learning Disabled when compared to the other learning disability categories, and English Language Learners with intermediate English proficiency levels were at a higher risk for being identified and placed in special education high incidence disability categories when compared to beginning and advanced level English Language Learners.