This study explored the curriculum change experiences of five social studies teachers, from three high schools within one school district located in a western Montana city, integrating an economics curriculum in their eleventh grade U.S. history classrooms for the first time. A review of the related literature on this topic revealed several areas of consideration regarding teachers' curriculum change experiences which guided the data collection and analysis process: commitment, workload, capacity, collaboration, and perception of the teaching profession. This qualitative, within case study was designed to add to the body of quantitative research on curriculum change. Data collection sources include: pre and post interviews, observations, electronic journals, field notes, and document analysis. Five themes emerged from the data analysis of the participants' curriculum change experiences: support, time, motivation, adaptation, and student learning. A skyscraper depicts a visual model of the complex and inter-dependent relationship of themes in the curriculum change process as determined in this study. Each of the themes is presented in narrative format as a vignette giving voice to the teachers' curriculum change experiences. Overall, teachers are positive about curriculum change and look at it as an on-going process to improve curriculum in an effort to increase student learning. The conclusion offers several suggestions to ease the curriculum change process for teachers. Teachers need the support of the community, administrators, colleagues, and outside agencies for continued, successful curriculum change. Teachers need time and space for collaboration, planning, curriculum development, and knowledge building. Teachers need to be able to easily adapt curriculum materials to their own teaching styles and district curriculum guidelines. Teachers are motivated by what interests them and so are students. Curriculum developers and planners need to keep the interests of teachers and students in mind when creating curriculum materials and professional development. Students and teachers demand relevant, current, local examples to increase their understanding and reach the ultimate goal of curriculum change in the classroom: curriculum improvement and increased student learning.

This study examines the teacher, leader, and curriculum variables predictive of student achievement in Indian Education for All (IEFA). IEFA, a Montana educational mandate based on Montana constitutional law, was first funded in 2005, and little research had previously been conducted on the effectiveness of implementation efforts. While compulsory, implementation had been piecemeal and wrought with misunderstanding, differences in opinion, prejudice, and questions about its legitimacy. The challenges inherent in the implementation of an ambiguous educational reform with no state-adopted curriculum or benchmarks for student achievement have become evident. With the dearth of research, it was not known how well students were learning what was mandated, nor was it known which precise variables impact or measure this learning. To determine this, second through fifth grade elementary school teachers and school leaders located in Missoula County completed a survey questionnaire, and Missoula County fifth grade students completed a student assessment based on the Essential Understandings of Montana Indians and the Montana Standards for Social Studies. Descriptive data provided information on mean fifth grade student IEFA scores, teacher and leader demographics, professional development participation, and implementation needs, and frequency of use of materials provided to all schools by the Montana Office of Public Instruction. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine if relationships exist between the predictor variables (teacher, leader, and curriculum variables) and the outcome variable (student achievement). However, none of the independent variables was found to have significant predictive value. Educators, including the Montana Office of Public Instruction, may use these findings to determine strategies that might most successfully impact IEFA implementation and to direct the course of further research.

The Black/White Achievement gap has been a persistent problem in education. Previous research attributed this gap to students' culture (Jenks & Phillips, 1998; Ogbu, 1995a.b) or teachers' expectancy (Rist, 1970). Post-colonial literature suggests that this research itself is oppressive, and that learning is negotiating the "spaces" between students and teachers (Ellsworth, 1997); creating a hybrid "mestiza" space (Anzaldúa, 1987). The openness of immersion to diversity, and its subsequent educational benefits for African-American students (Caldas & Boudreaux, 1999) conforms to this post-colonial perspective. This mixed-methodology study examined both academic achievement and the experiences of Louisiana fourth grade students/teachers in both the regular education and the French immersion contexts. The quantitative phase compared these students' LEAP test scores. The qualitative phase was a cross-case comparison of four classrooms--an extreme class (90% of the school population in poverty) and a typical class (African-Americans of average academic achievement) in each context. Quantitative findings were that while there was a bridging of the achievement gap between the LEAP math scores of African-American immersion students and those of white students in regular education, the gap remained amongst immersion students. The qualitative phase found the regular education classroom was found to be a more fixed and assimilating context than immersion. Further, immersion students had higher collective self-esteems and a more positive view of schooling. Though Typical Immersion appeared to create a hybrid third space, the regular education context in which immersion programs were situated appeared to negatively influence these programs.

Results from phonological awareness research on assessment and intervention support two major suppositions. First, findings from correlational studies revealing that young children's phonological sensitivity is related to the future development of reading skills (Lonigan et al., 1998) validate early screening of phonological awareness to identify children who may be at risk for encountering reading difficulties. Second, experimental studies examining the effectiveness of phonological awareness instruction demonstrate that young children's phonological sensitivity can be promoted, thereby altering patterns of initial weaknesses (Bentin & Leshem, 1993; O'Connor et al., 1995b; Torgesen & Davis, 1996; Warrick et al., 1993) The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of small-group instruction designed to enhance whole-class phonological awareness instruction delivered to preschoolers. Intensive small-group instruction, which supplemented phonological awareness activities conducted with large classroom groups 3 times each week, was provided biweekly to students who demonstrated waeknesses in phonological awareness on pre-treatment measures. The contrast group of low-performing students participated in the whole-class phonological awareness instruction, but received no additional small-group instruction. All students enrolled in 4 different preschool classes participated in phonological awareness instruction delivered to intact classes of 17 to 20 students. Data collected on students participating in the low-skilled treatment and contrast groups and on a sample of average- to high-skilled students, serving as an additional contrast group, were analyzed to examine the effects of supplemental, intensive, small-group phonological awareness instruction delivered to low-skilled preschoolers. The effectiveness of supplemental, intensive, small-group phonological awareness instruction for preschoolers with little awareness of the phonological structure of language was not supported by the results of this study. Analyses of post-intervention scores revealed that the experimental treatment did not promote subjects' phonological awareness to levels significantly higher than those of the low-skilled contrast students, who participated only in phonological awareness instruction delivered to the whole class. The supplemental small-group instruction also did not promote subjects' phonological awareness to levels similar to those of the average- to high-skilled contrast students.

Recent research suggests that many young women are undergoing a particularly difficult time during early adolescence, beginning with the transition to middle school (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University [CASA], 2003; Albert, Brown, & Flanigan, 2003; American Association of University Women, 1992). Employing autoethnography, I studied my experience as girl and woman, student and teacher, in elementary and middle schools and how these informed my pedagogical practices and knowledge as an elementary school teacher. Drawing upon feminist theory and cultural studies as well as research narratives, I argue for the inclusion of "kinderculture" in the curriculum by considering how Barbie, a cultural icon, provides opportunities for students to explore the role of gender in schools. Additionally, I studied the role of depression in some girls' early adolescence. The increase in new cases of depression in females during early adolescence (Bebbington, 1996) reveals the troubled character of many girls' experience of adolescence. I propose a menopausal theory of curriculum that supports scholarly reflection and curricular attention to young girls' experiences of this often difficult period of their coming of age.

Struggling readers have been the central focus of American politics for decades. Teachers of all ages and experiences across America deliver reading instruction in a variety of ways. The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of an effective teacher of reading in an elementary classroom setting. The study was conducted in a public and a private sector school in a capital city in the southern United States. Two principals, two second grade teachers, and two fourth grade teachers were participants in this study. A qualitative research focus provided the methodological basis for this study. The research design for this study emulated the work of James P. Spradley (1980), author of Participant Observation, and his Developmental Research Sequence Method. The researcher assumed the role of participant observer in the classroom. The participant role of the study involved becoming a member of the classroom. Field notes were used to record accurate data throughout the study. All six participants were interviewed, and a tape recorder was used to record each teacher's verbal language communicative patterns. Observation data and interviews developed into cultural themes. The cultural themes applied in recurrent activities and were located in two or more domains. The themes were established as educational background experience, communication and self-efficacy, observation and modeling, assessment, environment, behavior management, free-choice, instructional time, writing, and technology. Results indicated that although different strategies and approaches were used among the principals and teachers, the same elements and philosophies were required to effectively teach reading in an elementary school classroom, whether it be a public or private sector school.

This research questions current taken-for-granted meanings given to school, education, teaching and curriculum from an African/African American perspective. This inquiry is based on my experiences as an African American woman curriculum theorist committed to the education of African American youth. Drawing on the lifework of Sojourner Truth, a nineteenth century African American woman abolitionist and human rights activist, this work seeks to explore aspects of both African/African American-centered education and curriculum theory as a means of informing understandings of school, education, teaching and curriculum. My research question is: How does Sojourner Truth inform curriculum theory? This inquiry is a self-exploration and self-evaluation from African/African American-centered education through curriculum theory inspired by the call of Sojourner Truth. Referencing literature relative to Sojourner Truth, African/African American-centered education and curriculum theory, this dissertation makes connections between Truths lived experiences and its relevance to African/African American-centered education and curriculum theory. Based on Sojourner Truths African/African American world view as well as my own, I developed call-and-response in the context of I~We as my methodology which honors the communion, community, and communication of All-That-Exists. Using this as well as autobiographical methods, I explored an African world view, African/African American-centered education, curriculum theory as well as spirituality in education. The results of this inquiry suggest: 1) The role of spirituality in education needs to be reexamined so that the spirit of life can become the focus of school, education, teaching, and curriculum. 2) An African/African American world view of life is a guide, source, and resource for school, education, teaching, and curriculum; 3) To challenge limited, static contemporary approaches to learning, so-journeying is an authentic, organic process of and approach to learning which reflects learning as lifelong and rooted in life; 4) Following the belief that human beings are spiritual beings having a human experience, education necessitates creating sacred space.

The passage of the federal educational legislation, No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, established foreign languages as a core curricular content area. Nonetheless, educational policy makers at the state and local levels often opt to allocate greater resources and give instructional priority to content areas in which students, and ultimately the school systems themselves, are held accountable through high-stakes testing. Although foreign languages are designated as a core content area, instructional emphasis continues to be placed on curricular areas that factor into state educational accountability programs. The present study employed a mixed-methodology design. The primary goal was to explore quantitatively whether foreign language study on the part of first-year third-grade foreign language students who continue their foreign language study through and including the fifth-grade in Louisiana public schools contributes to their academic achievement in curricular areas tested on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program for the 21st Century (LEAP 21) test. Concurrently, a qualitative aim, using a survey and interviews, was to examine how foreign language teachers of students in the present study perceive that they link instruction to the reinforcement of English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies content standard skills. The findings of the present research indicate that foreign language students significantly outperformed their non-foreign language counterparts on every subtest of the LEAP 21 test and were more successful passing this test. Moreover, foreign language students significantly outperformed their non-language peers on the language portion of the fifth-grade ITBS.

The purpose of this research was to determine how an inquiry-based, whole-plant instructional strategy would affect preservice elementary teachers understanding of plant science principles. This study probed: what preservice teachers know about plant biology concepts before and after instruction, their views of the interrelatedness of plant parts and the environment, how growing a plant affects preservice teachers understanding, and which types of activity-rich plant themes studies, if any, affect preservice elementary teachers understandings. The participants in the study were enrolled in two elementary science methods class sections at a state university. Each group was administered a preinstructional test at the beginning of the study. The treatment group participated in inquiry-based activities related to the Principles of Plant Biology (American Society of Plant Biologists, 2001), while the comparison group studied those same concepts through traditional instructional methods. A focus group was formed from the treatment group to participate in co-concept mapping sessions. The participants understandings were assessed through artifacts from activities, a comparison of pre- and postinstructional tests, and the concept maps generated by the focus group. Results of the research indicated that the whole-plant, inquiry-based instructional strategy can be applied to teach preservice elementary teachers plant biology while modeling the human constructivist approach. The results further indicated that this approach enhanced their understanding of plant science content knowledge, as well as pedagogical knowledge. The results also showed that a whole-plant approach to teaching plant science concepts is an instructional strategy that is feasible for the elementary school. The theoretical framework for this study was Human Constructivist learning theory (Mintzes & Wandersee, 1998). The content knowledge and instructional strategy was informed by the Principles of Plant Biology (American Society of Plant Biologists, 2001) and Botany for the Next Millennium (Botanical Society of America, 1995). As a result of this study, a better understanding of the factors that influence preservice elementary teachers knowledge of plant science principles may benefit elementary science educator in preparing teachers that are highly qualified.

David Orr (1994) asserts that the ecological crisis is a crisis of education. This study explores the relationship between the ecological crisis and education by examining the role that language plays in shaping perceptions of the natural world. Toward this end it analyzes narratives of science, literature and other disciplines that conceptualize the natural world as object and as subject. It evaluates how particular metaphors used in reference to the natural world enhance or impede ecological understanding and the cultivation of responsibility and stewardship and considers ways in which these conceptualizations might be used as a basis for new curriculum theorizing. In looking at our relationship to Earth, this dissertation explores the notion of intersubjectivity (Abram, 1996) as expressed in philosophical and theoretical writings on participatory consciousness (Berman, 1981, Abram, 1996), empathic fusion (Goizueta, 1995), and bodymind or embodied knowing (Hocking, Haskell, & Linds, 1999). Marginal or in-between spaces emerge from these narratives as important and potentially transformative sites of relationship and meaning making wherein dualities are reconciled and physical and metaphysical realms merge. The implications of these particular findings form the theoretical core of this work's conclusions. This dissertation makes an original contribution to the field of curriculum theory in the following ways: It situates discursive knowledge in the larger context of the natural world, with nature as text and conversation partner in the process of knowledge construction. In dialog with the natural world, it explores new curricular spaces of mystery and spirit. It suggests soil, roots, and mycorrhizae as rich and regenerative metaphors for curriculum theorizing. It highlights the work of the nature writers as a resource for engendering new understandings of the natural world as having voice, identity, and agency, suggests this body of literature as a curricular resource for cultivating ecological understandings, and places this literature in conversation with the field of curriculum theory. Finally, it argues for a both/and dialogic position regarding the notions of local knowledge and metanarrative. In these ways, it seeks to philosophically fund a move away from an ecologically disabling anthropocentrism and toward a greater intimacy with the natural world.