<p>The United States is an aging nation and this trend is predicted to continue. Parallel to a population increasing in number and age, is a broadened interest in lifelong learning. More than ever, older adults are involved in informal and formal education, non-credit and credit-bearing courses; individuals are returning for associates, baccalaureate and graduate degrees. As older adults stay in the workforce longer and delay retirement, certificate and degree programs focused on improving work related skills are expanding. Older adults are also motivated to complete four-year degrees to enhance employment opportunities (Schaefer, 2010). Initiating and completing a graduate degree is a further step in lifelong learning, often based on health, cognitive skills, motivation and perseverance. There is little research describing older students&rsquo; perceptions of the value and experience of a graduate degree earned over the age of 60. </p><p> This phenomenological study examines the perceived value of that graduate degree and ultimately informs future students and institutions of higher learning. It includes interviews of 21 individuals who earned a doctorate or master&rsquo;s degree after the age of 60. Case vignettes of three individuals are offered to highlight narratives of their educational journeys. </p><p> Study findings confirmed much of the existing scholarly literature on older adults&rsquo; motivations and experiences in graduate education, but there were also some nuanced differences. Continual dedication to lifelong learning through perseverance underscored the motivation for these individuals to complete their graduate degree. Age was never expressed as a constraint by study participants; in fact, years of life and employment experience brought to the cohort was stated as a great advantage. Participants continued employment, sought new careers, pursued writing, making of fine art, or actively volunteered following their graduate degree; few considered themselves retired. </p><p> Implications for leadership in higher education institutions are also discussed. Leaders in higher education will increasingly recognize this demographic offers more depth of experience to cohort learning than expected. Individuals earning a graduate degree after age 60 provide a wider demographic of learners for institutions of higher education to access, presenting new considerations for intergenerational instruction, and increased opportunities for alumni fundraising. </p><p> <i>Keywords</i>: lifelong learning, educational gerontology, perseverance, learned experiences, older adults, graduate degrees, baby boomers </p>

<p> Hispanic English Learners (ELs) in America are at risk of educational failure. Hispanics are the poorest, least-educated US ethnic group, making them subject to the widening educational achievement gap. When ELs are unsuccessful in school, both students and society suffer. As their population rises, many school districts, such as the Great Falls Public Schools (GFPS) (pseudonym), need strategies to improve EL education. High-quality early childhood education increases student achievement. The literature indicates that transformational leadership (TL) is vital for school success. However, TL has been explored neither for EL achievement nor in the preschool setting. This study was needed to address the problem of EL achievement and improve TL theory prediction. This study investigated whether TL practices by preschool directors, as perceived by instructional staff, predicted EL's preschool achievement. Instructional staff (<i>n</i>=146; 130 teachers and 16 master teachers) at Great Falls district's 30 preschool sites completed 194 surveys describing their site leader's TL practices. Both the leadership scores and the preschool ELs' (<i>n</i>=1,390) literacy and mathematics achievement scores were aggregated by preschool site. Regression analyses were performed using SPSS to explore the relationships between preschool directors' TL practices and EL achievement, controlling for prior achievement scores, average student age, and leader characteristics. The results indicated that Setting Directions (<i>R</i>² =.70, F (6, 22) = 8.53, p&lt;0.01), Developing People (<i>R</i>² =.70, F (6, 23), p&lt;0.01), and combined TL practices (<i>R</i>² =.69, F (6, 22) = 8.11, p&lt; .01) had a significant and positive relationship with student mathematics achievement. However, Redesigning the Organization had no significant relationship with student outcomes. In addition, no relationships between TL practices and student literacy outcomes were significant. Future studies should include both student mathematics and literacy outcomes to investigate whether transformational practices have greater impact on mathematics than literacy achievement.</p>

<p> Required experiential learning within the context of higher education is on the rise. This dissertation endeavors to expand current understandings of resistance to required experiential learning including root causes, implications, and opportunities to address and alleviate resistance. The debate regarding the merits of required service, service-learning, study abroad, and other experiential learning opportunities is examined. In addition, access to such opportunities, causes and effects of resistance that develops for some participants, and ways of addressing this phenomenon are identified. To this end, an exploration of existing literature related to required experiential learning and reluctant participation is offered. In addition to a case study of Susquehanna University&rsquo;s Global Opportunities program, data for this study was gathered through research methods including focus groups and semi-structured, open-ended interview. Findings reveal a variety of causes of resistance, why resistance manifests for some students prior to required study away, and strategies that practitioners in the field of experiential education employ to address such resistance.</p>

<p> Identifying teacher knowledge of motivational and engaging practices and barriers preventing them from using such practices.</p>

<p> Teacher leadership in schools has evolved many times as schools have looked to utilize teacher leaders in various ways to help support school organization, school reform, and ultimately impact student achievement. The purpose of this study is to develop, and evaluate the impact of a curriculum for leadership development rooted in the Teacher Leader Model Standards. The Teacher Leader Model Standards were published in 2011 by the Teacher Leadership Model Consortium and using those standards as a foundation for research and development, a course was created that provided participants with readings and activities designed to have a positive impact on their understanding of teacher leadership from the classroom perspective. </p><p> This study utilized a mixed methods design as participants completed both pre- and post-surveys based on the Teacher Leader Model Standards, as well as participated in focus groups. The data collected in surveys, gleaned from the focus groups, as well as my own field notes were utilized to look at the overall impact of the curriculum in improving teacher efficacy. </p><p> The study results indicate that there was a significant impact in teacher efficacy in six of the seven domains assessed.</p>

<p> The extent to which students' and teachers' perceptions agree about excellent teachers has implications for educational philosophy, training, and leadership practices. Teacher excellence depends teachers are rarely sought. Experts write about what should be taught, how it should be taught, but those who are being taught have little voice. Learning what traits and practices exemplify excellent teachers would enable us to capitalize on those traits and train teachers to use those practices. </p><p> The intent of this study was to learn what teacher excellence was like for students and teachers. From those who have experienced teacher excellence from both sides of the desk, particular characteristics and practices were identified as important or essential. </p><p> This study employed interviews of high school seniors and teachers. Questions were related to a district's contract appendix, literature about best practices, career interest and personality inventories, and from discussions with students and teachers. Fourteen student interviews and fourteen teacher interviews were transcribed. Ten of each category were distributed to a team of coders, by the researcher. Using the Consensual Qualitative Research method, coders and researcher placed participants' responses in domains, categorized them, and with an auditor's guidance, searched for those that were typical and those that were variant. Discarded interviews were to be replaced by other interviews until stability occurred. The team sought patterns among the participants' responses. Finally, the researcher analyzed the data and drew and reported conclusions. </p><p> Students described excellent teachers who connected with their students on a social, emotional level. Examples of student's responses were instances of a teacher approaching a student to ask if the student needed assistance, opening classrooms at non-instructional times to provide a welcome setting in which to relax until the next class, visiting the student at his workplace, and attending students' performances. </p><p> Teachers described the excellent teacher's relationship with students as a teacher who might attend performance events, but might also insist the student come in for extra help or encourage the student to put forth greater effort. The emphasis the teachers placed on rapport building between teacher and student was based more on academic than on emotional support. The role that teachers were described by students as performing was that of nurturer or counselor, whereas the role the teachers' description described was that of facilitator and coach.</p>

<p> Possible long term effects of previous Montessori education on college age students are relatively unexamined. In this descriptive, exploratory, qualitative study, 13 students who had earlier attended Montessori schools for at least six years were asked to reflect on their just-completed freshman year. Thematic analysis of their in-depth, semi-structured interviews revealed similarities in how they experienced themselves as learners; understood the construction of knowledge, opinion, and truth; experienced themselves as growing and changing; and viewed the influence of their Montessori education. Though their level of epistemological maturity was not measured directly, their responses suggested a more advanced level than usually achieved by comparably aged college students. Their patterns of response also correspond to characteristics Montessori described as the fourth plane of development, which would be achieved by adolescents whose earlier educational experiences had successfully brought them through the first three planes. These findings suggest that further research is needed into the possible long term effects of a Montessori education on individuals as they reach adulthood. Although altering current educational models would be enormously challenging, further examination of this alternative is recommended.</p>

<p> Using a comprehensive model of instructional leadership, this mixed-methods study investigates the relationship between the leadership of middle school principals and growth in student learning. This study also delineates specific actions performed by principals to execute research-based instructional leadership behaviors. The researcher used annual student growth data from the Idaho Star Rating System of schools to identify five middle schools of high growth and five middle schools of low growth. The researcher's newly developed comprehensive instructional leadership survey based on a 5-point Likert scale measured differences in leadership styles, school cultures, and the correlations between 21 researched-based leadership behaviors and three school cultures. The open survey items of the survey collected specific actions that school principals used to perform the leadership behaviors. The results of this study verified that the comprehensive instructional leadership survey is a valid and reliable measurement of effective middle school leadership, and yielded three significant differences between the leadership of high-growth schools and low-growth schools. The correlation results ascertained that a majority of transformational behaviors, which comprise half of the comprehensive instructional leadership model, are highly correlated with fostering a collaborative, teacher-learning culture of instructional innovation and support. A near majority of the transformational behaviors of this study also correlate highly with creating a high-trust culture of teacher satisfaction and commitment.</p>

<p> With increasing demands on student achievement as set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001), teachers are the catalyst for improving their students' performance (Marzano, 2000). Existing studies on the use of formative assessment as a process by which teachers elicit information of their students' progress and use that information to inform their instruction have shown promising results in student achievement gains (Wiliam &amp; Thompson, 2007). Extensive teacher professional development is needed, however, to instill a change in teacher practice needed to successfully employ formative assessment resulting in improved student achievement (Trumbull &amp; Lash, 2013; Wiley &amp; Heritage, 2010).</p><p> The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between <i> Linking Learning and Assessment</i> professional development (including online training modules and communities of practice) as well as other forms of professional development on formative assessment and resulting self-perceived teacher practice, and what aspects of the professional development teachers found meaningful in improving their practice.</p><p> This study utilized a mixed-methods design. A questionnaire was administered to middle level educators (<i>N</i>=82) throughout the state followed by a focus group interview (<i>N</i>=5). Quantitative data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, correlations, Anova, and <i>t</i>-tests. Qualitative data were obtained through open-ended questions and the focus group. Content analysis was conducted to analyze the qualitative data obtained through the focus group interview and the open-ended questions on the questionnaire. </p><p> A major finding of this study is that most teachers are in the early stages of implementing the formative assessment process and have begun to realize the power of formative assessment. Those who have had ongoing and intensive training have begun to see meaningful changes in their practice. Professional development found to be most meaningful to teachers includes: collaboration, active learning opportunities and coherence. In addition, teachers expressed the need for professional development to be differentiated to meet their individual needs.</p><p> The results of this study may serve to inform teachers, administrators, districts and state departments of education when developing and implementing professional development in general as well as professional development on formative assessment.</p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the effects of professional learning communities (PLCs) in Alabama Black Belt schools. Alabama's Black Belt has many challenges, such as poverty, high concentration of students from low-income households, struggling schools, and repercussions of the No Child Left Behind Act. The researcher identified school-related factors that were beneficial to student achievement. One such factor was PLCs. However, it was not known if PLCs were the reason sustained student achievement was achieved in the Park County School District. Fifteen educators participated in this study. Four research questions guided this study. Through this case study, data were collected, coded, thematically analyzed, and interpreted to identify factors that may have enabled the Park County School District to sustain student achievement. Despite the challenges that exist throughout the Black Belt region, the dedicated professionals who work in the Park County School District found ways to educate children from poverty households. One important factor to their success was PLCs. PLCs provided opportunities for educators to influence student achievement through collaboration on instructional practice, leadership, and shared decision-making. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Achievement, black belt, poverty, professional learning communities, education, teachers, school administrators. </p>