This dissertation examines the attitudes and career plans of college-age Latino/a students in order to determine the best next steps for educator preparation programs as they seek to recruit, prepare, support, and retain teachers of color, specifically Latino/a teachers, for the K-12 public school system. A review of the literature regarding the recruitment of teachers of color informed this research. The components of recruitment programs were examined in terms of how they addressed the individual and the career of teaching. The effectiveness of these recruitment models is not completely clear, and many have not been proven to have long term success. However, there are a few promising models worthy of serious study. This research utilized data obtained from interviewing college-age Latino/a students who were making decisions about career choices. Data from student participants validated much of what is thought to be known about the challenges of teacher recruitment. For example, there is a continued perception that teacher salaries are relatively low and are not competitive with many other professions, the status and prestige of the teaching profession is low, and the often inadequate working conditions for teachers can dissuade students of color from pursuing careers as teachers. Also, minority student access to higher education continues to remain a problem. Access issues need to be addressed during the formative (K-12) years in order to fill the pipeline more fully. The findings also suggest that problems associated with recruitment models are systemic in nature. Challenges range from long-term commitment toward valuing diversity and program development to sustainability of programs via regular and reliable funding sources. Conclusions include specific recommendations that provide hope for future success. In order to help diversify the teaching force, educator preparation programs should consider the following recommendations: market the field of education; develop active recruitment processes; diversify college faculty and staff; develop sound mentoring and support systems on campuses; provide assistance with financial support; and increase collaboration with K-12 partners and policymakers. Each of these recommendations should be institutionalized in order to be fully utilized and effective.

This study examined the effectiveness of a national support program in Namibia designed to help new teachers improve teaching and enhance student learning. The support activities currently undertaken are short-lived and not effective, therefore not providing teachers with the continual support needed to strengthen and augment their repertoires. The study also examined problems experienced by new teachers in their initial years of teaching. A major problem affecting teachers' competencies in Namibia is the availability of teaching and learning resources. Another impediment perplexing teachers is learner discipline. Teachers need the appropriate skills to be able to adequately deal with these and other problems, so as to create a nurturing environment for teaching and learning. Based on the recommendations teachers made, a national support program for helping teachers deal effectively with aspects of teaching and learning was advanced. Teachers recommended that the support program incorporate induction and mentoring sessions for new teachers. They also strongly recommended that the program effectively deal with competencies in curriculum and instruction. Teachers reiterated the need for access to knowledge, provision of sufficient teaching and learning resources, and opportunities for further education.

<p> There is a developing body of research suggesting low job satisfaction among teachers can lead to potential consequences for educators, students, and school districts (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Ladebo, 2005; Sarnek, Musser, Caskey, Olsen &amp; Green, 2006; Wu &amp; Short, 1996). There is also a growing concern about the number of teachers who are going to be retire soon; this loss of experienced teachers may impact student learning. Recent research (NYSED, 2010; NCTAF, 2003) supports an assumption that job satisfaction is a major factor to increase retention of teachers; however, there is a need for more research in this area. As school districts experience teacher shortages, there is an increased need to recruit, hire, and retain highly effective teachers because of either teachers leaving the profession early or because of retirement. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of job satisfaction among middle school teachers employed at 13 middle schools in an urban school district, as well as to identify factors associated with teacher job satisfaction. The study considered workforce and policy issues which may be leading to highly effective teachers leaving the profession early, therefore impacting student achievement. Data were gathered utilizing the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), created by Dr. Paul Spector (1985). The JSS assesses job satisfaction in nine subscales that include pay, promotion, supervision, nature of work, operating conditions, coworkers, communication, fringe benefits, and contingent rewards. These nine subscales are classified as either extrinsic or intrinsic factors of job satisfaction. Additional survey questions provided demographic data in categories including age, gender, highest level of education, subject matter taught, years to retirement, salary, total years of teaching experiences and the number of schools in which the teacher had been employed. </p><p> Overall results suggest that differences among the various teacher groups were associated with extrinsic motivation rather than intrinsic motivation. For example, the youngest group of teachers scored higher on extrinsic motivation than did the oldest group of teachers. When significant group differences were found, these differences tended to be associated with the variables Fringe Benefits, Promotion, and Total Extrinsic Motivation. In addition, the group of teachers with the most experience scored lower on Extrinsic Motivation than did the group of teacher with less experience. For many of the various groupings of teachers, the comparisons were not significant. That is, the characteristics of the groups were not associated with differences in measures of motivation. In many instances, there were not significant differences across groups based on the overall Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation; however, differences were apparent on the individual subscales of the JSS. In general, the Extrinsic constructs were more important to younger teachers than were these same constructs were to more veteran teachers. </p><p> A comparison of the responses of the teachers in this study to the response published by Spector was conducted for each subscale and for total assessment score. Thus, a total of ten comparisons between the results for the study sample and the teacher norms provided by Spector were conducted. Seven of these comparisons were significant: Pay, Promotion, Supervision, Working Conditions, Coworkers, Communication, and Total Score. In six of these comparisons of the means, the sample means were higher than the norm means; only Working Conditions were less important to the sample than to the comparison group. That is, for teachers in the study sample, these measures from the JSS were more important than for the teachers in the comparison group. </p><p> The open-ended responses provided meaningful insight into teacher motivation with specific respect to &ldquo;compelling reasons to stay in a school.&rdquo; Compensation was a significant theme that surfaced during the analysis; however, issues related to compensation are part of negotiations between the teachers&rsquo; union and the school district. Therefore, this area is mostly beyond the control of a building level school administrator. The other significant themes were Teachers Value Support, Character of My Work, Importance of Students, and Need for Respect. These themes are not independent but each of these themes is subject to influence from within the school. </p><p> The parallel studies conducted by both Cui-Callahan (2012) and Bumgartner (2013), mirrored the results found in this study. Specifically, all three studies showed teacher respondents scored higher in Intrinsic job satisfaction than Extrinsic job satisfaction. </p><p> Finally, using the results from this research will help to inform other districts with information on what job satisfaction factors are important to teachers. It is notable that overall teachers scored higher at all levels with intrinsic motivational factors, but that younger, less experienced teachers rated extrinsic motivational factors higher. This will help school boards, district level administration, and building principals to be better informed as to demographics of teachers and how to best target job satisfaction type incentives to better recruit and retain teachers. In this era of teacher shortages, it can only benefit districts to have as much information and data as possible to attract teachers and to reduce teacher turnover costs.</p>

<p> This autoethnography of my lived experiences as a middle-school service-learning course teacher has helped me solve a personal mystery and present an important perspective for the K-12 service-learning field. With an eye on revealing a unique service-learning classroom concept to educational leaders, enhancing middle level teacher education, and hopes of providing greater opportunities for advancing research on service learning in K-12 education, this study has also aided me in understanding my professional self and my subjective educational theory through a personal interpretive framework (Kelchtermans, 1993, 1999, 2009). Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004; Ellis &amp; Bochner, 2006) as a method to explore my own experiences as a middle school service-learning teacher and the perceptions of critical friends&mdash;colleagues, family members, and friends&mdash;who have been significant in my experiences, I am able to present an evocative personal narrative on what it means to be a service-learning teacher. Overarching findings from this study reveal that a middle grades service-learning teacher is a self-authored individual (Baxter Magolda, 1999, 2009; Kegan, 1994) who is committed to community-engaged education (Dewey, 1900, 1933), possesses a strong &ldquo;I must&rdquo; (Noddings, 2002b, p. 20) perspective on relational care, and are for development in servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977; Sergiovanni, 1992; Bowman, 2005)</p>

<p> Although a great deal of research exists regarding various components of the Writing-Based Practice along with best practice of writing instruction, the research that does exist only examines how writing instruction impacts writing. This research study, however, examined whether there is a potential connection between a writing immersion program, the WBP, and growth in both social and emotional awareness. Specifically, the purpose of this Mixed Methods Triangulation Design-Convergence Model (Denzin, 1970; Creswell, Plano Clark, et al., 2003) was to investigate the potential relationship that may exist between the Writing-Based Practice and social and emotional awareness in adolescents.</p><p> The study consisted of the following method of data collection for two-hundred and forty-one eighth-grade students: questionnaires and six case studies which involved interviews, observations, and collecting artifacts. This study was conducted at a suburban middle school in southeastern Pennsylvania. All the parents of the eighth-graders were asked to sign a consent form to allow their child to participate. I surveyed only those students whose parents gave permission. Case study participants were selected based on PSSA 2014/2015 results. Data analysis employed the SPSS software to help analyze the quantitative portion of the study while coding. All qualitative data analysis was conducted by the researcher using conventional and summative content analysis. I trained a second coder for each child in the case studies reliability.</p><p> Results indicated there was sufficient evidence indicating statistically significant positive change for group interaction, risk-taking, and self-perception when exposed to the WBP over the course of the school year. Additionally, there was sufficient evidence to conclude positive change on both creative and analytical writing style when exposed to the WBP over the course of the school year.</p><p> For students to be successful in college and career, social and emotional skills are essential. This research fills a gap in the literature because there is nothing that addresses this problem. If, in fact, the WBP infrastructure does promote social and emotional growth, while also improving writing skills, it is relevant because not only will the students be better prepared for college, career and beyond, they will also grow through self-reflection.</p><p>

Published Article / Mathematics teachers need an uncomplicated yet effective programme that they can use to type documents that contain mathematical symbols and notation. Many such programmes exist on the market, but are costly and in most cases, difficult to use. Microsoft Word's Equation Editor provides a solution to this problem in that it is easy to use and readily available in the Microsoft package. An investigation into how third-year education students respond to the presentation and use of this programme was made. The research was executed in the form of a case study, as only third-year mathematics students from the School of Teacher Education at the Central University of Technology, Free State, participated. It was found that these students grasped the concepts needed to use the Equation Editor quite easily, although the level of application by the academically stronger group of students was much higher than the level reached by the weaker academic group.

<p> This qualitative research study explored the influence of collaborative analysis of student work (CASW) as professional development on teacher practice, specifically during lessons and on written teacher feedback on student work. Additionally, teachers&rsquo; perceptions about the influence of CASW sessions and three 2-week instructional cycles on student writing, including the professional development sessions, lessons, and teacher written feedback, were investigated. Qualitative data were collected including teacher interviews, CASW observations, classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings indicated that teachers felt that CASW influenced their increased awareness of teaching and student learning, and implications for future teaching for the whole group as well as ideas for next steps for individual students emerged. Teachers supported CASW being job-embedded and practical to daily work; they voiced concerns over the time and scheduling facilitating the professional development required. Teachers responded that they felt that CASW helped them question their assessment of student writing, consistency within and across grade levels and subjects, and the appropriate level of difficulty of their curriculum. Teachers expressed their desire to be able to meet with students more regularly to go over their teacher written feedback and felt that CASW may possibly influence student work over time. Two teachers felt that the CASW professional development could have influenced their written feedback; four teachers felt that it did not. Implications for professional development, public policy, and further research are given.</p>

<p> This qualitative study examines the perspectives of teachers in a small, rural community and the influence of the school counselor who support students returning to school after a death by suicide. The researcher took an autoethnographic approach because of the years of personal and professional experience and knowledge within the professional setting used in this study. A thorough review of the existing literature in the areas of the conceptual frameworks of grief, theories of grief, theories of suicide, policies and culture of rural school communities informs the study. Data triangulation was used to understand how different data sources show consistency using the same method. Data triangulation contributes to verification and validation of qualitative analysis (Patton, 2015). </p><p> A purposeful sample was used to select recently retired teachers with classroom experience. Retired teachers were selected because of years of classroom experience and knowledge in the professional setting with students who return after a death by suicide. Criteria for selection of retired teachers within a small group of professional educators in a small, rural Midwestern community are comprised of retired teachers at the secondary level of public education. Retired teachers have experience as a classroom teacher, have worked with the school counselor and have experience with students who returned to school after a peer death by suicide or family member death by suicide. Retired teachers were selected that have good recall of events and experiences in the classroom. </p><p> This study is designed to understand school counselor influence and the perspectives of teachers in a small, rural community who support students after a death by suicide. Qualitative methods were used to collect and analyze data. An interview guide approach was used to increase the comprehensiveness of the data. Research questions were generated from an extensive review of the literature. Data were collected from the following methods: interviews, private anecdotal counselor notes, researcher reflections and member checking. Educational research has not investigated as to how teachers feel about their preparedness and ability to support students after a death by suicide. Lack of data from research on the role of teachers, the influence of the school counselor and their preparedness to support students after a death by suicide is particularly meaningful for rural school communities. Therefore, the need for this study is significant as rural school communities, researchers and those who experience death by suicide explore this phenomenon and the policy implications for best practice based on data that informs the research questions. Trustworthiness of data analysis and believability of the study assures transferability, dependability and confirmability. </p><p>

This paper asks: Are there characteristics of child care directors that are shared among those operating high quality programs? The researcher examines quality child care and the role of directors in the delivery of quality care. Child care directors occupy a pivotal position to influence the quality of child care through their training, their experience and their roles within the center. The literature suggests a link between child care directors and program quality and this study attempts to explore that link. The researcher has conducted a comparative study of the characteristics of 282 child care administrators in accredited and nonaccredited programs within Massachusetts. A profile of directors of quality programs was developed by surveying licensed and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accredited child care centers in Massachusetts (n = 159). The data was then screened through seven quality criteria derived from the literature in order to arrive at a 'filtered' profile of quality administrators. These profiles were matched against the directors of the nonaccredited child care programs (n = 123). A random sample of 31 directors and their centers from both groups (22 accredited, 9 nonaccredited) was examined to establish what level of quality was actually occurring. The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (Harms & Clifford, 1980) and the Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale (Harms, Cryer, & Clifford, 1990) was used to score overall center quality, and additionally data were collected while on-site. The study was able to establish that directors of the high quality early care and education programs had statistically distinct characteristics, but failed to predict quality by themselves. Additional comparisons created a revised grouping which was of similar quality to both of the NAEYC accredited groups. Additionally, NAEYC accredited child care centers were operating at a significantly higher quality than the nonaccredited programs in Massachusetts, with 92% of the classrooms (n = 75) operating at a developmentally appropriate level. The study found that 72% of the nonaccredited classrooms (n = 32) were developmentally appropriate. Overall quality was demonstrated at higher than expected levels. While the study was able to make definitive statements about the quality of child care in Massachusetts, it failed to make a conclusion about the directors and quality.

This dissertation explores the political and organizational activities of the Tanzania Teacher Union (TTU). This study attempts to find an organizational model for teacher unions in Africa that will increase their ability to influence policies, taking the example of the Tanzanian Teacher Union. The study is based on data collected from an open ended questionnaire survey, documentation, the union, relevant literature, focus group interactions developed by the participants on their own, and from correspondence with union leaders. The data obtained have been subjected to a combination of document and content analyses. Results were triangulated by using a variety of sources including mass media, correspondence, union reports, minutes of various meetings, and articles written before the formation of the union. The union was analyzed using the theoretical model of Ofori-Dankwa (1993) that characterizes trade unions using two dimensions political and economic which define four paradigms for unions. From the data collected, the researcher concluded that the TTU belongs to the Low Political, Low Economic paradigm. Analysis of the goals of the union however, suggests that it would be more effective in achieving its goals if it moved toward the High Political, High Economic paradigm. The data revealed that the union has trouble addressing a variety of problems including salary/pension delays that make it difficult for members to pay their medical bills and devoting sufficient attention to the problem of HIV/AIDS among teachers. The data also indicated that there are no mechanisms to develop programs for institutionalizing in-service training for members. In addition, the union movement becomes the recipient of donor funding and unknowingly spends its own resources to support the donor driven projects. The union also lacks a mechanism for negotiating with the employer. There is resistance from the private employers and the government to provide such a legal system. Finally, an area for further research is to investigate linkages of unions with the educational systems and other agencies interested in basic education. These linkages are what make unions sustainable while bringing to focus the coordination of organizational activities. The union faces a choice: either to organize itself appropriately or die.