The African-American male national on-time graduation rate data are evidence that systemic changes must occur to address the academic failure they experience. A significant gap in achievement exists when compared to the on-time graduation rate of their White male peers. It is possible that some students do not graduate on-time due to retention that may occur after they have entered the ninth grade. The African-American male students in this study failed to graduate on-time because they did not persist to successfully complete their twelfth grade year; instead, they dropped out. While factors associated with societal issues and familial dynamics contribute to this problem, factors associated with public school practices and procedures are the focus of this study. The educational records of 125 African-American male high school dropouts were analyzed to identify school factors that may explain why they did not persist to graduate. These students dropped out from an urban school division in Virginia during the 2009 and 2010 school years.  A mixed methods approach was used to answer the research questions posed in this study. The conceptual framework, a road map for the study, proposes discipline sanctions, curriculum programming, instructional experiences and school relationships as factors for review. Quantitative research methods were used to analyze longitudinal data and qualitative methods were used to analyze survey data on student perception of teacher relationships. Findings from the study will enable school principals, counselors and teachers to make informed instructional decisions that may prevent African-American males from dropping out of one urban school division in Virginia. While not generalizable to all school settings, strategies associated with discipline sanctions, curriculum programming, instructional experiences and school relationships are provided. / Ed. D.

Latino/a students currently have lower graduation and higher dropout rates than their white peers. This population of students also performs lower on state exams. This qualitative study explored teacher-student relationships and their impact on Latino/a student populations. Using Funds of Knowledge and a social justice perspective, the study characterized positive teacherstudent relationships and ways that schools can support their formation. This dissertation study consisted of two rounds of interviews; participants were interviewed individually and then as part of two focus groups. The first phase consisted of one-on-one interviews, where the participants were asked questions on effectiveness, teacher-student relationships, and administrative support. The results from these interviews were analyzed for themes. The themes were then brought to the participants in forms of two focus groups for further exploration and clarity. Findings indicate that teachers characterize six themes in positive teacher-student relationships; student voice, humanization, trust, openness, respect, and personal connections. Three areas of school support were also uncovered; this included community circle, time to connect, and opportunities outside the classroom. The findings support the need for educators to be aware of the elements of positive relationships and to include these areas of school support in teacher and leader preparation programs.

Le processus d’enseignement ne se limite pas à un ensemble de méthodes pédagogiques à appliquer et de contenus programmés à transmettre. Il se déploie également dans la construction par l’enseignant d’une relation pédagogique avec ses élèves. Cette relation est considérée comme étant optimale lorsqu’elle est caractérisée par un niveau élevé de chaleur et un faible niveau de conflits. Plusieurs études démontrent l’existence de liens significatifs entre la qualité de cette relation et les différents indicateurs d’adaptation à l’école. En général, les résultats des études démontrent l’influence positive d’une relation élève-enseignant chaleureuse sur le comportement des élèves, leur réussite scolaire ainsi que sur leurs sentiments et attitudes envers l’école. Certaines recherches soulignent également que l’incidence de la qualité de la relation élève-enseignant est particulièrement importante pour les élèves considérés à risque en raison de présence chez eux des certains facteurs de vulnérabilité tels que la pauvreté (facteurs sociaux), la relation parent-enfant difficile (facteurs familiaux) ou le manque d’habiletés sociales (facteurs individuels). La majorité de recherches ne permet toutefois pas de déterminer quels sont précisément les aspects de cette relation qui influencent significativement la qualité de la relation entre l’enseignant et ses élèves. Souhaitant pallier cette lacune, la présente étude poursuit deux objectifs : 1) examiner le lien entre les perceptions des élèves de niveau secondaire considérés à risque concernant les différents aspects de la qualité de la relation élève-enseignant et les problèmes de comportement extériorisés ; 2) vérifier si ce lien évolue avec le temps. Afin d’atteindre ces objectifs, nous avons pris en considération deux dimensions qui permettent de qualifier les profils de la relation élève-enseignant, soit la chaleur et les conflits (Pianta, 1992). La classification de ces deux dimensions en fonction de leur pôle positif et négatif permet de distinguer quatre profils relationnels que l’élève est susceptible d’établir avec ses enseignants soient le profil dit chaleureux, controversé, négligent ou conflictuel. II Cette étude repose sur un devis longitudinal grâce aux données recueillies dans le cadre de l’évaluation de la stratégie d’intervention Agir Autrement réalisée entre 2002 et 2008 (SIAA). Il s’agit donc ici d’analyses secondaires menées sur un échantillon aléatoire tiré de cette vaste recherche. Un échantillon de 563 élèves de 1re secondaire incluant 273 filles et 290 garçons a été constitué. Les analyses ont été effectuées auprès de ces élèves alors qu’ils étaient en premier et en cinquième année de secondaire ce qui a permis d’observer les changements dans le comportement des élèves à risque en fonction de la qualité de la relation élève-enseignant. De façon générale, les résultats obtenus montrent que les liens entre les différents profils de la relation élève-enseignant et les problèmes de comportement extériorisés sont fort complexes et loin d’être univoques. En particulier, ces résultats permettent de constater que le profil chaleureux représente le profil relationnel le moins associé aux problèmes de comportement extériorisés chez les élèves à risque et ce, autant en première qu’en cinquième secondaire. Selon nos résultats, les profils conflictuel et controversé sont significativement liés aux problèmes de comportement extériorisés chez les élèves à risque de 1re secondaire et de 5e secondaire. En ce qui a trait au profil négligent, les résultats de la présente recherche montrent l’existence d’un lien corrélationnel entre ce profil relationnel et les problèmes de comportement extériorisés. Toutefois, la force de l’association s’est avérée plus significative pour les élèves à risque en 5e secondaire secondaire comparativement aux mêmes élèves alors qu’ils étaient en 1re secondaire. Finalement, l’ensemble de résultats obtenus montre que les profils relationnels restent relativement stables dans le temps, tandis que la fréquence de comportements problématiques tels que le vol grave et la consommation de psychotropes augmentent d’une manière significative. De plus, les résultats que nous avons obtenus montrent l’existence d’un lien entre la dimension de conflits de la relation élève-enseignant et la consommation de substances psychotropes chez les élèves de notre échantillon. La présente recherche permet de constater que la dimension de conflits est aussi importante dans la relation élève-enseignant que la dimension de la chaleur, car les III conflits agiraient comme facteurs de risque pouvant augmenter la fréquence de problèmes de comportement extériorisés chez les élèves de secondaire considérés à risque. Ainsi, la réduction de niveau de conflits dans la relation entre les élèves et leurs enseignants peut jouer un rôle important en termes de prévention de ce type de problèmes chez les élèves de niveau secondaire. / Appling pedagogical methods and transmitting programmed material is not sufficient to define the complexity of teaching. The pedagogical relationship built by the teacher with his or her students is another important and necessary component. This relationship is considered optimal when it has a high level of warmth and a low level of conflicts. Previous studies demonstrate significant links between the quality of this relationship and different indicators of school-adaptations. In general, the reports reveal that a warm student-teacher relationship has a positive impact on student behaviour, academic success as well as feelings and attitudes toward school. Furthermore, the quality of student-teacher relationship has an even greater effect on students considered at risk. This student category is characterised by the presence of vulnerability factors such as poverty (social factors), difficult parent-child relationship (family factors) or a lack of social skills (individual factors). Majority of research done on student-teacher relationship does not specify which aspects in particular have a significant influence on its overall quality. In order to address this issue, two goals are aimed by the present study: 1) examine the relationship between perceptions of high school students considered at risk for various aspects of the quality of the student-teacher relationship and externalizing behavior problems; 2) verification if this link evolves over time. In our work, the type of student-teacher relationship is categorized by two dimensions: the warmth and the conflicts (Pianta, 1992). The classification according to the positive or negative pole of each dimension enables to distinguish between four types of relations the student is prone to establish with his or her teachers: either warm, controversial, negligent or conflict. A random sample of the data collected in 2002-2008 during the evaluation of intervention strategy Agir Autrement (Act Differently) (SIAA) is used in the present longitudinal study. It is composed of 563 high school students: 273 girls and 290 boys. V Secondary analyses are made on the data collected on the same students during their first and fifth year. This approach gives the opportunity to observe the changes in student behaviour as function of student-teacher relationship quality. In general, our results show a high complexity of links between different types of student-teacher relationship and the exteriorized behaviour problems. More specifically, we conclude that a warm type relation is less likely to be associated with exteriorized behaviour problems of students at risk, and that as much in 1st year of high school as in the 5th. According to our results, conflict and controversial relationship types are significantly linked to exteriorized behaviour problems of students at risk in the 1st and the 5th year of high school. In the case of the negligent relationship, the results demonstrate the existence of a correlation between this bond type and exteriorized behaviour problems. However, the strength of this correlation is higher for the students at risk in the 5th year of high school as compared to the same students when they were in their 1st year. Finally, when all the results are taken together, they reveal the relative stability of the relationship type over time and on the other hand, a significant increase in the frequency of problematic behaviour such as serious stealing and psychotropic consumption. Furthermore, the obtained results show the existence of a link between the conflict dimension of the student-teacher relationship and the psychotropic consumption of students accounted by our sample. The present study demonstrates that since conflicts act as risk factors capable of increasing the frequency of exteriorized behaviour problems of high school students considered at risk, the conflict dimension is equally important in the student-teacher relationship as the warmth dimension. A relationship between students and their teachers with a reduced level of conflicts can play an important role in the prevention of this type of problems experienced by high school students.

Le processus d’enseignement ne se limite pas à un ensemble de méthodes pédagogiques à appliquer et de contenus programmés à transmettre. Il se déploie également dans la construction par l’enseignant d’une relation pédagogique avec ses élèves. Cette relation est considérée comme étant optimale lorsqu’elle est caractérisée par un niveau élevé de chaleur et un faible niveau de conflits. Plusieurs études démontrent l’existence de liens significatifs entre la qualité de cette relation et les différents indicateurs d’adaptation à l’école. En général, les résultats des études démontrent l’influence positive d’une relation élève-enseignant chaleureuse sur le comportement des élèves, leur réussite scolaire ainsi que sur leurs sentiments et attitudes envers l’école. Certaines recherches soulignent également que l’incidence de la qualité de la relation élève-enseignant est particulièrement importante pour les élèves considérés à risque en raison de présence chez eux des certains facteurs de vulnérabilité tels que la pauvreté (facteurs sociaux), la relation parent-enfant difficile (facteurs familiaux) ou le manque d’habiletés sociales (facteurs individuels). La majorité de recherches ne permet toutefois pas de déterminer quels sont précisément les aspects de cette relation qui influencent significativement la qualité de la relation entre l’enseignant et ses élèves. Souhaitant pallier cette lacune, la présente étude poursuit deux objectifs : 1) examiner le lien entre les perceptions des élèves de niveau secondaire considérés à risque concernant les différents aspects de la qualité de la relation élève-enseignant et les problèmes de comportement extériorisés ; 2) vérifier si ce lien évolue avec le temps. Afin d’atteindre ces objectifs, nous avons pris en considération deux dimensions qui permettent de qualifier les profils de la relation élève-enseignant, soit la chaleur et les conflits (Pianta, 1992). La classification de ces deux dimensions en fonction de leur pôle positif et négatif permet de distinguer quatre profils relationnels que l’élève est susceptible d’établir avec ses enseignants soient le profil dit chaleureux, controversé, négligent ou conflictuel. II Cette étude repose sur un devis longitudinal grâce aux données recueillies dans le cadre de l’évaluation de la stratégie d’intervention Agir Autrement réalisée entre 2002 et 2008 (SIAA). Il s’agit donc ici d’analyses secondaires menées sur un échantillon aléatoire tiré de cette vaste recherche. Un échantillon de 563 élèves de 1re secondaire incluant 273 filles et 290 garçons a été constitué. Les analyses ont été effectuées auprès de ces élèves alors qu’ils étaient en premier et en cinquième année de secondaire ce qui a permis d’observer les changements dans le comportement des élèves à risque en fonction de la qualité de la relation élève-enseignant. De façon générale, les résultats obtenus montrent que les liens entre les différents profils de la relation élève-enseignant et les problèmes de comportement extériorisés sont fort complexes et loin d’être univoques. En particulier, ces résultats permettent de constater que le profil chaleureux représente le profil relationnel le moins associé aux problèmes de comportement extériorisés chez les élèves à risque et ce, autant en première qu’en cinquième secondaire. Selon nos résultats, les profils conflictuel et controversé sont significativement liés aux problèmes de comportement extériorisés chez les élèves à risque de 1re secondaire et de 5e secondaire. En ce qui a trait au profil négligent, les résultats de la présente recherche montrent l’existence d’un lien corrélationnel entre ce profil relationnel et les problèmes de comportement extériorisés. Toutefois, la force de l’association s’est avérée plus significative pour les élèves à risque en 5e secondaire secondaire comparativement aux mêmes élèves alors qu’ils étaient en 1re secondaire. Finalement, l’ensemble de résultats obtenus montre que les profils relationnels restent relativement stables dans le temps, tandis que la fréquence de comportements problématiques tels que le vol grave et la consommation de psychotropes augmentent d’une manière significative. De plus, les résultats que nous avons obtenus montrent l’existence d’un lien entre la dimension de conflits de la relation élève-enseignant et la consommation de substances psychotropes chez les élèves de notre échantillon. La présente recherche permet de constater que la dimension de conflits est aussi importante dans la relation élève-enseignant que la dimension de la chaleur, car les III conflits agiraient comme facteurs de risque pouvant augmenter la fréquence de problèmes de comportement extériorisés chez les élèves de secondaire considérés à risque. Ainsi, la réduction de niveau de conflits dans la relation entre les élèves et leurs enseignants peut jouer un rôle important en termes de prévention de ce type de problèmes chez les élèves de niveau secondaire. / Appling pedagogical methods and transmitting programmed material is not sufficient to define the complexity of teaching. The pedagogical relationship built by the teacher with his or her students is another important and necessary component. This relationship is considered optimal when it has a high level of warmth and a low level of conflicts. Previous studies demonstrate significant links between the quality of this relationship and different indicators of school-adaptations. In general, the reports reveal that a warm student-teacher relationship has a positive impact on student behaviour, academic success as well as feelings and attitudes toward school. Furthermore, the quality of student-teacher relationship has an even greater effect on students considered at risk. This student category is characterised by the presence of vulnerability factors such as poverty (social factors), difficult parent-child relationship (family factors) or a lack of social skills (individual factors). Majority of research done on student-teacher relationship does not specify which aspects in particular have a significant influence on its overall quality. In order to address this issue, two goals are aimed by the present study: 1) examine the relationship between perceptions of high school students considered at risk for various aspects of the quality of the student-teacher relationship and externalizing behavior problems; 2) verification if this link evolves over time. In our work, the type of student-teacher relationship is categorized by two dimensions: the warmth and the conflicts (Pianta, 1992). The classification according to the positive or negative pole of each dimension enables to distinguish between four types of relations the student is prone to establish with his or her teachers: either warm, controversial, negligent or conflict. A random sample of the data collected in 2002-2008 during the evaluation of intervention strategy Agir Autrement (Act Differently) (SIAA) is used in the present longitudinal study. It is composed of 563 high school students: 273 girls and 290 boys. V Secondary analyses are made on the data collected on the same students during their first and fifth year. This approach gives the opportunity to observe the changes in student behaviour as function of student-teacher relationship quality. In general, our results show a high complexity of links between different types of student-teacher relationship and the exteriorized behaviour problems. More specifically, we conclude that a warm type relation is less likely to be associated with exteriorized behaviour problems of students at risk, and that as much in 1st year of high school as in the 5th. According to our results, conflict and controversial relationship types are significantly linked to exteriorized behaviour problems of students at risk in the 1st and the 5th year of high school. In the case of the negligent relationship, the results demonstrate the existence of a correlation between this bond type and exteriorized behaviour problems. However, the strength of this correlation is higher for the students at risk in the 5th year of high school as compared to the same students when they were in their 1st year. Finally, when all the results are taken together, they reveal the relative stability of the relationship type over time and on the other hand, a significant increase in the frequency of problematic behaviour such as serious stealing and psychotropic consumption. Furthermore, the obtained results show the existence of a link between the conflict dimension of the student-teacher relationship and the psychotropic consumption of students accounted by our sample. The present study demonstrates that since conflicts act as risk factors capable of increasing the frequency of exteriorized behaviour problems of high school students considered at risk, the conflict dimension is equally important in the student-teacher relationship as the warmth dimension. A relationship between students and their teachers with a reduced level of conflicts can play an important role in the prevention of this type of problems experienced by high school students.

School science and mathematics have been criticized for being difficult, de-contextualised and teacher-centred. This thesis concerns student motivation in science and mathematics in secondary school, and in particular student motivation in relation to student-teacher-scientist partnerships (STSPs) and an authentic science task called the Medicine Hunt where students help scientists to find new antibiotics. The purpose of this dissertation is to interrogate the importance of authentic tasks for motivation in the science classroom. The thesis takes a starting point in motivation theories, with self-determination theory (SDT) in focus, and also builds on the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (HMIEM). A mixed-methods approach is used first, to find out what factors are important for students’ positive emotions and experiences in the classroom, and second, to learn more about the importance of authentic tasks using student interviews and observations in combination with questionnaires that evaluate students’ motivation. The studies reveal that the notion of having learnt something and intrinsic motivation are central for students’ positive emotions. Further, many situational factors, such as teacher support, autonomy, clear goals, and novelty of the task are central for both positive emotions and experiences in science and mathematics. Regarding the Medicine Hunt, students were positive and referred most of their positive experiences to science-related aspects, and the novelty of authentic science. Teachers gave different opportunities for competence, autonomy or relatedness when implementing the project in their classrooms, and these differences were more important for students’ initiatives and outcomes than students’ initial contextual motivation for school science. Students’ contextual motivation for science can change and the Medicine Hunt arrested the well-documented decline in students’ intrinsic motivation for science during the secondary school years. This thesis argues that authentic tasks implemented as STSPs such as the Medicine Hunt can contribute considerably to school science by providing motivating situations that channel students’ positive emotions and positive experiences, and that is possible to create authentic science learning situations in which both more and less motivated students can flourish. The findings highlight the teachers’ role in supporting the students’ process of extending their understanding of what science can include and in supporting students’ confidence as they adopt a broader and more authentic view of science when learning as part of a successful authentic STSP science project. The findings also suggest that more research focussing on motivation in different authentic situations, and how students’ experiences of authentic science can affect motivation in the longer term, is needed. / Lärandesituationens påverkan på elevers affektiva upplevelser och lärande

Syftet med studien var att utvärdera om samarbetsbaserad problemlösning (SBP) är ett effektivt verktyg för pedagoger att hjälpa elever som har bristande sociala, känslomässiga eller beteendemässiga färdigheter. Studien avsåg också undersöka om implementeringen av SBP hade någon ytterligare inverkan på pedagogernas arbete utöver det direkta arbetet med enskilda elever. Studien kastar också ljus över vilken betydelse relationen mellan lärare och elev har för elevers utveckling. Studien baseras på pedagogernas egna uppfattningar av vad implementeringen av SBP har bidragit till. För att utvärdera effekterna och upplevelserna av den samarbetsbaserade problemlösningsmodellen användes det standardiserade bedömningsinstrumentet, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) samt en egen utformad kvalitativ enkät.   Resultatet av denna studie visar att pedagogerna upplever att SBP är ett effektivt verktyg för att hjälpa elever att utveckla bristande sociala, känslomässiga och beteendemässiga färdigheter. Implementeringen av SBP har dessutom bidragit till att pedagogerna har fått ett gemensamt språk och tankesätt samt samarbetar bättre med varandra. Pedagogerna har också fått ett mer salutogent synsätt. Tidigare fokuserade pedagogerna främst på vad eleverna inte kan, och nu ligger fokus på att finna lösningar. Implementeringen av SBP har vidare bidragit till ett ökat deltagande för eleverna, eleverna får göra sina röster hörda och blir lyssnade på i större utsträckning. / The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether collaborative problem solving (CPS) is an effective tool for educators to help students who are lacking social, emotional or behavioral skills. The study also aimed to examine whether the implementation had any further impact on teachers' work in addition to their direct work with individual students. The study sheds light on the significance of the relationship between teacher and student, when it comes to students' development. The study is based on teachers own perceptions of what the implementation has contributed to. This study's evaluation of the effects and experiences of the collaborative problem solving model used standardized assessment instruments, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and a self -designed qualitative survey.   The results show that teachers perceive that CPS is an effective tool for helping students to develop lacking social, emotional and behavioral skills. The implementation of the CPS model has contributed to the educators' development of a common language and way of thinking, which has improved the overall collaboration at work. The teachers have also been given a more salutogenic approach. Previously the educators primarily focused on what students cannot do, and now they focus on finding solutions. The implementation of the CPS has further contributed to increased participation of the students, the students can make their voices heard and are being listened to more closely.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This study captures the narrative of the lived experiences of four teachers as they developed effective classroom environments in a high school looping program in an Eastern Tennessee school district. The study examined the stories and reflections of the participants in order to discover teacher perception, behaviors, and attitudes that help to establish teacher-student relational involvement which produces positive academic, behavioral, and socio-emotional student outcomes. The stories collected during the narrative study provide real-life, contextual data with which other practitioners might reflect upon their own teaching experiences and practices. The study also adds to the discussion on the potential impact of looping programs as a structure for improving student-teacher relationships and maximizing responsive teaching in secondary schools in order address student engagement and motivation.

No description available.

The aim of the study is to investigate what happens when the experiences and conceptions of physical education (PE) student teachers encounter the value structures of a PE teacher education programme. The starting point for the study are the criticisms that the PE teacher education programme has inadequate links to science, that it finds it difficult to challenge traditional gender patterns, and that the students' experiences of their own sporting activities are more important than the education programme for what knowledge is considered valuable. The study has a cultural sociological and gender theoretical perspective. The analysis has been done with the help of Pierre Bourdieu's concepts as the tools of analysis. The empirical evidence has been collected with the help of several different methods. Quantitative data has been collected with the help of questionnaires which a total of 450 student teachers returned; qualitative data has been collected using: essays written by PE student teachers during their physical education specialisation and in-depth interviews with teacher educators. The results show that today's education is still characterised by many of the traditions, norms and values which historically have been its distinguishing features. The “rules of the game” are generally taken for granted and this is based on a shared conception in the value of the education. In the eyes of the students, the trademark of a good PE teacher is to be good at many different sports, have in-depth knowledge of human biology, and have the “right” personality. They are less interested in pedagogical issues and they would have preferred the whole course to have served them with ready-made solutions and answers. Even if gender and social issues have been part of the education, the gender habitus has changed very little during the programme. The way they see the subject is largely the same as it was before the course, but what appeared to them to be a ”pure” sports subject before the course started has afterwards become more a way of “attaining health through sport”. The study indicates that the dominating values within the PE teacher education seem to be in harmony with the students' habitus which make it difficult to challenge the ”order of things” and  that changes will take time.