The purpose of this study is to investigate teacher background indices and their relation to mathematics achievement. For this purpose, the data collected from 146 Turkish mathematics teachers and 4498 8th grade Turkish students with the instruments - mathematics teacher background questionnaire and mathematics achievement test in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2007) were analyzed by using the Pearson&rsquo / s Product Moment Correlation. The teacher background indices, constructed by TIMSS, were The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Reports on Teaching Mathematics Classes with Few or No Limitations, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Emphasis on Mathematics Homework, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Perception of School Climate, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Adequate Working Conditions and The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Perception of Safety in School. The results of the correlation analysis yielded significant relationships except for the emphasis on homework. Students whose teachers characterized their school climate positive and their working conditions adequate got significantly higher scores. Moreover, for limitation to teach index variable, students having teachers who commented the related factors do not limit their instruction were found to be more successful than the other students. However, it is concluded that teachers in this study considered their school climate and working conditions as negative and thought there were lots of limitations to teach. On the other hand, although majority of the teachers reported that they feel safe in their schools, there were teachers who disagreed with the idea. This study includes some suggestions for further researchers to investigate the results of this study in detail and some implications to develop teachers&rsquo / perceptions positively.

This study was conducted to investigate and assess the implementation process of the new high school biology curriculum. The major areas in the study included teaching methods and techniques, and instructional materials physical structure and facilities, and local, school and classroom level factors that influence the process of curriculum implementation. The research questions were the following: 1) How are the curriculum intentions implemented in biology classes? 2) What local, school and classroom level factors influence the implementation process of the new high school biology curriculum? A survey questionnaire, Biology Curriculum and Instruction Evaluation Questionnaire, was designed. The data collected from randomly selected 685 biology teachers working in public, Anatolian and private/foundation schools in fifteen cities were then analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics, and qualitative data analysis techniques. The results revealed that the implementation process of the new high school biology curriculum shows differences at local, school and classroom levels. These differences rely on the physical structure and facilities of schools, some teacher characteristics and some teacher beliefs and perceptions. Yet, one common feature in all these different conditions is the attention called to the need for a change from learning being teacher-centered to student-centered teaching and learning process and the need to revise curriculum content and timing for its implementation.

Teachers are percived as primary role in a students&#039 / learning process. To adequately perform this role, certain teacher characteristics are potentially more valuable for encouraging student learning. In an attempt to discern those charactersitics related to student learning and teacher behavior in the science classroom, numerous studies have beenconducted. The aim of this study is modeling the relationship between the teacher characteristics abd the student science achievement. Modeling analysis was carried out by using the data collected for the Third Internatioal Mathematics and Science Study (TIMS, 1999) for Turkey with Science Teacher Background Questionnaire and students&#039 / achievement test scores. For the analysis LISREL package program was used. The results show that the students of teachers who prefer student-centered learning activities got low scores from science achievement test in TIMSS. Also teachers believe that disruptive and uninterested students in the class negatively affect sciecne achievement. Moreover, there is a positive significant relationship between the science achievement and the tasks that includes anlayze relationship, explain reasoning, and work on problems. In the present study you can find an analysis about the contradiction of the some of the results of the study with the current literature in the field of education.

The study was designed to determine and compare the perceptions of various groups with regard to the most and the last important characteristics and behaviors of effective teachers. The population for the study included (a) four groups of high school graduates selected at five year intervals beginning with 1980, (b) four groups of high school dropouts selected from the same five year intervals, (c) high school teachers, (d) high school principals and central office administrators, and (f) teacher educators. The instrument used to determine perceptions was a 28 item Q-sort. The items of the Q-sort were developed from a review of the literature on teacher effectiveness and from a review of the criteria for the evaluation of teacher effectiveness as used by the school district in which the study was conducted. The Q-sort items were deemed valid by a panel of teacher educators.

ABSTRACT Predicting On-the-Job Teacher Success Based on a Group Assessment Procedure Used for Admission to Teacher Education by LaVaun Gene Faulk, Doctor of Education Utah State University, 2008 Major Professor: Deborah Byrnes, Ph.D. Department: Elementary Education Students who have graduated in Elementary Education at Utah State University, since 1997 when the group assessment interview procedure was adopted, and have been employed as teachers for at least two years were contacted. Students were located with the help of the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) and the Office of Teacher Education, Graduation, and Educator Licensing at USU. Permission to interview each teacher’s supervisor was obtained from each study participant. Principals were contacted and interview dates set. A self-anchoring interview was conducted to provide quantitative data on the success of each teacher. This new data was then used to compare each participant’s success as seen by supervisors to existing data already on record at USU. Specifically, principal interview data were compared to the participant’s student teaching scores, prior academic achievement data (grade point average and American College Test scores), and ratings the teacher received on the group assessment interviews when applying to the elementary education teacher training program at USU. (107 pages)

Increasing numbers of mathematics teachers must be recruited in coming years, because of a growing student population, teacher attrition, calls for smaller class size, and the need to replace out-of-subject teachers. Recruitment can be made more effective and efficient, if better information on career paths is provided to decision makers. This study attempts to analyze the academic decisions which lead to the outcome "becoming a mathematics teacher". Four groups were compared and contrasted: mathematics teachers, science teachers, other teachers, and non-teachers. Science teachers were removed from the "other teachers" category because of their many similarities to mathematics teachers on the variables examined. The question of whether these groups differ in ways that could help predict the outcome of interest was examined using the NCES dataset Baccalaureate &Beyond:93/97, which provides thousands of variables on academic path, demographics, and labor market histories for over 8,000 individuals. It was analyzed using the NCES online analytic tool DAS to generate tables showing percentage distribution of the four groups on variables organized according to the concepts demographics, family environment, academic path, and academic achievement. Further examination was conducted by entering the variables into a discriminant analysis. Mathematics teachers were found to differ from teachers of other K-12 fields on all of the four conceptual categories. However, only a few such differences were statistically significant. More significant differences were observed when the analyses were conducted separately for women and men. The trend observed was that those who became mathematics teachers were more likely to have attended public high schools and to have first attended two-year colleges; to have lower GPAs, more mathematics credits, and midrange CEE scores; and to be female.

This study involved a qualitative investigation of Black middle school students' experiences of teacher characteristics that they saw as influential in their learning and achievement. The sample consisted of 8 students selected from a public middle school in central Virginia . Data collection involved both in-depth individual interviews and classroom observations. Interviews focused on the participants' early educational experiences, middle school experiences with teachers, and experiences of the role that teachers play in learning and achievement. Classroom observations provided additional insight into the classroom setting, participants' actions, and participants' interactions with teachers and other students and were conducted to minimize their influence on classroom activities. A whole-text analysis of the interview transcripts and field notes generated 5 major categories: elementary school experiences, instructional environment, student motivation, student trust, and racism. For each category, subcategories were also developed. Participants were motivated by teacher trust, encouragement, and expectations. They emphasized the need for equity in the classroom as a prerequisite to academic achievement. They were also motivated to learn by teachers who shared instructional and personal time, spoke positively to them about their future, shared their own educational experiences, and demonstrated a caring attitude toward them. Participants described how they were not motivated to learn by teachers who were viewed as racist, yelled at them, refused to spend time assisting them, or displayed an attitude of apathy. They also expressed how they were sometimes denied bathroom privileges, were separated from White students during class, were treated as if they were "invisible," or were treated like second-class citizens. They also experienced racism as prevalent in teachers' grading practices. Significant findings include the following: (a) the Black middle school student participants' educational experiences influenced their learning and the classroom environment, (b) duration of instructional time influenced students' learning, (c) high teacher expectations of students and teacher encouragement of discussions beyond course subject matter increased students' motivation to learn, (d) development of a trusting teacher–'student relationship promoted their learning, and (e) various forms of racism decreased students' willingness to learn. Implications of the findings for educational practice and further research are discussed. / Ed. D.

This research is a descriptive, correlational study investigating mathematics teachers' perceptions of their self-efficacy and the effects of teacher characteristics and supervisory behaviors on teachers' self-efficacy. Teachers who teach mathematics from an urban school district in the southern part of the United States were asked to report on their self-efficacy in teaching mathematics and their perception of the supervisory behaviors that support the development of their self-efficacy. The study sought to determine the relationship between teachers of mathematics self-efficacy and the characteristics and supervisory behaviors that foster the development of their self-efficacy. Gender, ethnicity, years of mathematics teaching, level of education, and years at current school are used as control variables. The study findings suggest instructional leaders need to use a variety of strategies to enhance teacher efficacy. Strategies that were reported to be particularly useful included those that foster teacher collaboration, autonomy, and empowerment. Ensuring appropriate systems, services, and support for teacher collaboration should be a priority for those in leadership positions. An important practical implication emerging from this research is the need for feedback. It is expected that the results of this research may benefit educational supervisors when they consider which type of supervision and supportive actions to adopt to foster the development of mathematics self-efficacy in their teachers. / Doctor of Education / This research is designed to investigate mathematics teachers' perceptions of their self-efficacy and the effects of teacher characteristics and supervisory behaviors on teachers’ self-efficacy. The study is threefold: (a) to explore the self-efficacy of teachers who teach mathematics, (b) to identify teacher characteristics and supervisory behaviors that teachers perceived affect teacher self-efficacy, and (c) to determine whether there is a relationship between the mathematics supervisory behaviors and teacher self-efficacy as seen by the teachers, while controlling for gender, ethnicity, years of mathematics teaching, level of education, and years at current school. Teachers who teach mathematics from an urban school district in the southern part of the United States were asked to report on their self-efficacy in teaching mathematics and their perception of the supervisory behaviors that support the development of their self-efficacy. The study findings suggest instructional leaders need to use a variety of strategies to enhance teacher efficacy. Strategies that were reported to be particularly useful included those that foster teacher collaboration, autonomy, and empowerment. Ensuring appropriate systems, services, and support for teacher collaboration should be a priority for those in leadership positions. An important practical implication emerging from this research is the need for feedback. It is expected that the results of this research may benefit educational supervisors when they consider which type of supervision and supportive actions to adopt to foster the development of mathematics self-efficacy in their teachers. Keywords: Self-efficacy, Supervisory behaviors, Mathematics Teachers, Perceptions of Self-efficacy, Teacher Characteristics

This study was aimed to explore the interaction between effective physics teacher characteristics, from teachers&rsquo / and students&rsquo / shared perceptions and students&rsquo / motivation. The thesis included two main parts. The first part was quantitative and the characteristics were identified. The second part was qualitative and the characteristics were used as criteria to select two case teachers and the interaction between their characteristics and students&rsquo / motivation was investigated. The questionnaire, in the quantitative part, was administered in 3 regions of Turkey and 3 cities for each region including 214 high school physics teachers. There were two different questionnaires, derived from the quantitative part, to select the two case teachers for the qualitative part. The qualitative data included interviews with the two case teachers and their students, field notes, and videos. The data in the quantitative part was analyzed by descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that there were 38 effective physics teacher characteristics affecting students&rsquo / motivation in physics within 8 categories as perceived by teachers and students. The characteristics were important in terms of students&rsquo / motivation as perceived by teachers more than as perceived by students. The teachers&rsquo / subject matter knowledge and their personal characteristics were the two categories that mostly affected the students&rsquo / motivation. The data in the qualitative part was analyzed by cross case analysis. The findings revealed that the positive characteristics increased students&rsquo / motivation, when the teachers exhibited them. When the teachers did not display the positive characteristics, the students&rsquo / motivation decreased. If teachers exhibited the negative characteristics in a positive way it was likely to increase students&rsquo / motivation. The qualitative part enhanced results of the quantitative part in that it enlightened the way that those characteristics affected students&rsquo / motivation and what would cause if those characteristics were not exhibited or were exhibited negatively.

After nearly a century of research, scholars are still unable to concretely define the personal and professional characteristics that predict effective teachers. This dissertation contributes to the research base by using a unique dataset that allows the estimation of unbiased effects of teacher characteristics and preparation program on student gains. These estimates provide new evidence that, with quality data, teacher characteristics can predict student gains. The effects of teacher characteristics on student gains are analyzed using data from a Kentucky school district that links teachers to individual students over time. A series of fixed- and between-effects models are used to arrive at unbiased estimates of GPA, math content hours, and math education hours. A similar model is used to estimate the effects of teacher preparation programs on student gains. Results from the empirical models suggest that teachers’ overall GPA is highly predictive of students’ academic gains, although the effects decline as teachers gain experience. The positive effect of math content hours is noteworthy because it does not decrease over time, suggesting the importance of gaining content knowledge during teacher preparation. The data do not permit conclusive results to be drawn regarding the impact of specific teacher preparation programs on student gains, although additional data are being collected in the district that will allow the successful completion of this study in the future. A nationally representative dataset is used to analyze the effects of school workplace conditions on teacher turnover. Results from the logit and multinomial logit models suggest that workplace conditions affect the transition decisions of teachers who switch schools, but not those of teachers who leave the workforce entirely. The findings of this dissertation inform ongoing policy debates that are relevant to stakeholders at all levels of the educational system. The empirical chapter on teacher turnover focused on policy levers that can be influenced at a more local level – workplace conditions. This study also informs the policy debate on pathways to teacher certification.The results of the teacher characteristics demonstrate the value of both content and pedagogical knowledge on student gains.