This essay focuses on what impact developmental dyslexia has on assessment and grading in the second language teaching of English in the Swedish educational system. The data presented in this essay are based on six semi-structured interviews with English language teachers of lower and upper secondary schools from the south-eastern parts of Sweden. The interviews were conducted in Swedish, and the collected data have been translated into English. The inquiries of the interviews focused on the teachers' awareness of dyslexia and its impact on learning and teaching, as well as how they worked with and their considerations made when assessing and grading dyslexic pupils. The interviews specifically enquired what particular challenges arose in the assessment and grading process, what provided aid, and what could be done to provide further relief during this process. The results show that the assessment and grading of dyslexic pupils is similar to the general practice. The teachers do, however, accommodate the dyslexic pupils' needs in the teaching and carefully consider their difficulties when assessing and grading. The teachers use, for example, spelling programs and such technical aids to help them, to some extent, disregard dyslexic difficulties while assessing. However, results show how the teachers are not able to transfer their awareness of dyslexia and its implications into the assessment and grading situation, suggesting that the teachers' own ability to assess dyslexic pupils is somewhat inadequate.

This research project explored teachers’ beliefs of violence prevention approaches and self-efficacy. Relevant research indicates the value of violence prevention and conflict resolution education as well as the importance of teacher support of such programs. Theories of decision-making and self-efficacy provide the foundation for the variables that were examined through use of a survey instrument developed by Dr. K. King and Dr. T. Kandakai. Participants were sampled from two Florida school districts. Independent variables included teacher background and experience indicators including demographics and teaching/training experience. Dependent variables were comprised of multiple indicators of outcome value, efficacy expectation, and outcome expectation. MANOVAs and ANOVAs were utilized to identify relationships between the independent and dependent variables. Among the statistically significant findings a theme emerged: training history including variety of training, specific topics, and the interaction effects of combinations of training impacted perceptions of self-efficacy and outcome expectation more significantly than other demographic and background characteristics. The results suggest that the provision of a variety of training for teachers may benefit violence prevention practice by increasing perceptions of efficacy which may lead to an increase in consistent and effective utilization of various conflict resolution education programs and strategies.

This project study addressed the problem of 3rd grade English language learners (ELLs) not passing the state mandated reading test at the same rate as other students between 2009 and 2013 in Georgia. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of an elementary school's afterschool program (ASP) on ELLs' reading achievements and to investigate 3rd grade afterschool teachers' perceptions of the reading curriculum using a mixed methods explanatory sequential design. Schema theory, the framework used to guide this study, indicated prior knowledge and experiences are necessary to comprehend new ideas or concepts. Prior knowledge and experiences can be gained from the instruction provided during ASPs. During the quantitative phase, a paired-samples t test was conducted using archived data from 2014 on 43 ELLs. The result was a significant increase in reading from pre- to posttest. In the qualitative phase, two 3rd grade ASP teachers were interviewed about their perceptions of the reading curriculum and those interviews were then analyzed using In Vivo coding and 2 cycle analysis. Themes revealed were professional development (PD), curriculum presentation, instructional strategies, and ASP modifications. A 4-day PD was designed for teachers providing plans to teach ELLs academic content and literacy. PD would provide teachers with reading instructional strategies to teach ELLs, which may increase their achievement on state tests to decrease the ELL reading achievement gap. Implications for positive social change include using an ASP and PD to increase ELLs' reading achievements and to increase success on state mandated tests.

Inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood settings remains a goal for many early care and education centers and professionals. In this study, the perceptions of supports needed to accomplish this goal were examined. Early childhood teachers from a university-based child care center, which is inspired by the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, were interviewed and asked to explore their feelings and thoughts on fully including children with disabilities in their classrooms. An examination of their perceptions led to the identification of four major themes: a) everyone is valuable in the classroom community, b) additional training is needed, c) support from administrators, peers, specialists, and therapists, d) experience fosters success. From these themes the researcher found that teachers felt support from administrators(staffing, policies and procedures, time for meetings), peers, and on-site consultants, additional training, and an over arching philosophy of accepting differences were crucial to successful inclusion. The participants also indicated that all new teachers, whether in pre-service or through in-service should have access to these supports and be provided with information about the benefits and positive experiences of others who have included a child with a disability into their classroom. This study will add to the continuing discussion of early childhood inclusion and provide additional information for programmatic decision making within a particular setting.

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