Learning rubrics are adapted to the students’ understanding, and contain a clear focus of what they are supposed to learn. Teachers’ knowledge about them seems to be limited, and assessment rubrics are a more common tool for teachers’ assessment practices (Alm, 2015).Even though the Swedish school curriculum encourages teachers to use formative assessment as an active part of their teaching, due to its beneficial factors for students learning development, studies have shown that summative assessment is a preferred practice among teachers.This paper analyzes the teachers use of learning rubrics in English as a foreign language classroom in the Swedish primary schools. The focus lays on finding out teachers experiences and beliefs about using learning rubrics as a formative assessment tool. According to theories and findings within formative assessment a certain set of criteria must be met, something which learning rubrics do. In order to fulfill this papers purpose, we combined a quantitative study that was carried out on 55 teachers, and a qualitative study that was centered around interviewing 5 teachers. Our results showed that 38 % of the 4-6 EFL teachers used a continuous formative assessment, which occurred during lessons or over a longer span of time. In regards to the use of learning rubrics only 3% used learning rubrics for a formative purpose. Results also revealed that a combination of learning rubrics, and assessment rubrics are more commonly used rather than only the use of learning rubrics in the language classroom. Through the combination of these two types of rubrics it helped in clarifying what was assessed and in what way it was assessed. It would also be used to make teachers’ arguments visible both for the students and the caretakers at home. However, if teachers do not apply the necessary adaptations to the formative process, the benefits are not obtained.

English has been on the rise on the global stage for the last half century, and is now the most studied second language, being used regularly in international academia, social and mainstream media and international relations. In Sweden, the increase in the use of English is particularly noticeable in the country’s higher education system, with recent studies reporting a significant increase in English as the language of instruction. Although Sweden has a generally high proficiency in English, recent reports show a number of students feel insecure in using English at universities. A possible pedagogical method to address students' uncertainty is Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). While there is much research regarding CLIL, the research is divided on its efficacy best practices, and research is limited in the Swedish context. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the beliefs and practices of CLIL among upper secondary English teachers in Sweden in order to add to the body of knowledge surrounding CLIL use, especially in the Swedish context. Data collection was done with a survey sent out to 260 schools in Sweden. The results of the study are limited in scope and depth due to very low response rates (n=8), but tentative conclusions may be drawn from it that support earlier findings, such as the importance of certain contextual factors in the school. The study concludes that CLIL is indeed an appreciated tool among the teachers asked, and that any teacher who is considering using it should ensure that the school environment is one that facilitates CLIL rather than hinders it.

Motivation and mathematics anxiety both impact student achievement in the early grades. However, few if any studies have examined the patterns of kindergarten students' motivation and mathematics anxiety and their associations with teachers’ practices and student demographics. In this study, I investigate both these issues. Specifically, using a diverse sample of 355 students from 24 kindergarten classrooms, I examined (a) whether there were distinct profiles of motivation and mathematics anxiety among students and (b) the associations between student profiles and teachers’ practices. Using cluster analysis, I identified three student profiles. The largest student profile (52.4%) demonstrated a positive pattern of High Motivation and Low Anxiety; whereas two other profiles had smaller numbers of students reporting negative outcomes: Low Motivation and Moderate Anxiety (32.3%) and Moderate Motivation and High Anxiety (15.3%). Student profiles were associated with students’ socioeconomic status and race. Students of distinct profiles differed significantly on their reports of mathematics motivation, mathematics anxiety, and performance on mathematics achievement – measured by standardized tests. In addition, teachers’ ratings of student motivation for mathematics were significantly different across student profiles.<br><div>To investigate the associations between teacher practices and student outcomes, I purposively selected six teachers based on a combination of multiple criteria and rated their mathematics lessons by using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (Pianta et al., 2008). Three teachers with high concentrations of students reporting positive outcomes had more positive ratings across the domains of Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support, compared to the other three teachers with high percentages of students reporting negative outcomes. I compared descriptions of teacher practices between the two groups of teachers to illustrate associations between teacher practices and student outcomes. Implications for mathematics instruction in the early elementary grades are discussed.<br></div>

Despite the importance an urban school district places on data-driven decision-making (DDDM) to drive instruction, implementation continues to remain a challenge. The purpose of this study was to investigate how support systems affected the implementation of DDDM to drive instructional practices in three urban schools that recently transitioned from priority or focus to good standing on the State Accountability Report. The study aligned with the organizational supports conceptual framework with an emphasis on data accessibility, collection methods, reliability and validity, the use of coaches and data teams, professional development, and data-driven leaders. Through the collection of qualitative data from one-on-one interviews, the research questions asked about the perspectives on data culture and data driven instructional practices of three school leaders and nine teachers. The data were triangulated to generate a thematic illustration of content that was coded and analyzed to identify solid patterns and themes. Findings suggest that leaders create a data-driven school culture by establishing a school-wide vision, developing a DDDM cycle, creating a collaborative DDDM support system, communicating data as a school community, and changing the way technology is used in DDDM initiatives. Based on the findings, a project in the form of a white paper was developed, using research to support that when data is regularly used to hone student skills, a positive shift in overall teacher practices occurs. This shift provides the potential for positive social change when students have opportunities to attain academic goals, resulting in increased student achievement and higher graduation rates.

abstract: Since the 1980s, interest in the cognitive and affective influences on teaching has initiated studies on teacher beliefs and practices. Studies of teacher beliefs in academic areas such as reading, math, social studies, and science are prolific. However, studies about the teacher beliefs and practices of music teachers are scarce. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore the teacher beliefs of middle school orchestra teachers and to examine how their self-reported and observed teaching practices reflect these beliefs. Based on the work of foreign language education researcher Simon Borg (2003) a conceptual framework was developed that shows the various sources of teacher beliefs and practices, including formative preservice musical experiences, inservice contextual factors, and inservice professional development. Employing a qualitative multiple case study method, six purposely-selected middle school orchestra teachers, representing a variety of experience levels and program characteristics, shared their teacher beliefs and practices. Data generation included observations, interviews, stimulated recall (think aloud teacher commentary of videotaped teaching episodes), and written reflection surveys. During analysis, six core teacher beliefs about middle school string students and how they learn were identified. These beliefs guided the teachers’ observed practices. Findings from this study illustrated that preservice formative musical experiences influenced the middle school orchestra teachers’ beliefs about the value and importance of music teaching as a career. Data from the participants revealed a wide variety of instructional practices emanating from largely similar core pedagogical beliefs. Analysis suggested that experienced teachers held more developed teacher beliefs, and they selected instructional practices carefully, where inexperienced teachers were still formulating their own beliefs and experimenting with instructional practices. Data from the study point out that contextual constraints sometimes prevent teachers from enacting their closely held beliefs. This incongruence influenced three of the six participants to change teaching positions or retire early from the education profession. The study of music teacher beliefs and practices may be of interest to preservice and inservice music teachers and music teacher educators. Future studies may explore the relationship between teacher beliefs and practices and student achievement, and contribute to string music education research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music Education 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the practices and perceptions of professors of reading education in the issues surrounding teaching reading and learning with digital media. This study aimed to understand the strategies and thoughts of a select group of professors of reading education as they worked with pre-service teachers in preparing them to meet the needs' of their future students. The four respondents that participated in this inquiry were professors of reading education at various California Universities. The guiding research question was stated as: What are the issues surrounding the teaching and learning of reading through digital media? Two sub-questions were also posed: What strategies and practices are reading educators using in teaching reading education with traditional and digital media? In what ways are reading educators connecting traditional and digital literacy skills? Multiple case study methodology was used to acquire various perspectives on the issues of teaching and learning through digital media. From the four cross-case analyses of interviews, documentation, and observations, four themes and an overarching theme emerged depicting the issues educators are discovering with digital media. Reading competency is driven by intrinsic motivation. Current practices which neglect "real-world" reading are producing student who know how to read, but do not have the desire to read. The pressures to conform to educational mandates has created a disconnect between "good teaching" strategies and mandated school district requirements. The use of updated practices utilizing digital media is tempered by the current knowledge and self-efficacy of professors of reading education, as well as, the inconsistent availability and/or limited technological accessibility. These four themes acted as the foundation in support of the culminating theme. The overarching theme indicated that meeting the needs of today's students by looking at education through a new lens and gaining tools and strategies for the 21st century is imperative. Since the professor of reading educations' knowledge and self-efficacy is essential in the process of integrating digital media, the respondents themselves are transforming the practices and perceptions of educators. Thus, professors of reading education are change agents in their own practices, Universities, surrounding schools and the community. Based on the results of this study, implications for practice and recommendations for further research are suggested.

There is a requirement for English teachers in Sweden to adapt their teaching to align with the policy documents advocating to foster the students' continuous and lifelong learning. This study aims to address in what way the participating teachers work to create engaging learning environments and lessons that promote communication and cooperation. Furthermore, the study explores which methods the participating teachers use to differentiate instructions and make adaptations to teacher practices and materials to successfully reach each individual student. The data was gathered by conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews with four 7-9 English teachers. The interviews were focused on four main themes: (1) Adaptations for differentiated learning through multi-modality, (2) Adaptations for differentiated learning through the bi-lingual approach, (3) Adaptations for differentiated learning through cooperative learning and (4) Adaptations for differentiated learning through other practices. Based on the guidelines provided by The Swedish National Agency for Education, findings from previous research, and the data collected in this study, it becomes evident that teachers must adopt their teaching in various ways. The adaptation of teaching strategies and practices include ways to effectively engage all of their individual groups of students, as well as the utilization of visual aids, bi-lingual instructional practices, comprehensible input and output, and cooperative learning methods. The results show that these are important ways to differentiate instruction and enhance learning to support the students’ academic and cognitive growth. The presented teacher practices can aid teachers to use differentiated instruction in accordance with the needs of their individual groups of students, both in terms of classes and the individual students within those classes.

This study investigated the hypothesis that there is a relationship between teacher practices that focus on the provision of involvement, structure, and autonomy support and student engagement (Connell & Wellborn, 1991). The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) (Pianta, R., Hamre, B., Haynes, N., Mintz, S., & La Paro, K., 2006) was used to assess practices of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade core teachers (N =17) in mathematics, English, science, and social studies in an economically-depressed, rural middle school setting. Student perceptions (N = 299) of relatedness, competence, and autonomy, and mathematics teachers' (N = 5) perceptions of student engagement were assessed using the Research Assessment Package for Schools (RAPS) (IRRE, 1998). While the findings revealed that there were significant relationships between teacher practices that center on involvement, structure, and autonomy support and student engagement, the effect sizes were found to be low. / Ph. D.

Nessa pesquisa, o ensino de História é investigado considerando duas esferas. A primeira compreende a análise retrospectiva das produções acadêmicas e das propostas curriculares elaboradas pela rede municipal de ensino de São Paulo no período 1982-2012, de maneira a contextualizá-las em relação às disputas político-ideológicas e epistemológicas em torno da configuração da História no currículo escolar da escola básica, bem como localizar as teorias pedagógicas e historiográficas que as fundamentam. A segunda implica a abordagem de inspiração etnográfica, que pressupõe processos interativos entre o pesquisador e a realidade observada possibilitando focalizar o currículo construído na sala de aula, por meio do levantamento e análise das práticas cotidianas dos professores de História em uma escola do município. Em específico, o estudo centrou-se nos processos de apropriação e reconfiguração das orientações curriculares oficiais frente às exigências postas ao ensino da disciplina, no contexto da sala de aula, de maneira a capturar os processos sociais envolvidos nas relações de trocas culturais ocorridas no cotidiano escolar. A análise das informações sobre as práticas, coletadas ao longo do ano letivo de 2012, permitiu esboçar um entendimento sobre as estratégias e práticas utilizadas pelos professores de História, em face das propostas curriculares oficiais. Diante do desafio de configurar o currículo real ao longo do processo ensino-aprendizagem, os docentes procuram adequar as orientações ao contexto escolar, modelando os processos de seleção e organização dos conteúdos, o ritmo do processo de ensino e os critérios de avaliação dos alunos. A prática dos professores tem a ver com os significados que eles atribuem a tais orientações, os quais são perpassados pelos saberes provenientes da sua formação acadêmica e experiência na docência, bem como por aspectos da cultura escolar e da especificidade do ensino de História. Esse amálgama resulta em processos de ensino-aprendizagem em que estão presentes recortes do ensino tradicional e noções e conceitos contemporâneos, veiculados pelas pesquisas mais recentes sobre o ensino da disciplina na escola básica. / In this research, the teaching of History is investigated considering two spheres: the first comprises the retrospective analysis of academic productions and curriculum proposals drawn up by the municipal education system in the period 1982-2012, in order to contextualize them in relation to political-ideological and epistemological disputes around the History configuration in the curriculum of primary school as well as locate the educational and historiographical theories that underlie them. The second part implies the ethnographic inspiration approach, which involves interactive processes between the researcher and the observed reality allowing the focus on the curriculum built in the classroom, through the survey and analysis of History teachers daily practices at a municipal school. In particular, the study focused on the processes of appropriation and reconfiguration of the official curriculum guidelines front the demands placed to the discipline teaching in the context of the classroom, in order to capture the social processes involved in the relations of cultural exchanges occurred in the school routine. The analysis of information on practices, collected throughout the school year 2012 , made it possible to outlinean understanding of the strategies and practices used by History teachers facing the official curriculum proposals. Faced with the challenge of setting up the actual curriculum throughout the teaching-learning process , teachers seek to adapt the guidelines to the school context , modeling the processes of selection and organization of content , the pace of the teaching process and student assessment criteria. The practice of teachers has to do with the meanings they attribute to such guidelines , which are steeped by knowledge from their academic background and teaching experience , as well as aspects of school culture and specificity of the History teaching . This amalgamation results in teachinglearning processes excerpts of \"traditional\" teaching and notions and concepts \"contemporaries\", conveyed by the latestresearch on the teaching of the discipline in primary school.

Nessa pesquisa, o ensino de História é investigado considerando duas esferas. A primeira compreende a análise retrospectiva das produções acadêmicas e das propostas curriculares elaboradas pela rede municipal de ensino de São Paulo no período 1982-2012, de maneira a contextualizá-las em relação às disputas político-ideológicas e epistemológicas em torno da configuração da História no currículo escolar da escola básica, bem como localizar as teorias pedagógicas e historiográficas que as fundamentam. A segunda implica a abordagem de inspiração etnográfica, que pressupõe processos interativos entre o pesquisador e a realidade observada possibilitando focalizar o currículo construído na sala de aula, por meio do levantamento e análise das práticas cotidianas dos professores de História em uma escola do município. Em específico, o estudo centrou-se nos processos de apropriação e reconfiguração das orientações curriculares oficiais frente às exigências postas ao ensino da disciplina, no contexto da sala de aula, de maneira a capturar os processos sociais envolvidos nas relações de trocas culturais ocorridas no cotidiano escolar. A análise das informações sobre as práticas, coletadas ao longo do ano letivo de 2012, permitiu esboçar um entendimento sobre as estratégias e práticas utilizadas pelos professores de História, em face das propostas curriculares oficiais. Diante do desafio de configurar o currículo real ao longo do processo ensino-aprendizagem, os docentes procuram adequar as orientações ao contexto escolar, modelando os processos de seleção e organização dos conteúdos, o ritmo do processo de ensino e os critérios de avaliação dos alunos. A prática dos professores tem a ver com os significados que eles atribuem a tais orientações, os quais são perpassados pelos saberes provenientes da sua formação acadêmica e experiência na docência, bem como por aspectos da cultura escolar e da especificidade do ensino de História. Esse amálgama resulta em processos de ensino-aprendizagem em que estão presentes recortes do ensino tradicional e noções e conceitos contemporâneos, veiculados pelas pesquisas mais recentes sobre o ensino da disciplina na escola básica. / In this research, the teaching of History is investigated considering two spheres: the first comprises the retrospective analysis of academic productions and curriculum proposals drawn up by the municipal education system in the period 1982-2012, in order to contextualize them in relation to political-ideological and epistemological disputes around the History configuration in the curriculum of primary school as well as locate the educational and historiographical theories that underlie them. The second part implies the ethnographic inspiration approach, which involves interactive processes between the researcher and the observed reality allowing the focus on the curriculum built in the classroom, through the survey and analysis of History teachers daily practices at a municipal school. In particular, the study focused on the processes of appropriation and reconfiguration of the official curriculum guidelines front the demands placed to the discipline teaching in the context of the classroom, in order to capture the social processes involved in the relations of cultural exchanges occurred in the school routine. The analysis of information on practices, collected throughout the school year 2012 , made it possible to outlinean understanding of the strategies and practices used by History teachers facing the official curriculum proposals. Faced with the challenge of setting up the actual curriculum throughout the teaching-learning process , teachers seek to adapt the guidelines to the school context , modeling the processes of selection and organization of content , the pace of the teaching process and student assessment criteria. The practice of teachers has to do with the meanings they attribute to such guidelines , which are steeped by knowledge from their academic background and teaching experience , as well as aspects of school culture and specificity of the History teaching . This amalgamation results in teachinglearning processes excerpts of \"traditional\" teaching and notions and concepts \"contemporaries\", conveyed by the latestresearch on the teaching of the discipline in primary school.