Federal dollars are utilized to develop instructional programs for students not demonstrating mathematical proficiency on state standardized mathematics assessments, but there is a lack of empirical data on the effectiveness of two different approaches that were used in the local context. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental, casual-comparative study was to determine if state achievement test scores of students in fourth grade who received instruction from a Mathematics Specialist (MS) during the 2007-2009 academic years demonstrated a statistically significant difference from the mathematics state achievement test scores of fourth grade students who received instruction from Grades 1-8 credentialed teachers supported by a Math Coach (MC) during the 2012-2014 academic years. The theoretical base includes two components: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards and Federal No Child Left Behind educational policy, which focus on standards-based education, curriculum, assessment, and instruction to meet students' mathematical needs. Data was collected from a census sample of 13,671 students' state scores from school years 2007-2008, 2008-2009 (MS) and 2012-2013, 2013-2014 (MC). The research question was whether there is a difference in MS and MC scores. An independent samples t test was used to compare the means of all the scores. The results show that the MS program produced statistically higher math scores than the MC. This supports the limited literature in favor of MS. Positive social change includes supporting increasing the use of the MS program in the local context to increase mathematics test scores and the potential for redistribution of federal funds to develop MS programs nationwide.

The aim of this study is to investigate the similarities/differences in the views on and practices of grammar teaching of a Swedish teacher of English (FL – Foreign Language) and a UK teacher of English (L1 – First Language). Furthermore, the study tries to explain how the differences found in the comparison can be connected to each country’s different steering documents and to the different teaching conditions involved in teaching English to L1 learners compared to FL learners. The two participating teachers were both interviewed and observed. The results of this study show that the teachers’ grammar practices are very similar since they include explicit formal instruction both inductively and deductively, but with a focus on the latter. These are typical ‘Focus on FormS’ related practices even though both teachers want to achieve a ‘Focus on Form’ directed practice. Furthermore, both teachers use metalanguage in their teaching. The main difference between the teachers’ grammar approaches are the aims that they have with their teaching. The UK teacher aims at plain accuracy in her pupils’ written production whereas the Swedish teacher aims at developing all-round communicative abilities among her pupils. This is explained with the different accuracy-focus which each country’s steering documents hold.

Submitted by Camila Santana (camilalimasantana@gmail.com) on 2015-03-19T20:09:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_Camila Santana_revisada_CD.pdf: 18754047 bytes, checksum: a96ceb642e591705fc515a27966ae228 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2015-03-23T14:52:00Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_Camila Santana_revisada_CD.pdf: 18754047 bytes, checksum: a96ceb642e591705fc515a27966ae228 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-23T14:52:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_Camila Santana_revisada_CD.pdf: 18754047 bytes, checksum: a96ceb642e591705fc515a27966ae228 (MD5) / Atualmente, as redes sociais digitais, instituídas pelos Sites de Redes Sociais, são um fenômeno da cultura contemporânea que promove e celebra a visibilidade como um capital social a ser perseguido. A pesquisa foi elaborada com o objetivo principal de analisar as estratégias e as ações docentes utilizadas por professores brasileiros no Twitter, para a identificação da visibilidade mediada na rede. Quanto à relevância deste estudo, é importante ressaltar que o trabalho contribuirá para a produção científica no campo do estudo das redes sociais, aproximando-o da educação. Tratase de um estudo qualitativo, descritivo e analítico, de cunho netnográfico, realizado através de observação encoberta e análise de tweets de dez professores brasileiros que possuem conta ativa no Twitter e interagem cotidianamente. A análise dos dados coletados foi efetuada por meio da análise de tweets, apoiada na técnica de Análise Textual Discursiva, a partir da criação de categorias que emergiram no período da observação encoberta e estruturaram a matriz de análise, utilizando como referencial teórico a dimensão da cibercultura, na perspectiva da abordagem teórica dos estudos sobre visibilidade como capital social, associada aos estudos sobre redes sociais. O argumento central da tese é que a visibilidade no Twitter é um capital social forjado por meio das estratégias que os sujeitos instituem nos Sites de Redes Sociais. Ser visível na rede indica uma valorização social preponderante na cibercultura. No caso de docentes, esse valor tem uma importância singular, considerando que estar ativamente na rede, opinando, tecendo considerações, compartilhando, constitui-se ação educativa e resulta em valorização social e econômica. Optou-se por assumir as redes sociais digitais como redes de conexões e interações humanas, que têm na internet um espaço que permite tornar essas conexões visíveis e a defesa da visibilidade como capital social circulante nos Sites de Redes Sociais perseguido pelos atores sociais. Buscou-se ainda identificar e interpretar estratégias de visibilidade utilizadas pelos professores no Twitter; compreender suas apropriações do Twitter; identificar as dimensões e tipos de capital social que são mobilizados a partir das interações dos professores no Twitter e analisar as ações docentes a partir de suas interações no Twitter. Quanto aos resultados, verificou-se que a visibilidade mediada no Twitter é uma forma de alcançar valorização social na dimensão docente, visto que alcançar visibilidade é acumular alguns tipos de capital social, sendo, portanto, uma estratégia profissional. Os dados também revelaram que as estratégias usadas para dar visibilidade às suas ações docentes estão associadas ao tipo de perfil do professor, à audiência dele na rede e às apropriações que ele faz do Twitter. Por fim, vale destacar ainda que os dados obtidos não são generalizados e podem ser utilizados em discussões e debates que objetivem a ampliação do entendimento dos fenômenos da cibercultura na educação / ABSTRACT The digital social networks, instituted by Social Networking Sites are currently a phenomenon of contemporary culture that celebrates and promotes visibility as a social capital to be pursued. The research work was conducted with the main goal of analyzing strategies and actions used by Brazilian teachers on Twitter, in order to identify mediated visibility on the network. Concerning the relevance of this study, it is important to emphasize that the research work will contribute to the scientific production in the field of Social Networks Studies approaching it to Education area. It is a qualitative, descriptive and analytical study by netnographic character, accomplished through covert observation, besides analysis of ten tweets from Brazilian twitterer teachers who have active Twitter profile and interact on it daily. The data analysis was accomplished by analyzing tweets, supported in the Textual Discourse Analysis Technique, from the creation of categories that emerged during the period of the covert observation and structured the matrix analysis, using the dimension of cyberspace as theoretical background, from the view of the studies on visibility while social capital theoretical approach associated with studies of social networks. The core argument of the thesis is that visibility in Twitter is a social capital forged by means of strategies that subjects establish in Social Networking Sites. Being visible on the network indicates a dominant social value in cyberculture. In the case of teachers, this value has a particular importance, considering that they are actively on the network, opining, commenting, sharing, so it constitutes itself in educational action and results in social and economic value. It was chosen to take the digital social networks as networks of human interactions and human connections which have a space on the internet that allows one to make these connections visible. Moreover, it defended visibility as social capital that flows in Social Networking Sites, besides being followed by social actors. It was attempted to further identify and interpret strategies of visibility used by teachers in Twitter; understand the appropriations of Twitter by teachers; identify the dimensions and kinds of social capital which are mobilized from the interactions of twitterer teachers on Twitter and analyze teaching actions based on interactions of teachers in Twitter. Regarding the results, it was found that mediated visibility in Twitter is a way of achieving social value in teaching dimension, since achieving visibility is to accumulate some kinds of social capital, therefore this is a professional strategy. Data also showed that the strategies used to give visibility to teaching practices are associated with the type of teacher profile, their audience in the network and their appropriations from Twitter. Finally, it is also worth noting that these data are not generalized and can be used in discussions and debates that aim at increasing the understanding of the phenomena of cyberculture in education.

In recent decades, the landscape of the U.S. classroom has been drastically changing. Schools at every level are enrolling increasingly higher numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, many in the process of learning English. These students, frequently called English language learners (ELLs), present new and unique challenges to educators. Many of these challenges concern language and the many ways it affects the educational experience. One concern of great interest involves better understanding the ways language and academic content interact. Language is a pivotal component of the learning experience, and likely to affect students’ perceptions of the classroom environment and themselves, as well as interactions with teachers and peers. This concern remains critical to consider in secondary mathematics, where language demands are high, but teachers may not be trained to attend to both language and content in the mainstream classroom. The present research used data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to investigate the secondary mathematics experiences of ELL and non-ELL students in two studies conducted at distinct levels: student and teacher. At the student-level, hierarchical linear modeling was used to compare the effects of several student variables on both access to and achievement in mathematics, as well as how these effects differed between ELL and non-ELL students. Findings indicated that both mathematics self-efficacy and interest in early coursework were positively related to access to and achievement in mathematics, and these relationships were significantly stronger for ELL students. Conversely, positive perceptions of the learning environment and classroom engagement were often related to gains in outcomes for non-ELL students, but decreases for ELL students. This study highlighted several key factors of the secondary mathematics experience that behaved differently for ELL and non-ELL students. Implications of these findings are further discussed in Chapter 2. At the teacher-level, hierarchical linear modeling was used to compare the effects of teacher experience, classroom practices, and perceptions of departmental support on the access to and achievement in mathematics of their students, and how these effects differed between ELL and non-ELL students. Findings indicated that more conceptually-oriented teaching practices were beneficial to both students, with greater gains long-term for both ELL and non-ELL students. Procedurally-oriented teaching was beneficial to ELL students in nearly all cases, but detrimental to non-ELL students’ mathematics outcomes. The effects of perceptions of departmental support varied, with mixed effects for some (e.g. principal support) and detrimental effects for others (e.g. sense of responsibility). Implications of these findings are further discussed in Chapter 3. Finally, Chapter 4 discusses overarching themes across studies at both levels, summarizing the results with regards to student variables, teacher variables, and student-teacher-school relationships. Implications for administrators, teachers, and teacher educators are discussed.

No description available.

L'enseignement des sciences est souvent perçu, par les enseignants, comme une discipline complexe à enseigner. La formation continue permet de modifier cette perception en offrant de l'accompagnement pédagogique pour développer les pratiques d'enseignement des sciences et rehausser le sentiment d'efficacité des enseignants. Cette recherche s'intéresse aux effets d'une formation continue sur le sentiment d'efficacité des enseignants et leur enseignement des sciences au primaire. L'approche choisie est celle d'une recherche qualitative et la méthode est celle de l'étude de cas, de type exploratoire. Dans le cadre de cette recherche, six enseignants ayant suivi divers programmes de formation continue afin de développer leur pratique d'enseignement des sciences ont été rencontrés. Des entrevues et des observations (grilles basées sur l'échelle du sentiment d'efficacité des enseignants (STEBI)) sont utilisées pour la collecte de données. Les résultats de l'analyse de données indiquent, dans un premier temps, que les enseignants rencontrés perçoivent que la formation continue a des effets positifs sur leur sentiment d'efficacité, notamment en ce qui a trait à la première dimension relative à la compétence à enseigner les sciences (CE). Dans un deuxième temps, la comparaison des données des pratiques déclarées et des pratiques effectives révèlent l'apport considérable de l'engagement du milieu et de la collaboration des pairs sur le développement de la deuxième dimension relative à l'efficacité de l'enseignement (EE). / Primary teachers have difficulties with science teaching and as a consequence, this subject matter is often neglected. Teacher development in this discipline can contribute to change in teacher practices and impact on teachers beliefs towards science. This study explores the effect of professionnal development in science, given over a period of time, on teacher practices and self-efficacy beliefs. A qualitative approach using an exploratory case study was chosen for this research. For that purpose, several data collection tools such as interviews and observations, using the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI) were chosen. The results indicate that the six teachers participating in the study perceive professional development in science as having a positive effect on their self-efficacy beliefs (especially on their personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE)). In addition, the comparison of the data collected from the interviews and the observations suggests that teachers who participate in professional development as a group have a high personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE), but also a higher science teaching outcome expectancy (STOE).

This quantitative methods study explored the knowledge, attitudes and practices of PK-5 teachers on the use of technology applications in the classroom. The Texas State Board of Education has set in place standards for technology applications that require the use of technology applications across all grades. Likewise, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published new guidelines on the use of technology by children. However, it is the responsibility of teachers to implement and embed these standards, while also paying attention to the recommendations of the AAP. I developed a survey that provided demographic information, and included 12 items to measure the knowledge, attitudes and practices of teachers of technology applications in the classroom. Participants included 251 PK-5 teachers from three different districts in a South Texas region. Multiple regressions were conducted for each of the constructs produced by a factor analysis. Knowledge and attitudes presented no statistically significant results from individual teacher characteristics, but there were statistically significant differences on attitudes by districts. The regression analysis for practice reported a statistically significant difference between teachers that held a master's degree and those who did not. I conclude that technology applications implementation in the PK-5 classrooms is still developing and evolving, but there is still no consistency across districts, and further research in this matter is still needed.