This study was an investigation of mentor teachers who work in a Master of Education teacher preparation program. It examined mentors who work with teacher candidates to understand their conceptualization of their purpose in teacher education. The teacher preparation program that was the site of this study placed teacher candidates in the classroom for a year-long field experience aligned with the actual teaching calendar in schools and reflective of the clinical-based preparation called for by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, 2010). Attention to teacher preparation program outcomes has increased significantly in the past few years (Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, 2013; Council of Chief State School Officers, 2013; Greenburg, Pomerance, & Walsh, NCTQ, 2011; NCATE, 2010). Within this focused interest on program outcomes and on the impact well-prepared teachers make on school improvement, field placements are viewed as more essential in the preparation of teacher candidates (Bullough, Draper, Smith, & Birrell, 2004; Korthagen, 2004; Valencia, Martin, Place, & Grossman, 2009; Zeichner, 2010). Therefore, because mentor teachers affect teacher candidates in the field, it is crucial to understand how mentor teachers conceive their role and purpose within teacher preparation, and how they can be supported prior to assuming this responsibility and throughout the time they spend with the teacher candidates. The dissertation research was divided into two major phases: Phase One was a survey administered to all mentor teachers who work with the program (n=54) early in spring, 2014. The analysis of the survey provided the data necessary to use purposeful sampling to select mentors who reported a commitment to diverse mentoring practices. Data was collected on the interview sample (n=6) in Phase Two through interviews and observations to document and analyze how mentors enacted practices that may or may not be consistent with their perceived purpose and role or with the existing literature on mentoring teacher candidates. Considering the importance of this mentoring relationship on the teacher candidates' preparation outcomes, identification of the approaches to mentoring that can be strengthened by preparation are important in order to emphasized these points as part of the development of partnerships that will strengthen the mentoring system. This research offered insight for teacher preparation programs relating to how mentors internalize their role and areas for development that may align mentoring practices with the educative functions that develop responsive teachers. The findings of this study offered suggestions for preparation that target the mentors' professional growth through collaborative and ongoing instructional and personal support.

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In the past four decades considerable efforts have been taken by higher education to understand learner’s differences and learning. Learners have different levels of learning ability associated with their different learning motivations, attitudes and thoughts which are built through years of studying at university. The more the researchers understand the learner's differences the better results they will achieve in covering all levels of learning abilities providing the effective learning for learners. The focus of this study is about studying learning thoughts of academic learners which are scientifically called as the epistemological beliefs. Studying the epistemological beliefs from different angles is important to explore its vital role in learning development. The main aim of this study is to investigate the general and specific epistemological beliefs of undergraduates who study information literacy modules as part of information science. The study focuses on the influence of the independent variables (gender, major and academic level) and the interactions between the independent variables and information literacy on undergraduates’ epistemological beliefs. Two questionnaires are used to measure the general and specific epistemological beliefs of the undergraduates; the Schommer Epistemological-Beliefs Questionnaire (SEQ) and the Discipline-Focused Epistemological Belief Questionnaire (DFEBQ). The participants in the study are undergraduates from the College of Education at Kuwait University. SPSS is used to test the internal consistency of the data against the questionnaires. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used in order to analyse the data. The study confirms that undergraduates hold both general and specific-domain beliefs while they hold more general beliefs in their first year in the college they develop toward more specific domain beliefs in the fourth year. A final result shows that the undergraduates specific domain beliefs – rather than their general beliefs – are more affected by the variable of previous knowledge of information literacy, as well as a clear impact of the interaction between the independent variables but is not so clear on the general beliefs.

This qualitative research focuses on the knowledge of the practica docente associated with the use of the Mexican educational software program known as Enciclomedia and the pre-service preparation that Mexican elementary school teachers gain in order to use this pedagogical tool in their classrooms. Under this type of teacher preparation, the concept of practica docente (translated in English as teaching practice) is primarily used (Fierro, et al. 2005, p.21) to prepare educators in Mexico. While the primary theoretical framework that this study discusses is practica docente, previous studies about the use of technology in schools, education and teacher preparation programs are also included.Beginning in 2001, educational reform in Mexico introduced the use of Enciclomedia in the fifth and sixth grades. The implementation and purpose of Enciclomedia seeks to guarantee access and quality in elementary education but teaching practices (practica docente) were superficially examined to determine how educators can be better prepared in the use of Enciclomedia. The incorporation of Enciclomedia into Mexican elementary classrooms suggests the need for better teacher preparation programs in the use of technology for educational purposes.The primary purpose of this research is to inform how teachers include the use of technology in their teaching practices and how these practices influence the use of technology in the classroom. The qualitative research design involved a study of two teachers, one female and one male, who were teaching in public schools situated in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, a city located in Northern Mexico. The personal story, teacher preparation, and the observations of these two teachers using Enciclomedia served as a context for the portrait that was developed through this study.This study reveals a strong relationship between the use of technology and teaching, teachers' ideology about teaching, daily teaching practices using technology versus the previous preparation teachers received, and the role of the education system in the use of technology. The findings of this study are used to formulate recommendations for staff development to prepare teachers in connect the use of Enciclomedia with their practica docente and better understand the use of technology in the classroom.

Although studies of teacher preparation programs have documented positive changes in mathematical knowledge for teaching with preservice teachers in mathematics content courses, this study focused on the impact of a mathematics methods course and follow-up student teaching assignment. The presumption was that preservice teachers would show growth in their mathematical knowledge during methods since the course was structured around active participation in mathematics, research-based pedagogy, and was concurrent with a two-day-per-week field experience in a local elementary school. Survey instruments utilized the computer adaptive test version of the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) measures from the Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project, and the Attitudes and Beliefs (towards mathematics) survey from the Mathematical Education of Elementary Teachers Project. A piecewise growth model analysis was conducted on data collected from 176 participants at 5 time-points (methods, 3 time-points; student teaching, 2 time-points) over a 9 month period. Although the participants' demographics were typical of U.S. undergraduate preservice teachers, findings suggest that initial low-level of mathematical knowledge, and a deep-rooted belief that there is only one way to solve mathematics problems, limited the impact of the methods and student teaching courses. The results from this study indicate that in (a) number sense, there was no significant change during methods (p = .392), but a significant decrease during student teaching (p < .001), and in (b) algebraic thinking, there was a significant decrease during methods (p < .001), but no significant change during student teaching (p = .653). Recommendations include that the minimum teacher preparation program entry requirements for mathematical knowledge be raised and that new teachers participate in continued professional development emphasizing both mathematical content knowledge and reform-based pedagogy to continue to peel away deep-rooted beliefs towards mathematics.

A COMPARISON OF LEGAL LITERACY AMONG TEACHER SUBGROUPS By Candace Partridge Mirabile, Ph. D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2013 Charol Shakeshaft, Ph.D., Professor, Educational Leadership, School of Education This study determined the level of legal literacy among classroom teachers in a suburban metropolitan division in Virginia. I have focused on aspects of the law that relate to student safety and student rights, and my operational definition of legal literacy is the understanding of these laws. The results from 239 respondents indicated that teachers in this division are not knowledgeable of essential legal content specific to student/teacher interactions. The mean percent of correct answers hovered at the 50% mark on a survey of 20 true/false questions related to landmark cases, important legislation, and Virginia law. I was unable to trace legal literacy to a particular demographic, and I concluded that more than half of the respondents had received no training in legal issues. I propose that Virginia’s licensure requirements be upgraded to include competence in legal literacy because knowledge of law is among the standards of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, 2008). Based on comments from respondents to my survey, teachers are interested in learning more about education law.

Thesis advisor: Andrew Hargreaves / Music teachers occupy a conflicted and contested position in many secondary schools, and music teacher education programs have been given the task of preparing students to enter this challenging environment. This qualitative dissertation study examined the explicit, implicit, and null curricula of music teacher preparation programs in Massachusetts, the processes involved in determining those curricula and the consequences of selecting certain music education content over others. Degree requirements and course descriptions were analyzed across all undergraduate music teacher preparation programs. In addition, a survey was administered to music and education faculty in all programs and members of five institutions participated in interviews. The explicit curriculum in most music teacher preparation programs emphasized the knowledge and skills of performance, specifically the performance of Western art music, as well as the isolation of music content knowledge from pedagogical knowledge. The implicit message delivered by the explicit curriculum was that advanced musical study was intended for the few, and that popular music, world music, and other genres that deviated from the western art music tradition (i.e. - the null curriculum) were of less value. Using Bernstein's and Young's theories from the sociology of knowledge, Goodson's theory of the status and evolution of school subjects, and Siskin's and Ball and Lacey's work in the culture of secondary school subjects as the theoretical framework, the position of music education was explained as a conflicted content area that demonstrated traits of both high- and low-status subjects. Music education's geographic isolation from general education faculty was magnified by the conflicting views that music educators held when compared with their music performance counterparts. The knowledge boundaries of music content had been defended for centuries, and music education's attempt to redefine what counts as valid music and music education knowledge was met with resistance from those who benefited from the familiarity offered by the conservatory-style model of postsecondary musical study. One outlier was identified, a program whose performance emphasis was not based on western art music. Tradition and reform proved to be challenging dual goals for music educators. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Richard M. Jackson / The diversity of the student population in K-12 settings has steadily increased over the past few decades. While students who are of a racial/ethnic minority background have increased (Villegas & Lucas, 2007), teachers are increasingly young, female, and white (Goldenberg, 2008; NCES, 2013). In acknowledging these demographic discrepancies between teachers and students, many studies and reports have put forward an array of frameworks that teachers can employ in their practice to address diversity. Among these frameworks are Teaching for Social Justice (TSJ) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This dissertation seeks to examine the potential relationship among the two frameworks as viewed by undergraduate teacher candidates as they develop their dispositions for teaching diverse learners through a 17-week course attached to a one-day-per-week pre-practicum experience. This multi-case study examined how the beliefs of 19 participants regarding TSJ and UDL changed over the course of a 6-month study within the context of a course. This study investigated how these participants connected UDL and social justice as a cohesive framework for addressing diversity in the classroom. Using daily and weekly journals, online discussion forums, and pre- and post- surveys, this study analyzed all 19 participants to identify four representative cases. Findings from this study reveal that most participants were impacted by the course to the extent that they were able to identify the importance of aspects of social justice in the practice of an educator. Fewer participants were able to identify the role of UDL in the classroom. Only one participant viewed social justice and UDL as a cohesive framework for impacting classroom practice. Analysis of the representative case studies suggests that participants at this level of development may need more time to engage in complicated abstract concepts. They may also need course-attached field placements in classrooms that align with the mission and vision of the preparation program, consistency in messaging through the duration of a preparation program, and differentiated supports based on their background experiences. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Preservice teachers of reading develop their beliefs and understanding of reading pedagogy in diverse ways. While they do gather some knowledge and understanding from their university preparation courses and their practicum experiences in classrooms, a less transparent source of emerging understandings of reading pedagogy is their own experiences with reading instruction as students. Using a qualitative case study methodology, this dissertation study investigated how three preservice teachers interested in early childhood education developed understandings of reading pedagogy. Data collected included three interviews; two prompted reflective writings on their evolving understandings; observation in the participants’ reading processes course; and an interview with the course instructor. Findings indicated that preservice teachers’ biographies influenced both their understanding of how to teach reading and their attitudes toward it. Also, they favoured practicum experience over university coursework as a source of knowledge, and experienced tensions when their own beliefs contradicted the ideas espoused in the university course. In general, preservice teachers’ beliefs and experiences prior to starting their teacher education program caused resistance toward research-based theories and practices related to reading. Findings imply that teacher educators need to be explicit in providing many opportunities for their students to discuss and make sense of their epistemological understandings in relation to areas of tension with reading pedagogy. / Graduate

In October 2009, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared in a speech to Columbia University’s Teacher’s College that many university teacher preparation programs are outdated and must undergo major reform in order to produce high quality teachers needed to improve academic achievement for all students (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Duncan stated that “America’s university-based teacher preparation programs need revolutionary change – not evolutionary tinkering” (U.S. Department of Education, 2009, p.2). To improve student success in the classroom, policy makers must understand the key role well-trained teachers play in achieving this goal (Boyd, Lankford, Clothfelter, Ladd & Vigdor, 2004; Loeb, Rockoff, & Wyckoff, 2007; Provasnik & Young, 2003; Rice, 2003; Rivers & Sanders, 2002). This study examined the specific aspects of an English teacher preparation program that beginning teachers implement and rely on in their classrooms on a consistent basis. In addition, this study examines how administrators/department chairs view the pedagogical competence of graduates from the English teacher preparation program. The research questions that guided this study are: (1) How do beginning teachers perceive their preparation for teaching in the urban English Language Arts classroom? (2) How do school administrators perceive the teaching ability of graduates? The participants were graduates of Southern Urban University’s English Education Master’s level program from 2005 – 2008. Data sources included Beginning Teacher Questionnaires, Administrator/Department Chair Questionnaires, in-depth phenomenological interviews with select teachers, observations of select teachers’ practice, “card sort” activity/interview, teacher artifacts and photographs. Data were analyzed inductively using the constant comparative method to determine categories and themes (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Trustworthiness was established through research methods that confirm credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This study provides insight into how to better educate high quality teachers through the examination of an English teacher preparation programs’ daily effect and impact on their graduates and an examination of school administrators’/department chairs perception of these graduates’ performance in the classroom.