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This study explores the coaching component of the GPLMS over the past 3 years, how it has been implemented as well as the lessons learnt with the view to understanding the coaching conditions required to assist teachers in changing their instructional practices. The GPLMS intervention consists primarily of instructional coaching which has to mediate lesson plans to teachers. This research specifically looks at the teacher-coach relations, the nature of coaching support and monitoring and its impact on teachers. Research data were collected through interviews of teachers in one FP school and one Intersen school in the Johannesburg South district as well as from two coaches and their supervisors. A Peer Learning Group (PLG) meeting in one school and a School-Based Workshop (SBW) in the other school were observed. GPLMS documents which include lesson plans and teacher observation sheets were analysed. The data analysis reveals that instructional coaching combined with high quality lesson plans are promising interventions with potential to improve teachers’ instructional practices. Much progress, however, depends on the coaches’ interpretation of their role as well as their attributes and qualities as far as the level of their subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge and the respect and trust between themselves and their teachers are concerned.

Thesis advisor: Mary E. Walsh / The out-of-school factors that low-income children face can impact their wellbeing and ability to learn (Rothstein, 2010), leading to low academic performance, and, in turn, high levels of stress among their teachers. One of the numerous potential strategies that exist to address this problem is the implementation of systemic student support interventions, which are hypothesized to support teachers in addition to students (Ball & Anderson-Butcher, 2014). Using the City Connects intervention as an example of a comprehensive, systemic student support intervention that has demonstrated positive effects for students, this dissertation study examines the impact of this same intervention on teachers. The study used data obtained from annual surveys administered to all teachers in public schools (across several districts) where the City Connects intervention was implemented. The sample consisted of 656 responses from teachers in Boston Public Schools that were participating in the City Connects intervention during three designated school years (2012-13, 2013-14, and 2015-16). The study implemented a mixed-methods approach that allowed for an in-depth analysis of teachers’ perceptions of support from the City Connects intervention through both quantitative and qualitative data sources. Following exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the survey instrument itself, survey data was analyzed using the Validating Quantitative Data Model (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007), in which quantitative findings were confirmed and expanded upon through analysis of data from a small number of open-ended survey questions. The results of this dissertation study support the continued use of systemic student support interventions in schools, as data confirm that teachers in schools with City Connects report being supported by the intervention. These results hold for veteran teachers who have been teaching for over sixteen years and have participated in the City Connects intervention for over ten years. Ultimately, the findings of this dissertation study suggest that, in addition to leading to positive changes in students’ developmental trajectories, student support interventions can improve the experiences of other members of the school community. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

The purpose of this study was to, from the teacher's point of view; discover pupils with reading difficulties in connection with text assignments in mathematics, the teacher's support for these students, if difficulties coincide and whether it's the mathematics teacher's responsibility to make sure pupils with reading difficulties develop their reading ability. The study is based on a qualitative method and five semistructured interviews with mathematics teachers and one language support teacher. The result shows there is a strong connection between the pupils' reading ability and their ability to manage text assignments in mathematics. A weak reading ability affects the pupil in a negative way when solving text assignments in mathematics due to wrong reading technique if the teacher is absent. It is not unusual that reading difficulties and mathematics difficulties coincide. The teacher's most important role in the learning process is to teach the pupils understanding about the reading technique in different ways and to give the pupils opportunity to get spoken texts. It is not the mathematics teacher's responsibility to make sure pupils with reading difficulties develop their reading ability, rather it's the responsibility of a specialist and professional reading- and writing support teacher.

Thesis (M.S. Education)--Dominican University of California, 2002. / At head of title: Teacher Induction, A California Induction Program. BTSA is a teacher induction program that is administered jointly by the California Department of Education (CDE)and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-34).

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This study examines the factors that shape decision-making in relation to the development of Learner Teacher Support Materials (LTSMs) in South Africa by focusing on the processes that govern the development of Foundation Phase LTSMs, and on how publishers understand the educational nature of LTSMs that will lead to effective literacy acquisition. Findings are based on elite interviews with members of senior management in the publishing industry, and triangulated with interviews with authors and academic specialists of Foundation Phase. It was found that the close alignment between government directives and processes and the publishing industry form the core of all LTSM development and production, creating some symbiosis as well as restraints. Factors that shape the production of LTSMs include full compliance with the specific outcomes of the curriculum; producing LTSMs that are affordable in terms of set criteria by selection committees; selection committees that, determine acceptance of LTSMs for placement on approved lists; time frames that preclude in-depth research and trialling, a market that is deeply stratified and where this stratification is reinforced by curriculum imperatives relating to language; and the monitoring of classroom productivity through the filling in of Learner Book worksheets. Best practice strategies for literacy acquisition requires materials considerably beyond what the industry is producing for South Africa’s most disadvantaged markets, namely the English First Additional Language market. Teacher training done by both publishers and the Department of Basic Education suggest a different conceptualisation of Teachers’ Guides are required in order for professional development to take place through LTSMs.

Abstract When Curriculum 2005 was introduced into South African schools in 1998, it was considered too cumbersome in design and its language too complex. In accordance with the recommendations of the Ministerial Review Committee (2000) it was revised into the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS). The language was simplified; it was streamlined to critical, developmental and learning outcomes and assessment standards. Teachers were expected to produce these outcomes and provision was to be made for improved teacher orientation and training, learning support materials and provincial support to teachers in schools. The study looks at how the RNCS is being provided for in terms of the support structures and programmes available to teachers working in the Learning Area of English in Grade Seven within the Senior Phase (Grades 7-9). Firstly, by identifying the competences expected from teachers and secondly, by trying to establish the extent to which these structures and programmes are effectively assisting teachers to achieve the required competences and learning outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to model students’ perceptions of teachers (fair, warm, friendly, etc.) over time from 6th to 9th grade, to examine whether a relationship existed between students’ perceptions of teachers and distal outcomes of education attainment and education status in emerging adulthood, and to examine whether gender was associated with teacher perceptions, the trajectory of perceptions, or the outcomes. Attachment Theory and Self Determination Theory were used as frameworks for understanding relationships between study variables. The present study used existing data from a longitudinal, multi-wave, intervention study (Project Alliance 2 [PAL-2] DA018374) that addressed adolescents’ negative behaviors during middle school to high school. Data was examined from a sample of 415 participants from the larger randomized control trial of 593. Participants were students from three socioeconomically and ethnically diverse public middle schools in the Pacific Northwest. Data was analyzed using Mplus7.1 using full information maximum likelihood to account for missing data. The study had several key findings. First, latent class growth model (LCGM) analyses revealed a significant a linear model that showed an overall declining trajectory of students’ perceptions of teachers from 6th to 9th grade. There was a significant difference between students’ perceptions of teachers in 6th grade and education status. Students who reported more positive perceptions of teachers in 6th grade were more likely to endorse enrollment in a vocational or educational program. Second, LCGM analyses further revealed a model with an added quadratic term that showed an overall declining trajectory of student’s perceptions of teachers that decelerated beginning at 7th grade. Third, LCGM and growth mixture model analyses examined trajectories of students’ perceptions of teachers over time and revealed a two-class model. The first class was represented by a declining trajectory and a second class represented by overall lower students’ positive perceptions of teachers in 6th grade that increase each year through the 9th grade. Students’ perceptions of teachers appear to converge in 9th grade for both classes. Implications for practice and research, along with limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether students' perceptions of the classroom social environment mediate the relations between teacher self-efficacy and student adjustment. Research suggests that early adolescents often experience decreases in engagement and motivation during the middle school years, which can put individuals at risk for academic failure and school dropout (Eccles, Lord, & Midgley, 1991). This occurs due to a mismatch between the individuals' developmental needs and the environment (Eccles et al., 1993). Whether early adolescents remain engaged in school is largely dependent on how they perceive the classroom environment promoted by their teacher (Erikson, 1950; Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Roeser, Eccles & Sameroff, 2000). Additionally, the type of environment teachers promote is based on their assessments of their own teaching abilities (Ashton & Webb,1986; Guskey, 1988; Hall et al., 1992). Therefore, this study describes a model proposing that the classroom social environment (i.e., teacher support, teacher-promoted social interaction and mutual respect) mediates the relation between teacher self -efficacy and student adjustment (i.e., academic and social self-efficacy, classroom engagement, and disruptive behavior). This model was tested via single-level structural equation model with 358 middle school students from an economically and racially diverse sample. This study utilized a single data point from a larger, longitudinal quantitative study which examined student motivation and adjustment across the transition from elementary school into middle school. The study aimed to determine: (1). What is the impact of teacher self-efficacy on students' perception of the classroom social environment? (2).What is the impact of the classroom social environment on students' academic and social self- efficacy, involved behavior, and disruptive behavior? (3). To what extent does the classroom social environment mediate the relation between teacher self-efficacy and student adjustment (i.e., academic and social self efficacy and involved and disruptive behavior). Findings suggest that teacher self-efficacy had minimal impact on classroom social environment and student adjustment variables, and thus may not play a mediating role between these variables. However, findings did indicate a significant, moderate impact of the classroom social environment on student adjustment. This finding aligns with previous research which suggests when the classroom environment provides opportunities for students to develop their academic and social competencies, and when students feel cared for and supported, school adjustment is enhanced (Eccles, Wigfield, & Schiefele, 1998; Roeser et al., 2000). The overall impact of the classroom social environment on student adjustment in this study highlights the need for school psychologists to advocate for the development of middle school environments that meet early adolescents' developmental and basic needs.