Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 256 p. : ill. (some col.) + computer files. Includes several multimedia computer files. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-185).

This phenomenological study explored the role of end-of-course examinations on teachers’ decision-making on curriculum and instruction through a comparative analysis of teachers who taught courses with end-of-course examinations and teachers who taught courses with locally created assessments (LCA). This study examined the experiences of nine teachers in a small school district located on the east-central coast of Florida. The study’s theoretical framework drew on Bourdieu’s (1972/1977) tools of habitus, capital, practice, and fields to explain the role of education in the reproduction of social system. The study examined how standardized testing shaped teachers’ use of habitus and capital to determine their practice in their curriculum, instruction, relationships in different educational fields, morale, and perspectives on teacher evaluation. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Instructional time for social studies in elementary classrooms has decreased since the passage of Goals 2000 and No Child Left Behind, with content contracted to align with reading goals. Consequently, opportunities for preservice teachers to observe and teach social studies lessons have diminished. This qualitative multiple case study examines the practices that preservice teachers develop and apply in making decisions concerning social studies curriculum. Three elementary level preservice teachers who had, or were earning, another degree in addition to their degree in education were participants in the study. The study offers insights into three research questions: 1) How do preservice elementary teachers construct an understanding of the teachings of social studies? 2) What knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes do preservice teachers draw upon as they make decisions about social studies teaching? and 3) How do preservice teachers reflect upon and revise their own teaching of social studies? Data from student-produced texts, interviews, classroom observations, a focus group, and researcher memos were analyzed using an inductive approach drawing on Charmaz's Constructing Grounded Theory (2010) and situational analysis (Clarke,2005). Five factors intersected for each participant in constructing their understandings of social studies instruction: academic background, learning preferences, beliefs and attitudes regarding education, a conception of the teacher's role, and aspects of college coursework in education. The participants' academic background, knowledge of students' prior learning, content standards, curriculum emphasis at school sites, and beliefs about purposes for social studies shaped their decisions about social studies instruction. Each participant reflected on technical aspects of lessons primarily using descriptive language. Reflection considering multiple perspectives and the social and historical contexts for lessons occurred when the participants had academic backgrounds related to social studies fields, or when there were multiple lessons related around a topic. In these cases, reflections demonstrated greater depth and complexity. Participants' opportunities to revise lessons varied. In general, the findings suggest that when background knowledge was related to social studies fields, preservice teachers found alternative ways to approach subject matter and multiple occasions to integrate social studies. This study has implications for the coursework and practicum components of preservice teacher education. / Graduation date: 2012

The presented study finds its relevance in the issue that history teachers face countless choices when planning their teaching about the European periodization. The study aimed to investigate what teachers choose to teach about in the European periodization, what processes of change and elaboration teachers choose to teach about, how the choices teachers make differ in the history courses 1a1 and 1b, and how teachers’ reason about and motivate the choices they make. This was examined through qualitative interviews with four history teachers who teach/taught in the history courses 1a1 and 1b at the upper secondary school. The analysis was based on these three functions of education: socialisation, subjectification, and qualification. Furthermore, the study aimed to analyze how the functions correlated with the teachers' reasoning about what they choose to teach regarding the European periodization to demonstrate what function the teachers' reasoning had for the students. One overarching conclusion drawn from the study is that when teaching about the European periodization, teachers choose to teach about processes of change and elaboration that clarifies to students why the world function as it does today. Teachers choose to teach about processes of change and elaboration that they believe are interesting for the students and not things they themselves are interested in. The choices teachers make in history 1a1 and history 1b differ in that there are fewer elaboration aspects and more overview in history 1a1 than in history 1b, which may result in the history teaching in history 1a1 being somewhat deficient.

During the past 50 years, the landscape of education shifted from a rank order model to a system where all students are expected to achieve at a minimum level. This led to reforms in the way schools operate and teachers teach. One change to teaching is the use of data to inform instructional practices and student groupings. The need for teachers to increase their data use and change their instruction has prompted the need for professional development practices to be more effective. Coaching has been shown to be an effective professional development strategy to help teachers transfer new skills into their practice. This mixed-methods study examined one urban school district's two-year attempt to implement a data informed decision-making model of instruction in 20 schools through the use of instructional coaches. The study used two data sets - archival literacy benchmark scores and coach surveys - to identify a purposive selection of interview participants. The interviews were conducted to determine what structures and factors increased the implementation of the data informed decision-making initiative. Findings indicate professional development and leadership structures were needed for successful implementation of the data initiative. Results of this study showed the factors of trust, focus, coach-principal relationship, and assessment literacy contributed to the coaches' ability to implement the data initiative successfully.

This dissertation study examined how teachers in four newcomer schools conceptualized and implemented social studies education for newcomer Latino/a youth. I designed this multi-site, collective case study to examine the perspectives and decision making of four social studies teachers' enacted pedagogy for Latino/a newcomer students. I documented how social studies teachers (U.S. History and Global History) were teaching Latino/a newcomer youth within urban newcomer high schools through the research question: how do four secondary teachers conceptualize and implement social studies education for newcomer Latino/a youth? As evidenced in their culturally and linguistically relevant pedagogy, teachers in this study provided constant support, encouragement, and opportunity for Latino/a newcomer students to succeed academically, and encouraged active civic engagement by using students' cultural, linguistic, and civic knowledge and experiences as central to their pedagogy. I analyzed the findings within and across four case studies to develop an emerging grounded theory of culturally and linguistically relevant citizenship education. This developing grounded theory analyzed the intersections of culturally relevant pedagogy, linguistically responsive teaching, and active and engaged citizenship. These intersections and cross-case analysis of the four teachers' social studies pedagogy for newcomer Latino/a students developed five principles of culturally and linguistically relevant citizenship education. These principles included: pedagogy of community, pedagogy of success, pedagogy of making cross-cultural connections, pedagogy of building a language of social studies, and pedagogy of community-based, participatory citizenship. This study has the potential to add to and expand on the discourse regarding social studies pedagogy for culturally and linguistically diverse students (Ladson-Billings, 1995b; Lucas and Villegas, 2011), newcomer schools (Short and Boyson, 2000), English Language Learners (Cruz and Thornton, 2009), and citizenship education for newcomer youth (Salinas, 2006). Possibilities for future research might include examining how Latino/a immigrant students' cultural and linguistic experiences influence their perceptions of social studies and how they conceptualize citizenship. Furthermore, additional research might also explore how the findings in this study may be used to develop a more culturally and linguistically responsive teacher education program, create professional development opportunities for in-service teachers, and examine how elementary teachers and teachers in rural/suburban contexts conceptualize their social studies pedagogy for immigrant youth.