Thesis (Ph.D.)--Nanjing da xue, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the college and career program, in one urban high school setting, was being implemented as intended by the school district. A mixed methods analysis was conducted using student PSAT/SAT scores, interviews, surveys, focus groups, classroom observations and anecdotal notes from the program director. The results were coded to show emerging trends and themes. The results of the analysis showed that portions of the program were being conducted as designed by the school district; however, of the four criteria required to be invited to bet admitted into the program, one was not being implemented correctly at the school site. The district vetted for students who had PSAT scores in the top 15% in the nation, WGPA over 4.0 and on the federal free/reduced list but first-generation students were not being vetted correctly at the school site. Although members of the first graduating class were able to secure admission into top-tier colleges and universities, only approximately 25% of the students in the program would be the first in their families to graduate from college. Thus, the program was not being implemented as designed and may not have been serving the needs of the target population of students for whom the program was designed.

No description available.

No description available.

Riley (1998) indicated that our nation's neediest communities, those with high rates of poverty and all too often large minority populations, suffer most from shortages of qualified teachers. Schools with these characteristics are often our Title 1 schools. Staffing these schools can be a very difficult task. Haberman (1987) attributed the shortage of qualified urban educators to factors such as racism, fear, a generally negative perception of what teaching in an urban setting is like, and the low percentage (5%) of faculty in schools of education who have urban teaching experience, which affects their ability to prepare teachers for urban settings. With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a new federal regulation, this task becomes even more arduous. This act requires that, effective the first day of the 2002-2003 school year, new teachers hired to teach in Title 1 schools be "highly qualified" (U. S. Department of Ed., 2002). This study was designed to determine why teachers choose to remain in the urban setting. The researcher surveyed experienced teachers (minimum of 10 years) in the Norfolk Public Schools District, a large southeastern urban school district, to determine the reasons why teachers stay in this urban district. The sample included all current teachers in this district with a hire date of August 1991 or before. The survey instrument used was designed to gather the following information: (1) why do teachers select urban school districts?, (2) why do teachers remain in this urban school district?, (3) what professional development activities are important in urban districts?, (4) what is the level of commitment of teachers who remain?, and (5) what is the relationship between reasons why teachers remain and their level of teacher commitment? Distributions of frequencies, mean scores, and standard deviations revealed survey results as they related to (a) gender of teacher, (b) race/ethnicity of teacher, (c) grade level assignment, (d) number of years of teaching experience in an urban district, (e) age of teacher, and (f) education level of teacher. A composite score was calculated for the teacher commitment section of the survey instrument. Also, a correlation matrix was conducted to determine the significance of the relationship between reasons why teachers choose to remain in this district and levels of teacher commitment. Other statistical analyses used were t-tests, ANOVAs, and Tukey post-hoc tests. The results of the study revealed that teachers choose to remain in this urban school district because they feel they have been effective in working with urban children; they have developed good collegial relationships within the district; and they have gained a sense of self satisfaction from working in this district. These reasons and several others were found to have statistical significance in teachers' levels of commitment. Also, teachers who were female, African-American, middle school teachers, with greater years of experience proved more likely to remain in this urban district. The findings of this study reveal significant implications to this and other urban school districts. Teachers have to feel some intrinsic motivation to remain in urban districts. Districts should use the results of this study to assist in developing opportunities for teachers to enhance their levels of self-satisfaction and to improve their hiring practices. Attention to these issues will increase teacher retention rates in urban districts. This study provides a foundation for future study in the areas of teacher retention, commitment, teacher certification and retention, and teacher quality. / Ed. D.

Alarming K-12 nationwide teacher attrition statistics have led reform efforts to focus on teacher retention (Olsen & Anderson, 2007), especially in urban schools where teacher burnout and attrition are high (Darling-Hammond, 1998). It was not until recently, however, that teacher resiliency, a strengths based framework (Henderson & Milstein, 2003), was viewed as an alternate lens of reform in achieving higher teacher retention. This study utilized a Likert survey to quantify if 284 elementary teachers in sixteen, public urban elementary schools in two urban school districts in southern California agree or disagree with the six most significant school factors linked to teacher resiliency. The six school factors known as collegiality/ collaboration, professional development, leadership, shared power, commitment to students, and teacher efficacy were identified by synthesizing the current literature on teacher resiliency and retention. The two most significant predictors of teacher resiliency from the literature, as found by multiple regression analyses, were commitment and values and shared power. This study also investigated whether resilient elementary teachers in urban schools self-reported any additional school factors linked to teacher resiliency, not originally identified in the literature. The significant additional school factors found in this study linked to resiliency were urban school dynamics, intrinsic motivation, and community.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of social factors affecting the academic achievement of secondary African American urban (AAU) female students in an urban school district. This study determined whether the AAU females in this study perceived the social factors in the literature review to impact their academic achievement, the relationship between those social factors and academic achievement, and the differences in academic achievement by socioeconomic status. One hundred fifty-eight (158) AAU female students from three high schools in one urban district located in southeast Texas participated in this study. A self-generated 51-item questionnaire (Students' Perceptions of Social Factors Affecting Academic Achievement in Urban Schools) was used to collect data for this study. There were three major results in the study. First, there were not any significant factors impacting the academic achievement of AAU females; secondly, AAU females did not perceive any social factors as significantly affecting their academic achievement; and finally, there were not any statistical differences between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. Specifically, the results did not reveal a difference between AAU 12th grade female students on free and reduced lunch and those not on free and reduced lunch in terms of academic performance.

This qualitative study examines the beliefs and belief changes of eleven elementary preservice teachers about teaching science for social justice. Using constructivist grounded theory, it forwards a new theory of belief change about teaching science for social justice. The theory posits that three teaching and learning conditions may facilitate belief change: preservice teachers need to recognize (1) the relationship between science and society; (2) the relationship between individuals and society; and (3) the importance of taking action on socioscientific issues. This research responds to calls by critical scholars of teacher education who contend that beliefs in relation to equity, diversity, and multiculturalism need to be explored. They have found that many preservice teachers hold beliefs that are antithetical to social justice tenets. Since beliefs are generally considered to be precursors to actions, identifying and promoting change in beliefs are important to teaching science for social justice. Such a move may lead to the advancement of curricular and pedagogical efforts to promote the academic participation and success in elementary science of Aboriginal and racialized minority students. The study was undertaken in a year-long science methods course taught by the researcher. It was centered on the preservice teachers – their beliefs, their belief changes, and the course pedagogies that they identified as crucial to their changes. However, the course was based on the researcher-instructor’s review of the scholarly literature on science education, teacher education, and social justice. It utilized a critical – cultural theoretical framework, and was aligned to the three dimensions of critical nature of science, critical knowledge and pedagogy, and sociopolitical action. Findings indicate that, at the beginning of the year, preservice teachers held two types of beliefs (liberal and critical) and, by the end of the course, they experienced three kinds of shifts in beliefs (minimal, substantial, and refined). The shifts in beliefs were attributed by preservice teachers to specific pedagogies. Yet their initial beliefs also served as filters to the pedagogies, consequently impacting their degrees of belief change. Therefore, this study reveals elements of unpredictability when engaging in teaching science for social justice.

This qualitative study examines the beliefs and belief changes of eleven elementary preservice teachers about teaching science for social justice. Using constructivist grounded theory, it forwards a new theory of belief change about teaching science for social justice. The theory posits that three teaching and learning conditions may facilitate belief change: preservice teachers need to recognize (1) the relationship between science and society; (2) the relationship between individuals and society; and (3) the importance of taking action on socioscientific issues. This research responds to calls by critical scholars of teacher education who contend that beliefs in relation to equity, diversity, and multiculturalism need to be explored. They have found that many preservice teachers hold beliefs that are antithetical to social justice tenets. Since beliefs are generally considered to be precursors to actions, identifying and promoting change in beliefs are important to teaching science for social justice. Such a move may lead to the advancement of curricular and pedagogical efforts to promote the academic participation and success in elementary science of Aboriginal and racialized minority students. The study was undertaken in a year-long science methods course taught by the researcher. It was centered on the preservice teachers – their beliefs, their belief changes, and the course pedagogies that they identified as crucial to their changes. However, the course was based on the researcher-instructor’s review of the scholarly literature on science education, teacher education, and social justice. It utilized a critical – cultural theoretical framework, and was aligned to the three dimensions of critical nature of science, critical knowledge and pedagogy, and sociopolitical action. Findings indicate that, at the beginning of the year, preservice teachers held two types of beliefs (liberal and critical) and, by the end of the course, they experienced three kinds of shifts in beliefs (minimal, substantial, and refined). The shifts in beliefs were attributed by preservice teachers to specific pedagogies. Yet their initial beliefs also served as filters to the pedagogies, consequently impacting their degrees of belief change. Therefore, this study reveals elements of unpredictability when engaging in teaching science for social justice.

There is a shortage of secondary mathematics teachers throughout the United States (Howard, 2003, Matus, 1999). This deficit is heightened in urban areas (Bracey, 2002; Howard, 2003). Understanding how urban teachers develop into highly qualified, motivated teachers of urban learners may provide guidance in decreasing the shortage of urban secondary mathematics teachers and provide direction for teacher education programs in preparing future teachers of urban learners. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the experiences pre-service teachers undergo during student teaching and how those experiences impact their views on teaching in an urban context, as well as how their experiences impact the construction of their identities as teachers of urban learners. Six secondary mathematics pre-service teachers who have made the conscious decision to teach in urban schools participate in this study. Phenomenology is used as a philosophical and methodological framework. The theories of teacher thinking, situated cognition, and social identity provided a foundation to examine to research questions: How do pre-service teachers experience student teaching in an urban context; how do pre-service teachers’ experiences impact their views on teaching in urban schools; and how do pre-service teachers’ experiences impact the construction of their identities as teachers of urban learners? Data were collected via initial interviews, journaling throughout the student teaching experience, and phenomenological interviews. Colaizzi’s method for phenomenological data analysis was used to develop textual and structural descriptions of the phenomenon. This method of analysis led to concluding that constructive student teacher – cooperating teacher relationships lead to positive views of teaching in urban contexts and collective teaching dispositions. Negative relationships caused an aversion to teaching in urban environments and individualistic classroom practices. In regards to the construction of an identity as teachers of urban learners, the quality of the student teacher-cooperating teacher relationship was a factor. When an affirming relationship was present the student teachers embraced some of the characteristics of their cooperating teachers. Whereas, detrimental relationships caused the pre-service teachers to dismiss the practices of their cooperating teachers and the rejection of any performance feedback provided.