Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'School of teacher education'

This mixed model study analyzed the relationship between school climate and teachers’ intentions to remain in their current position, teacher job satisfaction, and teacher absenteeism. All participants completed the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction Survey, and a personal questionnaire. Among elementary educators, significant negative relationships existed between restrictive principal behavior and disengaged teacher behavior and job satisfaction. Among middle school educators, a significant negative relation existed between restrictive principal behavior and teacher job satisfaction, and significant positive relationship existed between supportive principal behavior and teacher job satisfaction. This study led to a recommendation to focus on both teacher-principal and teacher-teacher relationships to improve job satisfaction among educators.

In this study, the focus was on determining leadership strategies that promote teacher empowerment among urban middle school science teachers. The purpose of the paper was to determine if leadership strategies are related to teacher empowerment. The emphasis was on various forms of leadership and the empowerment of teachers in context in restructuring the democratic structure. An effective leadership in science education entails empowering others, especially science teachers. In this regard, no published studies had examined this perspective on empowering teachers and school leadership. Therefore, this study determined if a relationship exists between leadership strategy actions and teacher empowerment. The significance of the study is to determine a relationship between leadership strategies and teacher empowerment as a positive approach toward developing successful schools. Empowerment is essential for implementing serious improvements. Empowering others in schools must form a major component of an effective principal’s agenda. It is becoming clearer in research literature that complex changes in education sometimes require active initiation. For this study, a quantitative methodology was used. Primary data enabled the research questions to be answered. The reliability and validity of the research were ensured. The results of this study showed that 40% of the administrators establish program policies with teachers, and 53% of teachers make decisions about new programs in schools. Furthermore, the findings, their implications, and recommendations are discussed.

School Capital has been shown to affect school setting, effectiveness and student achievement. Schools are a system within society that utilizes the social resources of social networks to develop an engaged school setting. This study applied a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu’s concepts of social capital. This study examined the school capital, the mobilization of social networks, and social resources available for student engagement at an intermediate school. This qualitative study used an interview protocol and narrative inquiry approach. Using NVivo software, eleven participant interviews were coded and analyzed for emergent themes in the areas of school capital. Four dominant themes emerged, these included: Obligations to the learning process; social networks that highlighted relationships between school members; a sense of trust between student and teacher; and positive relationships within the school community. The findings from this study suggest that feelings of connection to teachers, students, and their peers helped to engage students in the classroom. Students from the study indicated that high expectations, high interest projects, and socially engaged activities provided opportunities for student engagement. Implications and recommendations for practice and future research are also discussed as part of this study.

The state of Missouri has recently adopted new standards for educators. This study examines the perceptions of teachers in one Midwest school district relative to the current teacher evaluation system used in the district as well as a new model of teacher evaluation connected to Missouri's educator standards. To fully understand the perspective of the teachers, this study incorporates a mixed-methods approach which provides a variety of quantitative and qualitative data for analysis. Using survey data and focus group interview data, this study revealed that teachers perceive limitations associated with the current, more traditional evaluation process. Teachers also understand benefits to the new Missouri model, but also have reservations about its impending implementation. This study provides a number of implications for the district as it moves forward with changing its teacher evaluation process.

The purpose of this study is to explore and identify flow characteristics in experienced middle school and high school band directors in the context of their teaching. The research was conducted using a qualitative multi-case study through the use of non-participant observations, field notes, and interviews with observational video with stimulated recall to identify the characteristics of flow in a total of five experienced middle school or high school band directors. It was apparent from the findings that every experienced middle school and high school band director experienced flow characteristics at different times while instructing their bands; conditions that facilitated and inhibited characteristics of flow as well as qualities that sustained characteristics of flow also were observed. This research may contribute to improved professional development and preparation of band directors; it may help them to recognize and achieve flow and develop good teaching practices, thereby enabling their students to reach their learning potential.

The teacher-student relationship is a vital component to the social, emotional, and academic growth of students. Nationwide the one constant in teachers’ classrooms are the observations by administrators. Administrators play a supporting role for students and teachers in our modern educational system.

The present case study examined four middle schools in a school district in Southern California. Four principals, four assistant principals, six teachers, and one superintendent of human resources were interviewed. Classroom observations with administrators were also conducted. Previous terms used to describe negative teacher affect have been teacher bullying, student maltreatment, and student victimization. Teacher affect was chosen to delineate the behaviors rather than the intentionality.

The findings suggest administrators look to the students and their interaction with the teacher to help recognize positive or negative affect. Although no formal training takes place, much informal collaboration among administrators happens behind the scenes to decide on how best to support a teacher demonstrating negative affect. All participants agreed the best way for administration to encourage positive affect was by modeling it themselves with staff and students. Creating a positive school environment for staff and students was important and most participants noted the belief of positivity coming from the top, at a district level, and flowing down into the classrooms. The suggestions for the educational community are concepts that can be implemented simply and economically to support a positive learning environment.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare the perception of teacher self-efficacy of traditionally and alternatively certified teachers in a suburban school district with a graduation rate of 99%. A school district with a graduation rate of 99% is worthy of further study to see if there is a statistical difference in the self-efficacy of its professional staff who are traditionally and alternatively certified. Through a study on licensure and worker quality comparing alternative routes to traditional teacher routes, alternatively certified teachers have stronger pre-service qualifications than do traditionally prepared teachers with the least restrictive alternative pathway attracting the most qualified teachers (Sass, 2014). Teacher quality and effectiveness have been studied to determine their relationship to and impact on student achievement. The researcher surveyed 82 teachers who were certified through traditional teacher preparation programs and through alternative preparation programs. The results of the this study did not show a significant difference in the teacher self-efficacy of traditionally and alternatively certified teachers nor did it show a statistical difference in the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) score of those with three or more years of experience and who had previous work experience with children and adolescents. The researcher used two surveys to gather data—a demographic survey created by Thompson (2003) and the TSES, a Likert-type scale, created by Schwarzer, Schmidtz, and Daytner in 1999. The TSES identifies jobs skills and groups in four major areas: (a) job accomplishment, (b) skill development on the job, (c) social interaction with students, parents, and colleagues, and (d) coping with job stress (Schwarzer, 1998; Schwarzer et al., 1999).

Keywords: self-efficacy, traditionally certified, alternatively certified.

Small City School Districts across New York State are becoming increasingly fearful of losing newly hired, highly talented teachers. In the United States, 8% of teachers leave the profession annually and greater than 50% quit teaching before reaching retirement age (Sutcher, 2016). A study done on teacher retention decisions in New York City revealed lack of administrative support as one of the top five reasons for teacher attrition (Boyd, Grossman, Ing, Lankford, Loeb & Wyckoff, 2011). The importance of a teacher’s effect on student achievement cannot be overstated. Teachers have more influence on student achievement than any other factor (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017).

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the effect that high school principals have on the retention of high school teachers in Small City School Districts in New York State. This research examined the responsibilities of high school principals who are important to teachers’ decision to remain in their current role; determine which responsibilities exist in their schools; and analyze the correlation between the two. The leadership practices and principles that are defined in The 21 Responsibilities of the School Leader, as outlined by Marzano, Waters and McNulty’s book (Marzano, McNulty, & Waters, 2005) School Leadership that Works, are the conceptual frame for this study.

This study utilized anonymous survey results from 295 respondents currently employed in 13 Small City School Districts located within the Northeastern Regional Information Center of New York State. The findings from the research indicate that while all of the 21 Responsibilities used in this research are existent, respondents were neutral in their perception of whether any of them were important to supporting teacher retention.

However, when separating the results by demographics, there were significant differences by gender and years of teaching experience. Responses by females and teachers with less than 10 years’ experience demonstrated statistically significant differences, whereas they perceive a vast majority of the 21 Responsibilities used in this study to be more important than their male and veteran teacher counterparts.

Also, the Responsibility of Involvement with Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment ranked last amongst survey results as important to supporting teacher retention and perceived existence by the building principal.

Finally, all leadership behaviors used in this study demonstrated a moderately positive correlation between what was perceived as important to supporting teacher retention and perceived existence of the behavior by the principal.

We are experiencing powerful and exponential shifts in our economy (Schwab, 2015), marked by rapid advancements in automation, information technology, and robotics (Ford, 2016) and the displacement of millions of Americans in the middle class (Goldin & Katz, 2008; Keeley, 2015; Pew Research Center, 2015). Our current education paradigm is “no longer effective” (Zhao, 2016) to prepare students/graduates for a dynamic, volatile, and ambiguous future. These economic shifts have profound social and political impacts. In order for schools to retool and transform, trust creation will become increasingly important to school improvement efforts. The purpose of this study was to understand how teachers perceive trustworthy principal behaviors and what school practices promote trust between teachers and principals and among the teaching faculty. Using primarily a phenomenological methodology, this study examined trust-rich environments in two schools in Southern California. Two questions guided this study: What principal behaviors do teachers perceive as being trustworthy? What sorts of school practices are used to build trust among the adults in school? Teachers in this study were willing to be vulnerable with each other, to experiment with new practices, to initiate change efforts, and to engage in public problem-solving and collective decision-making. The findings suggested that teachers perceived the following three principal behaviors and school practices as important elements in creating trust: (a) Exercising Empathy and Openness, (b) Relating to Teachers as Whole People, and (c) Creating Practices of Voice and Choice. The findings suggest that we may need less industrial-style school leaders and more school leaders who are deeply empathic and skilled facilitators in leveraging the individual and collective strengths, interests, and values of their people.