Effective teacher professional development is abundantly important for teacher learning and for meeting the needs of students. With many forms of professional development, districts seek to get high-quality professional development to stretch their school budgets. The purpose of this study was to examine the perception of members of regional…

Research studies indicated that learning support professionals, which includes postsecondary developmental education professionals, often lacked opportunities for training to engage with the population of students they work with, as well as current instructional practices and/or reforms. While the research is expansive, it has focused on the…

Sparse information exists on how elementary teachers might use reflective journaling as a tool for professional development (PD) to enhance their teaching methods. The problem is that even though elementary teachers have access to a variety of PD opportunities, these opportunities are often insufficient for meeting individual teachers' needs to…

Due to the low academic performance of Liberian students, in 2013, the president of Liberia declared that the education sector needed to be overhauled. Consequently, the education minister launched a nationwide professional development (PD) program. Despite the PD initiatives, academic performance in an urban school district (USD, a pseudonym) has…

The focus of this study was to investigate elementary educators' reflection on the usage of their social media personal learning networks (PLN). The problem to be addressed in this study is that it is unclear how, if at all, elementary educators utilizing social media platforms for their personal learning networks (PLN) reflect on whether their…

Educational institutions have experienced growing pressures on retaining high-quality staff. The problem was resistance to learning new technology and low K-12 veteran teacher technology self-efficacy (Francom, 2020; Sabic et al., 2022), and the implications for changes in professional development leadership. The purpose of this qualitative case…

Teacher retention continues to be an issue in rural school districts nationwide. The problem is teachers are leaving the profession within the first 5 years. While there is evidence to show a correlation between mentorships and teacher retention, there is a gap in the literature on effective teacher mentorship program experiences and rural teacher…

Success of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework relies upon school-wide participation and buy-in. The problem was that failure to attain staff buy-in impedes the successful implementation of PBIS. While research on school leadership and PBIS separately is vast, a gap exists in the literature identifying leader and…

Veteran teachers leaving the profession, for a variety of reasons, increase the teacher shortages that impact school districts throughout the United States. The current research study was developed to address a gap that exists in the research regarding what types of administrative support could increase veteran teacher retention. The study…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how teachers describe their experiences with attending school required PD sessions and how those sessions influenced their approach to teaching. The study's theoretical foundation was Malcolm Knowles' adult learning theory's four principles: (1) involved adult learners, (2) adult…

This dissertation examines how a team of five elementary mathematics teachers and their administrators engaged in the iterative process of Lesson Study for professional development over the course of a year. I use Andzaldua's conception of conocimiento, reimagined for math teacher learning by Gutierrez, to analyze data and understand the ways this…

This research study examined teacher interests related to the professional development categories of Working With Diverse Students, Technology for Teaching, and Student Learning in the Classroom. Four research questions, each studying the between-group differences in professional development preference, were considered and one significant finding…

The professional development process for counselors begins during their formal training and extends throughout their careers. Reflective thinking is closely connected with ongoing professional development. When counselors reflect on their experiences, they can generate new insights to shape future practice. Feedback is another important tool for…

The majority of states have laws in place that require teacher evaluations and many states are tying teacher evaluations and teacher effectiveness to tenure and dismissal policies. Historically, the teacher evaluation process has been conducted by the school principal and has commonly been disconnected from the teacher development processes that…

This study examined technology use, administrative support, professional development, and future practice. The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a relationship between professional development opportunities and technology use. School districts in Hunterdon County, New Jersey were explored in this study. The study was designed…