In this qualitative case study, I examined how teacher instructional practices and beliefs around teaching literature were impacted after self-selecting into a sustained professional development opportunity called Bard Core. Specifically, I ask, 1. What are the perspectives of secondary ELA teachers as to how a self-selected, year-long,…

School leaders often view teacher resistance to change as willful defiance, but there is much more to understand if change agents are willing to peel back the layers of the resistance and dig deeper into the reasons why teachers may struggle to accept new innovations. This action research project is grounded in the notion that an intentional focus…

The aim of this mixed methods study was to examine how restorative practices might be explored by teachers in the context of self-designed and embedded integrated STEM and literacy professional learning to promote utilization of these practices as tools for orchestrating and nurturing strong and equitable learning communities within their…

This quantitative study examined the impact of professional learning communities (PLCs) implementing a "Focus on Learning" in a Title I school in north central Georgia. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact PLCs can have on student growth and achievement in fourth and fifth-grade mathematics, once teachers spend time…

This post-critical ethnographic study explored the curriculum of being/becoming a middle school teacher that 5 emergency-certified new-to-teaching teachers experienced through the quotidian interactions of their first fully-in-person school year. The curriculum of being/becoming teachers is increasingly important as the percentage of teachers…

This program evaluation of the University of Pittsburgh EdD program was conducted to determine potential changes and modifications to create a more successful EdD program. The study had three purposes. The first was to determine how the Foundations and Practitioner Inquiry courses were structured to accommodate areas of concentration (ARCOs) and…

An inaugural Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) learning community (LC) curriculum developed out of a perceived need for intentional faculty-student interactions to address personal and professional development and contemporary practice issues. As cohort size almost doubled over the past decade without commensurate growth in faculty, fewer…

The purpose of this Action Research study was to investigate and examine how expatriate educators can make western curriculum more relevant and contextual for Chinese students to increase student engagement and learning outcomes through professional learning communities (PLCs) at a Chinese international school. The study examined experiences of…

The literature on entrepreneurship education in Indonesian vocational high schools is sparse and inadequately evaluated. Future research should aim to enhance students' entrepreneurial competencies and intentions by integrating practical environments and experiential learning into the curriculum. However, transitioning to these methods presents…

Technical literacy instruction and authentic learning opportunities need to be implemented through cross-curricular collaboration into secondary ELA curriculums to bridge the disconnect between K-12 education and the demands of the 21st-century workforce. The Common Core State Standards as well as newly adopted legislation in Maryland, Blueprint…

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore how community college instructors described the influence of their technological and pedagogical knowledge in online course design at a community college in the Southeastern United States. The identified theoretical framework for this study was Koehler and Mishra's (2006) TPACK…

This non-experimental, descriptive study examined the effect(s), if any, that professional learning communities have had on the professional practices of secondary (grades 9-12) mathematics teachers in Boone, Clay, Putnam, and Kanawha counties in West Virginia. Also investigated were the potential differences in instructional-practice change(s)…

A qualitative research design structured this case study to investigate the motivations of seven speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to supervise graduate fieldwork placements. The purpose of this study was to determine motivational factors affecting the SLPs willingness to work with graduate students which in turn could be contributing to the…

Ongoing educational reforms and the accountability movement in public education can pose significant challenges for teachers as they strive to meet a critical, social-justice vision for the social studies. Teachers' continued professional growth and learning are viewed as the main factors towards achieving this goal; however, quite often the…

Recent national reports (e.g., Carnegie Corporation 2009; National Research Council 2012a) call for increased attention to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education to better prepare students for the demands of a scientific, technical, creative and critical thinking workforce (Honey, Pearson, & Schweingruber, 2014;…