The English learner (EL) student population has grown steadily for the past 20 years. During this time, the use of standardized assessments has increased as well. Teacher understanding of assessment accommodations that best support ELs is low, despite the research that shows the unreliability of standardized achievement tests that measure the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of various facets of middle school mathematics teachers' practical rationality on their instructional decision making as they plan to enact the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice, CCSS-MP1 (perseverance in problem solving) and CCSS-MP3 (communicating and critiquing). The…

Reliance on online media in providing educational opportunities has gained tremendous momentum in mathematics education. Genre of studies that explore pedagogical practices of mathematics teacher educators in the online environment is still in infancy. Using survey method and three in-depth case studies in this work I examined pedagogical…

Head Start is a federally funded program providing comprehensive social and early education services to children from low-income households and their families. Seeking to boost outcomes of Head Start students, in 1998 Congress amended Head Start's statement of purpose, specifying school readiness as the program's top priority. This mission change…

Previous research indicates that pre- and in-service teachers are not receiving adequate training to implement data-informed instructional decision making. This is problematic given the promise this decision making process holds for improving instruction and student learning. At the same time, many educators do not see the value of different types…

This dissertation is developed around two studies created with the goal of describing and quantifying current educators' knowledge and perceptions of reading assessment and subsequent data-based instructional decision making. Unique to the field, a critical component of this study is an emphasis on educators' development of "data…

African American history and how it is taught in classroom spaces have been a point of contention with activists, historians, and educators for decades. In it current form, African American history narratives often are ambiguous and truncated, leaving students with a disjointed construction about U.S. history. Additionally, the pedagogical…

This exploratory study sought to examine the relationship between teachers' use of formative assessment and their self-efficacy beliefs. Specifically, this study involved a quantitative analysis of the relationship between teachers' beliefs, knowledge base, and the use of formative assessment to make informed instructional changes and their…

Teachers and children who were in schools on September 11, 2001 harbor unique, personal, and accessible memories of the events that occurred that Tuesday morning. Educational research has attended to this (inter)national crisis in a multitude of ways, yet there exists a gap in the literature that attends to how today's preservice teachers remember…

Scope and method of study. This quantitative survey study examined teachers' understanding of assessment, their practices in assessing student learning and their use of assessment data to guide their teaching. Specifically, this study sought to determine if level of training had an impact on teachers' understanding of assessment, teachers'…

This study examines mainstream teachers' knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, and classroom practices in relation to English language learners. The study was guided by four questions: (1) What professional knowledge do mainstream teachers have about teaching English language learners, and where and how did they learn what they know? (2) What beliefs…

The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe how middle school mathematics teachers "make meaning" of proofs and the process of proving in the context of their classroom practices. A framework of "making meaning," created by the researcher, guided the data collection and analysis phases of the study. This framework…

The purpose of this study was to observe, describe, and analyze the aspects of school capacity within an urban turnaround school. School capacity factors included: "Teacher Knowledge, Skills and Disposition"; "Professional Community"; "Program Coherence"; "Technical Resources"; and "Principal…