The purpose of this study was to engage veteran mentor teachers in a professional development experience through the use of stimulated video recall (SVR) sessions to explore and enhance mentor teacher learning processes and outcomes during a student teaching practicum in an elementary school context. The concept of "mentors as learners"…

As teachers pass through career stages, they gain valuable experience and expertise. They may remain highly engaged or begin to become detached and at risk of leaving the profession. Losing teachers later in their career means they take years of experience with them. A multitude of experiences can push teachers from an engaged to a detached state,…

This study was designed to explore the impact of professional development in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) of secondary mathematics teachers using The DuFour PLC model in one Southeast Texas School District. Descriptive statistics were compiled based on survey data from 19 participants. Internal consistency reliability was analyzed…

High school science teachers are a unique subset of teachers with distinctive PD needs in content, pedagogy, and technology, yet there is scant research about PD from the perspective of secondary science teachers. This qualitative research study used narrative research methods with grounded theory to explore how a group of seven high school…

The following study addressed the raising of racial consciousness of White teachers within predominantly White settings given prior research indicating limited racial consciousness and the tendency for learning within predominantly White spaces to be someone ineffective and limited. The purpose of this research was to study how a White teachers…

Responding to the claim that teacher engagement in professional development is a waste of time, this study employed phenomenology as the approach to explore teachers' perceptions of the role of continuous professional development (CPD) in improving their instructional practices and student learning. A purposive sample of elementary teachers…

Students with learning disabilities at the secondary level struggle with failure and a diminished emotional capacity to learn. Research suggests that the cumulative effects from the discrepancy model of identification, Learned Helplessness, and learning anxiety may explain the long-standing gap between students with disabilities and their…

The problem that this action research study addressed was the ineffective facilitation strategies used in professional development for teachers. The purpose of the study was to determine whether reflective practices impact teachers' instructional decisions. The study used Cognitive Coaching, a reflective coaching model, as its intervention. To…

Computational thinking (CT) has great potential for enhancing mathematics and science lessons in K-12 education. Numerous studies demonstrate that under the right circumstances, CT integration in math and science can improve student learning and promote deeper understanding. However, teacher education currently does not include preparation for…

This phenomenological study explores the essence of ancestral knowledge from a belief in reincarnation and consciousness, as it relates to the lived experiences of diverse educational professionals, and its contribution to their growth and development. The study investigates the lived experiences of adult educators from four distinct teaching and…

Leveraging racial sensemaking and constructive-developmental frameworks, this study investigates how school leaders implementing culturally responsive-sustaining education make sense of racism, and how their racial beliefs change over time. Given New York State's mandate that educators implement culturally responsive-sustaining education, it made…

The COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 resulted in widespread school closures, leading to a rapid transition from traditional face-to-face instruction to distance learning. Educators who used this traditionally face-to-face multi-tiered instructional framework to provide services to students with disabilities faced obstacles with implementation due…

Access to and engagement with high quality and relevant professional development is essential for educators to keep up with the latest evidence-based practices in teaching and learning. However, teacher dissatisfaction with professional development offerings is an all-too common occurrence in the field of education which often limits the transfer…

This dissertation examines the structures needed to create a successful instructional coaching program to directly support teachers and students in the classroom. Districts spend billions of dollars each year developing research-based professional development opportunities for staff focused on increasing student learning (Knight, 2019; Moody,…

What are the attitudes, mindsets, and capacities that promote the full flourishing of individuals as well as our collective society? Based on a review of the literature on democratic education, the researcher posits a humble theory (i.e., a local theory in educational research) of the dispositions of democracy and then asks educators from…