Participating in professional learning and seeking professional growth opportunities are characteristics of effective teachers (Guskey, 2000; Polk, 2006). This study investigated how a teacher evaluation system can promote and encourage the professional growth of teachers. Specifically, the study sought to provide a better understanding of how…

This capstone investigates the integration experiences of new faculty at Somerset Community College (SCC) through Organizational Socialization Theory (OST). Acknowledging the multifaceted challenges that new faculty encounter, ranging from adapting to an unfamiliar academic culture to navigating institutional policies and building relationships…

This dissertation explores the lived experience of short-term substitute teachers in K-8 public school settings, aiming to deconstruct common assumptions and identify areas for improvement in support systems. A case-selection variant of an explanatory sequential mixed methods design was utilized. In the first phase of the study, quantitative data…

Adjunct faculty members are a predominant resource used to instruct at higher education institutions. Because of this, there are constant questions about the ability of adjunct faculty members to instruct on the same level as full-time and tenure-track faculty members. This becomes a question of whether or not adjunct faculty members are provided…

The enactment of a large-scale, long-term professional development initiative designed to enhance participants' knowledge base by influencing their identity trajectories as mathematics instructors is complex. Effectively influencing participants' trajectories could be enhanced by understanding the nature of participants' goal structures,…

This qualitative case study focuses on the impact of neoliberal education reform on an urban charter school serving students of Color. This study has two main objectives: to examine how neoliberal reform influences the goal-oriented actions of data meetings (DMs) in an urban elementary school and engages in a formative intervention methodology to…

This dissertation aims to center the experiences of first-year writing educators in one program with a shared curriculum. Guided by social theories of learning and scholarship and practices in writing studies and writing program administration, I conducted qualitative surveys and interviews with teaching-focused faculty and graduate teaching…

Novice teachers benefit from individualized and cohort mentoring to help them successfully navigate student teaching and the first years of independent teaching. However, schools are experiencing a rise in attrition rates post-pandemic, especially in math and science. Mentoring, goal setting, and community-building are deemed important for…

Research Focus: The purpose of this study was to determine effectiveness of goal setting protocol procedures implemented by three school districts on teacher evaluation scores using the Texas Teacher Effectiveness Evaluation System (T-TESS). It determined which school's teacher evaluation ratings increased and the effect goal setting had on the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate causes and find solutions to divergent teacher motivations and the consequences of that divergence.Divergent teacher identities and motivations are hindering independent schools from fully realizing their promise because teachers are not being as developed as comprehensively as they could. This study…

Given the expanding racial, socio-economic, and cultural divide between student and teacher populations in U.S. public schools, pre-service and early-career teachers need to develop the cultural competence necessary to navigate an increasingly diverse population of students. To do so, pre-service and early-career teachers must cultivate an…

The Model Classroom Initiative (MCI) was conceptualized to improve learning and IEP goal attainment while decreasing maladaptive behaviors in specialized instructional program classrooms. The MCI Coaching Model was utilized to assist teachers with the implementation of MCI components in three specialized instructional program classrooms, all of…

The operations within universities have become increasingly complex and challenging for various reasons. Notably, some of those challenges have been combated by developing talent within the organization. Although many professional development opportunities abound at Arizona State University and within the ASU Foundation, the options for developing…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, quantitative study was to examine the effects of implementing a non-evaluative teacher goal setting process to determine if there was an impact on student achievement as measured by MAP growth scores and if there was an effect on teacher job satisfaction. For this study, teacher job satisfaction was measured…

Decades of research have elucidated the practices associated with effective professional development (PD) for educators, yet evidence suggests that school practices in the United States do not regularly meet these criteria, and even when they do, they may not have the desired effect on student outcomes (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Didion et al.,…