Teacher professional learning is of increasing interest as education professionals continually seek ways to support 21st-century learners. Continuing education is necessary for teachers to expand their knowledge base and remain current on the latest educational research; therefore, professional development is a staple in the teaching profession.…

Student engagement is an important component in the classroom to enhance student outcomes. Student engagement helps a teacher not only with classroom management, but with the understanding of content by the student. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teachers' experiences of student-centered classrooms. Data were collected…

This qualitative case study investigates instructional faculty's perceptions of their agency, self-efficacy, and preparedness to personalize instruction in Competency-Based Education (CBE), a growing alternative to traditional higher education known for faster program completion. The study addresses a significant issue in the field -- as CBE…

The research described in this study sought to understand how teacher agency was influenced by engaging teachers in action research-based professional development. Teacher agency is a critical component of teacher professionalism and nurturing teachers to recognize and enact greater agency has the potential to elevate the profession of teaching. A…

The purpose of this study was to better understand multimodal usage in teacher professional learning. Thus, this qualitative phenomenology study was created and executed to better understand how leaders of teacher professional learning understand and implement modes in courses designed for teacher scholarship. Focusing on leader influences,…

The interplay between teacher knowledge and pedagogical practices in diverse classroom contexts is situated in teachers' identities as theorizers, interpreters, and critics of their own practice. Understanding how professional learning is mediated in this context is critical to both the construction of new knowledge and the application of…

Special education teachers play a crucial role in supporting the academic and social development of students with disabilities. However, many states, including Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana (the four states), have been experiencing a shortage of special education teachers in recent years, and retaining experienced teachers has become an…

It was not known if, and to what extent, differences exist in decision-making, impact, status, autonomy, professional development, and self-efficacy dimensions of teacher empowerment for high school teacher race, gender, and administrative staff gender composition among high school teachers in the Southeastern United States, as measured by the…

In this dissertation, I K-8 mathematics teacher agency and learning within a research-practice partnership (RPP) context. I asked three primary research questions: (a) How is teacher agency enacted within the RPP?; (b) what do teachers perceive they are learning from their participation in the RPP?; and (c) how is teacher agency connected 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…

Professional development should be linked to fostering best practice and improving student learning (Darling-Hammond, 2009). By providing ongoing opportunities for professional learning that focus on best practice, teachers are more likely to develop the knowledge and skills associated with high-quality teacher instruction and raising student…

This study aims to better understand how teacher leaders influence the detracking of secondary school schedules through the following research questions (a) How and to what extent do teacher leaders have influence on the detracking of the school schedule? (b) What influences teacher beliefs around tracking and how does professional development…

This study examines how teacher leaders across the Central Valley support the implementation of the English Language Roadmap Policy (ELRP) utilizing a qualitative, multi-case study approach. Relying on semi-structured interviews and a series of project presentations, this study examines teacher leaders' perceptions and identifies the attributes of…

The aim of this research was to address the gap in the literature on novice teacher leadership development from novice teachers' perspectives. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used to identify the differences that years of experience may or may not have on southern US public school novice teachers' teacher leadership identity,…

School principals play an instrumental role in the day-to-day running of schools, and their roles become more critical at times of education reform. The Saudi Ministry of Education (MoE) has been working towards a more decentralized system, whereby school principals have more autonomy. Under the Development Project (Tatweer) launched in 2007,…