Learning to teach is a complex process, especially for beginning teachers who enter the profession with little coursework or classroom practice. Reflection, coaching, and feedback are supports which have been demonstrated to assist new teachers in developing expertise. However, research on the nature of feedback and enactment of that feedback is…

This research illustrates a personalized account of the unique transition from a third grade classroom directly to a superintendency in a public school located on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. This self-study is about me as the subject as well as the researcher in the cultural context of a school district with an 89% Native American student…

In this ethnographic study, I explored two discussion groups and discovered Third Space elements such as cultural hybridity, counterscript, and sharing of experiences and resources contributed to a safe learning environment existing at the boundaries between participant personal and professional spaces. The groups operated under the auspices of a…

A "conference" is a familiar mode of work for academics. Conferences provide opportunities to bring professionals working in a field together to share and build knowledge. As common as conferences are, however, they are quite challenging to design in ways that truly succeed in galvanizing the attention of an academic community on a…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the use of social media among principals in the state of Indiana. Data from the national 2009 report, "A Survey of K-12 Educators on Social Networking and other Content Sharing Tools," were used to compare national results and data collected from Indiana. A survey was also created to…

This research study intended to discover the perceptions of 10 Illinois Generation Y novice high school principals pertaining to the effectiveness of their principal preparation programs in terms of how well it prepared them to lead in the first three years of their principalship, and what subsequent professional development they deemed necessary…

The purpose of this qualitative, collective case study was to examine institutional advancement vice presidents' reports at four-year public and private historically Black colleges and universities regarding their use of the five minds identified by Gardner's (2006) model to promote stewardship within their institutions. Gardner (2006)…

Non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty are playing an increasingly larger role in the instruction of students in higher education. They provide a flexible workforce with specialized expertise, often prefer to work part-time and frequently teach large introductory courses. Concerns about their treatment and the environment in which they work are often…

The purpose of this study was to understand professional development for paraprofessionals supporting students with ASD in Virginia. This understanding was reached through explanatory, sequential mixed methods design. Surveys and interviews provided insight into training practices, training needs, and training barriers. An interpretation of their…

The need for culturally responsive teachers in an increasingly diverse educational system is paramount. The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice teachers' developing understandings of culturally responsive pedagogy in a language arts methods class over the course of one semester. The study also sought to explore the…

Teacher preparatory programs need to evaluate their programs to determine if they are producing highly effective teachers. This study utilized the professional development school (PDS) program versus the traditional program to determine if there was a difference in the promise and effectiveness of pre-service teachers. The study analyzed the…

Addressing teachers' preparation for and cultivation of cultural and linguistic diversity, this study presents a linguistics curriculum designed for teacher education and a case study of teacher-candidates' learning. That teacher education must develop culturally and linguistically responsive teaching ideologies and practices, integrating explicit…

The role a principal plays in school improvement has evolved over time. The transition from principal as manager to principal as instructional leader began with and was driven in large part by the effective schools movement of the 1970's and 1980's (Hallinger, 2003; Zigarelli, 1996). Since the inception of NCLB in 2001, the leader's role in…

In its 2009 report "Teacher Compensation and Teacher Quality," the Committee for Economic Development urged business leaders to be active participants in school district deliberations about teacher compensation policies. The Committee for Economic Development (CED) noted that "business leaders can make the case to the public that…

This dissertation is a compilation of three separate works representing a wide range of issues related to pre-college engineering. Each work addresses multiple levels of concern for educators from national policy to specific classroom intervention. Although presenting different styles of writing--due to different journals requirements--and various…