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- All Subjects: Educational leadership
Description
Though National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) in Arizona have been identified as leaders on a national level, they do not have comparable opportunities to lead within their local contexts or engage in leadership and collaboration activities that align with Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Standard 10. The purpose of this sequential, mixed-methods study was to explore how the development of a teacher leadership community of practice for NBCTs might influence their perceptions of themselves as leaders. Social constructionism, action research, and communities of practice guided the innovation and a mixed-methods approach was used for data collection and analysis. Data illustrated NBCTs’ dichotomous feelings about leadership on local and national levels. Findings revealed that NBCTs need continued professional learning opportunities, beyond National Board Certification, to resolve feelings of isolation and fully meet all of the leadership and collaboration indicators for InTASC Standard 10. Participating in a teacher leadership community of practice (a) provided a professional learning opportunity for NBCTs, (b) improved NBCTs’ perceptions of teacher leadership and helped them define it as an active process of learning, reflection, and action, and (c) increased NBCTs’ readiness to take action as teacher leaders within their local contexts to evoke positive change.
ContributorsAdams, Alaina (Author) / Marley, Scott C. (Thesis advisor) / Koro-Ljungberg, Mirka (Committee member) / Allen, Althe (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Assessments at the international, national, state, and local levels demonstrate that students’ reading scores in Arizona lack growth. Current trends in education encourage teachers to engage in close reading as a strategy to help improve reading efficacy. The close reading process helps students learn how to analyze complex text. A mixed method study examined the effect of ten weeks of instruction in close reading on the reading comprehension skills of fifth grade students. Also examined were any differential effects of close reading on literary versus informational texts. Students in an upper income public school community were taught the specifics of close reading procedures approximately four days per week for about 30 minutes daily. Research-based procedures for close reading strategies were followed. Students self-reported changes in their use of strategies prior to receiving close reading strategies and again post-instruction. Six students were interviewed and responded to journal questions concerning their use of the close reading strategies to ascertain how they made meaning from text. Results suggest that close reading was beneficial in helping students to make academic achievements in overall reading comprehension, as well as growth in literary content. Data also reflected that students used close reading strategies to make meaning out of the text and used it to influence their overall reading comprehension. The discussion focused on the triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative data and analyzed connections to current research. Also explored were implications for practice and future research, as well as limitations and the role of the researcher.
ContributorsVictor, Laura (Author) / Caterino, Linda C (Thesis advisor) / Koro-Ljungberg, Mirka (Committee member) / McNeil, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The purpose of this mixed-methods action research study was to discover the hindrances and apply new innovative ideas to the problematic stages of student acclimatization and acculturation to an American education and Taiwanese host culture. The goal was to improve academic success during the initial first year, improve the acclimatization process, and stimulate the acculturation process.
The study applied a mixed-methods approach. Four new foreign students participated in a 12-week innovation. This innovation consisted of establishing a protocol for school staff, creating and implementing a student-led Welcoming Committee, training at the beginning of the school year, establishing guidelines and expectations for participating Welcoming Committee members, assigning peer mentors to new students, and providing opportunities for socializing and meeting people. The participants took pre and post cultural self-efficacy tests. In addition, qualitative data was collected from the interviews of the four participants.
The new foreign students showed an increase in cultural self-efficacy from the beginning of the innovation to the conclusion of it. Findings of this study found that students used past experiences in creating initial perceptions, these perceptions changed after interactions with the Welcoming Committee, ample assistance was given to the new foreign students throughout the innovation, and Welcoming Committee members were relied on to make initial contact with others due to initial difficulties in this area.
The study applied a mixed-methods approach. Four new foreign students participated in a 12-week innovation. This innovation consisted of establishing a protocol for school staff, creating and implementing a student-led Welcoming Committee, training at the beginning of the school year, establishing guidelines and expectations for participating Welcoming Committee members, assigning peer mentors to new students, and providing opportunities for socializing and meeting people. The participants took pre and post cultural self-efficacy tests. In addition, qualitative data was collected from the interviews of the four participants.
The new foreign students showed an increase in cultural self-efficacy from the beginning of the innovation to the conclusion of it. Findings of this study found that students used past experiences in creating initial perceptions, these perceptions changed after interactions with the Welcoming Committee, ample assistance was given to the new foreign students throughout the innovation, and Welcoming Committee members were relied on to make initial contact with others due to initial difficulties in this area.
ContributorsAyers, Aaron (Author) / Bernstein, Katie (Thesis advisor) / Koro-Ljungberg, Mirka (Committee member) / McGrath, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019