UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2011 - 20142

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    THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHANGES IN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH ACHIEVEMENT AND TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF THE TEACHING AND LEARNING CONSTRUCTS DEFINED BY THE TELL MARYLAND SURVEY
    (2014) Pugh, Peggy Anne; Kivlighan, Dennis M; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This quantitative research study uses path analysis to determine relationships between changes in high school English achievement and changes in teacher perceptions of teaching and learning constructs as defined by the Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning (TELL) Maryland Survey. Using individual western Maryland high schools as the unit of analysis, 2011 and 2013 English High School Assessment (HSA) results reported as percent proficient are correlated to 2011 and 2013 TELL Survey percent agreement of teacher perceptions about the constructs of sufficient time, teacher leadership, school leadership, professional development, and instructional practices and support, as defined by the TELL Survey. Much of the research literature concerning the constructs is descriptive and qualitative, rather than quantitative. This study focuses on perceptions of teachers rather than the direct effect of the constructs on teaching and learning in high schools. The results did not accord with the volume of literature supporting the theoretical framework that sufficient time, teacher leadership, school leadership, professional development, and instructional practices and support are related to student achievement. The results demonstrate that there is a strong correlation between the HSA results in 2011 and 2013, and the same strong relationship between each of the constructs across those two years. Importantly, teacher perceptions of each of the measures of climate are high, but among the broad phenomena of success, teachers report sufficient time as the lowest percent agreement among the constructs. Interestingly, there is a statistically significant relationship between student achievement on the English HSA in 2011 and teacher perceptions of both school leadership and instructional practices and support two years later in 2013.
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    Teachers' Perceptions of the Sources of Collective Efficacy in an Organizational Environment Conducive to Collective Learning
    (2011) Williams, Letitia Marion; Mawhinney, Hanne; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Collective teacher efficacy has emerged as a significant predictor of student achievement and is theorized to influence teachers' actions in ways that improve student learning. Bandura's theory of efficacy formation posits that efficacy beliefs are formed from the perception and interpretation of four sources of efficacy. This qualitative study explored the organizational antecedents of collective teacher efficacy, specifically, how the organizational context of the school, conceptualized as a professional learning community (PLC) influenced teachers' perceptions and interpretations of the sources of efficacy. Teachers were interviewed and observed interacting with faculty and administrators. The study found that the PLC conditions shared vision, collective learning, and shared and supportive leadership had the most significant impact on teachers' collective efficacy beliefs. In addition, the student demographic, predominantly minority, low-income students, influenced how teachers conceptualized the teaching task and how they assessed the competence of their colleagues. Individual-level attributes such as years of teaching experience also accounted for differences in teachers' perceptions and interpretations of efficacy sources. Finally, the study found support for the importance of the principal's role in the development of teachers' collective efficacy beliefs.