Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2759
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Item PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SECONDARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN PARKER COUNTY(2011) Wilson, Peggy Lynn; McCaleb, Joseph L.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)State and local learning standards consistently call for student proficiency in standard English usage and grammar. NCTE standards for secondary teachers (grades 7-12) include expectations for English language knowledge, including English grammar. High stakes tests, as well, both for teacher candidates and secondary students, include assessments of grammatical knowledge and proficiency. However, there have been few studies of ELA teachers' attitudes toward or practices in grammar instruction over the past 30 to 40 years (see Godley [2007] and Smagorinsky [2011]), an absence not surprising given NCTE perspectives and research (e.g., Braddock, Lloyd-Jones, and Schoer [1963], Hillocks [1986], and Weaver [1996]) that question the efficacy of teaching grammar as a means for improving writing ability. After the close of the first quarter of the 2008-2009 school year, I surveyed 369 English/language arts teachers from a large, highly-diverse, semi-urban mid-Atlantic public school system to determine their attitudes toward and practices in the teaching of grammar. Results based on 91 completed surveys from teachers in grades 7-12 indicate that nearly 85% of Parker County English/language arts teachers who responded include grammar and language study -- and about half are regularly doing so. Just over half include it one or two days per week, and half give it less than one-quarter of their (average) 81-minute period. Common practices include selected-response grammar exercises, sentence combining and transformation, and use of students' own writing as material for review or editing, all with an "emphasis on standard American English." Nearly 72% believe students who are proficient in standard English will have greater opportunity for success in higher education or the workplace, but only 36% welcome all students' dialects/language as valid in the classroom -- and only 15% would like students to acknowledge and respect language diversity. Although the findings indicate little direct association between teachers' attitudes and practices regarding grammar instruction, they nonetheless raise serious questions about attitudes toward students' personal dialect and language and the decisions teachers make regarding grammar instruction in their classrooms.Item Explicit Instruction on Rhetorical Patterns and Student-Constructed Graphic Organizers: The Impact on Sixth-Grade Students' Comprehension of Social Studies Text(2011) Scott, Deborah Beth; Dreher, Mariam J; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Using a pretest, posttest two group design, this study investigated the effect of explicit instruction on rhetorical patterns and using those patterns to represent the content graphically on sixth-grade students’ ability to comprehend social studies text. Students in 13 classes from four middle schools in Pennsylvania received either explicit instruction in identifying rhetorical patterns found in social studies textbooks and representing that text graphically or routine social studies instruction. Routine social studies instruction was identified as the instructional activities documented during observations conducted six weeks prior to the intervention. When the intervention began, intervention group students learned to identify rhetorical patterns, construct graphic organizers using the rhetorical patterns, and write summaries of textbook content. Comparison group students continued with routine social studies instruction. All students were assessed with (a) pre- and posttests in which they constructed graphic organizers and wrote summaries using social studies passages and (b) comprehension quizzes during on-going instruction. Randomly selected students from each group engaged in think-aloud tasks at the end of the study. The pre- and posttests results indicated a statistically significant interaction between time and group for both graphic organizer construction (with a very large effect size) and summary writing (with a moderate effect size). Intervention group students outperformed students in the routine social studies group in both constructing graphic organizers based on rhetorical patterns and writing complete summaries. For the comprehension quizzes, students receiving routine social studies instruction outperformed students in the intervention group when answering multiple-choice and essay questions requiring recall of content. Think-aloud responses demonstrated that students in the intervention group were able to graphically represent social studies textbook content using rhetorical patterns as well as transfer that knowledge to a textbook from a different domain while students in the comparison group recognized there was a structure to the content of the text but did not accurately represent that content graphically according to the appropriate rhetorical pattern. Observational data showed intervention students were more engaged with graphic organizers and work samples demonstrated they were able to identify key information in the text and represent it in graphic form.Item SURVIVING AND THRIVING: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO THE LIVES OF FIVE FILIPINA TEACHERS IN A U.S. URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT(2011) Nones-Austria, Maria Dolores; HUGHES, SHERICK; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study centers five Filipina non-native English speaking (NNES) teachers, who teach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). It explores how we construct our identities as persons and as teachers who are surviving and thriving in one U.S. public urban school district. This study emphasizes the meanings of our experiences as language learners and as ESOL teachers in relation to our identity construction, and highlights the effects of cultural, linguistic and interpersonal elements on our identity transformation. The specific purpose of this study is to seek alternatives to (1) develop and enrich our understanding of the diverse learning and teaching journeys of Filipina NNES ESOL teachers that Mid-Atlantic Public Schools (MAPS) hired between 2005 and 2006, (2) understand and co-construct our identities as supported and marginalized, (3) look at other Filipina NNES ESOL teachers to juxtapose their experiences to my own, as a person with an insider/outsider perspective, and (4) to use our narratives to inform MAPS and other U.S. school district's efforts to recruit, support and retain Filipino teachers as well as other international teachers. Through narrative life history interviews, email follow-up interviews, informal conversations, and questionnaires, the study explored Filipina NNES ESOL teachers' experiences of becoming and being ESOL teachers in MAPS. The study hopes to encourage local and state policy makers and curriculum developers to design professional development plans for Filipino teachers, and to encourage researchers to do further research on the lived experiences of other K-12 international teachers; which may include groups such as Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Hispanic, Indians, Nigerians, Jamaicans, etc. through additional qualitative research designs like case study, portraiture and ethnography.Item Government Support for 'Private Schools for the Poor': a case study in Mathare informal settlement, Kenya(2011) Wildish, Janet; Klees, Steve; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This case study provides an exploration of the Ministry of Education's strategy of engagement with non-formal schools in Kenya, and the responses made by these schools. Non-formal schools in the informal settlements of Nairobi represent a form of low-cost private schooling, which is found in other urban centers in less developed countries. The ministry's program includes: school verification and validation, changes in school management and the provision of instructional materials' grants. The ministry began supporting NFS through an investment program included in the first Kenya Education Sector Support Program 2005-2010. The study findings have been directed towards the question of whether this government support to NFS influences the educational experience of the poor to their advantage. Some of the advantages identified include: greater financial stability in supported schools, which can be used to provide more concessionary places; eligibility of validated NFS for a national school feeding program through greater school legitimization; stronger support for school survival from parents and among pupils themselves because of the expectation of better academic results; higher teacher morale and greater teacher confidence; increased access to national exams through more NFS being granted exam center status and a reduction in exam fees and greater potential access to secondary school through an improvement in exam results. Disadvantages that are described include: the continuation of fees at the same levels as before the MoE support program; no substantive improvements in school conditions other than in teaching and learning materials; high rates of pupil transfer and an associated selection process, which is based on academic ability; tolerance of high rates of class repetition; increased academic pressure, translating into long school hours, class repetition and potential dropping out; modes of punishment that are not acceptable in public schools; deterioration of teacher: pupil ratio and the diversion of funds and support from other forms of non-formal education. The findings suggest that the MoE support program has resulted in some improvements in equality between pupils in NFS and those attending public primary schools, but has done little to address issues of equity amongst children growing up in these disadvantaged circumstances.Item Newly Qualified Teachers' Visions of Science Learning and Teaching(2011) Roberts, Deborah L.; van Zee, Emily H; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigated newly qualified teachers' visions of science learning and teaching. The study also documented their preparation in an elementary science methods course. The research questions were: What educational and professional experiences influenced the instructor's visions of science learning and teaching? What visions of science learning and teaching were promoted in the participants' science methods course? What visions of science learning and teaching did these newly qualified teachers bring with them as they graduated from their teacher preparation program? How did these visions compare with those advocated by reform documents? Data sources included participants' assignments, weekly reflections, and multi-media portfolio finals. Semi-structured interviews provided the emic voice of participants, after graduation but before they had begun to teach. These data were interpreted via a combination of qualitative methodologies. Vignettes described class activities. Assertions supported by excerpts from participants' writings emerged from repeated review of their assignments. A case study of a typical participant characterized weekly reflections and final multi-media portfolio. Four strands of science proficiency articulated in a national reform document provided a framework for interpreting activities, assignments, and interview responses. Prior experiences that influenced design of the methods course included an inquiry-based undergraduate physics course, participation in a reform-based teacher preparation program, undergraduate and graduate inquiry-based science teaching methods courses, participation in a teacher research group, continued connection to the university as a beginning teacher, teaching in diverse Title 1 schools, service as the county and state elementary science specialist, participation in the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, service on a National Research Council committee, and experience teaching a science methods course. The methods course studied here emphasized reform-based practices, science as inquiry, culturally responsive teaching, scientific discourse, and integration of science with technology and other disciplines. Participants' writings and interview responses articulated visions of science learning and teaching that included aspects of reform-based practices. Some participants intentionally incorporated and implemented reform-based strategies in field placements during the methods course and student teaching. The strands of scientific proficiency were evident in activities, assignments and participants' interviews in varying degrees.Item A Portrait of Practitioners' Understanding and the Use of Freirean Pedagogy in a Summer Camp for Girls in Iran(2010) Abdi Dezfooli, Nassim; Mawhinney, Hanne B; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the summer of 2008, I went to Tehran to conduct a one-week Freirean summer camp in collaboration with a team of Iranian and Iranian-American practitioners in order to create a liberatory space for adolescent girls to practice expression skills. Bartlett (2005) identifies that "understanding the meaning of dialog" and "transforming traditional teacher-student relations" (p. 345) are among the most challenging aspects of Freirean pedagogy for practitioners around the world. Examining Freirean approach in theory and practice, I use Bartlett's (2005) study as a heuristic framework for my research to portray how the practitioners in the summer camp understood the key concepts of Freirean pedagogy. In this study, I used portraiture methodology to draw a picture of the practitioners' understanding and employment of Freirean pedagogy. Portraiture is a qualitative narrative inquiry methodology that paints individuals and their detailed and complex socio-historical contexts with words. Painting with participants' words, I portray how sociopolitical complexities of the society influence practitioners' understanding and employing of Freirean approach in theory and practice.Item Can STEM Initiatives Be Social Justice Oriented: An Analysis of Urban School Reform Via Smaller Learning Communities(2010) Mete, Ryan Jared; MacDonald, Victoria-Maria; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)STEM is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. STEM academies are theme-based curricula that have gained considerable attention on the national level. The intended outcome of a STEM curriculum is to raise career awareness and increase college and graduate level enrollment in science and engineering in order to ultimately restore the United States' position as a worldwide leader in technological innovation. In 2008, a group of middle school teachers in Maryland designed a STEM academy to address the achievement gap between African American and white students at their school. The founding teachers used a combination of thematic curriculum and structural redesign via a process called "looping" to create a school-within-a-school model that focused on average-performing and at-risk students. This study explores the process these teachers underwent to implement a differentiated STEM program to a diverse student body in an urban middle school.Item An Examination of Middle School Problem-Solving Teams(2010) Meshbesher, Nicole E.; Rosenfield, Sylvia; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigated a middle school grade level Problem-Solving Teams (PST) model, Kid Talk (KT) teams, from one school district within the Mid-Atlantic region. Specifically, the fidelity of implementation of the problem solving process (PSP), student goal attainment for students who were referred to and received interventions from the KT team, and KT team members' perception and satisfaction with the KT team process were examined. Data collected included submitted case documentation, responses to an online electronic survey, and process observations of selected KT teams. A scoring rubric was used to measure fidelity of implementation of 8 PSP components and student goal attainment. A total of 59 cases from 16 middle schools, an average of 3 to 4 cases from each school, were reviewed. Mean ratings revealed less than desired levels of fidelity of implementation across the 8 PSP components, ranging from a low of 1.78 (intervention skill development) to a high of 3.48 (baseline data) where a score of 1 indicated low fidelity and a score of 5 indicated high fidelity. The mean rating of student goal attainment was modest (M = 3.33) where a score of 1 indicated no progress and a score of 5 indicated that the goal was obtained. Significant positive relationships were found between 2 PSP components and goal attainment. KT team members across 16 middle schools completed an 18-item online electronic survey of their perceptions of the team. Mean ratings revealed less than robust KT team member satisfaction with student outcomes pervasive across schools. However, KT team members showed a positive level of comfort referring students to their KT team. Recommendations for changes in team models and for future research were presented.Item Teachers and Teaching: Conceptualizing Quality Education in Rural Nicaragua(2009) Sanyal, Anita; Klees, Steven; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Policy discourses reflected in the World Declaration on Education for All (EFA) (Inter-Agency Commission,1990) and the subsequent Dakar Framework for Action and EFA: The Quality Imperative (UNESCO, 2001, 2004), have called for the improvement of the quality of basic education. These discourses emphasize student-centered pedagogical approaches in an effort to improve quality of education at the classroom level. The Nicaraguan government has sought to improve educational quality through the promotion of such pedagogies (MECD, 2000, 2001, 2006a). However, research on teaching in contexts of reform asserts that many factors influence how teachers understand and implement instructional reform, and highlights the difficulties in challenging existing teacher-centered practices (Cohen, 1990; O'Sullivan, 2004; Smylie, 1996). This dissertation relies on case studies of four primary school teachers to explore how each teacher conceptualizes and enacts "quality" instruction in the context of reform in rural schools in Nicaragua. Findings from the case studies illuminate the complexities that teachers face in their daily work. Each of the four teachers, to varying degrees and in somewhat different ways, was committed to adopting or adapting the reform pedagogies. However, for them, what happens in the classroom is largely informed by local contextual factors. These findings offer insights into how teachers understand and enact "quality" teaching. Such insights can be used in planning and implementing professional development and other initiatives, especially as the Ministry of Education and international donors continue to promote initiatives aimed at improving the quality of education at the classroom level. This study also can inform the process for evaluating policies by providing an in depth description of teaching and the challenges that teachers face in putting into practice ideas being promoted globally as critical for quality instruction. Finally this study contributes to theorizing and research concerned with teachers' ideas and practices, by examining key issues in a context that is less-often in focus in the literature - rural teachers in a developing country context.Item An Analysis of the Elements of the Professional Learning Communities Institute and Its Relationship to the Sources of Collective Efficacy(2009) Marks, Susan Faye; Parham, Carol S.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Educating students to meet high accountability standards and even more importantly preparing students to be competitive in a complex and demanding world requires schools to become high functioning organizations. This mixed-method study examined the relationship between professional learning communities and the collective efficacy in 10 elementary schools that participated in the Professional Learning Communities Institute (PLCI) in a large suburban school district outside Washington, DC. The implementation of the PLCI allowed the researcher to analyze these relationships in schools receiving structured and deliberate professional development in becoming professional learning communities as well as the effect this experience had on the beliefs of the group about their ability to make a difference for their students. The researcher analyzed survey and interview data through the lens of the characteristics of professional learning communities as outlined by Hord (1997) and the sources of efficacy as defined by Bandura (1997). The findings from this study revealed a significant relationship between the five dimensions of professional learning communities and collective efficacy. The characteristics of professional learning communities of shared leadership, shared vision, collective learning, supportive conditions, and shared personal practice work in a school organization to strengthen the collective efficacy of staff. The professional development that the schools received in becoming professional learning communities promoted collective efficacy. Although the 10 schools demonstrated strong collective efficacy, in general, there were some differences between schools. This study found that some variables influenced the perceived collective efficacy in the schools surveyed. There was a moderate inverse significant relationship between poverty level and collective efficacy. Low-poverty schools had higher collective efficacy than high-poverty schools. The length of time that teachers were in their current school was mildly related to the collective efficacy in that school. There was a negative mild relationship between the teachers' number of years of experience and the poverty level of the school.