Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2759
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Item ENHANCING PEER MEDIATION AMONG LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE LEARNERS DURING PEER LED SMALL GROUP DISCUSSIONS IN ELEMENTARY SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES CLASSROOMS(2023) Himmel, Jennifer Gisi; O'Flahavan, John; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Findings from qualitative studies reveal an array of discursive supports that peers employ to mediate language and literacy for one another during collaborative and cooperative learning. Quantitative studies posit that enhanced literacy outcomes can result from students participating in these peer mediated tasks. Studies also suggest that the quality of talk employed by learners during these peer mediated tasks can be measured, and that higher quality talk can lead to enhanced learning. However, no study to date investigates both the discursive supports offered during peer mediated learning and robustly describes how they can lead to higher quality talk among elementary students who are learning in a second language. Moreover, little is known about how student uptake of these supports differs for elementary learners according to their English learner (EL) status. As a result, teachers do not have the pedagogical knowledge necessary to leverage all the benefits that peer interaction confers upon elementary ELs specifically. To address this gap in the research, my study explored and analyzed the impact of discursive supports on 52 third and fourth grade learners from two linguistically diverse classrooms during peer mediated small group discussions within science and social studies lessons. My embedded case study qualitatively explored how peers provided and responded to discursive supports from those in both an instructional and a peer role during small group discussions on informational texts. My study also probed the relationship between peer mediation and discussions that were more exploratory in nature. I coded and evaluated the types of discursive supports offered by students identified as ELs and non-ELs during small group discussions. I measured the frequency of the discursive supports provided during peer mediation and investigated student uptake of the supports. Using classroom observation data, field notes, instructional artifacts, and interview data, I examined the relations among the frequencies of different discursive supports for ELs and non-ELs, focusing on those that occurred in talk characterized as exploratory. My analyses reveal that ELs provided similar discursive supports as non-ELs, including support that is more likely to lead to exploratory talk. The findings also suggest a relationship between student uptake of discursive supports during peer mediated learning and exploratory talk, and that student uptake of supports might be an important mechanism to explore further in order to better understand how peer mediation enhances learning for ELs. I offer recommendations for future research and for classroom teachers who wish to implement peer led small group discussions on informational texts in elementary classrooms.Item Structured Literacy: Teacher Understanding and the Instructional Implications for Reading Achievement(2022) Taeschner, Brandi Marie; Neumerski, Christine M; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Literacy is a critical life skill which impacts individuals and society. Knowledge to practice gaps in the field of education have existed for many years, specifically while teaching all students to become proficient readers. The intention of this qualitative study is to explore teacher understanding and perspectives about early literacy components used while instructing students to read. In 2021, eight K-3 general education teachers from the focus school LEOES, a Targeted Assistance Title I elementary school in southern Maryland, were interviewed and asked to provide information about the current status of their literacy instruction. Teacher reported information about evidence-based literacy practices implemented were explored to identify and suggest future professional development needed to address low literacy achievement and comprehensive literacy planning. As the literacy coach for this school, teacher input was gathered about current early literacy instructional practices through individual interviews. The self-reported instructional approaches described by the participating teachers were then considered in relation to the six evidence-based components of Structured Literacy to determine teachers’ understanding of these components and the challenges teachers identify which impact foundational reading instruction. Participating teachers mostly named balanced literacy as the literacy approach implemented with an emphasis on the five areas of reading. The Structured Literacy components were not identified or described as critical components of daily literacy instruction implemented at LEOES. Teachers identified challenges related mostly to curricular weaknesses and student factors, rather than the daily instruction provided to students. Implications for LEOES and District A were developed to build teachers’ awareness of the invaluable impact of the classroom teacher to implement a proactive approach to literacy instruction using the evidence-based components and guiding principles of Structured Literacy.Item The Relationship Between School Climate Dimensions and Reading and Mathematics Achievement Scores in Elementary Schools(2018) Camilleri, Vanessa A; Croninger, Robert; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)School climate is a malleable construct that schools or districts can utilize to target the individualized needs of specific groups of students. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceptions of different school climate dimensions and reading and mathematics achievement scores for elementary school students of different gender, grade level, and prior achievement. There is general agreement that school climate is a composite variable made up of many dimensions (Brookover & Erickson, 1975). For school climate to become an important avenue for school reform and improved educational practice, it must be defined in terms of specific contributing dimensions, then studied in terms of the relationship between each climate dimension and achievement scores for different groups of students. To examine the research questions, a two-stage quantitative analysis of data was utilized using school-level data first and student-level data second. Measures utilized included measures of school climate, measures of reading and mathematics achievement, and individual characteristics. The data analysis procedures included bivariate regression and multiple regression. The findings indicated that the most consistent school climate dimensions to have a significant association with student achievement in reading and mathematics were “safety,” and “interpersonal relationships,” as well as several of their subdimensions. Overall, these dimensions were more frequently predictive of mathematics achievement as opposed to reading achievement, male achievement as opposed to female achievement, and 4th grade achievement as opposed to 5th grade achievement. Continued study of the relationship between dimensions of school climate and student achievement could help solidify the literature regarding the efficacy of school climate as an adequate measure of school quality as it relates to student outcomes such as reading and mathematics achievement.Item Learning to teach for social justice in early childhood classrooms of privilege(2018) Blackmon, Laurel Catherine; Imig, David; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purposes of this study were to examine how Social Justice Education (SJE) was envisioned and enacted at an elite school and to examine what the experiences of the school’s early childhood teachers were as they participated in professional development (PD) programming around SJE. Through embedded case study methodology, the researcher analyzed the school as one unit, with the five teacher participants as bound cases within this context. Conducted in 2017, data included interviews with school leaders, curriculum documents, school documents, PD materials, teacher interviews, and classroom observations. These data were analyzed in the context of a theoretical framework of SJE developed from the literature. Findings indicated that SJE was largely defined by the teacher participants and the School Head as a way to create a welcoming school community and that observed classroom practices aligned with this definition. Administrators and the School Mission & Statement of Community Values, however, included taking action against inequity in the definition, a conceptualization of SJE that would be challenging to fully realize in the context of the school and professional cultures at the time of the study. The school and professional cultures were also found to be key factors in how teacher learning was experienced by the teachers. Each teacher participant positioned herself as an outsider to these cultures in some way, and each described this position as having an impact on her implementation of SJE. Participants described their learning experiences as both personal and professional, and they expressed that PD that supported development of their critical lenses and their classroom practices was impactful. Implications for professional developers and school leaders include the importance of understanding the school and larger socio-political context in which teachers are learning about SJE. Three areas of focus for PD were also identified: teacher self-knowledge, critical lens development, and training programs for specific curriculum and pedagogy that supports SJE. Implications for research include inquiry into the role of school and professional culture in shifting schoolwide practices to SJE and into the impact of PD that emphasizes teacher self-knowledge, critical lens development, and training in SJE curriculum programs.Item AN INVESTIGATION OF TEACHERS' REPORTED USE OF SCIENTIFIC PRACTICES IN ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION: IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENT OUTCOMES AND PRINCIPALS' SELF-EFFICACY(2017) Rangasammy, Godfrey; McLaughlin, Margaret J.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Innovative and ambitious efforts are taking place to implement the new vision for science education—the Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS) in the United States. To implement this new vision, teachers must reconsider how they use their science content knowledge (SCK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in new ways that require teachers to use the three dimensions, of the NGSS to deliver phenomena -based science instruction. The use of the science and engineering practices for students to make sense of the world will be at the core of this shift. This study was conducted in a mid-Atlantic state that is one of the leaders in the adoption and implementation of NGSS. All of the local education agencies (LEAs) are expected to implement these standards by revising their science curriculum and providing professional development to their teachers. Additionally, students in grades 5, 8, and 10 will be assessed using a new and more rigorous state science assessment based on the NGSS that will be used for school and district accountability by 2020. If students will be expected to demonstrate their knowledge of the new standards, science instruction aligned with the new standards needs to begin early. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to document the extent to which grade 1-5 teachers in one district within the state report using one of the eight NGSS science and engineering practices, specifically the development and use of models in their science instruction. Selection of this practice was supported by research that supports the development and use of models in elementary science instruction as an anchor for all the other NGSS seven science and engineering practices. This exploratory study utilized an online survey to document the frequency, barriers, and relationships and differences between teacher characteristics and demographics on the use of models to support students’ learning outcomes. Findings suggest that grade 1-5 teachers have a low frequency of use of models in their science instruction. Several barriers were identified and ranked. Of significance were the inequity of resources and inadequate administrator support. Several relationships and differences were also discerned. Additionally, several implications for improvement and reform in District Q were discussed.Item IDENTIFYING THE NATURE OF METACOGNITION INSTRUCTION IN READING CLASSROOMS(2017) Ozturk, Nesrin; Afflerbach, Peter; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Metacognition helps control cognitions through the actions and interactions of metacognitive knowledge, experiences, and strategies. Since 1979, metacognition has been extensively studied and found to be an effective tool for learning. In reading, metacognition is associated with improved vocabulary, reading awareness, strategies, comprehension, and task performance. Research confirmed metacognition can be successfully taught. However, it has limited influence on mainstream classrooms; classroom instruction lacks pedagogies of metacognition. Paradoxically, teachers’ practices have been assessed inconsistently and independent of students’ metacognition. For these problems, this study developed a pedagogy of metacognition (PMR) and examined the structural validity of its measurement instrument (ITMR). Following a comprehensive literature review, a PMR consisted of fostering students’ metacognitive knowledge, adopting goal-directedness, integrating language of thinking, scaffolding students’ strategic reading, encouraging their independence with strategic reading, assessing metacognition, and prolonging instruction. Then, scale validation procedures were followed. After scale items were generated, QUAID examination, expert, cognitive, and focus-group interviews were conducted for content and construct validity. Following the ITMR’s initial simulation, the data were collected from reading teachers in the United States of America. The data were collected by a computer-assisted survey method and a non-probability sampling technique. Then, the data were analyzed by a factor analysis method, Welch’s, and Spearman’s tests. The ITMR at elementary school level was found to have a unidimensional model accounting for 60% of the total variance (α.97). There were no mean differences in teachers’ self-reported metacognition instruction practices at any grade levels. All dimensions of the ITMR were strongly and positively correlated. By these findings, the significance of this study was recognized and its contributions to the literature were summarized. Also, the discrepancy between the literature and the ITMR and the congruence of metacognition instruction practices across elementary grades was discussed. Assessment practices were recognized as potential aids for classroom metacognition instruction. Future studies were recommended to improve the validity of the ITMR and understanding of classroom metacognition instruction. Educational implications aimed to support both in-service and pre-service teachers as possible. Finally, limitations with scale development, scale’s generalizability, data collection, and analyses were discussed.Item THE PERCEIVED RELATIONSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON TEACHER SELF-REPORTED USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS(2014) Tresler, Tiffany D.; Kivlighan, Dennis; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Beginning in 2012 teachers from 44 states have been challenged to make significant changes in curriculum and classroom instruction to meet the rigor of the Common Core State Standards. However, available research does not provide definitive methods to impact wide-scale reform, such as Common Core Standards adoption. This preliminary, quantitative study seeks to examine professional development and one component of the Common Core. The purpose is to determine if specific teacher perceived features of professional development are related to self-reported classroom use of the six English language arts (ELA) Common Core instructional shifts. The specific professional development features studied and the statistical analysis are based on the work of Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, and Yoon (2001), examining what makes professional development effective. The features are type (reform vs. traditional), duration, collective participation, content focus, coherence, and active learning. The ELA instructional shifts are balancing informational and literary text, teaching reading and writing through disciplines, use of complex text, text-based answers, writing from sources, and use of academic vocabulary. The study population consists of 89 elementary school teachers in one school system in Maryland who completed a survey asking them to describe their most recent professional development experience and their classroom use of the six ELA Common Core instructional shifts. The survey is modified from the Teacher Activity Survey (Garet et al., 1999) used in a large-scale national study (Garet et al., 2001) and a follow-up three-year longitudinal study (Desimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon, & Birman, 2002). The results of the correlation and ordinary least-squares regression analysis indicate that alignment, a component of coherence, and content focus are the only two perceived professional development features that are strongly correlated with teacher self-reported use of the Common Core instructional shifts. Specifically, the feature of content focus is likely to be a predictor of reported use of students reading and writing through disciplines and writing from sources. Alignment is likely to be a predictor of the reported use of teaching students using complex text. Content focus and alignment are predictors of the reported use of the shifts in total.Item Teaching Mathematics Through An Integrated Caring Approach: Examining the Process of Building Pedagogical Relationships in One Fourth-Grade Classroom(2014) Tseng, Nancy; Edwards, Ann R; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Although there is wide consensus in the field of mathematics education that the teaching and learning of mathematics is a social, interactive, and relational practice, less attention has explicitly examined the role of the student-teacher relationship in the classroom or why this relationship matters for student learning. A central goal of this dissertation was to understand how teachers build productive working relationships with their students through their mathematics instruction and investigate how this relationship influences mathematics learning, with particular respect to student participation and mathematical dispositions. Using practitioner inquiry and design-based research methods, I took up the role of teacher-researcher to detail and surface the work involved in establishing pedagogical relationships that aim to support ambitious and equitable student learning outcomes. I designed an organized pedagogical approach to mathematics practice called an integrated caring approach (ICA) and implemented this approach in one fourth-grade classroom during a 12-week classroom-based intervention. Drawing from the theoretical lens of care, the framework of ICA conceptualizes the work of building relationships along the three dimensions of personal, mathematical, and political care. Primary data sources include a teacher-reflective journal, transcripts of audio-recorded lessons, and student surveys and interviews, which were contextually supplemented by lesson plans and student artifacts. Findings reveal that pedagogical relationships served as an instructional resource that enabled me to make opportunities to learn more accessible for students and attend to students' mathematical experiences in the classroom. Analysis indicates the instructional practices that emerged from ICA supported students' willingness to participate in mathematical discussions and fostered the development of positive student dispositions. Findings also suggest that students' experiences with ICA varied across the classroom and were influenced by their conceptions of the discipline and mathematical competence, peer relationships, and the recurrent presentation of learning opportunities during the intervention. This research provides insight into the deliberate and complex work involved when teachers strive to establish and maintain productive relationships with their students in service of ambitious and equitable learning outcomes. Moreover, this study identifies caring pedagogical relationships as a potentially valuable instructional mechanism to make opportunities to learn more accessible for students in mathematics classrooms.Item Education for A Better World Imaginarium: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Global Education Lesson Plans(2014) Swayhoover, Lisa M.; Klees, Steven J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explores instructional materials available to teachers at the upper-elementary grades 3, 4 and 5 to teach about global social issues and develop global competence with their students. The choices that teachers make with regard to curriculum and instructional materials influence how their students will see themselves, construct their relationships with others in the world, and interpret world affairs. Global Education is broadly defined as activities in K-12 education settings related to teaching about world regions and about global issues in order to increase global competence. The introduction also broadly defines the closely associated terms: International Education, Internationalization, and Globalization. The remainder of the study explores the embedded sociocultural meaning of these terms and other not commonly understood terms, such as literacy, citizenship and nation-state; immigrant and transnational migrant, Third World and development; and lesson plan. The methods of critical discourse analysis--the study of language-in-use--are used to describe the enterprise of global education-as-discourse. Critical discourse analysis is described as an action paradigm, as much as a research method, analogous to the theories and practices of critical literacy promoted in the multicultural education literature. As a multidisciplinary approach, critical discourse analysis draws on the methods of critical language awareness and other tools of critical analysis as needed, to bring to the foreground embedded constructions and representations of the terms above, as represented in global education lesson plans. A discourse approach is used in this study to include the context of production of global education lesson plans as part of larger discourses of global education policy and practice that contribute to the continued marginalization of global education, especially at the upper-elementary level. This study collected lesson plans designed for children in the upper-elementary grades which were submitted by a small sample of teachers, discovered through a search of lesson plan databases, or produced by organizations engaged in development and humanitarian aid projects. Sixty lesson plans were coded for content and this study finds sustainable development to be the most prominent global education theme addressed. The study focuses on a subset of these 60 lesson plans and describes rhetorical means, such as the choice of vocabulary and metaphors, and the interplay of text with images in order to identify embedded messages reflecting the ideologies of the entities producing these lesson plans. It was discovered during this analysis that lesson plans for young children do not always provide adequate context or information to be able to explain the causes of global social issues and many invoke self-sufficiency discourses which perpetuate hierarchal relationships and embedded power relations. This study has implications for a) educators in K-12 settings who need high quality tools and preparation, b) faculties of education assigned the role of preparing future educators in K-12 settings, c) curriculum writers at NGOs producing curriculum materials, and especially, d) educators influencing global education policy discourses that conflict with the goals of critical global education for a peaceful, collaborative future.Item The Relationship Between Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge and The Mathematics Achievement of Students in Grades Four and Five(2014) Palmer, Jana Eileen; Koziol, Steven; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between teacher mathematical knowledge (content and pedagogy) and the mathematics achievement of students in grades four and five. This study used a quantitative approach using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Through a quantitative study based upon a teacher assessment of mathematics content and pedagogy and a student assessment entitled the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), the researcher measured the teachers' mathematical content knowledge, mathematical pedagogy knowledge, and analyzed the data to determine if there was a relationship between teacher knowledge and student achievement. The assessments were based on the Maryland state curricular standards. All teachers involved in the study were considered generalists at the elementary level. Student achievement was measured through MAP. Through the use of the teacher knowledge assessment, the study provided valuable data that could be used to inform colleges providing training to pre-service teachers, principals, supervisors, and those providing professional development to elementary teachers. Additionally, the study could be used to inform teacher education and education policy efforts intended to strengthen and support teacher quality while improving the achievement of students in mathematics.