Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Teaching For Inclusion: The Effects Of A Professional Development Course For Secondary General And Special Education Mathematics Teachers For Increasing Teacher Knowledge And Self-Efficacy In Geometry(2015) Wright, Kenneth; Leone, Peter; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The current study examined the effects of a co-teacher professional development course for increasing the knowledge and self-efficacy of special education and general education geometry teachers in an inclusion setting. The professional development course included instruction on Universal Design for Learning instructional strategies as well as similarity and congruence in geometry. The course was presented in a blended learning format and included in-person and online activities. The online activities used animated scripts of teacher instruction for collaborative discussion and decision-making. A multiple probe design across three sets of two teachers for a total of 6 participants was used in this study to demonstrate a functional relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The participants were six special education and general education geometry teachers from public charter schools in Washington, DC. Results of the study demonstrated that participants were able to improve their content and pedagogical content knowledge in geometry as well as their self-efficacy for teaching in an inclusion setting. Specifically, special education teachers demonstrated a greater increase in content knowledge while general education teachers demonstrated a greater increase in self-efficacy for teaching students with disabilities. The study suggests that providing professional development for co-teachers can enhance collaboration as well as increase content knowledge and teacher self-efficacy.Item An Analysis of the Relationship Between Elementary Princpal Self-Efficacy and 5th Grade Reading Achievement(2013) Lockard, Steven Andrew; Parham, Carol; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL SELF-EFFICACY AND 5TH GRADE READING ACHIEVEMENT Steven A. Lockard, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Carol Parham Department of Education Leadership, Higher Education and International Education Preparing students to be college or career ready in the 21st Century starts with the foundational skills they acquire in elementary school. Elementary school principals must work to ensure that, not only do they have a belief in their own abilities to provide this foundation, but that their school improvement efforts are reflected in the results of their students' achievement. This mixed-method study examines the relationship between elementary principals' perceptions of self-efficacy and student achievement scores in reading in a large suburban school district in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. In addition, the study explored leadership behaviors exhibited by principals in schools with high principal self-efficacy and high reading achievement. Data was gathered through the use of a survey (Principal's Sense of Efficacy Scale), principal interviews and teacher focus groups to answer the research questions. The researcher analyzed survey and interview data, utilizing the framework for the study -the triadic reciprocal causation model (Bandura, 1997). This framework provided a lens through which the construct of principal efficacy could be examined. The findings from this study revealed that there was limited evidence to suggest that principal self-efficacy and reading achievement were correlated. However, there was some evidence to support general common leadership behaviors of principals who report high levels of self-efficacy, in schools where high reading achievement exists. The teacher focus group responses validated the same behaviors selected principals identified. The common behaviors as described by teachers included the four larger themes of trust, empowerment, expectations, and collaboration.Item Depression in One or Both Partners and the Efficacy of Couple Therapy(2010) Juzaitis, Leanne Marie; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Although considerable research has been conducted on common factors affecting individual therapy, little research has investigated common factors in couple therapy. The present study examines depression in one or both partners as one of the potential common client factors affecting couple therapy. The study uses data from 55 couples who sought therapy for relationship issues at a large university-based family therapy clinic that serves an ethnically diverse population. The results suggest that, at least within the range of depression represented in this couple and family therapy clinic sample, there is no difference in therapy outcome between couples experiencing mild depression and those with minimal to no depression. However, there was some evidence that therapy was less effective when the male partner suffered from depression. This study is important in redirecting the attention of couple therapists to males' depression as opposed to the traditional focus on females' depression.Item Pre-Service Reading Teachers as Tutors: An Examination of Efficacy and Content Knowledge(2007-05-14) Rogers Haverback, Heather; Parault, Susan J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This research examined pre-service teachers' efficacy and content knowledge in the domain of reading. The Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) was adapted to create a domain specific reading TSES (RTSES). This scale was used to investigate whether the opportunity to engage in a one-on-one tutoring experience or the opportunity to observe children being taught reading related skills would result in differences in changes in efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers enrolled in a required reading course. In addition, this research investigated whether observation or tutoring experiences in reading were related to changes in growth of pedagogical knowledge in reading. Analyses of pre-test and post-test data showed that both the tutoring and observation groups rated themselves higher in the area of reading teacher efficacy and grew in their reading content knowledge from the beginning of the course to the end. However, there was only a marginally significant difference in the amount of change between the tutors and observers in their total RTSES and RTSES reading motivation scores, and there was not a difference between group in RTSES reading assessment efficacy or reading content knowledge scores. Both of the marginal differences, total RTSES and the RTSES reading motivation efficacy subscale, showed that the observers rated themselves higher in efficacy beliefs than the tutors after participation in this study. Additional analyses showed that reading efficacy and content knowledge were not correlated in either group, and that tutors with high pre-test efficacy scores did not use significantly more instructional practices while tutoring than those with low pre-test efficacy scores. However, 100% of tutors felt that the field experience should be implemented in future classes opposed to 57% of the observers. While the tutors had a hands-on experience that they found valuable, the observers who did not have a hands-on experience reported higher post-test efficacy scores. However, one may question on what these efficacy scores were based. This question suggests that there is a need for more research to further investigate whether this field experience is a benefit to pre-service teachers..