Theses and Dissertations from UMD

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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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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Factors that Influence Preservice Teachers' Planning and Leading of Text-Based Discussions
    (2021) Hogan, Erin; Dreher, Mariam Jean; O'Flahavan, John; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Text-based discussions are defined as the process of collectively building high-level comprehension of text among a group of students who use each other and text as sources of meaning. Teachers’ role in this process is two-fold: first, they ask questions that require extended exploration of text ideas and go well beyond literal, surface level understandings. Second, they support students as they do the heavy lifting of engaging deeply with the text and with each other by helping students link their ideas and those conveyed in the text together. Nearly 40 years of empirical research offers support for text-based discussion as an instructional technique with the potential to break persistent patterns of basic-level student reading achievement (Applebee et al., 2003; Murphy et al., 2009; Nystrand, 1997; Soter et al., 2009). However, this same research identified text-based discussions as infrequently used in classrooms, which suggests there is something preventing more teachers from utilizing them in the classroom. This two-study dissertation sought to identify and intervene on factors that influenced preservice teachers’ learning about and ultimately using discussion. I identified three factors: the ability to analyze text (i.e., to determine main ideas of text as well as text features that potentially facilitate or hinder students’ understanding of the main ideas); experiential knowledge gained from repeated cycles of planning, leading, and reflecting on discussions; and epistemological beliefs. Study One was an exploratory multiple case study of seven senior preservice teachers all enrolled in their capstone literacy methods class and working in their field placements. This study took a holistic look at the ways in which epistemological beliefs, instruction in text analysis, and repeated cycles of planning, leading, and reflecting on text-based discussions affected PSTs’ leading of discussions with students in their field placements. Results indicated that PSTs’ epistemological beliefs affected both their learning about and leading text-based discussions, they lacked specialized knowledge needed to analyze text and use this information to help students negotiate text meaning in the text-based discussions, and some gained experiential knowledge in the form of specific moves they could make to shift interpretive authority to students. These findings informed the design of study two. This study was quasi-experimental and situated in two pre-existing sections of a reading methods course for first-semester senior preservice teachers. One section served as a business-as-usual control group while the other section received a semester-long intervention into text analysis. Participants in the intervention section received direct instruction on text analysis including text structures and their common features, how to evaluate text complexity, and how to decipher main and supporting ideas. They also received instruction on how to use this knowledge to support students in text-based discussions. Results of ANCOVA analysis suggests intervention led to statistically significant improvement in participants’ ability to analyze text. Exploratory analyses shed light into the mechanisms behind the intervention’s effect: participants’ ability to monitor and respond to students improved significantly. Taken together, the findings from these two studies have implications for teacher educators seeking to create learning experiences that lead to preservice teachers taking up text-based discussions.
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    Preschool Teachers' Beliefs, Knowledge, and Practices Related to Classroom Management
    (2011) Drang, Debra Michal; Lieber, Joan A; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study examined preschool teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and practices related to classroom management. The rationale for researching this topic is based on the role of teachers in the special education referral process, the poor success rate for inclusion for children with disabilities who demonstrate problematic classroom behaviors, and the data on expulsion rates for preschool students. A multiple case study design was used to explore the following questions: (a) What are the components of classroom management in preschool? (b) What is the role of the preschool teacher in classroom management? (c) What are the sources of preschool teachers' knowledge about classroom management? (d) How have preschool teachers evolved or developed as classroom managers over the course of their careers? (e) How are preschool teachers' beliefs and knowledge about classroom management manifested in their classroom practices? (f) Do preschool teachers engage in classroom management practices that support or contradict their stated beliefs? The research setting was Hawthorne Academy, a private community-based preschool in a suburban county of a mid-Atlantic state. Participants included six teachers divided over three classrooms. Data were collected via interviews, classroom observations, and document review. Findings are presented as case summaries of each classroom and participant, a descriptive analysis of the setting, and themes from a cross-case analysis outlined in the context of the research questions. The participants in this study described teaching children the expectations of school as a component of classroom management, along with establishing structure and routines and fostering emotional development. Participants consistently cited other teachers as sources of knowledge about classroom management, but feedback from accumulated classroom experience was the strongest influence. There was considerable evidence to substantiate that participants' knowledge about classroom management came from personal and informal sources. Language was the tool that teachers employed to manifest classroom management beliefs and knowledge in their practices, and their practices were consistent with their stated beliefs. Findings are discussed in connection to pertinent literature, Bronfenbrenner's (2006) bioecological model of human development, and for their potential relevance to preschool children with disabilities who demonstrate problematic behavior.
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    Promoting Citizenship in a Postcolonial Space: A Study of Teachers' Beliefs and Practices in Jamaica
    (2011) Williams, Dierdre Alicia; Klees, Steven J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Evidence suggests that the values, attitudes and skills teachers emphasize in preparing students to participate as adult citizens in wider society are informed by the meanings teachers ascribe to citizenship and these meanings can in turn be traced to the contexts of teachers' lives. Given that teachers' practices are informed by their beliefs, these beliefs must first be understood. However, few studies have examined teachers' beliefs about citizenship or the underlying factors that inform those beliefs. This research examined the beliefs about citizenship espoused by a group of secondary teachers in the nation-state of Jamaica and the factors informing those beliefs. This qualitative case study utilized an analytic framework incorporating literature on conceptions of citizenship; and literature on teacher beliefs, including belief formation. The findings of the study highlight the ways in which the postcolonial context of Jamaica problematizes these teachers' understandings of citizenship and this in turn has implications for research and practice in the field of citizenship studies. The study illuminates the connections among: (i) teachers' beliefs about citizenship and about their students' needs, abilities, and life trajectories; (ii) teachers' lived experiences; and (iii) traditional race and class hierarchy in postcolonial Jamaican society.
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    Examining Teacher Beliefs about Diverse Students Through Transformative Learning: The Common Beliefs Survey and the Disorienting Dilemma
    (2011) Duncan Grand, DeAnna; O'Flahavan, John; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    As the diversity of America's public school students grows, current and future teachers must be prepared to meet the needs of students who are increasingly different from them ethnically, racially and socio-economically. Research indicates that one of the ways to impact teachers' instructional practices with these and other students is to address problematic teacher beliefs and assumptions around these dimensions. Using the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Diverse Students Initiative's Common Beliefs Survey, this research study explores Mezirow's Transformation Theory as a possibility for addressing these often problematic teacher beliefs. Specifically, the study looks at the research question: What was the nature of Common Beliefs Survey users' disorienting dilemmas (CBS)? The disorienting dilemma is the first step in perspective transformation as outlined in Mezirow's Transformation Theory. The study's participants included teacher educators and graduate and undergraduate education students. Overall, the study affirmed that disorienting dilemmas varied among individuals in terms of intensity; are often emotional in nature; and users' attributes were main contributors to experiencing disorienting dilemmas. The study also indicated that the CBS content helped trigger disorienting dilemmas among most of the study's participants by providing opportunities to reflect on their beliefs and assumptions and by providing information that challenged existing information or knowledge they had.
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    Urban Fourth and Fifth Grade Teachers' Reading Attitudes and Efficacy Beliefs: Relationships to Reading Instruction and to Students' Attitudes and Efficacy Beliefs
    (2004-04-30) Baccus, Ayanna Asha; Chambliss, Marilyn; Curriculum and Instruction
    Research on children's attitudes toward reading and reader self-efficacy indicates that they both are aspects of reading motivation and relate to achievement in reading. Additional research suggests that teachers' attitudes and beliefs connect to classroom practice, student motivation, and student achievement. Grounded in these conceptual underpinnings, this study focused on relationships between urban elementary teachers' and students' attitudes and efficacy beliefs in reading. Participants included 77 teachers and 183 students from one large urban school district. Overall, teachers and students reported positive attitudes toward reading. Teachers' also expressed confidence in their ability to provide quality reading instruction and impact student achievement. However, students, were less efficacious in their reading skills and abilities. Results also demonstrated significant relationships between teachers' and students' reading attitudes and efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, teachers' beliefs varied according to their years of experience, class size, and educational training in reading, and reading habits. Relationships existed between teachers' attitudes and beliefs and the amount of instructional time spent on various aspects of reading instruction, including comprehension development and reading strategy instruction. Teachers' use of instructional materials, alternative assessment practices, and grouping structures for reading also related to their attitudes and sense of efficacy. In particular, teachers' efficacy beliefs in reading related to more instructional factors than teachers' attitudes. Teachers believed that they could use reading instruction to make a difference in students' lives and achievement regardless of poor student motivation and other challenges. Teachers in this study maintained a high sense of efficacy with regard to teaching reading. Believing that they could impact student learning, teachers' adopted new instructional practices, sought additional training and education, and worked with parents. Findings from this study support efforts to provide teachers with positive reading experiences and quality professional development in reading. Given the many challenges urban teachers face on a regular basis, it is necessary to help them feel confident in teaching reading and able to express enjoyment of reading to their students. Helping teachers to develop more positive attitudes and beliefs in reading may have a powerful influence on their instructional decisions and ultimately, on their students' motivation and achievement.