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 “I’M NOT GOING TO LET A SYSTEM, THAT’S DESIGNED AGAINST ME, BEAT ME”: EXAMINING BLACK TEACHERS’ RACIAL LITERACY DEVELOPMENT AND TEACHER ACCOUNTABILITY POLICY NAVIGATION FOR ANTI-RACIST PEDAGOGIES(2022) Ghebreab, Nardos; Brown, Tara M.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Anti-racist pedagogies help students critically examine and critique racial injustice and oppressive structures that shape their lived experiences. Many teacher preparation programs encourage teachers to employ anti-racist pedagogies—usually Culturally Relevant Pedagogy or Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy. However, teacher education literature suggests teacher preparation programs provide Black teachers with inadequate training on anti-racism, and research on K-12 accountability policies outlines various barriers facing Black teachers who enact anti-racist pedagogies. Yet, some Black teachers still find ways to employ these pedagogies. Using frameworks such as Racial Literacy Development, Structure-Culture-Agency framework, and Critical Race Theory, I develop a three-paper dissertation to explore two phenomena among Black teachers: (1) lived experiences that shape their racial literacy development, and (2) strategies to navigate teacher accountability policies. This examination will expand the growing body of research on ways to transform teacher education and K-12 accountability policies to more intentionally support Black teachers in employing anti-racist pedagogies.Item EXAMINING SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TEACHER CANDIDATES’ LEARNING AND ENACTMENT OF MATHEMATICS TEACHING PRACTICES: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY(2016) Grosser-Clarkson, Dana Lynn; Chazan, Daniel; Valli, Linda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This qualitative case study explored three teacher candidates’ learning and enactment of discourse-focused mathematics teaching practices. Using audio and video recordings of their teaching practice this study aimed to identify the shifts in the way in which the teacher candidates enacted the following discourse practices: elicited and used evidence of student thinking, posed purposeful questions, and facilitated meaningful mathematical discourse. The teacher candidates’ written reflections from their practice-based coursework as well as interviews were examined to see how two mathematics methods courses influenced their learning and enactment of the three discourse focused mathematics teaching practices. These data sources were also used to identify tensions the teacher candidates encountered. All three candidates in the study were able to successfully enact and reflect on these discourse-focused mathematics teaching practices at various time points in their preparation programs. Consistency of use and areas of improvement differed, however, depending on various tensions experienced by each candidate. Access to quality curriculum materials as well as time to formulate and enact thoughtful lesson plans that supported classroom discourse were tensions for these teacher candidates. This study shows that teacher candidates are capable of enacting discourse-focused teaching practices early in their field placements and with the support of practice-based coursework they can analyze and reflect on their practice for improvement. This study also reveals the importance of assisting teacher candidates in accessing rich mathematical tasks and collaborating during lesson planning. More research needs to be explored to identify how specific aspects of the learning cycle impact individual teachers and how this can be used to improve practice-based teacher education courses.Item Working with Student Teachers: A Mixed Methods Study to Examine the Roles and Self-Identified Dispositions of Cooperating Teachers(2016) Rivera, Danielle Alliene; Valli, Linda R; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A critical component of teacher education is the field experience during which candidates practice under the supervision of experienced teachers. Programs use the InTASC Standards to define the requisite knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching. Practicing teachers are familiar with the concepts of knowledge and skills, but they are less familiar with dispositions. Practicing teachers who mentor prospective teachers are underrepresented in the literature, but they are critical to teacher preparation. The research goals were to describe the self-identified dispositions of cooperating teachers, identify what cooperating teachers consider their role in preparing prospective teachers, and explain challenges that cooperating teachers face. Using a mixed methods design, I conducted a quantitative survey followed by a qualitative case study. When I compared survey and case study data, cooperating teachers report possessing InTASC critical dispositions described in Standard 2: Learning Differences, Standard 3: Learning Environments, and Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice, but not Standard 6: Assessment and Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration. Cooperating teachers assume the roles of modeler, mentor and advisor, and informal evaluator. They explain student teachers often lack skills and dispositions to assume full teaching responsibilities and recommend that universities better prepare candidates for classrooms. Cooperating teachers felt university evaluations were not relevant to teaching reality. I recommend modifying field experiences to increase the quantity and duration of classroom placements. I suggest further research to detail cooperating teacher dispositions, compare cooperating teachers who work with different universities, and determine if cooperating teacher dispositions influence student teacher dispositions.Item Expanding the Role of Maryland Community Colleges in K-12 Teacher Preparation: Benefits and Costs of Implementing the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) Degree(2012) Frank, Jennifer Vest; Fries-Britt, Sharon; Perna, Laura; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study uses benefit-cost analysis to compare three alternative scenarios for implementing the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree in Maryland community colleges. The first policy scenario is that community colleges retain their traditional role in K-12 teacher preparation by providing lower-division transfer courses and programs for undergraduate students who are seeking to transfer into teacher education programs at four-year institutions (historical role for Maryland community colleges). The second policy scenario is that community colleges expand their traditional role in K-12 teacher preparation by offering the AAT degree in addition to providing lower-division transfer courses and programs (current role for Maryland community colleges). The third policy scenario is that community colleges offer the AAT degree as the exclusive lower-division requirement for students seeking admission into teacher preparation programs at four-year colleges and universities (hypothetical future role for Maryland community colleges). Drawing on the seminal work of Schultz (1963) and Becker (1964; 1975; 1993), human capital theory serves as the guiding theoretical framework for this study. The three policy scenarios under consideration in this benefit-cost analysis were designed to increase a particular type of human capital investment by providing opportunities for community college students to enter the teacher preparation pipeline in higher education. This study examines the benefits and costs that are associated with each of these three alternatives to explore which policy provides the greatest net benefit to the State of Maryland.Item Preparing Teachers for Diverse Student Learners: A Multi-Institution Analysis of NCATE Accreditation Applications(2011) Delgado, Rachael C.; Imig, David; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Teacher education programs are in a primary position to impact teacher candidates' abilities to meet the needs of diverse student learners. While the potential is there, diverse student learners also face crippling achievement gaps and teachers who feel unprepared to meet their needs. The achievement gap, dissatisfaction of new teachers with their preparation for teaching, and the cultural mismatch between teachers and their students underscores the need for more effective preparation of teachers for diverse student learners. This study and the corresponding research questions are based on a theory of action that professional accreditation is a means for ensuring that teacher preparation programs provide highly effective teachers for PK-12 schools who, in turn, are capable of ensuring that all students learn. Using a qualitative grounded theory methodology, this study examines the eleven teacher preparation programs or institutions rated as "target" by the accrediting agency, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), from Fall 2008 to Fall 2009, in how they prepare teacher-candidates to meet the diverse needs of learners. Specifically, documents produced during the NCATE accreditation process are analyzed to address three research questions: (1) What are the diversity proficiencies units expect of their candidates and how do they compare across units?; (2) What are the assessment tools used to provide evidence about candidates' proficiencies related to diversity?; and (3) How is assessment data used to improve the units' programs and candidates' abilities to work with diverse student learners?. The elements most-frequently appearing in units' diversity proficiencies were understanding diversity or student differences, adapting instruction, demonstrating attitudes of respect or sensitivity, focusing on the learning environment, and incorporating family and the community. Surveys of alumni, employers, and exit surveys were the assessment tools most frequently used to evaluate entire programs. Observations by candidates, assessment forms completed by university supervisors or cooperating teachers, and observations of candidates were the tools most frequently used to assess student teaching or other field experiences. Lesson plans, class discussions, and profiles of specific students or groups were the assessments used most frequently in conjunction with specific courses. The reported uses of assessment data included course or curriculum adjustments, staffing decisions, adjustments to assessment tools, or related faculty research. Finally, implications for both teacher education programs and NCATE are explored.Item Virtualizing the Teacher: The Lived Experience of Teaching within Technology(2009) Whitesel, Cynthia Hoff; Hultgren, Francine H; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This research seeks to heighten pedagogical understanding of the lived experience of teachers who teach online using computer technology. Philosophically based and grounded in hermeneutic phenomenology, it explores the question: What is the lived experience of teaching with/in technology? Using van Manen's Researching Lived Experience (2003) as guide, the researcher seeks to discover existential themes revealed through hermeneutic methodology, a pedagogically grounded research approach to human science research and writing with a focus on lived experience. This research is rendered phenomenological through philosophical texts by Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Emmanuel Levinas, Gaston Bachelard, Edward Casey, and Don Ihde. For a period of eight months in the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007, six teachers from different continents engaged in multiple, in-depth conversations with the researcher about their experiences as online teachers in multiple online programs. The conversations were text-based and took place in an online forum characterized as a discussion board. The conversational text, additional personal reflections, related literature, and philosophic writings intertwine to create a textual interpretation of this experience. Using the metaphor of knots, the researcher explores themes of presence in distance, presence in text, interface presence, teaching identity, the virtual classroom as place, and the role of imagination and flow in unraveling some of the paradoxes of teaching online. The research makes recommendations for preparing teachers for online teaching and for the development of policies relating to course design, interface design, and teaching practices. Pedagogical insights include the effects of teaching with technology on several aspects of online teaching: marginalization of contingent online teachers, technical interests related to virtual curricula, online text, teaching memory, and signature and interface pedagogies. A phenomenological rendering of Moore's (2007) theory of transactional distance explores teacher presence in distance. The researcher offers suggestions for future phenomenological research to explore the meaning of the experiences of contingent teachers, the "best practices" approach to teacher preparation programs, standardized course development models, and media/mediated and non-media/non-mediated teaching identities.