Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'District of Southern California and Arizona'

A teacher?s working conditions can affect his or her performance, satisfaction, how long he or she stays at a particular school site, and how long he or she stays in the profession. In order to attract and retain highly qualified teachers, working conditions need to be as optimal as possible. As demands placed upon teachers continue to increase, more needs to be studied about what constitutes optimal working conditions. The purpose of this hermeneutic, phenomenological study was to investigate the working conditions and professional beliefs of eight Southern California secondary (6th-12th grade) school teachers who had two years of teaching experience in the same content area or grade level in both a public school and a district charter school, with at least five years of consecutive full-time teaching experience, to learn more about what constituted ideal working conditions for secondary teachers. More specifically, this study, via in-depth individual interviews, invited participants to (a) describe the work conditions they experienced in a traditional setting, (b) describe the work conditions they experienced in a charter setting, (c) compare the traditional and charter school work conditions that they experienced, and (d) describe what they believe to be the ideal school work conditions for secondary teachers. This study had three conclusions related to working conditions in both traditional public and district charter secondary school settings. The first was that teaching at the secondary level is professionally challenging, in all types of environments. The second was that teachers prefer a blend of traditional public and district charter school environments. The last was that teachers like to have autonomy with opportunities to collaborate and build relationships with colleagues.

The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive, and comparative study was achieved by investigating and comparing general and special education kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade teacher beliefs on inclusion, as well as their perceptions of accommodations, preparation, and barriers to inclusion. More specifically, three categories or variables of general education and special education teachers’ beliefs were explored: (a) core perspectives, (b) expected outcomes, and (c) classroom practices for student inclusion. The researcher utilized the My Thinking About Inclusion (MTAI) survey developed by Stoiber, Gettinger, and Goetz (1998).

The following research questions guided this study: (a) What relationships, if any, exist between general and special education teachers’ beliefs about inclusion in an urban school district in southern California as measured by the MTAI survey? and (b) To what extent, if at all, are general and special education teachers’ beliefs about inclusion in one urban school district in southern California, as measured by the MTAI survey, related to their demographic characteristics? The MTAI survey was administered to 91 teacher participants who supported students with disabilities in inclusive education in kindergarten through 2nd grade during the 2016–17 school year. Fifty-four participants (59%) completed the MTAI survey. Out of the 54 participants, 24 were general education teachers and 30 were special education teachers.

The findings of this study shared that a key factor promoting positive attitudes toward inclusion depended on the teacher attending professional development that supported their work with SWD. For all three belief subscales, Core Perspectives, Expected Outcomes, and Classroom Practices; coteaching was found to be the most favorable training for general education teachers. General education teachers also noted that trainings on working with behaviors, individualized coaching-support and networking with colleagues were supportive for them. Special education teachers’ data also showed that trainings on individualized coaching-support were significant for them. However, for the special education teachers’ trainings on accommodations and networking with colleagues were most favorable. Classroom supports such as teacher collaboration, instructional aide(s), and special education teacher(s) support were shown to influence teacher attitude and self-efficacy toward inclusion.