Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Policy in teacher education in Jamaica'

The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of academic advising at a tertiary institution in Jamaica and how it has influenced teacher-efficacy and instructional attentiveness among student teachers. The participants included twelve student teachers and four lecturers who have been intimately involved in academic advising. The student teachers selected have been engaged in academic advising for two to four years while the lecturers have been advising for ten to sixteen years.

This qualitative study explored how academic advising is related to teacher efficacy and instructional attentiveness among a set of second to fourth year student teachers at a teacher training college in Jamaica. All participants were actively receiving and giving academic advising in a government-owned teacher training institution. The primary source of data was unstructured interviews with student teachers and lecturers. Data were acquired over a two-month period by means of unstructured interviews and field notes. These tools afforded the opportunity to extend the conversations and generate meaning from the responses thereby providing rich descriptive notes of the phenomenon. Data were prepared using triangulation matrices, data coding and the Constant Comparison Approach to generate categories showing patterns and relationships of meaning.

The findings on the perspectives of the study participants indicate academic advising has significantly influenced teacher-efficacy among the student teachers as their level of confidence increased, appreciation of teamwork blossomed, instructional competency broadened and misbehaviors controlled. Additionally, their valuing of self and acceptance of other personalities grew immensely which positively affected their relationship with various tiers of staff in the learning environment. The interview data garnered from student teachers indicate that instructional attentiveness improved through the use of multiple teaching methods which included authentic assessment, field experience and student-centered learning. Other factors that boosted instructional attentiveness were good relationships with advisors who were understanding of their differences and commended simple efforts. As a result of the academic advising received, there are several implications for practice and policy which need to be addressed in order to help student teachers to identify their strengths and weaknesses, remain on task, avoid drop out and maintain equilibrium between academic and social experiences as they navigate their way through college.

Many people recognize inequity in educational resource allocation as a problem. It has been suggested this inequity stems from the consolidation of experienced teachers in low-poverty schools and higher teacher turnover rates at high-poverty schools. This paper uses an ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression to examine the relationship between school-level expenditures excluding teacher salary, and teacher turnover in New York City. The results of the analysis suggest that these expenditures have a statistically significant association with teacher turnover, and that, for the majority of them, increased spending is associated with less teacher turnover. The results also suggest that increased spending is associated with a higher level of teacher satisfaction, though the significance of this association is less consistent. These results could have policy implications for education researchers and practitioners concerned with improving fiscal equity through decreased turnover in high-poverty schools.

The current qualitative study focused on understanding the process of learning to teach. Using interviews of teacher educators, the study explored the importance of a set of teaching activities developed as part of the Teacher Self Efficacy Survey (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) as well as the inclusion of instructional and assessment strategies for the teaching activities and the quality of beginning teacher performance of the activities.

Data were collected from interviews of 15 teacher educators. A process of open, axial, and substantive coding was applied to the data to inductively identify and categorize data relevant to the purpose of the study and to allow comparisons among and between categories.

Findings suggested that teaching activities are critically important to and a comprehensive description of effective teaching, and that beginning teachers struggle with differentiation and applying their learning to their practice. Further, findings suggested that the source of beginning teacher struggles was found within the teacher education program, within school contexts, and between the two institutions. In addition, findings suggested that beginning teachers perform the student engagement activities and those related to instructional strategies more proficiently than classroom management activities, and that all three teaching activity categories were included in the curriculum, but to different degrees and not all as part of curriculum design. A variety of pedagogies were used to prepare preservice teachers; however, there was no reported knowledge of assessment instruments used to measure preservice teachers’ readiness for teaching and to obtain data on the performance of their graduates. Lastly, this study revealed that teacher education program leaders were reluctant to participate in a study that sought to draw direct connections between the skills taught in the program and how well beginning teachers perform them.

Based on the findings, the researcher recommends further studies to determine the viability of the teaching activities as a comprehensive and accurate definition of effective teaching. Further the researcher recommends that teacher education programs and school districts adopt the teaching activities as a consistent framework for providing preservice education, for setting school district expectations, and for conducting teacher evaluations.

This is a qualitative phenomenological study that examines teacher perceptions of the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA). The purpose of this research was to analyze how educators’ perceptions of PERA influenced their workplace satisfaction and willingness to grow and improve. The study explores PERA in the context of neoliberal reform ideology and also through the lens of self-determination theory. Fourteen teachers from Central and Southern Illinois were interviewed and PERA, like other neoliberal education reforms, was shown to have a demotivating influence on the profession.

Teacher preparation programs are facing increased pressure to report on the outcomes of their graduates, including their job placement rates. Prior research on job placement for teachers establishes that a variety of factors are related to whether or not individuals apply for and receive jobs. This research study explored these factors through quantitative analysis of three cohorts of teacher preparation program completers within the institutions of the University of Maine system, using logistic regression to identify the individual and contextual characteristics that are most predictive of job application and hiring.

Of the factors studied, the most influential factors in job placement in public schools in the state were (1) in-state residency status, (2) preparation in a teacher shortage area, (3) completion of a post-baccalaureate preparation pathway, (4) receipt of financial assistance that requires completion of future teaching service, (5) institution attended, (6) GPA relative to other graduates, (7) year of graduation, and (8) age at the time of completing the program. However, these combined variables provide less than 20% of the potential predictability in job placement outcomes. This suggests that additional work is needed to identify the factors influencing beginning teacher placement. Job placement rates for preparation programs should be interpreted with caution, as at least some of the related factors are not within the control of preparation programs (e.g. year of graduation). Furthermore, the use of job placement rates to make high-stakes decisions may provide incentives to programs to implement policies that may not be ethical (such as preferential admission of younger applicants) or that may not be advisable for other reasons.

Due to narrowly defined quality measures, teacher preparation in Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio and LifeWays pedagogies is not recognized in many state ECE professional development systems. The problem is compounded by Quality Rating and Improvement System’s child care program ratings, which rely on teacher qualifications as a component of program ratings. Limitations, due to philosophical dissimilarities pertaining to the spirit of the child, ill-fitting measurements of quality, and policy exclusion make it difficult for alternative pedagogy communities to meet qualifications or to obtain scores that count. This is exacerbated by narrow definitions regarding national versus regional accreditation in teacher preparation programs. U

sing a transformative, mixed-methods approach, this study asks, “What is the role and relevance of alternative pedagogy teacher preparation to the professional development system, and where does it fit in the current policy landscape nationwide?” As a follow up question, the study seeks to answer, “What is the process for change?” Through the use of surveys, interviews, and a cultural context model, a way forward is mapped.

Registry policy makers in 28 states and 46 teacher preparation directors, across three types of alternative-pedagogy teacher preparation programs, assisted in data collection, resulting in a recognition baseline. Public sources were used to triangulate a composite snapshot of this national policy situation, demonstrating appropriate policy inclusion in six out of 17 states’ career pathways and/or data collection in ECE workforce registries. Cumulative data revealed alternative pedagogy teacher recognition levels across the country and revealed how relevant policies evolved to become system inclusive. The study concludes by inviting community representatives to respond and to share their experiences and thoughts. Actionable study outcomes, community-developed recommendations, and an advocacy map were circulated in three of four alternative pedagogy communities.

Using a cultural equity paradigm, the study elucidates power relationships between alternative pedagogy teacher preparation and national/state efforts towards ECE professional development and quality improvement policy systems, illuminating where federal and state policy/initiatives are shaping, responding to, and limiting the alternative-pedagogy teacher preparation pipeline in the United States. Recommended courses of action encourage policy collaboration and a cultural shift from policy power over, to power with policy.

This qualitative study explored the implementation of Washington State’s Teacher Principal Evaluation Program in one school district. Previously determined locally, the new evaluation system was a state mandated reform implemented during the 2013–2014 school year. This research was guided by four research questions based on the theoretical framework communities of practice. The research questions examined participants’ description of the practice of the new evaluation, opportunities for mutual engagement, boundary objects, and brokers.

Using case study methodology, the four cases were consisted of two middle school and two high school teachers in The Westish School District*. Using Wenger’s Communities of Practice as the theoretical framework, the study focused on how teachers described opportunities for mutual engagement, brokers, and boundary objects. The study included qualitative data from in-depth interviews, surveys, and documents.

Data analysis supported five themes: 1) Occupational intensification; 2) Validity and authenticity concerns; 3) Protection of self; 4) Inadequate boundary objects; and 5) Insufficient feedback from brokers. The findings from the research show participants entered into the new evaluation system with a positive outlook, yet describe negative experiences completing the evaluation. The study illustrates the importance of teacher and administrator collaboration and sheds light on how teachers mediate their effectiveness through administrator feedback. Findings and implications provide insight into how using best practices in teaching as a guide can be used to effectively implement education reforms that necessitate teacher action to be effective.

*all identifiers have been replaced with pseudonyms

Policy changes influence various aspects of art education such as K-12 art education curricula, state licensure systems, and contexts of art teacher preparation. Despite strong relationships between art education policy and practical fields, few studies have attempted to understand art education from the perspective of policy analysis. This study explores the connections between art education policy and the field of art education through a focus on art teacher preparation in Indiana. Additional attention was paid to perceptions of the appropriateness of alternative licensure routes in relation to policies of academic and quality standards and the extent to which visual art teachers’ sense of identity as teachers and artists is affected by appropriation of these standards.

The theoretical framework of this study is the need to understand policy appropriation of standards (including visual art and art teacher preparation standards) as an on-going process, that is continually influenced and changed by internal (human level) and external (institutional level) factors. The appropriation process is effectively expressed through practices, narratives, and texts of practitioners.

To understand the status and factors of the art education policy appropriation in art teacher preparation, I collected data as printed or digital documents, and as interviews with faculty members and pre-service art teachers in two traditional visual art teacher preparation programs in Indiana. I analyzed external (institutional level) and internal (human level) factors to adopt and work with state and national standards. While national standards for visual art education (were adopted by many states and presented as voluntary policy, in Indiana the national standards were built into the Indiana’s Academic Standards for Visual Art Standards for K-12 students. Visual art teachers were required to complete a traditional teacher preparation program and pass examinations to become licensed to teach art.

Findings reveal that faculty of higher art teacher education programs in Indiana paid attention to the national and state standards in K-12 visual art and the standards for teacher education when preparing students to become licensed K-12 art educators. External motivations were accreditations system for teacher preparation requested by Indiana Department of Education related to NCATE. Schools and districts could be external motivations that pre-service art teachers adopt the standards in order to succeed in a job market. Internal factors were respects of roles and leaders of art education associations, desires to train/be qualified teachers and attain balanced knowledge between art studio and art education. Alternative routes to licensure were viewed as economically advantageous but not supportive of high-quality education. Policy had little impact on issues of identity. I concluded with recommendations for improvement in art teacher preparation that were needs of supportive policies for pre-service teachers’ teaching and teaching licensure including traditional and alternative licensures.

The purpose of this study was to determine school personnel’s perceptions of safety in their school building as well as determine their confidence in their abilities to respond to an active intruder incident. The participants of this study were school personnel from a suburban, Southwestern Illinois PreK-12 school district. The study captured perceptions of safety and school procedures within the district’s nine buildings. The sample of participants were obtained through purposeful and convenience sampling. The participants were then assigned into five categories of participants, purposely identified: Administration, Teachers/Faculty, Support Staff (e.g., paraprofessional, aides, secretaries), Other Staff (e.g., custodians, café workers, bus drivers, monitors), and Substitutes (for all positions). In addition, the school’s current documented policy on school safety and active intruder response procedures was reviewed. The qualitative design of this study included interviews and document analysis. The study was a phenomenological study with triangulation that included research questions addressing school personnel perceptions of safety and their preparedness in the event of an active intruder situation, comparing these responses among the identified categories, and identifying the type of active intruder training provided to school personnel. The seven themes that emerged from the interviews were limited safeguards, sense of safety, training, response issues, supplies and equipment, handbook awareness, and improvements. Additional research is needed to determine if other schools in Illinois require improvements in their active intruder response plans, procedures, and provided training.

This study employed a model of basic qualitative research which explored teachers’ pedagogical responses to the unique cultural gaps they experienced in schools where most students were of minority cultural identity. Eight teachers who self-identified as majority culture identity formed the sample group for this study. Semistructured interviews were used to collect their insights regarding their pedagogical decision making they used with the students in the school where they were teaching. Additionally, teachers shared what they described were culturally responsive curriculum samples and then provided a reflection on how they implemented this curriculum. The data showed that these teachers understood the value of providing a culturally responsive pedagogy in their classrooms. Despite this, for numerous reasons, teachers struggled to develop and then apply culturally responsive pedagogy that aligned with models described in literature.

Throughout the nation, teacher unions are under fire. Their popularity in recent polls shows Americans see teacher unions as a negative influence on public schools; however, the polls also indicate Millennials express favorable opinions of and support for unions.

The primary objective of this quantitative study was to examine Millennial teachers' perceptions of the California Teachers Association (CTA) and their local unions. Using surveys, interviews, and document analysis from union leaders representing multiple school districts in Orange County, California, this study explored views of their profession, education reform, union leadership, and the role of the union in representing Millennial teachers. Once data was collected, themes were illuminated to identify common perceptions among the participants to determine the future of teacher unions in California.

Findings from the study suggest that Millennials' views on wages, benefits, and working conditions are not contradictory to those held by veteran colleagues. However, Millennials recommend a more inviting approach to generate more Millennial involvement in teacher unions. Finally, Millennials suggest the status quo change to be more open to reform and flexibility in teacher evaluations, tenure, and the traditional workday. This study provided data that suggests that Millennials' perceptions of the function of the union are that it should continue to play its historical and traditional roles of negotiating contracts and protecting working conditions, but as union membership changes the perceptions of union members have moved into the 21st century.

Beginning teacher attrition is a problem that exacerbates the inequity of opportunities for all students, especially for those in schools that are already challenged by poverty. This study makes use of the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Survey (covering the period between 2008 and 2012) and U.S. Census data to identify which teachers leave and to explain why. Beyond that, it also offers a look into the characteristics of those teachers who stay at the same school for five years. The empirical investigation is embedded in a conceptual framework that draws from motivation and identity theories and brings in insights about the importance of geography and of neighborhood effects from works on poverty and education.

The study utilizes a dataset with survey responses from approximately 1,800 full-time teachers from a sample designed to represent the overall population of beginning teachers in the United States. By combining individual-level longitudinal data with information about communities, it makes an important contribution to the study of new teacher placement, attrition, and retention. The evidence is presented using a variety of descriptive and inferential statistics, and the analysis includes factor analysis and logistic regression models.

The results show that indicators of leaving the profession before the fifth year become apparent early on, as factors measured at the end of year one have significant effects on early career outcomes. Most prominently, higher degrees of burnout reported by teachers, which includes factors such as decreased enthusiasm and increased fatigue, are associated with increased risks for leaving the profession without the prospect to return to it and with transferring to a different school district. Several other factors on the individual and school-level emerge as relevant to career outcomes. Teachers who have Highly Qualified Teacher credentials and report a supportive school climate are at less risk to leave the profession. On the other hand, teachers with alternative certification and master’s degrees are more likely to move to a different school or districts in the first five years.

In terms of socio-geographic factors that help explain teacher retention and attrition, the only significant variable in the regression models used in the analysis is the percentage of White residents at the Census tract of the Year 1 school. When everything else is held constant, decreasing this percentage from 100 to 0 increases the predicted probability of leaving the profession by approximately 20%. Considering that a vast majority of beginning teachers both in the sample and in the overall population are White, this findings fits in with theories about “the pull of home” and cultural habitus. The magnitude and significance of this finding suggest that it warrants further exploration, as racial composition of the communities is likely a measurement proxy for complex processes of inequality.

This case study explored the viability of using a Critical Friends Group (CFG) dialogue protocol within a novice teacher induction program to facilitate dialogue about equity in a diversifying suburban school setting. The study included two research questions: How do novice teachers in a suburban school district with shifting demographic diversity make sense of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities? How does an equity-focused community of practice using a dialogue protocol affect novice teachers’ praxis through their understanding of how to address issues of student equity in their instructional practice? Even in a high performing suburban school, novice teachers had significant dilemmas of equity in their classes. Consequently, the novice teachers did not feel suitably trained or capable of providing the range of differentiation necessary to equitably meet the needs of their students. Thus, the novice teachers admitted to teaching by subjective intuition and asking for guidance from colleagues. The effects of adding the dialogue protocol included both an improved sense of trust among participants and of personal efficacy among the novice teachers. Questions posed during the dialogue protocol challenged the novice teachers’ personal biases, ethics, and decisions. Overall, the dialogue sessions created a space to help each of the novice teachers understand their options, responsibilities, and resources to improve their instructional praxis. This study recommends future research be conducted about the longitudinal impact of implementing a Critical Friends Group (CFG) dialogue protocol into the California induction credentialing process. This includes research into how to train mentors to facilitate group dialogue sessions, and collect and analyze student outcomes data.

Both nationally and at the state level, educational reform is focusing on the improvement of classroom instruction. Recently, Washington State enacted the Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot (TPEP) to define evaluation criteria intended to measure effective professional practices, including classroom instruction. This exploratory survey study sought to describe the perceptions of Washington State elementary principals regarding their professional development needs for implementation of the new evaluation criteria. The survey consisted of 5 parts totaling 25 questions and was disseminated to 1,897 elementary principals with a return rate of 354. While the state effectively disseminated initial information about the evaluation criteria through local Educational Service Districts (ESDs), some policy inconsistency appears to have developed between the school district and building level in terms of implementation support for principal leadership activities, learning behaviors, and preferred learning topics. Responses indicated that principals rarely engage in social learning activities that would prepare them as a group to consistently and reliably interpret the criteria on the evaluation. Also, few principals identified a strong desire to learn about collaborative structures within their school, which increases concerns about the sustainability of the TPEP policy, because of the need to develop shared understandings of the language and the expectations. Fostering such an understanding may comprise the next phase of development.

Severe teacher shortages, caused by high attrition rates, have been the focus of attention for school districts and policy leaders for over two decades. Teacher attrition accounts for approximately 40 to 50% of new teachers leaving in the first 5 years of service. High teacher attrition rates in the United States impact tomorrow’s leaders, innovators, and workers who today are struggling to succeed in math and science in a globally competitive world. By not addressing the reasons teachers leave the profession, or by not conducting further research on preservice teachers to better prepare them for the classroom, the nation will continue to be at risk. This study looks at the research on why teachers say they leave in the first 1 to 5 years of service and asks preservice teachers the extent to which they consider low salaries, working conditions that severely limit their autonomy over classroom decision-making, and the effectiveness of their teacher preparation in content areas and classroom management. Understanding whether preservice teachers considered these factors or felt they needed more effective instruction will help identify gaps in teacher education programs that may prevent new teachers from leaving the profession in the first 5 years. This study uses a semi-structured interview process to attain the unique stories of preservice teachers and to assess their consideration of the issues that have been shown to make teachers leave the teaching profession. A combination of criterion and snowball sampling techniques were used to select a group of 12 preservice elementary education teachers. The qualitative design uses a phenomenological approach to find the main themes of the preservice teachers’ stories.

The study revealed that preservice teachers do not consider low salaries, working conditions that severely limit their autonomy over classroom decision-making, and the effectiveness of their teacher preparation in content areas and classroom management prior to becoming a teacher. Although the preservice teachers in this study did not consider these factors, each expressed concern about working conditions during their clinical experience and the quality of their teacher preparation programs. The stories of these preservice teachers and the recommendations for future studies will help guide the transformation of teacher education programs and the teaching profession to lower attrition rates in K-12 schools around the country.

This qualitative grounded analysis involved exploring the knowledge and understanding school principals have on teacher evaluations and the connections to students’ scores on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). The problem was that Colorado does not have a comprehensive and consistent standards-based teacher evaluation system managed by highly trained administrative evaluators capable of providing evaluation marks representative of actual teacher performance and competency levels based on student achievement from CSAP results. The purpose of this qualitative grounded analysis was to create a theoretical model based on the exploration of the knowledge and understanding school principals have on teacher evaluations being connected to students’ Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) scores in order to effectively evaluate teacher performance in the classroom. The research questions examined and analyzed data from the perspective of school principals on teacher evaluation proficiency marks and student proficiency scores on the CSAP. Interview responses from 10 school principals were analyzed with the NVivo qualitative analysis software revealing emerging themes. Critical analysis of the themes produced courses of action and recommendations for school principals to improve the evaluation process of teachers as connected to student CSAP scores to improve classroom instruction. Key results indicated a need for school principals to consider the themes of classroom environment; funding, administrative support, and an over haul of teacher contracts that include compensation and advancement.

This mixed methods, case study research examined the teacher education program at Illinois State University (ISU-Normal, Illinois) as related to the views and assessment practices of the dispositions of its teacher candidates. Five years of quantitative and qualitative data from ISU’s Disposition Concern form was collected and analyzed currently and formulated the basis for a sequential qualitative study through interviews in order to gain a more holistic picture of dispositions and the dispositional process at this university. In teacher education, content knowledge and pedagogical skills are easier to teach and assess than the subjective nature of dispositions. This grounded theory study found that the very system that views and assess dispositions of teacher candidates may augment the subjectivity of dispositions and its essentials for “responsive” (Thornton, 2006) teaching which systematically should include clear definitions, assessment practices, communication, and support for both faculty/staff and students.

The Davis Teachers Association has asserted that the Davis Joint Unified School District’s (DJUSD’s) beginning salary steps are lower than the starting salary steps of districts that the district competes against for the same pool of qualified teachers, and that, as a result, the DJUSD is unable to recruit high-quality teachers. Complicating this matter, the 2007–2012 recession significantly decreased the number of college graduates entering the teaching profession in California; the resulting teacher shortage makes the recruitment and retention of teachers very competitive among school districts. Viewing this issue within the context of starting salary and career earnings magnifies the need for districts to be creative in the way they advertise their salary schedules.

To assist school districts with the creative presentation of their salary schedules, this study develops the cumulative salary index (CSI). Simply defined, CSIs calculate total salary earnings for a specific block of time. Within that context, the aim of this study is to understand how beginning and ending salary differences between DJUSD and 12 other Sacramento-region school districts influence long-term earnings for teachers. From that standpoint, I ask two research questions. First, how do specific steps on the Davis teacher salary schedule compare to similar salary steps of 12 other Sacramento-region school districts that compete for the same beginning and veteran teachers, before and after integrating health benefits? Second, do districts that offer higher first and final salary steps have greater CSIs than those that offer lower first and final salary steps? I also examine the influence(s) that school site and district environmental conditions may have on teacher recruitment and retention.

I use a straightforward methodology to answer the research questions. To address the first research question, I compare specific salary steps for each of the 13 study districts, before and after the integration of health benefits. To answer the second research question, I develop educational pathway scenarios and five-year block scenarios to measure and compare the 13 districts’ various CSIs. The findings show that DJUSD’s overall salary ranks pretty low across a variety of cells and CSIs in comparison to the other study districts. The findings also reveal that the integration of health benefits into the teacher salary schedule either positively or negatively influences how a district’s salary ranks. Additionally, CSI comparisons between the 13 study districts reveal that just because a district has the lowest starting salary does not mean that its teachers will have the lowest career earnings. Finally, findings from this study provide additional evidence to the body of literature demonstrating that teachers are willing to compromise wages in exchange for favorable environmental conditions at school.

Based upon the observations made from this study, I recommend that school districts implement policies and practices that improve environmental conditions for teachers. As a way to provide a more comprehensive view of teacher salary, I also recommend that school districts create, promote, and utilize various CSIs when recruiting teachers.

The current mixed method study explored the job satisfaction perceptions and retention plans of 241 secondary science teachers from seven North Texas school districts. For the current study, an email questionnaire was sent to seven districts across 83 secondary campuses, which included 51 middle schools and 32 high schools. The current study intended to find reasons why secondary science teachers continue to teach or decide to leave the profession. The participants’ perceptions and intentions to continue teaching were gathered through an online survey which gathered data across seven job satisfaction domains. Demographic and retention responses provided additional data on each participant. Through a quantitative analysis of Likert type survey responses and qualitative analysis of open-ended retention responses, the current study explored secondary science teachers’ perceptions and intentions to stay teaching. The quantitative analysis of survey data found significant differences in almost all of the job satisfaction domains for all teachers. There were also significant differences across some demographic groups as well. Through a qualitative analysis, motivation to teach was the leading predictor for retention. On the other hand, school culture and compensation were the top reasons for teachers planning to leave the classroom.