Many countries around the world are implementing changes to their systems of teacher education in an effort to improve the way teachers teach and how much children learn in school. This dissertation uses the case of Ghana to examine how a suite of ambitious reforms--including the upgrading of teacher education to university education, a new…

This dissertation study investigated secondary mathematics teachers' designing and enacting lessons to draw on students' multiple mathematical knowledge bases. The ultimate objective of incorporating open spaces in mathematics lessons is to support students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in developing mathematical…

In the past few decades, scholars have taken note of the spread of "American-style" liberal education curricula and programs to numerous foreign higher education systems around the world. The nascent literature on liberal education's global diffusion however has examined some international contexts, including sub-Saharan Africa, less…

This study aimed to examine administrator perceptions and practices related to the relationship between curriculum alignment and teacher autonomy. Further, this study examined the ways in which different administrative structures impact how administrators and teachers view this relationship. The researcher chose two case-study districts on Long…

In 2015, then-Higher Education Minister Rodolfo Alarcon said in response to many Cubans' inability to communicate in the international language, English fluency would be required by students as a university exit requirement ("Mastering English," 2015).The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to understand the experiences of…

With increasingly diverse formal education settings around the globe, teachers' ability to differentiate curriculum is essential to meet the needs of students with varied cultural, socioeconomic, racial, and linguistic backgrounds. Teachers' curricular autonomy is a prerequisite to diversify curriculum. Guided by sociocultural approaches to agency…

English language learners (ELs) face multiple challenges in receiving proper instruction that balances their need for English Language Development (ELD) and grade-level content instruction. Additionally, educators often minimize the importance of recognizing students' funds of knowledge as a valuable asset they bring to the classroom. Studies that…

In this study, I explored the impact of collaboration and capacity building during the design and implementation of a teacher-developed middle grades Language Arts Literacy curriculum. Participants included ten teachers and a literacy coach. We developed skill-based thematic units incorporating identified strategies designed to increase student…