The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of their general job satisfaction and teacher-parent/guardian communication post-COVID as compared to pre-COVID using a survey and follow-up interviews. A total of 80 teachers from two suburban school districts in a metropolitan area completed the three-part survey…

This study investigated professional development practices and its impact on classroom instruction as perceived by teachers in participating school districts in Mississippi. One hundred and twenty-one teachers who participated in this study responded to Learning Forward's Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI) using the Survey Monkey platform. This…

Since the beginning of recorded history, artists of distinction have contributed to society's aesthetic sensibilities through their media of choice. The lives of these artists continue through their visually recorded work. We see their best products featured in history books and films, thus generally contributing to our day-to-day lives. Despite…

The UTeach program, a national model for undergraduate teacher preparation, includes "Perspectives on Science and Mathematics," a class designed to share content about the History of Science (HOS) with preservice teachers. UTeach provides a model curriculum as a sample for instructors teaching "Perspectives." The purpose of…

This research analyzed the effects of teacher professional development and lesson implementation in integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) on: (1.) Teacher self-efficacy and their confidence to teach specific STEM subjects; (2.) Teaching outcome expectancy beliefs concerning the impact of actions by teachers on student…

This study focused on how career academies were implemented at a large, urban, public high school. Research shows that the career academy model should consist of 3 core components: (a) a small learning community (SLC), (b) a theme-based curriculum, and (c) business partnerships (Stern, Dayton, & Raby, 2010). The purpose of this qualitative…

The purpose of this study was to understand whether educators have knowledge of the 21st Century Skills concepts and if they facilitate student acquisition of these important skills. Participants in this quantitative study included 1,273 high school educators from 12 suburban and 19 rural Wisconsin school districts. The researcher developed a…

This qualitative research study was an outcome evaluation of an alternative kindergarten curriculum to those currently used in most public schools. Tools of the Mind, a Vygotskian, play-based curriculum was implemented during the 2010-2011 school year in four kindergarten classrooms, involving data from approximately 50 students, within a public…

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of mental models in Idaho's Engineering and Technology Education teachers' in decision making when faced with major curriculum changes. Senge (1990) defined mental models as, "deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world…

Public Montessori schools have grown in number significantly in the United States. This case study chronicles the journey of teachers as they navigate the tension of balancing the Montessori approach with an accountability Standards model. Although Montessori may be in demand among parents in the nation, exhibited by the increase in public…

Lead educational agencies (LEDs), school administrators, and teachers do not appear to grasp the influence of curriculum audits on students' academic performance relative to the level of recommendations that are implemented. Failure to comply fully with audit recommendations can have negative implications on a district's financial status and…

The purpose of this study is to investigate differences between traditional conventional professional development and high quality reflective professional development and curriculum implementation of classroom practices. This study examined the extent to which professional development activities were associated with increased levels of curriculum…

This study investigates the perceptions of a small group of Language Arts intervention teachers who have been prescribed a commercially-prepared intervention curriculum for use with their students. Written surveys and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data in pursuit of answers to the following research questions: (1) How do teachers…

The teachers' perception and implementation of differentiated instruction, the difference between novice and experience teachers' perception on differentiate instruction, and the predictive relationship between teachers' perceptions and teachers' implementation of differentiated instruction were studied. The study utilized a…

This dissertation presents my explorations in both molecular biology and science education research. In study one, we determined the "ADIPOQ" and "ADIPORI" genotypes of 364 White and 148 Black BrCa patients and used dominant model univariate logistic regression analyses to determine individual SNP and haplotype associations…