The city and school system in this research project is identified with a pseudonym as City X. This doctoral project, "Online publishing and authentic audience to improve student writing", is designed as one element of a district wide initiative to improve student writing literacy in the City X Public School district. In City X, as in…

Physician workforce shortages in California are projected to grow rapidly in the next ten years, particularly in inner-city and rural regions. In response to this anticipated need, the University of California's medical schools are increasing enrollment and working to implement and evaluate new programs and curricula to prepare graduates to work…

Preservice teachers hold metaphors and personal beliefs about teaching that they carry with them into their first teaching experiences. These metaphors tend to persist through challenges. This qualitative study investigates five preservice teacher's metaphors and personal histories of education through three phases; university student,…

This study applied the Evidence-Based Model (Odden & Picus, 2008) as a framework for determining how district leadership could potentially reallocate human resources to maximize the opportunity for student achievement, relying heavily on the ten strategies for doubling student performance (Odden, 2009; Odden & Archibald, 2009) and the…

The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

This thesis explores the questions of how a teacher guides students to see concepts, and the role of gesture and gesture viewpoints in mediating the process of guidance. To examine these questions, two sociocultural theoretical frameworks--Radford's cultural-semiotic theory of knowledge objectification (e.g., 2003), and Goldman's Points of Viewing…

The training and preparation of prospective teachers includes an important phase where the future teachers begin to make a transition from learner to teacher. During this time, prospective teachers begin to utilize the knowledge they have gained through coursework and life experience to begin teaching students of their own. During this time,…

Many states and school districts have recently instituted revamped teacher evaluation policies in response to incentives from the federal government as well as a changing political climate favoring holding teachers accountable for the performance of their students. Many of these overhauls have mandated the incorporation of multiple performance…

Construction requires the knowledge and experience of craftsmen. The knowledge and experience is gained through local coordination and local adaption at points of installation, which classifies the work as complex production. Information generated at these points of installation can be valuable in understanding how and why workers make decisions,…

This report describes the Year 5 work of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education's (NRCCTE) Technical Assistance (TA) Academy. In 2011-2012, the TA plan carried out by FHI 360 on behalf of the NRCCTE focused on developing a conceptual base for work-based learning (WBL), a strategy that helps students apply academic and…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) provide an increasingly common structure for teachers' professional development. The effectiveness of PLCs depends on the content and quality of the participants' discourse. This dissertation was conducted to add to an understanding of the science content needed to prepare to teach science, and the…

High school dropouts are an ongoing concern in North Carolina. Although improvements have been made in recent years, 13,488 North Carolina students did not complete high school in 2011-2012 (Public Schools of North Carolina Consolidated Report, 2011-2012). This research study seeks to identify common, specific characteristics, strategies, and…

Nearly two-thirds of students require some form of remediation before taking college-level classes, and community colleges have become increasingly important in providing this education. Unfortunately, relatively few students complete the developmental courses required to make a transition to college-level work. Based on a three-year study of over…

The case study reported here examined three scaffolding practices employed by two teachers in two Year 5 and 6 mathematics classrooms. One scaffolding practice was the use of discussion. This paper describes the use of whole class discussions as scaffolding, drawing upon observations of six mathematics lessons in each classroom and the responses…