In recent years, enrollment and overall student performance in rural schools have declined. Research shows that principals are critical to the success of a school system and that implementing a virtual community of practice (CoP) at the principal level has solved some of the issues associated with rurality in some organizations. Such…

New initiatives in preservice teacher formal student teaching experiences seek to prepare high-quality educators commensurate with current demands of the profession. Professional development schools (PDS) provide more hours of clinical preparation for student teaching, with a qualified mentor teacher. This research study investigated the…

Technology has become an integral part of the educational experience for many students and teachers, and institutions of higher education have invested heavily in its acquisition. Instructors tend to adopt new technologies when they perceive the benefits and usefulness of this implementation for their teaching. To facilitate the adoption process…

This research explored the decisions and practices of two elementary student teachers as they taught the social studies in their elementary classroom placements. The need for this investigation was underscored by the state of the social studies in the elementary classroom and the necessity of understanding the factors that impacted the student…

Over the past 3 years, teacher union membership has significantly decreased in the state of Georgia. This decrease in union membership is troubling, as previous research has shown that union membership is positively connected to teacher satisfaction and, in turn, to student success. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine why…

The number of school districts needing to focus their attention on ensuring that their students are receiving a 21st Century education has grown considerably with the creation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the looming deadline of the 2014-2015 school year when the new assessments will be given. The assessment dates,…

This grounded theory qualitative study examined the mentee/mentor relationship between five first year teachers and their five assigned mentors in a school district in Central Florida. To generate a model that seeks to explain how and why a mentee/mentor relationship changes and evolves from that of a single directional stream of information to…

The dearth of women in executive positions within the field of information technology (IT) has been studied extensively in the corporate sector. That is not the case within higher education, despite the data collected showing that women attain the top executive role--that of the Chief Information Officer (CIO)--at much better rates than their…

Since 2005, the AISD Central Office Work Environment Survey has been conducted to gather information about working conditions. The following report presents the survey results for Spring 2013 for AISD central office employees in the Chief Academic Office. Separate reports were published for each central office group.

This paper describes the development of curriculum design expertise from the perspective of a teacher reflecting on a science lesson. His involvement in the research process resulted in a self-determined professional development strategy. The description comes from data collected through lesson observations and an in-depth stimulated recall…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on four-year-olds' knowledge of mathematics by introducing professional development and center-based mathematics activities around four mathematical domains to early educators' teaching in Head Start programs. Because of the need to provide necessary mathematical experiences to young children to…

Co-teaching is a widely implemented instructional strategy that poses unique challenges to teachers and may require targeted training. This study considers the role of pre-service and in-service professional development opportunities regarding co-teaching and teacher confidence, interests, and attitudes regarding co-teaching in a sample of general…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a training and development (T&D) evaluation model that includes new societal indicators, considering the growing demand to do so. Three complementary studies were done. Study I used a framework for T&D evaluation that includes societal impact in it. Study II investigated which levels of…

In this paper I report findings from a four year study of beginning elementary school teachers which investigated development in their mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT). The study took a developmental research approach, in that the teachers and the researcher collaborated to develop the mathematics teaching of the teachers, while also…

In the context of Cyprus' accession to the European Union and a huge wave of immigration towards the country, Cypriot teachers are called upon to teach within constantly more diverse educational settings. In consideration of the increased attention paid to intercultural education within the Cypriot socio-political environment, teachers are called…