This dissertation focuses on support for faculty teacher professional learning at a research university. This study brings new perspectives and direct data reporting to the field of higher education faculty professionalism. My conceptual perspective offers approaches to developing robust faculty teacher professional learning structures that are…

A commitment to equity in our schools ensures that every student has the access and opportunity necessary to thrive in school, regardless of race, ethnicity, language, citizenship status, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, and so on. Creating and sustaining equitable spaces requires examination of the…

What makes a powerful and results-driven Professional Learning Community (PLC)? The answer is collaborative work that expands the emphasis on student learning and leverages individual teacher efficacy into collective teacher efficacy. "PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design" calls for strong and effective PLCs…

Promoting student engagement is a critical performance indicator for undergraduate success and is, therefore, a priority for academic institutions as they seek to improve teaching and learning practices (Meyer, 2014). Educators need to improve their instructional pedagogy by developing unique methods for engaging students with educational…

Lesson Study (LS) is a structured, collaborative professional development approach that gives instructors a framework for actively investigating how to improve student learning in their classrooms. Despite evidence of LS improving teacher practice and student learning in K-12 settings, there have been few documented examples of its use among…

The current Canadian higher education environment is one in which there is competition for limited resources, learning must be measured and demonstrated, and student demographics are evolving and changing on a continual basis. The field of Student Affairs in higher education, which traditionally provides support services to students and is often…

This non-experimental, descriptive study examined the effect(s), if any, that professional learning communities have had on the professional practices of secondary (grades 9-12) mathematics teachers in Boone, Clay, Putnam, and Kanawha counties in West Virginia. Also investigated were the potential differences in instructional-practice change(s)…

State postsecondary education data systems are vital information assets for policymakers, researchers, and the public. The Communities of Practice project (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) builds upon SHEEO's ongoing efforts to measure the capacity and effective…

Over time, state testing has been the central focus of schools and school districts regarding accountability and the pressures to improve student achievement (Dufour, 2004). Under those circumstances, professional learning communities have been discovered to improve teacher effectiveness which in turn improves overall student achievement (Kuh,…

This dissertation was motivated by a deep commitment to creating robust mathematics learning communities for teachers and for students that are grounded in care, dignity, and connection. Designing for learning from this relational perspective requires disrupting dehumanizing aspects of systems of schooling that function to construct difference and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how teachers engaged in curriculum deliberation through lesson study (LS) and how different types of teacher knowledge were elicited, co-constructed and transformed in integrated ways across LS stages. It also clarifies how different school-level orientations influence the nature, depth and scope of…

Purpose: Nowadays, networks are the basic core of social organization and interaction; consequently, networking has become an indispensable requirement in today's societies. In education, the development of different types of collaborative networks has been observed, leading, in recent years, to the creation of educational macro-networks that…

In spite of its increasing popularity, distance education faces challenges -- levels of digital literacy, access to technology, workload and time management, students' feelings of isolation and disconnection -- that can have a significant impact on the experience of the learners. In addressing these issues, we propose a pedagogical model for…

This study is positioned at the crossroads of pedagogical action learning and action research, as it addresses the challenges in designing and implementing action-learning approaches in the Middle East. In particular, it focuses on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and draws from a reflective analysis of a university-industry 'business challenge'…

Students With Disabilities (SWD) typically underperform compared to their non-disabled peers; these gaps are often widened by poverty, race or ethnicity, and English language proficiency. Principals are often unprepared to meet their learning needs. This mixed methods study took place in the Westford Central School District, a pseudonym, a high…