Preparing teacher leaders: Perceptions of the impact of a cohort-based, job embedded, blended teacher leadership program

This qualitative study was designed to examine teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of the impact of a graduate program designed to prepare teacher leaders. Impact was investigated through interviews with 20 graduates and 6 principals. Using Mezirow’s concept of transformational learning, the study documents perceived transformation of teachers’ frames of reference: two related to teaching (adopt an inquiry stance; learn to view oneself as an autonomous professional), and two related to leadership (adopt a leadership stance; view student learning as a communal responsibility). The study includes implications for the design of graduate level teacher education programs to enhance their impact and effectiveness.     

Feeling alienated – teachers using immersive digital games in classrooms

Significant barriers to using digital games in classrooms exist despite evidence to indicate digital games can enhance academic achievement. This qualitative, grounded theory study purports an interpretive understanding of the experiences of 13 Australian teachers who have used immersive digital games (IDGs) in the classroom. These teachers participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews that were one to two hours in duration. A key finding of this study is that teachers who use IDGs in the classroom can experience varying degrees of alienation from their teaching colleagues. This paper presents a model of the process of ‘Feeling Alienated’ experienced by some educators using IDGs in their classrooms. It begins with ‘the lone believer’ teacher who has strong beliefs in the value of using IDGs for student learning. Resentment by some colleagues, curriculum and classroom concerns, and insufficient advocacy contribute to the lone believer feeling alienated. This leads the lone believer to minimise the impact of their use of IDGs. The study concludes that, whilst negative teacher attitudes towards the use of IDGs in the classroom persist, the potential impact of IDGs in the classroom will not be fully realised.     

Relationships between categories of relevance criteria and stage in task completion

The process of information seeking involves a varied set of tasks and interactions. Exactly how the information seeker judges the relevance of what is retrieved has been a renewed area of interest in information retrieval studies. Various studies have identified facets or categories of relevance which go beyond simple topical relevance, and there has been some recent research on how these multi-dimensional concepts of relevance relate to the information seeking process. This study extends research on the relationship between multi-dimensional user relevance assignments and stage in the process of completing a task. Our results concur with and add detail to previous studies and suggest that users consistently identify relevance criteria beyond topical relevance. Our results also find a statistically significant relationship between the users’ stage in the search process and relevance categories chosen using the convenience sample chosen for this study.     

Examining Chinese postgraduate students’ academic adjustment in the UK higher education sector: a process-based stage model

The current theories relating to international student transition have largely tended to concentrate on what is to be adapted. This research contributes to the pedagogic literature examining how the transition is made by international postgraduate students. Using data from 20 qualitative in-depth interviews in conjunction with observations of teaching sessions and the researchers’ field notes, we discovered a process-based stage model which identifies a step-by-step approach at a micro-level of academic transition. Our findings extended the prior stage modes to incorporate students’ pre-arrival experience and claim that the pre-departure stage plays a crucial role on Chinese students’ later academic adjustment in the UK. The finding of our four-stage-model helps not only higher education institutions increasing sensitivity to the design of study programmes and induction provision but provides practical implications for recruitment agents that attempt to engage students’ pre-arrival preparations in terms of enhancing their marketing strategy in the long term.     

Teacher beliefs about the cognitive diagnostic information of classroom‐ versus large‐scale tests: implications for assessment literacy

Classroom teachers are in the front line of introducing students to formal learning, including assessments, which can be assumed to continue for students should they extend their schooling past the expected mandatory 12 years. The purpose of the present investigation was to survey secondary teachers’ beliefs of classroom and large‐scale tests for (a) providing information about students’ learning processes, (b) influencing meaningful student learning, and (c) eliciting learning or test‐taking strategies for successful test performance. Secondary teachers were surveyed because a majority of large‐scale tests are developed for secondary students (e.g., PISA, TIMSS). Results suggested that in comparison to large‐scale tests teachers believe classroom tests provide more information about student learning processes, are more likely to influence meaningful student learning, and are more likely to require learning over test‐taking strategies. The implications of these results for assessment literacy are explored.     

CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES WITH NEW CURRICULUM MATERIALS DURING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PERFORMANCE STANDARDS IN MATHEMATICS: A CASE STUDY OF TEACHERS COPING WITH CHANGE

A qualitative case study was conducted to investigate the classroom experiences of three sixth-grade teachers and their mathematics coach as they worked with new instructional materials during the implementation of a new state-mandated curriculum based on performance standards in mathematics. Teachers' collective participation in the exploration of the new standards, selection of materials, participation in a summer professional development workshop specifically tied to the use of the new materials, and the creation of an in-school professional development program were catalysts in the teachers' perception of the need to change their practice. The intended state-level standards were implemented with some success; however, despite their desire to change their practice and in contrast to their belief that considerable change had occurred, the data suggest that the change in the teachers' instructional practice was minimal.     

Mercy mercy me: social injustice and the prevention of environmental pollutant exposures among ethnic minority and poor children

Children's lead and pesticide exposures are used as examples to examine social disparities in exposure reduction efforts as well as environmental policies impacting children in poverty and minority children. The review also presents an estimate of the effect of social disparities in lead exposure on standardized test performance. Because including measures of pollutants with potential behavioral effects can alter the observed effects of race/ethnicity, income, and other variables, suggestions are made for including measures of pollutants in longitudinal studies and studies of multiple and cumulative risk. Continued basic research on developmental correlates and effects of pollution exposure, participatory action-research with at-risk and underrepresented populations, and contributions to public awareness and education are important leadership areas for developmental researchers.