ORIENTATIONS TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION: UNDERSTANDING THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO PD OUTCOMES ACROSS MULTIPLE PROJECTS

Given the large investment in teacher professional development (PD), further understanding of the factors that impact PD success is needed. In a previous study, the authors established a framework for categorizing PD projects using the notion of orientations. A PD orientation is comprised of project characteristics that drive the PD design and implementation for that project. In this study, we applied this orientation framework to 14 science and mathematics PD projects and examined the relationship between projects of differing orientations and PD outcomes (e.g. perceived improvement in teaching practices). The results provide support for the value of the framework and demonstrate that PD projects with different orientations exhibit differing participant outcomes. This study also provides evidence of the value of this research framework for understanding how PD implementation characteristics are related to PD outcomes, as well as points to the value of a “balanced” orientation where both content and pedagogy are addressed in equal parts.     

Increasing Teachers' Adherence to a Classwide Intervention Through Performance Feedback Provided by a School-Based Consultant: A Case Study

Performance feedback (PF) is an empirically supported method of increasing teachers' treatment adherence. In the evaluations of PF to date, however, PF was delivered by someone external to the school. The primary purpose of this case study was to provide an exploratory evaluation of the effectiveness and feasibility of PF when delivered by a school-based consultant to teachers implementing a classwide behavioral intervention. Teacher treatment adherence and student outcomes were also evaluated. Results indicate that overall, (a) teachers demonstrated moderate-to-high, but variable, levels of treatment adherence; (b) when teachers demonstrated lower levels of treatment adherence, the school-based consultant implemented PF with high adherence for 5 weeks, after which adherence varied; and (c) student outcomes improved.     

Perceptions about the Objectives of Student Teaching

Abstract

This investigation examined perceptions of student teachers, cooperating teachers, and university supervisors about the importance and achievement of objectives of the student teaching experience. Perceptions between student teachers and cooperating teachers and between student teachers and university supervisors about the importance of objectives were significantly related. No significant relationship was found between perceptions of cooperating teachers and those of university supervisors. A significant relationship existed between perceptions of student teachers and those of cooperating teachers and between the perceptions of cooperating teachers and those of university supervisors about the achievement of objectives. No significant relationship was found between perceptions of student teachers and those of university supervisors. A comparison of perceptions about the importance of the objectives and the achievement of the objectives showed no significant relationship between the two sets of perceptions. Implications from this investigation included the need for establishment of competency priorities for the student teacher prior to the beginning of the student teaching experience.     

Problematic students of NASP‐approved programs: An exploratory study of graduate student views

This study reports the findings of an electronic exploratory survey of National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Student Representatives. The purpose of the survey was to gather information about the perspective of graduate students concerning problematic peers and their experiences with them in school psychology training programs. Findings suggest that (a) students are unsure whether or not their training programs have an official procedure in place for dealing with problematic students; (b) the problems they observe most commonly involve poor interpersonal skills; (c) consistent with other mental health programs, school psychology graduate students most often talk with their peers or avoid contact with the problematic peer when they have concerns rather than go to faculty; (d) the majority (49.4%) of the respondents feel that faculty or training directors have the most responsibility for the identification of problematic peers but that students have an ethical duty to provide information to the teaching staff if they feel they have a reason to believe there is a problem of which the faculty is unaware. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Activity Settings and Daily Routines in Preschool Classrooms: Diverse Experiences in Early Learning Settings for Low-Income Children

This paper examines activity settings and daily classroom routines experienced by 3- and 4-year-old low-income children in public center-based preschool programs, private center-based programs, and family child care homes. Two daily routine profiles were identified using a time-sampling coding procedure: a High Free-Choice pattern in which children spent a majority of their day engaged in child-directed free-choice activity settings combined with relatively low amounts of teacher-directed activity, and a Structured-Balanced pattern in which children spent relatively equal proportions of their day engaged in child-directed free-choice activity settings and teacher-directed small- and whole-group activities. Daily routine profiles were associated with program type and curriculum use but not with measures of process quality. Children in Structured-Balanced classrooms had more opportunities to engage in language and literacy and math activities, whereas children in High Free-Choice classrooms had more opportunities for gross motor and fantasy play. Being in a Structured-Balanced classroom was associated with children's language scores but profiles were not associated with measures of children's math reasoning or socio-emotional behavior. Consideration of teachers' structuring of daily routines represents a valuable way to understand nuances in the provision of learning experiences for young children in the context of current views about developmentally appropriate practice and school readiness.     

Recognition,responsibility, and risk: Pre-service teachers' framing and reframing of lesbian,gay, and bisexual social justice issues

This paper presumes teachers play crucial roles in making more just societies and teacher educators must decide how they will participate in and/or shape a global dialog about LGB rights with pre-service teachers. This paper utilizes Fraser's theory of justice to consider curricular change. It examines the values and experiences pre-service teachers bring to their university education that shape their interaction with curricula. Analysis of classroom dialog suggests that pre-service teachers have a more complex understanding of structure and transformation than their nascent language around sexuality allows them to articulate. These optimistic findings lead to proposals for transforming how we teach about sexuality.     

Am I a woman? The normalisation of woman in US History

The curriculum of US History has improved substantially in its presentation of women over the 40 years since Trecker's 1971 study of US History textbooks. While studies show increased inclusions, they also suggest that women have not yet claimed their own place in the school curriculum. This paper seeks to better understand the woman who is presented to students and how she is normalised through a US History curriculum. Feminist analysis of the curriculum exposes a concept of woman attached to the domestic sphere and reified through her presentation in the political and economic realms. When considering the images of woman available to young people, it is important to examine the full context around these images that shape the deeper meaning students take from curricular encounters.