Since the 1960s, business leaders and educators used the idea of "goal setting theory" as a guide to success. Teachers who implemented goal setting strategies contributed to student success and achievement. During my study, I found little existing literature focused on academic goal setting implementation for students in Tennessee rural…

In response to the federal Race to the Top grant initiative that aimed to increase teacher accountability, the state of Tennessee created the Tennessee Student Growth Portfolio Model (TSGPM) to evaluate its non-tested teachers. This optional alternate evaluation model for non-tested teachers was developed and piloted by fine arts educators in the…

This qualitative case study investigated rural high school social studies teachers' perceptions of Robert Stahl's decision-making materials within their content area and the relevance of curricular implementation. The primary questions addressed in this study focused on high school social studies teachers' perception of current instructional…

Research was limited when it came to identifying the perceptions of high school teachers regarding virtual schooling, chronic absenteeism, and class participation especially in rural areas. With the rise in wide-scale implementation of virtual school options as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational leaders and policy makers implemented…

This manuscript illustrates the potential use of The Harvard Social Studies Project's (HSSP) ability to promote student decision-making skills by implementing case study material to increase the use of standards-based curriculum and accountability measures in social studies classrooms. Data was developed through a short survey and collected from…

Innovation in instructional technology has contributed to the rapid implementation of technology-driven instructional platforms, particularly in developmental math coursework (Bickerstaff et al., 2016). In this phenomenological study, we investigate how faculty perceive and respond to a mandated, technology-driven instructional model for…

The accountability movement in education since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has produced value-added evaluation policies in the United States that have resulted in discord and undesirable responses among many teachers. Despite investigations into the validity of value-added evaluation policies and descriptive reports of teachers' responses…

This qualitative study explored teacher perceptions to understand how teachers in Tennessee see the impact of accountability on their instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. Each of the three categories is defined by The Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale, which was administered to the purposeful group of nine teachers…

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that impact teachers' decisions to remain teaching in an urban school district. The researcher analyzed survey data provided by the Office of Planning and Accountability for an urban school district in Tennessee. The findings of the study are also discussed as well as any implication for…

The use of student achievement data to evaluate an individual teacher's effectiveness has become a new focus in educational policy. This article focuses on the underresearched teacher perception of this new policy measure. Drawing on ethnographic research procedures, this article explores how first-grade teachers in one state navigated a new…

All individuals go through a process of change when implementing a new innovation. This descriptive study determines there is a difference in the stages of concern regarding Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI), Tennessee's design model for Response to Intervention, (RTI) for 87 teachers from 8 different schools in a county in Middle…

All individuals go through a process of change when implementing a new innovation. This descriptive study determines there is a difference in the stages of concern regarding Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI 2), Tennessee's design model for Response to Intervention, (RTI) for 87 teachers from 8 different schools in a county in Middle…

The well known 1983 report "A Nation at Risk" recommended that individuals preparing to teach should meet high education standards and demonstrate an aptitude for teaching and competence in an academic discipline--adding also that college and university teacher preparation programs should be judged by how well their graduates meet these…

States, programs, and schools have long focused on the inputs of teacher preparation--the rules for candidates and the preparation programs they attend--because inputs were thought to predict teacher effectiveness, and because they were often the best option available. But in the early 2000s, policymakers began trying to evaluate preparation…

NIET [National Institute for Excellence in Teaching] continually evaluates the impact of TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement on raising student achievement, improving instruction and increasing the ability of high-need schools to recruit, retain and support effective teachers. In addition to national results in student achievement…