The case studies, research, and projects presented here strike at the very heart of effective teaching. The specific practices to improve student performance will spark classroom discussion and improve teacher practice. After a foreword by Frances van Tassell and an introduction by Edith M. Guyton and Julie Rainer Dangel, this book is divided into…

This study examined teachers' attraction to school council service and factors that impacted that attraction. Participants were randomly selected public school teachers enrolled in graduate education courses at three Kentucky state universities. They performed three tasks. First, they completed a biographical form that yielded descriptive…

Assessed whether integrating classroom management and a Wednesday field experience would increase preservice teachers' knowledge and ability to connect theory with practice. Preservice elementary teachers wrote weekly reflections on topics they observed while in their assigned classrooms. The experience empowered most of them by helping them…

Public school decentralization has increased involvement of multiple constituencies in school governance. This study of a private school and a public school illustrates the complexities of leading teachers in the decision-making process. Both principals were transformational leaders, but teachers were not empowered enough to make changes. (34…

Uses journal analysis techniques to examine how six female student teachers participating in secondary-school inclusion programs constructed their professional lives. Teachers believe their professional success is tightly aligned with their sense of empowerment and control over the educational environment. Confidence wanes at the prospect of…

Examined the motivational effects of a teacher research initiative within an urban alternative school, studying participating teachers' self-efficacy, empowerment, collaboration, and perceptions of school climate via surveys, interviews, observations, and field notes. Growth occurred in general and personal teaching efficacies from pretest to…

This study examined participants' beliefs and practices regarding power with personal demographic variables (gender, age, degree level, and years of experience) and school-related variables (level of school employed, type of school community, and overall citizenship) on power beliefs and practices. A principal component analysis of 668 survey…

As part of a project to learn more about the technical assistance process of helping high needs schools to develop the organizational capacity to support effective school performance, this study examined changes after two years of technical assistance delivery in a high needs school district. The district was in a rural area with one elementary…

More than 2,100 charter schools serving more than 500,000 students operate in 37 states and the District of Columbia. This book contains a report of a study that examined the first 10 years of the charter-school movement. The study addressed the following questions: (1) What students do charter schools serve? (2) Are charter-school teachers more…

Survey of 400 Missouri schools compared schools that use integrated curriculum (IC) with those that do not. Explores the extent and type of use of IC, how school principals rate IC success, differences between characteristics of schools that do and do not use IC, and teacher involvement and support across different school levels. Includes data…

Summarizes an ethnographic study examining interactions perceived as empowering in four inner-city primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Teachers wanted interactions between themselves and principals to be characterized by trust, recognition, respect, support, and reliability, but were disheartened by vanishing career and professional…

This study examines the mediating effect of teacher empowerment on the relationship between teachers' participation in decision making and their professional commitment. The data were collected through quantitative questionnaires from a sample of 983 teachers in 25 junior high schools and 27 high schools in Israel. Hierarchical regression analyses…

This paper describes the design, testing, and analyzing of a model to improve science teaching and student learning in the classroom. The model centers on empowering classroom teachers enrolled in a graduate course with knowledge of the research literature in a way that improves their ability to teach science and to bring the world of research and…

This study examined whether teachers perceived their school principals as using empowering-type activities. The study focused on differences according to such factors as age, gender, and school grade and size. Researchers examined the survey responses from graduate students in the Educational Leadership Program at Northeast Louisiana University in…

Reports a study of eight teachers identified as empowered or having become more empowered, focusing on influences on and the developmental process of teacher empowerment. Journal entries, interviews, and observations as teachers conducted reading and language arts instruction demonstrated that gaining empowerment was a spiraling process. (SM)