This qualitative study investigated teachers' perceptions of their own writing abilities and processes, the adequacy of their pre-service teacher preparation, and the efficacy of in-service, school system and school building-level support, and how each of these components affected the educator's aptitude to teach students in grade six through…

The problem to be addressed in this study was that limited social-emotional curriculum and training within preservice education programs may contribute to teachers' increased job stress and low retention rates. The purpose of this qualitative generic study was to explore how novice educators describe whether their preservice curriculum and…

Student teachers (N = 22) in a New York State Graduate School of Education pre-service teacher preparation program reported feeling ineffective in using classroom management (CM) skills and strategies. Using an Improvement Science approach and Bandura's work on self-efficacy, this mixed methods research project examined whether providing…

A pervasive and widespread shortage of early intervention (EI) teachers is preventing vital services from reaching infants and toddlers with disabilities during their most critical period of brain development. To better understand the EI teacher shortage, this qualitative study examined the career decision-making of 11 EI teachers from the…

The critical shortage of qualified teachers in hard to staff urban schools has been a persistent issue in the U.S. for decades. Teachers and researchers have pointed to the inadequacy of teacher preparation programs to prepare teacher candidates to address the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students and special education students…

The American education system has experienced a change in the racial and ethnic background of the student population nationally and in the Long Island, New York region. Yet, the teaching population remains mostly white and female. Teacher preparation programs train teachers in content, pedagogy, and adolescent development. During the training,…

Teacher preparation programs are critical to the induction of new teachers into the field. Research has shown student teaching and embedded field experiences are essential components of these teacher preparation programs and are therefore included as a culminating element of teacher preparation programs. However, little is known of the…

In this critical bifocal case study, the author examines how the Obama administration's Race to the Top education reform agenda was enacted into policy that gave rise to the Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), which was in turn embodied by a single MA English education teacher preparation program in New York State. Drawing on Weis and Fine's…

Classroom teachers struggle to meet the needs of all students as the United States population continues to become more diverse. While preservice teacher training programs strive to provide teachers with the knowledge and skills to complete this task effectively, opportunity gaps between minority students and their peers continue to grow. Through…

A Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model of educational service delivery is a multi-tiered, preventative approach designed to meet the educational and behavioral needs of all learners. While the New York State (NYS) Department of Education has mandated the use of this model in grades K-4, the extent to which RTI competencies are taught within…

Aspiring teachers seeking licensure in New York State are required to prepare a portfolio of materials demonstrating their readiness to teach during their student teaching clinical experience, as per edTPA (a teacher performance assessment developed by Stanford University). This research considered how cooperating teachers in the student teaching…

This study explores how one secondary social studies teacher education program prepares prospective teachers for inclusive education. Drawing on theories of democratic citizenship education and Disability Studies in Education, inclusive social studies envisions a socially democratic educational setting that fosters the development of a community…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between preschool teachers' awareness of disabilities, their exposure to disabilities, and their self-efficacy in a classroom, and how they affect teachers' attitudes toward inclusion. Another purpose was to investigate the extent to which class composition (all boys, all girls, co-ed…

The field of teacher education has long sought to examine the impact of coursework on teacher practice and student learning. Despite the promise of many forms of educational pedagogy and curricula utilized in teacher education programs, many novice teachers continue to feel unprepared and insecure about their teaching. Pre-service teacher…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of four different design layouts of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user processing time and preference. Three newly developed layouts contained the same information as the standards core curriculum. In this study, the layout of the core guide is referred to as Book.…