This study aimed to identify the themes teacher preparation programs need to improve their current curriculum. The research focused on teacher preparation programs, professional development opportunities, technology use and integration methods, college and career readiness in PreK-12 students, ISTE Educator and Student Standards, and 21st Century…

This non-experimental qualitative bounded case study (Yin, 2014) examined how secondary school instructors and learners perceive smartphones' impact on learning in the GED classroom in an urban school in New York City (NYC). The study assessed how GED learners and instructors in an urban NYC government-funded high school equivalency program…

From the Cold War to the neoliberal era, state-sanctioned education reforms have been less concerned with responsible citizenship or social justice than matters of national security and economic supremacy. Meanwhile, the United States struggles to climb international education rankings or even close its own national achievement gap. While it…

Administrators and teachers understand the mandates of No Child Left Behind Act 2001 that required the effective use and adoption of technology such as iPads and interactive whiteboards to prepare students to compete in a global marketplace; however, these technologies were often used inefficiently to teach basic literacy concepts and the…

A main challenge of online education is fostering student engagement. The general problem to be explored is the lack of motivational techniques e-instructors use to encourage online engagement. The specific problem is that students are not learning the necessary engagement skills needed to be effective online learners. The purpose of this…

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to gain an understanding of what school innovation looks like as well as how school and district leaders address the concept. Technology has forever changed society. We must be careful not to confuse school innovation as the implementation of technology in the classroom. Educational leaders face the…

As technology has advanced over time, cell phone usage has become a tool in an individual's educational career. Previous research has shown that teacher perceptions have differed depending on the individual teacher (Baker et al., 2012; O'Bannon et al., 2014; Stachowski et al., 2020). Much of the research has suggested that teachers tend to have…

Over the past ten years, districts have made large purchases of instructional technology for use in the classroom. In particular, many districts are purchasing one device per one student, otherwise known as one-to-one initiatives (Dorfman, 2016). The costs of these initiatives are great and because of this, communities are demanding they be…

This dissertation presents findings of three studies investigating the development and transfer of TPACK of pre-service and in-service elementary school special education teachers. The dissertation is presented in a non-traditional format including an introduction, three manuscripts submitted for journal publication, and a summary chapter. The…

There is a purported shortage of employable labor in the tech workforce, yet Black, Indigenous, Women of Color (BIWOC) in urban centers struggle to find and sustain roles in "high-tech." The tech ecosystem is a CIS-gendered, white male heterosexual space that perpetuates and "ideal worker norm" (Kachchaf et al., 2015), which…

Lessons from early academic television courses from the 1950s guide an assessment of current disruptive technologies that shape Massive Open Online Courses (known as MOOCs) and other informal online learning opportunities today. This dissertation explores some of the unique contributing factors that led to the creation of "Sunrise…

Technology integration does not happen in a vacuum. It needs a plan. School leaders must oversee this plan and combine best practices for implementing effective instructional practices, sound curricula, and educational technology. Just as instructional leaders need to have a command of curriculum and instruction, educational technology leaders…

Engaging students within the classroom setting is a constant and evolving process for teachers today. Teachers have used unique methods to connect with toodays students in a meaningful way through the use of technology to increase the effectiveness of their instruction towards how students learn best. Many have turned towards using the flipped…

Perspectives from educators and students elucidate how systemic language discrimination and oppression (i.e., linguicism) are perpetuated in the New York education system, even though it has one of the most comprehensive approaches to supporting multilingual students in the nation (Sugarman, 2016). The legacy of teaching English as a colonizing…

This quantitative study examined the relationship between teachers' perceptions of leadership support for their use of a blended learning approach to teach math in fourth or fifth grade and their use of blended learning. The study also examined teachers' perceptions of leadership support for incorporating blended learning and student engagement.…