The researcher sought to understand how the complexities and challenges of offering high-quality professional development district-wide impacted teachers' ability to implement their new learning. The literature posits that to be considered effective, professional development must include six distinct design elements: (1) Is data driven, (2)…

Principals play an essential role in ensuring student success and achievement. This is achieved through an effective principal's vital role in optimizing teacher impact over an entire campus because quality teachers significantly impact student achievement. This study aimed to gain insights that can contribute to a generalized knowledge of how…

Providing teachers with professional development leads to enhanced instructional practices that influence student achievement. Because of low student achievement scores, secondary school administrators at a district in the western United States implemented administrator-led classroom walkthroughs (CWs) as ongoing professional development to…

Teacher attrition rates continue to hold a place in education. Beginning teachers are leaving the profession for a variety of reasons, but lack of support is amongst the top of the list (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Darling-Hammond, 2003; Ingersoll & Strong, 2011; Rajendran et al., 2020). Induction programs, with an emphasis on mentoring, have…

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in several challenges for students and teachers in the United States. The introduction of virtual instruction was a challenge for many, especially teachers. As many educators attempted to determine how to best support their students and teachers, the latter looked for ways to create lessons and connect with students…

This instrumental case study examines the varying perceptions of teachers and administrators towards peer observation as a form of professional development, their current professional development offerings, the factors that impact the implementation of peer observation as an effective form of professional development, the key components of the…

The teaching of mathematical modeling is limited in P-12 classrooms. Little is known in regards to how to support teachers to successfully enact modeling activities. Teachers do not always appreciate the value of modeling activities in mathematics learning and often feel unprepared to implement modeling in their classrooms. Teachers often struggle…

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to investigate the experiences of a group of high school administrators in assessing teacher dispositions that are reflected in post observation conferences. It is argued that through a better understanding of the techniques used by these administrators and the way the Danielson Framework for Teaching…

Providing high-quality professional learning opportunities for teaching staff is a key responsibility for school leaders that can lead to increased teacher capacity and higher student outcomes. Instructional coaching is a professional development model that has gained in popularity over the past decade. An instructional coach is an individual who…

This study considers how administrators work to provide excellent educational experiences for all students through supporting teacher practice within teacher observation for evaluation (TOFE) systems. Qualitative methodology was used for this research, specifically interviews of participants. The study took place during the Fall of 2017 at three…

Teacher leaders are people who lead by example and, in this school, most are not afraid to speak up even if it is not politically correct. Teacher leaders are selfless people who are looking out for what is best for all, especially the students. They are risk takers. With the introduction of technology and accountability measures, education…

Principals used distributed leadership, as suggested by researchers, to actively engage teacher leaders in instructional leadership responsibilities. It was not known how high school principals' distributed leadership practices enabled teacher leaders to assist principals with instructional leadership responsibilities. The purpose of this…

Equity in mathematics teaching has gained increased attention in the last few decades. A growing field of research has provided various definitions of equity, outlined standards, and identified practices that lead to equitable learning opportunities for all students, particularly for students from non-dominant backgrounds. However, few studies…

In this dissertation, I explored the pedagogical content knowledge of in-service high school educators recently assigned to teach computer science for the first time. Teachers were participating in a professional development program where they co-taught introductory computing classes with tech industry professionals. The study was motivated by…

Title: What are the observable correlates of the Aha! moment, and how does this moment relate to moving from surface to deep thinking? Background: The purpose of this study is to provide reliable evidence of the observable correlates of the Aha! moment and what this means for moving from surface to deep thinking. This research can lead to the…