Educators struggle with "value-added" teacher evaluation models based on high-stakes student assessments. Despite validity and reliability threats, these models evaluate university-based teacher preparation programs (TPPs), and play a role in state and professional accreditation. This study reports a more rational value-added evaluation…

The purpose of this study was to explore connections among perceived caring climate, empathy, and student social behaviors in high school bands. Nine high school band directors (N = 9 schools), along with their students (N = 203), completed an electronic questionnaire for variables of caring climate, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, social…

The primary purpose of this research is to illuminate perceptions and lived experiences of secondary teachers through their involvement in a Professional Learning Community (PLC). Teachers' experiences within a PLC were examined for patterns of cultivated leadership. The second purpose of the study was to identify variables that either promote or…

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe factors that are related to agricultural educator career retention and to explore the relationships between work engagement, work-life balance, occupational commitment, and personal and career factors as related to the decision to remain in the teaching profession. The target population for…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the rehearsal characteristics of "superior" middle and high school band directors. A total of 131 respondents from Florida, Kentucky, and North Carolina who received a "superior" rating for 4 out of the past 5 years, completed an open-ended essay question online asking them to…

This report examines the results of the field test for the base year of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). The general purposes of the field test were, in anticipation of the base-year full-scale effort, to test instruments, forms, and procedures; to experiment with different approaches to questionnaire content and survey…

Educational change, such as technology integration, involves risk. Teachers are encouraged to "take risks", but what risks they are asked to take and how do they perceive these risks? Developing an understanding of teachers' technology-related risk perceptions can help explain their choices and behaviours. This paper presents a way to…

The purposes of this study were to determine whether variables reported in previous research on teacher turnover could be reduced to a number of factors, and to determine how those resulting factors affected career longevity in band directors. Career longevity was defined as the total number of years teaching. Literature on teacher turnover was…

The aim of this study was to examine the views of pre-service mathematics teachers on the use of webquests in teaching and learning geometry with reference to a theoretical framework developed by Dodge in 1995. For this study the researcher identified four groups containing nineteen pre-service mathematics teachers, which were then assigned to…

To determine teacher working knowledge of transition best practices, the Transition Programs and Services (T-PAS) survey was administered to 2,000 middle and high school teachers and 70 school district transition contacts. Three questions were asked: (a) What barriers exist that hinder the transition process? (b) What effective practices…

This comparative case study investigated the teaching practices of secondary English language arts teachers who are reading endorsed versus secondary English language arts teachers who are not reading endorsed. Florida Department of Education mandated that all reading teachers, and strongly encouraged all English language arts teachers be reading…

The purpose of this preliminary study of journalism in Florida junior high schools is to determine whether activities in this field are numerous enough to justify a thorough study. A questionnaire covering 78 items was distributed and answers received from 55 junior high schools. While the data in the questionnaire are easy to interpret, many…

THIS PROJECT EXPLORED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT HIGH SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATIONS BASED ON THE EVALUATIVE CRITERIA OF THE NATIONAL STUDY OF SECONDARY SCHOOL EVALUATION PRODUCE CURRICULUM CHANGE AND HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS. THIS PROCESS OF SELF-EVALUATION WAS COMPLETED BY THE SCHOOL FACULTY, FOLLOWED BY A REVIEW OF A VISITING…

This study addresses attrition in the teaching profession, a major problem in Florida's schools. The study's target population was a random sample of 10% of the teachers from a Florida metropolitan school district employing 5,500 teachers. Data were gathered through a mailed questionnaire--the Survey of Teacher Characteristics and Activities. The…