Teacher education has lagged in preparing general educators with the knowledge and skills necessary to support the learning of students with disabilities within inclusive classrooms. This study illustrates how small-scale action research can be used in higher education to analyze teacher preparation practices in a concerted effort toward improvement. Participants included (n =35) preservice teachers in a graduate-level university teacher preparation program in the Pacific Northwest. Mixed methods were utilized to examine the impact of lesson study on preservice teacher self-efficacy and capacity to teach students with disabilities within their respective practicum placements. First developed in Japan, lesson study facilitates a collaborative effort between teachers to improve instructional knowledge and skills. In this study, a new variation of lesson study was developed to align teacher preparation course content with High Leverage Practices in special education. Outcomes from this study indicate the need to align coursework with practicum experiences to optimize the acquisition of knowledge and skills through deliberate practice. In addition, this study highlights how High Leverage Practices can serve as a pedagogical bridge between the perpetual division of special and general education teacher preparation programs.

International schools and international education initiatives are experiencing tremendous growth as the world’s economy continues to globalize. International schools operating outside of the traditional boundaries of state and national contexts have become havens noted for their diverse and multicultural staff, student bodies and school communities. However, the challenges facing international education have only recently begun to be studied independent from their traditional teaching counterparts. International schools, and any study associated with them, require an individual approach for identifying and solving the challenges unique to their context.

“I’m Leaving!” is an action research study which incorporates phenomenological hermeneutics, action research, and a transformational innovation to examine the social structures associated with the decision-making process of the “I’m Leaving!” phenomenon and the administrative action developed in response. Guided by Transformational Leadership Theory (TLT), this study combined the latest action research methodological perspectives with hermeneutic tradition and Professional Learning Community (PLC) theory to provide a deep and unflinching view into the real and lived experiences of the one subject often forgot about in educational research: the teacher. The study results confirm previous study findings that teacher feelings and perceptions of the leadership effectiveness, teacher-leader relationships, and teacher professional growth opportunities were all improved after teachers participated in an action research communities.

This research paper aims to analyze the intricacies of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as well as its reauthorizations, primarily No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with a brief look at the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Most attention will be placed on Title I of each piece of legislation. Accompanying the analysis will be insight and data examining the varied levels of success for each piece of legislation aimed at minimizing the achievement gap. The data will highlight graduation rates, test scores, dropout rates, adult literacy rates, school enrollment, etc. The research paper will analyze these items on a national scale, then it will direct its attention to Arizona schools. Charter schools will not be analyzed within the scope of this research paper. In exploring these details in terms of a specific state since ESEA's inception, the research paper hopes to better examine the effects of ESEA and perhaps suggest parallels to states nationwide. Since there are so many diverse factors in determining student and school success, it would be unwise to make concrete claims about these figures and whether they prove ESEA was a success or failure. However, the purpose of providing this data is to suggest possible relationships between these federal initiatives and student success. Furthermore, as a prior student and current teacher at a Title I school in Arizona, the author acknowledges that there is potential for bias and the perspective provided in this research paper may differ from that of the reader.

This paper is written to describe the results of an undergraduate thesis project which grew from an interest in the various supports teenagers in the foster care system can obtain the city of Phoenix, Arizona. Since graduation rates are quite low for this demographic on a national level, there is a need to research what incentives and supports various high school districts in different cities and towns within Phoenix offer students within the foster care system in order to promote graduation and potentially the pursuit of higher education. Literary texts were analyzed and district and high school officials from around the Phoenix-area were interviewed. Information gathered from these correspondences was followed by contacting local colleges in order to see what those institutions provide in terms of scholarships and housing, since after age 18 these teenagers are no longer considered wards of the state and therefore "age out" of the system. The results of this endeavor are written on the following pages.

This research looks at a group of students from Tumaini Children's Home in Nyeri, Kenya. The purpose of this paper is to explore why this particular group of students is so academically successful. Quantitative research was taken from the average 2013 test scores of Tumaini students who took the Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam in comparison to the scores of students who are not residing in the orphanage. Qualitative research involves interviews from those students who live in Tumaini and interviews from adults who are closely connected to the orphanage. The purpose is to understand why the students are performing so well academically and what support they have created for themselves that allows them to do so.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of successful community college students classified as neurotypical (NT), learning disabled (LD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using mixed methods, 45 successful students completed two surveys designed to assess their overall hope as well as specific academic skills and strategies used as part of their postsecondary educational experience. Interview questions were then generated based on the results of the quantitative analysis. Fifteen of the 45 participants were randomly selected to take part in a follow-up qualitative interview. Results indicated some commonality among the successful students with relation to overall attendance, use of email as a communication tool with professors, self-advocacy as it pertained to seeking support from professors and individualizing and personalizing the class/professor selection process. The findings suggested that there are specific strategies associated with student success at the post-secondary level and both K-12 schools and community colleges could incorporate skill building in these areas to improve retention and graduation rates.

The non-profit National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) grew out of the belief that teachers were a key factor in improving student achievement and that the profession needed a way to recognize and reward exemplary classroom teachers. Over 100,000 teachers nationwide have achieved National Board Certification across all certificate areas, with approximately 1,800 of those in the area of Physical Education. Although National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) have been the subjects of several studies since the inception of NBPTS, very few have investigated the impact of National Board Certification (NBC) and Physical Education Teachers. This study examined the teaching effectiveness of NBCPETs and non-NBCPETs as they taught intact Physical Education classes with their own students. Participating teachers were provided with an experimental teaching unit (ETU) with a specific learning objective, but were free to plan and design the intended instruction. This study also examined the cognitive processes of NBCPETs and non-NBCPETs during interactive teaching. Academic Learning Time-Physical Education (ALT-PE), the System for Observing Fitness Instructional Time (SOFIT), stimulated-recall interviews, and document analysis were utilized for data collection. Pre- and post-tests on the ETU specific learning objective were conducted to determine student learning and three lessons were videotaped and used in subsequent analysis. Stimulated recall interviews were conducted following each lesson, lasting between 5 to 15 minutes. Themes that emerged from the stimulated-recall interviews across all teachers included: 1) building on past skills, 2) modifications to increase physical activity, and 3) goal-directed instruction. In addition, there is no difference between the amount of time students of NBCPETs engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as compared to students of non-NBCPETs. Similarly, students of non-NBCPETs are provided the same amount of motor activity at an appropriate success rate (ALT-PE) as students of NBCPETs. Lastly, the results showed no difference in gain scores of the learning objectives between the two groups of teachers.

Literature reviews, books, and research studies are reviewed in this thesis with the purpose of examining the postsecondary transition of young adults on the autism spectrum (AS). Previous research on the specific social, legislative, victimization, and self-determination issues that young adults on the AS face during their postsecondary transition process is extensively examined as well as research that addresses the viewpoints of postsecondary programs from the perspectives of caregivers and young adults. Research studies and literature reviews that address current postsecondary programs for those on the AS and current adult outcomes for those on the AS are also included in the literature review section. The research aspect of the current thesis involved a postsecondary education transition team at Arizona State University who compared the viewpoints of young adults and parents of young adults on the AS on their experience with the postsecondary transition process and what they believe should be fundamental aspects of the postsecondary transition process. Two forms of a survey were administered (one for the young adult population and another for the parent population). Survey results found a lot of similarities and differences in terms of how caregivers and young adults felt about postsecondary transition. Although both young adults and caregivers expressed a strong interest in postsecondary programs for students with autism, both groups expressed that the likelihood of the young adult attending such a program would be significantly less. Differing viewpoints between the two populations existed on what a postsecondary program should look like. Although the two groups did agree that such programs should consist of an employment and social activities component, young adults felt that programs should have a more diverse set of criteria. Following completion of a secondary program, caregivers saw young adults attending a postsecondary education institution, while young adults perceived themselves as transferring directly into the workforce. On the contrary, caregivers did demonstrate an even variability in choice for opinions. The thesis concludes with the many implications for this study and suggestions for future research.

This study's purpose was to explore effectiveness of alternate format in-service delivery for what teachers needed to know to effectively teach their students with Autism Spectrum Disorder/High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome (ASD/HFA/AS) in the general education setting. The study's research questions included: Did participants learn information they needed as well using asynchronous online in-service format models as when in a traditional face-to-face consultative approach? Did the use of a broad asynchronous online discussion approach to collaboration result in effective student problem-solving for the participants? Did participant attitudes change toward online instruction as a means of collaboration as a result of engaging in alternate in-service delivery models? A fifteen-hour staff development course was developed and taught to 24 teacher/educators in a suburban southwest K-12 public school district. The course content was organized around topics derived from an earlier data collection and included what teachers said they needed to know, from whom, and how. A free, simple asynchronous online environment was created for the course and online participation for learning and collaboration activities was requested of two participant groups, hybrid or online. Quantitative data was collected from Pre-/Post-Tests and survey. Qualitative data was collected from weekly collaborative problem-solving reflections. Results indicated that educators improved knowledge base in ASD/HFA/AS characteristics and adaptations and found collaborative online problem-solving about students effective and personally satisfactory. Results for online participants during the alternate format delivery sessions of the course were stronger than hybrid format although both appeared to profit from the use of technology. All participants changed their view to positively value asynchronous online formats for learning and collaborating with other teachers to find out what they needed to know to implement in the classroom in efficient and economical ways.