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Item Rural school teachers' attitudes toward the use of technology in classroom assessments(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2024) Boateng, Samuel Kwaku Basoah; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Gilbert KalondeThis study explored the attitudes of rural schoolteachers toward integrating technology into classroom assessments. Despite significant investments in educational technology infrastructure, the utilization of instructional devices for assessments in rural schools remains limited. The study employed a sequential explanatory mixed methods to address five key research questions, investigating rural school teachers' attitudes towards technology-based assessments, frequencies of technology use by rural, strategies employed by rural school teachers, challenges faced by rural school teachers in tech-based assessments, and the alignment of quantitative and qualitative data. The study relied on a questionnaire and focus group interviews and opened questions for data collection from 80 teachers randomly selected from the Belgrade School District in Montana. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analysis. The study revealed a positive attitude among rural teachers toward technology integration in classroom assessments. Teachers were willing to use tools like Google Classroom and digital assessments, aligning with broader trends indicating a growing acceptance of technology in education. The study further indicated that teachers in rural schools employ technology regularly for various assessments, utilizing tools like Google Classroom, forms, checklists, and online quizzes. This aligns with the increasing reliance on technology for formative and summative assessments, allowing for real-time data collection and effective student performance tracking. Teachers reported diverse strategies for integrating technology, including digital assessments, online platforms, and technology tools. These approaches align with previous studies emphasizing technology's role in enhancing assessment practices, promoting student engagement, and supporting differentiated instruction. The study also found that rural teachers face challenges such as unreliable internet connectivity, outdated hardware, and insufficient training, highlighting the need for targeted interventions and support mechanisms. The study recommends four strategies to improve rural education: addressing infrastructure gaps, providing professional development for teachers, establishing collaborative networks, and collaborating with policymakers to ensure equitable access to technology resources. These measures aim to create dynamic learning environments, enhance teachers' capabilities, foster a supportive community, and bridge the rural-urban educational divide. The study concludes by highlighting actionable insights for improving technology integration in rural classrooms, emphasizing tailored professional development and flexible implementation strategies.Item A multisite case study of state policy and teacher perceptions of recruitment and retention in rural school districts impacted by the critical quality educator shortage(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2020) Hancock, Hailey Suzanne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Christine Rogers StantonThe purpose of this qualitative multisite case study is to explore the history of school funding and policy in Montana K-12 schools with a focus on how the State legislature is or is not providing equality of educational opportunity. Because teachers are the most significant school-related factor on student performance, the analyses will focus on data involving recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers in rural contexts. This case study occurs from 2004-2019 when school districts sued the State legislature in Columbia Falls v. State of Montana (2004/2005) for not providing an adequate education. The Montana legislature revised their school finance model and, while the State claims the funding is sufficient, Montana continues to face a critical quality educator shortage in rural communities. Since 74% of Montana schools identify as rural this is especially problematic. Critical place-conscious theory was applied to the multisite case study, which consists of five interconnected phases where the semi-structured interviews influence critical policy discourse analysis. The study focused on two rural school districts impacted by the educator shortage, identified as the Glacier and Yellowstone sites. Findings demonstrate that there is a disconnect between Montana policies addressing teacher recruitment and retention, and the reality of educators' professional lives. The unsustainable workloads of teachers, inadequate staffing, low-compensation, and unaffordable housing are all challenges faced by Montana teachers. Rurality is not the primary cause of these challenges rather these issues appear to be systemic. A major conclusion is that teacher attrition impacts the quality of education students receive therefore equality of opportunity does not exist between rural and non-rural schools in Montana. Local school districts are integrating place-conscious solutions to fill this opportunity gap such as teacherages and innovative scheduling, however, not all schools have the financial capacity or leadership to do so, therefore the Montana legislature has a responsibility to provide more funding to schools impacted by the critical quality educator shortage. Furthermore, a new framework, the Place-Conscious Social- Ecological Model, is suggested to create education policy that values Montana's rurality.Item Motivation and pedagogical ecology of school-based outdoor science teaching: a multiple case study(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2019) Vallor, Rosanna Rohrs; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ann EwbankThis study examines why and how teachers incorporate school-based outdoor teaching in their pedagogies. Research demonstrates that students gain in a range of areas when learning outdoors, but teachers can face multiple barriers when considering outdoor teaching, and many choose not to teach outdoors. There is limited research about why and how successful teachers choose to plan and manage outdoor teaching. Using a multiple case study of three public-school teachers, in grades 4, 7, and high school, who have consistently taught outdoors for over 15 years each, the study addressed why exemplary teachers choose to teach outdoors and how exemplary teachers accomplish outdoor teaching. Each teacher constituted an individual case. Semi-structured interview responses, questionnaires, field observation notes, and video-recall interviews were coded and analyzed using NVivo software. Analytic narratives based on themes within the coded data were then developed for individual cases, followed by cross-case analysis of the three cases. The findings indicated that the teachers were motivated to teach outdoors by perceived positive student impacts, by outstanding available outdoor spaces, and by their personal connections to the natural world. Teachers plan and manage outdoor teaching, with administration and community cooperation, to take advantage of opportunities for students to engage in their local environment. These findings were synthesized into the Pedagogical Ecology of Outdoor Teaching (PEOT) model. The PEOT model includes teachers' motivations, contextual factors, and teacher-operational factors in sequential, iterative relationship, and illustrates the complexity and uniqueness of teachers' situations when considering outdoor teaching. Future research incorporating the PEOT model could analyze teachers' contexts and environmental connections to determine assets and needs in their situations. Action plans to address those needs could then be developed to assist teachers and districts to develop outdoor teaching opportunities.Item Teacher self-efficacy development in an international school in the Dominican Republic(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2018) Zerbe, Robin Joy; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tena VerslandAs the teaching profession becomes increasingly challenging and teachers leave the profession at an alarming rate, school leaders need to understand the factors that influence teacher resiliency and longevity. A teacher's self-efficacy beliefs have been found to affect teacher's emotional and physiological well being (Bandura & Locke, 2003), job satisfaction (Caprara, Barbaranelli, Steck, & Malone, 2006, Hoigaard, Giske, & Sundsli, 2012), and stress management (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy also impacts effort and performance (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), professional commitment (Coladarci, 1992; Ware & Kitsantas, 2007, 2011; Klassen et al., 2013), and longevity in the profession (Wentzel & Wigfield, 2009). In consideration of the value of teacher self-efficacy, there is a lack of qualitative research explaining how self-efficacy develops in teachers. The present study used a qualitative phenomenology methodology to explore beliefs, factors, and experiences that influence the development and strengthening of self-efficacy in teachers. The choice of a phenomenological study reflected my belief that the best way to grasp the very essence of individual teacher beliefs was to dialogue with teachers about their lived experiences in the context of a particular situation (Moustakas, 1994; Creswell, 2013). The present study utilized focus groups and individual conversations with teachers in a K-12 international school in the Dominican Republic. This study also embedded a quantitative teacher self-efficacy survey instrument to select participants and to describe their perceived self-efficacy levels. The results indicated emerging themes of Connection, Support, Knowledge and Growth, Balance, and Gratification as factors shaping self-efficacy beliefs. This study contributes to our understanding of how self-efficacy develops by illuminating a self-efficacy growth cycle with eight stages: The Gold Standard, Teaching Challenges, Dissonance, Perspective, Teacher Behavior Change, Intentional Practice, Equilibrium, and Self-Efficacy Growth. The study also revealed cognitive processes of self-reflection, self-regulation, cognitive flexibility, growth mindset, intentional positivity, reminding oneself of calling/commitment and mental models of prior success and growth as catalysts to develop, change, and strengthen self-efficacy. In conclusion, the results from this study may inform administrators, teachers, mentors, instructional coaches and university programs about intentional, proactive ways to guide teacher self-efficacy growth.Item "Who I am": supporting pre-service teacher integrity within an evidence-based student teaching assessment program(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2018) Mohr, Virginia Louise; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ann EllsworthAt one western, land-grant university, a student teaching exit survey given spring 2016 suggested that teacher candidates were falsifying data on their final student teaching projects--teacher work samples. An intrinsic case study on pre-service teacher integrity framed by Parker Palmer's work, Courage to Teach, was undertaken over 13 weeks of interactive, online journaling and followed by face-to-face discussions when the candidates had completed their experiences. Five female pre-service teachers revealed several elements that these candidates experienced as crucial during their student teaching experiences in order to maintain integrity to whom they were as individuals and whom they were becoming as educators. Themes arising during the study included vulnerability/comfort (confidence), challenge/courage, isolation/community, imbalance/balance, and labor/calling. Results had ramifications not only for needs of teacher candidates during student teaching but also for teacher educators needing to examine their own integrity as university instructors of the next generation of this nation's educators.Item Becoming the teacher who 'can' : transformation through teacher self-efficacy and stress management(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2016) Nelson, Laurie Christine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Arthur W. BangertDeemed as a helping profession, teaching requires a combination of knowledge, skill and commitment to others. Teachers must assume varied roles in highly complex environments that fall under high accountability and demand, marking it as a stressful occupation. Particularly vulnerable are those learning to teach; they must be prepared for the realities of today's classroom, understanding the multiple roles that will be required of them. They experience a role-reversal as they transform from student to teacher. In order to negotiate this shift in perspective they must possess both an optimistic belief in their competence and ability to cope with the demands. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of secondary education pre-service teachers as they transformed from student to teacher. It captured a sense of their general and personal preconceptions regarding stress and coping, their experiences of stress and coping as they learned to teach, and the supports and resources that they perceived as preparing them to enter the teaching profession, particularly with teacher self-efficacy. The development and implementation of a stress management workshop served a dual purpose to provide a stage to build teacher self-efficacy. Three theories provided a foundation for the conceptual framework: Karasek's (1979) Job Demand-Control-Support Theory, Mezirow's (1999) Transformational Learning Theory, and Bandura's (1977) Self-Efficacy Theory. The participants were eight secondary English teacher candidates. Qualitative interviews and data collected from the workshop highlighted transformational profiles analyzed to capture the transformation. The results indicated emerging themes of trust, connection, purpose and balance as important tenets to cultivate teacher self-efficacy. These tenets were promoted through earlier and extended time in field experiences, social support through networks and learning communities, critical reflective activities and self-care initiatives. The stress management workshop provided a mediating support. The significance of this study may inform those who prepare teaching professional about proactive ways to build teacher self-efficacy and promote wellness among teacher candidates.Item Educators' attitudes on obesity in elementary children(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1979) Dyce, Steven CharlesItem An identification of the attitudes of junior high teachers toward their teaching assignments(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1972) Walker, William Dennis; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert J. ThibeaultItem An assessment of teacher attitudes regarding the guidance department in the Bozeman Junior High School(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1969) Volkenand, RobertItem Teacher attitudes toward community education(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1979) Pace, Mary Duletich