Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

5-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Sociology

Advisor

Paul Attewell

Keywords

classroom management; culturally responsive pedagogy; methods; student teaching; teacher education

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the impact of integrating culturally relevant, anti-hegemonic, and pedagogically dynamic classroom management content and strategies into the curriculum of a secondary education pre-service methods course. To provide a context for the importance of this study, the dissertation begins by: 1) creating a new conceptual framework for understanding classroom management - the Dynamic Classroom Management Approach (DCMA); and 2) analyzing two data sets to establish the correlation between school climate and student achievement - data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002) and a New York City Department of Education data set created from publicly accessible data about parent, teacher, and student perceptions of a school's learning environment.

This foundation informs the dissertation's quasi-experimental case study with data collection and analysis of two separate, graduate-level, pre-service social studies education methods courses at a public Northeastern university: one that incorporates classroom management coursework (experimental) and one that does not (control). The course that does not include classroom management strategies and coursework is taught using the pre-existing syllabus used by the professor; the course that includes classroom management content uses a new syllabus that weaves classroom management strategies and literature into the syllabus. Qualitative methods are used to analyze data collected from: pre and post course questionnaires; a series of individual interviews of students; a single interview of each instructor and cooperating teacher; and student-produced work based on classroom observations during their methods course. Overall, this dissertation hopes to fill a gap in teacher education and classroom management scholarship.

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