Dissertation Defenses

Doctoral Dissertation Announcement

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Candidate: Rosemary Cleveland

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Educational Leadership, Research and Technology

Title: New Teachers’ Perceptions on Their Preparation

Committee:
Dr. Sue Poppink, Chair
Dr. Jianping Shen
Dr. Dorothy Armstrong

Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
3208 Sangren Hall

Abstract:
This research investigates new public school teachers’ perceptions of how well they were prepared during their first year of teaching to handle a range of classroom and discipline situations. A survey research design will be used for this study. Data extracted on new public school teachers from the 1999-2000 Public Schools Teacher Questionnaire from the Schools and Staffing Survey will be analyzed.
First, there will be an investigation of the percentages of new teachers’ perceptions on their preparation in classroom management during their first year of teaching. Then there will be an examination of those percentages to see if new teachers’ perceptions of their preparation in classroom management vary by teacher gender, teacher level and the percentage of minority students enrolled in school. Next, there will be an investigation of the relationship between new teachers’ perceptions and their job satisfaction as well as their commitment to the teaching profession.
Descriptive statistics will be applied to identify the percentages of new teachers’ perceptions on their preparation in classroom management through frequency analysis. Inferential statistics with a t-test for Independent Samples will be used to compare the means of the new teachers’ perceptions on their preparation in classroom management to determine if the means vary by teacher gender, teacher, level, and the percentage of minority students enrolled in school. Descriptive statistics will be used with the Pearson Product Correlation to investigate the relationship between new teachers’ perceptions on their preparation in classroom management and their job satisfaction as well as their commitment to the teaching profession. Hopefully, the results of this study will add to the national understanding of new teachers and provide information to assist in new teacher preparation as well as in new teacher support in the teaching profession.