02/09/2024
By Zakkiyya Witherspoon

The School of Education invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Elizabeth Cook "Using a Targeted Professional Development Training to Improve Teacher Efficacy in Teaching in Teaching an Unvleveled Course.”

Candidate: Elizabeth Cook
Degree: Doctoral- Leadership in Schooling
Defense Date: Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024
Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Remote via Zoom
Thesis/Dissertation Title: Using a Targeted Professional Development Training to Improve Teacher Efficacy in Teaching in Teaching an Unvleveled Course.

Dissertation Committee

  • Dissertation Chair: James H. Nehring, Ed.D., Professor, Leadership in Schooling, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Committee Member: Phitsamay Sychitkokhong Uy, Ed.D., Associate Professor, Leadership in Schooling, Graduate Coordinator for Ed.D. Programs, & Co-director of Center for Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Amie Milkowski Ed.D, Dissertation Mentor, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Abstract
This three- manuscript dissertation used a rapid PDSA to improve teacher efficacy concerning designing and teaching an unleveled 9th grade science class. Leveling and tracking can lead to inequitable outcomes and experiences for minoritized students. However, designing and implementing effective heterogeneous, unleveled classes that meet the needs of all students can be difficult. Teacher efficacy is an important component to the success of such courses and student achievement within the course. Therefore, improving teacher efficacy was key to creating an effective unleveled course that offered an equitable experience to all students. Manuscript 1 of this dissertation explores the negative experiences of one minoritized student group, African American/Black students, both in American Public Schools and the context of a large suburban high school in Massachusetts. Relevant literature is reviewed and framed within Bell (2013) and the Chinook Foundation (2010)’s Four I’s of Oppression (Ideological, Institutional, Interpersonal, and Internalized). Manuscript 2 is a summary mixed methods study which measures the impact of a single professional development training focusing on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Representation Principles on teacher efficacy. Seven teachers participated in the study. A 4.47% improvement is observed on the Science Teacher Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI) B for in-service science teachers, and a 13.75% improvement on the CP-related efficacy questions (Enochs & Riggs, 1990). Manuscript 3 proposes recommendations for organizational change and further research. Ultimately, the study finds that professional development is successful in improving efficacy, both in general and specific to creating materials for and implementing an unleveled science class.