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Shifting Perspectives: Teacher Candidates and Asset Based Profiles
No full textAs Georgia\u27s public schools continue to increase in diversity of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, teacher candidates, teachers, and administrators continue to permeate homogeneous perspectives of students. Data teams, displays, and reports focus attention on scores that highlight deficits and deficiencies related to academic performance.
Building on the work of Moll et al. (1992) and Esteban-Guitart (2016), funds of knowledge place value on the familial, community, and cultural backgrounds of students and the accompanying knowledge that can be leveraged within classroom contexts. Throughout field placement courses, teacher candidates are encouraged to gather information and examples about student\u27s cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) that align to six forms of capital including aspirational, familial, linguistic, navigational, social, and resistant. By reframing data collected and analyzed about students, teacher candidates can begin to develop an asset based mindset that focuses on engagement, excitement, and emotions that link student backgrounds to the curricular content
Balancing Play and Policy: Navigating Joyful Learning in a High-Stakes Third Grade Classroom
No full textThis qualitative case study explores how a third-grade teacher in a Southeastern US state integrates active, playful learning in a high-stakes accountability environment. Despite increasing political and curricular restrictions—including mandatory retention policies, banned books, and high-stakes standardized testing—this teacher designs and implements learning experiences that center student engagement, voice, and joy. Drawing on classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and instructional artifacts, the study investigates how she navigates formal and informal policies while maintaining developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive instruction.
Early findings suggest that playful pedagogies can not only coexist with accountability mandates but may also serve as a stabilizing force for teachers and students operating under significant external pressure. This presentation will share preliminary themes related to adaptive decision-making, classroom autonomy, and the redefinition of success within restrictive conditions. By highlighting both the tensions and the opportunities that arise in policy-constrained spaces, this work contributes to emerging conversations on equity, teacher agency, and the importance of sustaining joyful learning in upper elementary classrooms
Building Teacher Self-Efficacy Through Peer Mentoring: A Qualitative Study of Collaborative Practices in a Rural Elementary School
No full textThis qualitative case study examined how peer mentoring influences teacher self-efficacy at a rural elementary school in southeastern Georgia. Using Bandura\u27s self-efficacy theory and Wenger\u27s communities of practice framework, the research investigated how teachers engage in mentoring relationships and how these practices contribute to professional growth.
Semi-structured interviews and reflection journals were conducted with ten elementary teachers representing diverse experience levels (1-21+ years) and grade levels. Findings revealed that meaningful peer mentoring occurred primarily through informal, trust-based relationships within grade-level teams rather than formal programs. Teachers engaged collaboratively in lesson planning, data analysis, and problem-solving.
Results demonstrated that peer mentoring enhanced teacher self-efficacy through six mechanisms: informal relationship-building, grade-level collaboration, confidence development, trust-based psychological safety, leadership growth, and overcoming barriers. Teachers reported feeling less isolated, more willing to take instructional risks, and increasingly confident in classroom management. Informal mentoring relationships proved more impactful than formal programs, with hallway conversations and spontaneous problem-solving described as transformative.
However, significant barriers emerged including time constraints, forced collaboration, and limited cross-grade interaction. Findings suggest that sustainable peer mentoring in rural contexts requires protected collaboration time, administrative support for authentic relationships, and recognition of teacher expertise across experience levels
Come and Review Exciting Research Explaining Formative Assessment
No full textCan formative assessment increase learning among students? Meta-analysis evidence supports this practice. Karaman (2021) explained that with 32 studies and 47 effect sizes, an overall effect size of .72. While Kingston and Brooke (2011) showed smaller effect sizes in a meta-analysis covering 300 studies, effects of .30 and .28 were found for formative assessment-based on professional development and computer systems providing formative assessment. Lee et al., (2020) detailed 126 effect sizes from 33 studies with effects for mathematics, .34, literacy, .33, and arts, .29. The effect for student-initiated self-assessment was larger at .61. Yao et al., (2024) supplied results from 258 effect sizes from 118 published studies as an overall effect size of .25. Hemphill (2003) supplied quantitatively based guidelines from two meta-analyses to explain an effect size of .30 and above to be large. Xuan et al., (2022) define formative assessment as an active process. This active process and the significance of these various findings and implications for future K-12 instruction and research will be discussed.
This proposal was submitted and accepted for last year\u27s confernce. Regretfully, the storm kept me from attending. Dr. Massey explained this could be sent for consideration for this year\u27s conference
Designing effective AI professional development: A framework grounded in intelligent-TPACK
No full textThe increasing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in education requires teachers to develop not only technological proficiency but also pedagogical and ethical fluency in AI use. Responding to this need, this study employs a Conceptual Framework Development model to develop the Intelligent-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-based Professional Development (i-TPACK-based PD) Framework, a research-informed, integrated model that aligns the five knowledge domains of i-TPACK (i.e., i-TK, i-TCK, i-TPK, i-TPACK, and AI Ethics) with four evidence-based AI PD pathways: active learning, use of models and examples, coaching and expert support, and feedback and reflection. Drawing from 40 systematic reviews and empirical studies, the framework interweaves these five i-TPACK domains and four AI PD pathways to create a cohesive structure that fosters teachers’ AI-specific pedagogical reasoning, technological fluency, content-based applications, and ethical decision-making. The paper provides a detailed mapping of i-TPACK domains to AI PD pathways, a sample scenario that illustrates the practical implementation across the phases of teacher learning, and design principles to support PD developers. Additionally, it outlines recommendations for research and practice while critically addressing limitations related to program duration, delivery format, outcome evaluation, and ethical integration. This model offers actionable guidance for designing, implementing, and evaluating AI PD that is pedagogically grounded, ethically responsive, and adaptable across educational contexts
Developing and Evaluating a Multidimensional Measure of Pride in the LGBTQIA+ Community
Full text linkPride in LGBTQIA+ spaces has thus far been an ethereal concept with no universally agreed-upon definition. Previous literature frequently connects pride to traits such as resilience, comfort, confidence, and identity expression. This is a critical oversight, as most measures of LGBTQIA+ experiences focus on the negative aspects of queer experiences (e.g., vulnerability, victimization) or are created to evaluate non-LGBTQIA+ perceptions of LGBTQIA+ people, falsely characterizing this community in a deficit-based light. In response, this study aimed to offer a holistic definition of pride and develop a psychometrically sound measure of pride stemming from culturally salient expressions by using rigorous analytical procedures with samples of LGBTQIA+ adults in the United States. Three studies were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the measure. Study 1 generated a stable definition of pride by detecting a three-identified factor measure comprised of liberation pride, resilient pride, and identity pride. In Study 2, a competing confirmatory analytic procedure (CFA) determined the best structure of the model. Notably, the analysis indicated a second-order/hierarchical model with three first-order factors that fit the data best. Reliability estimates for the three-factor model were excellent. Study 3 evaluated the factor stability of the model. None of the four competing models met standard fit and measurement quality criteria. However, the pride total and dimension scores demonstrated excellent concurrent and predictive validity with measures of positive identity development, positive emotions, and flourishing. High attrition and low power likely contributed to the null findings associated with factor stability. Taken together, the current pride measure meets preliminary psychometric properties but would benefit from further research. The Queer Pride Scale offers an innovative platform by which pride is defined and organized into a meaningful positive psychological construct within the LGBTQIA+ literature
Neighborhood Context, Family Cultural Values, & Resilience in Latinx Communities
No full textFamily cultural values are central in promoting resilience in Latinx communities. The concept of familismo is a fundamental cultural value emphasizing the importance of family (Vela et al., 2017). It is based on loyalty, interdependence over independence, and cooperation over competition (Bermudez & Mancini, 2012). This belief is the foundation of Latinx family structures, building strong family units whereby members expect their lives to revolve around their extended family (Sanchez et al., 2019). However, much of the literature is characterized mainly by the needs, deficits, and struggles Latinx communities face, often providing an inaccurate and skewed portrayal. This narrow focus limits the possibilities of Latinx communities to obtain resources that will enable them to thrive and flourish. Therefore, this study aims to bridge this literature gap by examining the psychological benefits of familismo and its role in promoting resilience. Specifically, this study examined the interaction between neighborhood quality (i.e., neighborhood hardship, safety, danger, crime) and resilience, with familismo (i.e., family support, family cohesion) as a moderating factor, to account for variance in how Latinx communities adapt to adversity. A total of 192 Latinx participants completed an online survey related to their experiences with neighborhood quality, familismo, and resilience. Latinx individuals in rural areas reported higher levels of resilience when compared to Latinx individuals in non-rural areas. Additionally, results showed that neighborhood quality was not significantly associated with resilience. However, familismo was significantly and positively associated with resilience. Moderation analyses did not indicate that familismo moderates the relationship between neighborhood quality and resilience. Research on resilience in Latinx communities is critical for developing culturally sensitive treatment and culture-centered assessment. These efforts strive to respond to the complex inequities in accessing mental health care experienced by minoritized populations
American Women\u27s Clubs in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo (1842-1844)
No full textThroughout the nineteenth century, women’s clubs provided American women with the space to influence the patriarchal-dominated public sphere and venture beyond their traditional domestic roles. This paper demonstrates that the Relief Society women developed a more nuanced relationship with feminist agency through their initiatives. Through an analysis of 33 sets of meeting notes from the society’s early years, this paper argues that the Relief Society women established feminist agency by exercising female authority, addressing scandals and injustices, and building a sisterhood. Additionally, through feminist agency, the Relief Society paralleled, and pre-dated the activities of many popular women’s clubs during the late nineteenth century
