Ohio’s Middle Childhood Licensure Study

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe middle level prepared teachers' perceptions of their practices after completing an Ohio Middle Childhood: Grades 4-9 teacher education program. Using the National Middle School Association/ National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education Initial Level Teacher Preparation Standards (2001) as the organizing framework for the interview protocols, the researchers interviewed middle level teachers, their administrator, and their students. The researchers in this study wanted to explore the perceptions of teachers in their implementation and understandings of the middle school concept as articulated in the teacher education program, even if the middle level schools in which they were employed did not fully implement practices consistent with these middle level practices. The findings that emerged from these analyses provide insights for middle level teacher educators about how middle level teachers construct a philosophy arising out of middle level ideals and, therefore, how they implement their understandings with young adolescents.

Teaching general music to young adolescents: Findings from a survey of music teacher perspectives

“…Other studies have sought to understand teachers’ attitudes toward a particular facet of the middle level concept (Dellinger, 1992; Evola, 2004; Fisher, 2012; Korejwa, 2009; Morgan-Conner, 1995; Updegraff, 2011). In the most recent line of inquiry, researchers have documented the impact of teacher knowledge (gained primarily in preservice) of This We Believe on the classroom environments created by these educators upon graduation (Conklin, 2007; Huss 2000, 2004; White, Dever, Ross, Jones, & Miller, 2013). These studies suggest that the success of middle level education is intimately tied to the beliefs of and principles used by practicing middle level teachers when designing and implementing curriculum.…”