Date of Award

Summer 7-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Sherrie Wisdom

Second Advisor

Dr. Margaret Scordias

Third Advisor

Dr. Kelly Dickinson

Abstract

This dissertation, A Study of Preservice Teachers’ Preparation for DI: Investigating Data for Secondary Teacher Candidates in One Research University, was a mixed methods study of secondary data that analyzed the results of undergraduate and graduate teacher candidate scores on the three different instruments, which were used by a midwestern university in their teacher preparation program for state teacher certification. The purpose of this study was to examine if graduate preservice teacher candidates and undergraduate preservice teacher candidates were equally prepared in the area of differentiated instruction. The study also included an examination of preservice training among these teacher candidates. In essence, this study presented a comparison of Master of Arts in Teaching programs to Bachelor of Arts in Teaching programs, to determine which produced better-trained preservice teacher candidates in terms of DI knowledge and planning. The researcher anticipated there would be no difference in preparation, since all preservice teacher candidates, both graduate and undergraduate, were from the same midwestern university, took courses together, and were assessed using the same instruments at the same time in their programs, and during a single year. The 32 randomly selected participant from the four-year Research University in an urban area outside of a major metropolitan area had archived data on all three instruments. The location of the university was in a city of approximately 65000 residents. The University offered 131degree programs and was accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The University had two campuses located approximately 40 miles apart, in two different states, at the time of this writing. iii The study utilized t-Test, F-Test, and PPMCC in the analysis of three research questions. The researcher investigated three types of questions in this study to determine whether DI had a relationship with the overall teaching and learning practices of secondary preservice school teacher candidates. The questions explored whether the graduate and undergraduate candidates were equally prepared on the same instruments, across instruments, and in knowledge, as well as application.

Rights

Copyright 2020

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