Career in Education That Began with 'Teach for America' - Article Example

There is a personal relationship between Steven and the author, the author being his teacher. The article is a biographical study which spanned through seven years. The methodology used by the author is the conduct of interviews with Steven either personally or through telephone. The author used the biographic-narrative-interpretive (BNIM) method where the interview questions formulated induce narratives (Tellez 6). The author considered this method as very appropriate for the data that he needs for the study, considering that Steve is capable of making the necessary narratives given a simple question.

The author also made field observations while Steve was holding classes and he made some video recordings of such. The data were analyzed using the axial coding of themes (Tellez 8). One important finding that the author gained from the biographical study of Steve is that teachers like Steve who began their career without a preservice teaching program were more engaged and directed compared to other teachers who started their careers with a teaching degree (Tellez 31). Furthermore, the author concludes that teaching should consider the cultural aspect of learning to be effective (Tellez 34).

He also emphasized the need for the universities to support a continuous education program for teachers to enhance their professional growth. One cannot totally consider the study by Tellez as sufficient to come up with valid conclusions. First of all, the study is just confined to only one person; thus, generalizations cannot be made. In order for the study to have more weight, the author should have considered a bigger sample size. It would have been better if he studied two types of teachers, one being those who started a teaching career without formal training, like Steve and the other group to be composed of teachers who have preservice teaching program.

Another weakness of the study that could be pointed out is the fact that there is the possibility that the author have not been objective in his observations of Steve. This is because of their teacher-student relationship which is further strengthened by their personal relationship as friends. One thinks that a biographical study is not the write genre to use in making conclusions with regards to the teaching profession. A more scientific survey may have resulted in more valid and justified conclusions.

One believes that the only legitimate conclusion that can be obtained from this study is that Steve is an effective teacher. Other than that, it does not offer any other convincing finding in the teaching profession. Redefining Student Success: Applying Different Multinomial Regression Techniques for the Study of Student Graduation across Institutions of Higher Education The main thesis of the study is to obtain a clearer picture of the student success rate in higher education by expanding the definition of success.

Four categories will be included in the definition of success to cover not only those students who graduate with the institution where they entered. The other categories shall include students who get a baccalaureate degree from another higher education institution and students who receive an associate degree/certificate award from another institution (Jones-White, Radcliffe, and Huesman 155). It is the hypothesis of the study