Volume 5, Number 3 (July-September, 2010)

The authors examined the views of 382 college students at two Hispanic-Serving institutions regarding their best and poorest K-12 teachers through the use of a multi-stage mixed analysis study.  Themes were generated for participants’ best K-12 teacher stories and for their poorest K-12 teacher stories.  A factor rotation revealed the presence of six meta-themes for students’ best K-12 teachers: Person and School Level; Engaging and Collaborative; Makes Learning Fun, Interesting, and Helps Students; Connector and Student-centered; Motivator and Transmitter; and Supportive and Positive.  Five meta-themes were revealed for students’ poorest K-12 teacher themes: Person, School Level, and Disrespect; Person, School Level, and Subject Area; Teaching Poorly; Disconnected from Students and Teaching; and School Level and Psychologically Unsupportive.  These themes were endorsed differentially as a function of gender, college status, and generation status.  Implications are discussed.  In addition, readers are provided with a model of a multi-stage mixed analysis investigation. ACCESS FULL MANUSCRIPT AT: http://cnx.org/content/m35410/latest/