Digital Commons Network^™

Social-Emotional Learning Read-Aloud Lesson Plan Exemplar: I Like Myself By Karen Beaumont (2004), Sherridon Sweeney

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Equity, Effectiveness And Control: The Every Student Succeeds Act And State Approaches To Governing School Turnaround, Adam C. Rea, William R. Black

Policy Brief

Over the last few decades, state legislative and executive branches, as well as state departments of education have taken increasingly active roles in governing local school districts by creating policies to measure and define school performance. Many efforts have involved the development and implementation of policies that define schools that need improvement or need be “turnaround”. On December 10, 2015 President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which called on states to continue their work of identifying and offering remedies for struggling schools. However, ESSA offered greater flexibility in approaches than its 2001 predecessor No Child Left Behind …

Equity, Effectiveness And Control: The Every Student Succeeds Act And State Approaches To Defining School Turnaround, William R. Black, Adam C. Rea

Policy Brief

Over the last three decades, State Education Agencies and State legislatures have taken more active roles in creating policies to measure and define school performance. Guided by federal policy inducements, states have developed policies to evaluate school-level performance and define schools in need of improvement as well as the lowest performing schools in need of turnaround. In this chapter, we provide an analysis of 52 state plans submitted and approved under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015.

ESSA called on all 52 states educational agencies to detail specific turnaround plans for struggling schools. Some states submitted their plans …

Concurrent Enrollment And Early College: Assuring Postsecondary Access And Achievement, John Matthew Legg, J. Howard Johnston Phd

Policy Brief

The senior year of high school has special social and ceremonial status in American communities. Many schools honor their seniors with special events, more lax regulation and supervision, and lighter academic schedules. These special privileges started back when most students did not either plan for or need to prepare for higher education. It marked the end of their education, not the transition to another phase.

Rather than celebrate, some researchers argue that we should be deeply concerned because this hold-over means that 25 percent of the high school experience is a huge waste of time, opportunity, and money. The reasons …

Curation As Methodology, Lindsay Persohn

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

The term curation was once only utilized by museum professionals. Currently, the term seems to have been borrowed by aesthetically-minded persons looking to collect ideas or objects. Through a detailed account of one curatorial process, this article aims to convey the richness of context, the depth of connection, and the promotion of new ideas classically associated with curation. Drawing on these methods, the author begins to develop an outline of curation as a transferrable methodology, useful for exploration of aesthetic works as they related to sociocultural histories. As an exemplar collection of artworks, illustrations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in …

Education Reforms For Inclusion? Interrogating Policy-Practice Disjunctions In Early Childhood Education In Bulgaria, Veselina Lambrev, Anna Kirova, Larry Prochner

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This article examines how early childhood educators, as policy implementers, perceive reforms in Bulgaria’s education system that occurred between 2008 and 2018. Both Roma and non-Roma educators participated in this project that compares perceptions of Bulgarian teachers in public schools and Roma educators in informal educational settings operated by NGOs and religious institutions. Applying intersectionality as a framework, the study draws from anti-Romaism as a particular form of racism that militates against the inclusion of Roma to examine whether and to what extent discourses of minoritized and racialised children are evident in the views held by the Bulgarian educators, resulting, …

Fostering Preservice And In-Service Ela Teachers’ Digital Practices For Addressing Climate Change, Richard Beach, George Boggs, Jill Castek, James Damico, Alexandra Panos, Renee Spellman, Nance Wilson

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This report presents research on preservice (PST) and in-service teachers acquiring digital practices for addressing climate change related to knowing how to employ digital practices for studying visual representations of climate change and engaging students in critiquing online information about climate change. Study 1 examined PSTs understanding of climate change through participation in visiting a laboratory involving scientific study of ecological systems to interact with scientists, collect digital artifacts, and create a virtual field trip using these artifacts for instructional purposes. Study 2 involved PSTs and in-service teachers responding critically to the NASA Climate Change website, identifying digital literacies their …

Race(Ing) Towards Legal Literacy For (Im)Migration Amidst Covid-19, Patriann Smith, S. Joel Warrican

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Historically and contemporarily, immigration laws have disproportionately affected immigrant faculty and students of color because they often inadvertently function as racial policy. (Critical) legal literacy enacted via a bottom-up approach can help to address such laws. Higher education institutions, organizations, labor unions and associations are uniquely positioned to use critical legal literacy as a tool of advocacy for immigrant faculty and students of color amidst the adverse effects of COVID-19.

Discourses Of The Rural Rust Belt: Schooling, Poverty, And Rurality, Alexandra Panos, Jennifer Seelig

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This article addresses the ways in which elementary teachers in the rural rust belt both reproduce and contest dominant discourses of schooling, rurality, and poverty in their particular local context. Situated within a 4-year postcritical ethnographic study, this analysis of teacher discourse took part during an embedded, 4-month-long teacher study group. Within this context, the authors examine how the group’s discourse on poverty claimed that inequity was the fault of those experiencing it, as well as that a neoliberal discourse of education emphasized a flattened accountability and growth-only perspective within teacher’s professional interactions. However, through the addition of a spatial …

Common Visual Representations As A Source For Misconceptions Of Preservice Teachers In A Geometry Connection Course, Mile Krajcevski, Ruthmae Sears

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

In this paper, we demonstrate how atypical visual representations of a triangle, square or a parallelogram may hinder students’ understanding of a median and altitude. We analyze responses and reasoning given by 16 preservice middle school teachers in a Geometry Connection class. Particularly, the data were garnered from three specific questions posed on a cumulative final exam, which focused on computing and comparing areas of parallelograms, and triangles represented by atypical images. We use the notions of concept image and concept definition as our theoretical framework for an analysis of the students’ responses. Our findings have implication on how typical …

Emergence And Development Of A Dialogic Whole-Class Discussion Genre, Michael B. Sherry

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Prior research across disciplines has established the value of dialogic, whole-class discussions. Previous studies have often defined discussions in opposition to the notorious triadic pattern called recitation, or IRE/F, focusing on variations to the teacher’s initiating question or evaluative follow-up on students’ responses. Recent scholarship has also identified variations on recitations and dialogic discussions that suggest these categories might be flexible, containing types of interaction associated with particular contexts. However, research remains to be done on how such types, or genres, of dialogic, whole-class discussion emerge and develop over time. In this article, I take up this line of inquiry, …

Teaching Climate Change Science To High School Students Using Computer Games In An Intermedia Narrative, Glenn G. Smith, Metin Besalti, Molly Nation, Allan Feldman, Katie Laux

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

We explored how computer games developed as part of an innovative set of climate change education materials helped students learn and gain interest in global climate change (GCC) science by making it personally relevant and understandable. This research was conducted in a public school district in the southeastern United States. The curriculum, Climate Change Narrative Game Education (CHANGE), used a local, place-based approach using scientific data gathered from the Gulf of Mexico coast and incorporated (a) computer games, (b) a scientifically web-based science fiction novel about future Gulf coast residents, and (c) hands-on laboratory activities. This paper focuses on how …

Linguistic Landscapes And The Navigation Of New Cities: A Phenomenological Self-Study Of What Jim King Taught Me, Lindsay Persohn

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Landry and Bourhis are credited with coining the term linguistic landscapes, which they defined as “the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings [combined] to form the linguistic landscape”. Based on a broad study of linguistics through a college course with Jim King and a shared love of travel, I took a phenomenological approach to this self-study as I explored the linguistic landscapes of three unfamiliar countries. I analyzed the photographic data I collected to understand what information I gained from the signs and how I …

Extra: A Festschrift In Honor Of James R. King, Lindsay Persohn, Aimee Frier

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Archiving A Career, Charles Vanover

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Middle School Organizational Structures In The United States And Australia, Cheryl Ellerbrock, Katherine Main, Kristina N. Falbe, Dana Pomykal Franz

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

The middle school concept, aimed at creating a more developmentally responsive learning environment for young adolescents, gained a stronghold in the later part of the 20th century. Proponents of this concept have argued continually for the holistic implementation of its six key characteristics if its benefits are to be realized. These characteristics include: (a) a challenging, integrative, and exploratory curriculum; (b) varied teaching and learning approaches; (c) assessment and evaluation that promote learning; (d) flexible organizational structures (i.e., including the physical space, scheduling, and grouping of students and teachers); (e) programs and policies that foster health, wellness and safety; and …

Urban School District-University Research Collaboration: Challenges And Strategies For Success., Jenifer J. Hartman

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

School district–university research collaborations represent one strategy to increase educators’ ability to use current, research-based information in program decision making and efforts to improve student achievement. However, differences in organizational structures, goals, values, and prior collaborative experiences have made successful school–university research partnerships challenging. This project intentionally structured and examined a mutually beneficial research collaboration between one small urban university with a significant percentage of first-generation college-going students and two local school districts (P-12) to examine high school math achievement and subsequent college math success. One partnership successfully conducted the study and identified actions to increase student success. The other …

Debris, Diatoms, And Dolphins: Tracking Child Engagement At A Public Science Festival, Kaya Van Beynen, Theresa G. Burress

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Visitors to public science festivals have a tremendous amount of free choice to decide how to navigate through the festival, as well as when, where, and how long to stop at an exhibit. This study examines how elementary-aged children individually or collaboratively engaged with festival exhibits at a public science festival in St. Petersburg, Florida. Although many exhibit activities are designed to appeal to children, no research has been done with regard to child engagement with one-day, outdoor science festivals, such as this one. Engagement can be measured by unobtrusive observation of the behavior and interactions of children. Factors that …

Chicago Butoh: Visioning Research Informed Dance And Theatre, Charles Vanover, Bob Devin Jones, Jai Shanae, Erika Hand, Adrian Anguiano,, Teithis Miller, Kate Knobloch

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

This symposium seeks to create dialogue about quality and assessment in Arts Based Educational Research (ABER) by grounding discussion in performance. The session begins with the staging of a research informed dance and theatre piece: “Chicago Butoh”. This performance will then be critiqued by Julia Grey and Graham W. Lea using different approaches to assessing ABER. Tabatha Dell’Angelo then examines the dance and the critiques. Opportunities for audience interaction and dialogue are woven throughout the session. By sharing multiple perspectives on quality assessment grounded in the physicality of live performance, we hope to help audience members envision "better" work and …

See The Connections? Addressing Leadership And Supervision Challenges To Support Improved Student Achievement In A Small Rural School., Jenifer J. Hartman

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

This case study was developed for educational leadership courses addressing supervision and school improvement. Various data are presented for students to analyze and identify key concerns at a low-performing, rural, racially diverse, K-8 school. It challenges leadership candidates to recognize interrelated problems and solutions in a school. Students are asked to prioritize responses to issues of changing school leadership, professional development to address teacher expectations, English Language Arts achievement, instructional and disciplinary practices, student behaviors and attendance, and parent engagement practices. They will develop a specific schoolwide professional development plan within an overall School Improvement Plan to address these concerns.

Peirce’S Concept Of Signs And Kindergarten Literacy., Cynthia B. Leung

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

This article focuses on Peirce’s writings about his concept of triadic sign relationships and applies his theory to analyses of multimodal literacy events in a kindergarten classroom where the author was a participant observer. Examples are provided to explain Peirce’s descriptions of the elements of sign relationships – object, representamen, and interpretant. Peirce’s theories are used to understand how the kindergarten children and their teacher make meaning from the children’s multimodal writing productions. Possible objects and interpretants of the children’s multimodal writings are explored. Figures of the children’s drawings/writings and diagrams of relationships among sign elements in the kindergarten classroom …

The Implications Of A Pacing Guide On The Development Of Students Ability To Prove In Geometry, Ruthmae Sears

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This study examined the influence of a departmental decision to use the same pacing guide on the planning and enactment of proof tasks of the district-adopted textbook (Prentice HallGeometry). Quantitative data were collected from a textbook analysis and the tasks students were assigned, and the qualitative data were collected from classroom observations, teachers’ artifacts and interviews. The results indicate that teachers adhere to their departmental pacing guide by assigning the same tasks, however, there existed variation in the enacted lessons. Additionally, the results suggest the proof tasks assigned in the pacing guide generally required little cognitive rigor. This study has …

Prospective English Teachers Learn To Respond To Student Writing Through The Student Writing Archive Project (Swap), Michael Sherry

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Reading teachers' feedback positioned PSETs as students, evoking recollections about receiving teacher feedback, while writing their own feedback positioned them as teachers, evoking visions of what a writing teacher must do/be to claim authority in the classroom. [...]in my experience as an English teacher educator, I have noticed that mentor teachers tend to reserve this work for themselves rather than share it with their preservice mentees. [...]during their student-teaching internships, preservice secondary English teachers (PSETs) often have few opportunities to practice strategies for responding to students' writing. At my institution, as at others, it is not until the end of …

Live Performance For ‘Goodbye To That!: Student Suite’ Eda 7280 Curriculum Theory, Charles Vanover, Andrew Babson, Omar J. Salaam

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Performance photos, program, and data collection plan from the invited visit to EDA 7280 Curriculum Theory, University of South Florida Tampa, Instructor, Dr. Vonzell Agosto, Saturday March 11th, 2017 1:00 to 3:00 pm, Tampa FL.

Towards A High Quality High School Workforce: A Longitudinal, Demographic Analysis Of U.S. Public School Physics Teachers., Gregory T. Rushton, David Rosengrant, Andrew Dewar, Lisa Shah, Herman E. Ray, Keith Sheppard, Lynn Watanabe

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Efforts to improve the number and quality of the high school physics teaching workforce have taken several forms, including those sponsored by professional organizations. Using a series of large-scale teacher demographic data sets from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), this study sought to investigate trends in teacher quality at the national level in the two and a half decades between 1987 and 2012. Specifically, we investigated (i) details about the degree backgrounds, main teaching assignments, and experience levels of those assigned to teach physics; (ii) whether the proportion of those with certifications in physics as a fraction of …

P-16 Partnership To Improve Students' Postsecondary Mathematics Achievement., Jenifer J. Hartman

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Increasing students' academic success in postsecondary endeavors is an important goal for both high school and college institutions today. However, the standards for high school graduation and college readiness are not well aligned, and successful transition from high school to college is problematic for many students, particularly in math. This article describes a P-16 collaborative effort to examine high school math achievement in relation to college math placement and how the results informed policies and practices in both organizations.

Goodbye To That!: Student Suite: Performance For The Refereed Symposium "Goodbye To All That! A Living Inquiry," For The Interdisciplinary Symposium On Qualitative Methodologies, University Of South Florida, April 15, 2017, Tampa, Florida., Charles Vanover, Andrew Babson, Omar J. Salaam

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Post-performance photos and program program for the Refereed Symposium "Goodbye to All That! A Living Inquiry," for the Interdisciplinary Symposium on Qualitative Methodologies, University of South Florida, April 15, 2017, Tampa, Florida.

Beyond Academic And Social Integration: Understanding The Impact Of A Stem Enrichment Program On The Retention And Degree Attainment Of Underrepresented Students, Tonisha B. Lane

Leadership, Counseling, Adult, Career and Higher Education Faculty Publications

The current study used a case study methodological approach, including document analysis, semistructured interviews, and participant observations, to investigate how a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrichment program supported retention and degree attainment of underrepresented students at a large, public, predominantly white institution. From this study, a model emerged that encompassed four components: proactive care, holistic support, community building, and catalysts for STEM identity development. These components encompassed a number of strategies and practices that were instrumental in the outcomes of program participants. This paper concludes with implications for practice, such as using models to inform program planning, assessment, …

The Effects Of Surrounding Positive And Negative Experiences On Risk Taking, Sandra L. Schneider, Sandra Kauffman, Andrea Ranieri

Psychology Faculty Publications

Two experiments explored how the context of recently experiencing an abundance of positive or negative outcomes within a series of choices influences risk preferences. In each experiment, choices were made between a series of pairs of hypothetical 50/50 two-outcome gambles. Participants experienced a control set of mixed outcome gamble pairs intermingled with a randomly assigned set of (a) all-gain, (b) all-loss, or (c) a mixture of all-gain and all-loss gamble pairs. In both experiments, a positive experience led to reduced risk taking in the control set and a negative experience led to increased risk taking. These patterns persisted even after …

Impact Of An Active Educational Video Game On Children's Motivation, Science Knowledge, And Physical Activity, Haichun Sun, Yong Gao

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Background: Active educational video games (AVGs) appear to have a positive effect on elementary school students' motivation leading to enhanced learning outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of an AVG on elementary school students' science knowledge learning, physical activity (PA) level, and interest-based motivation.

Methods: In this randomized controlled study, 53 elementary school students were assigned to an experimental condition or a comparison condition. The experimental condition provided an AVG learning environment, whereas the comparison condition was based on sedentary educational video games.

Results: The results of repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the …