Digital Commons Network^™

Examining The Effects Of Linguistic Accommodations On The Colorado Student Assessment Program—Mathematics, Marisol Enriquez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act changed assessment for English Language Learners (ELLs). Under the law, states must validly assess ELLs' English Language Proficiency (ELP) and content knowledge. The law shed light on the achievement of ELLs while also creating challenges for states in validating state assessment and accountability systems. Test accommodations are used for ELLs to reduce threats to test score validity and measure academic achievement as accurately and fairly as possible. Since ELLs are working towards proficiency in English, they face linguistic and socio-cultural barriers under the confines of large scale assessment. A limited body of research …

Formal Reasoning And Spatial Ability: A Step Towards "Science For All", Bo Jiang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work conducts an evaluation of a non-majors science curriculum named Molecules of Life (MOL) that aims to provide effective science education to undergraduate students who are not majoring in scientific disciplines.

As part of the process of developing an assessment plan for MOL, three related studies were undertaken in order to help us choose assessment instruments for MOL. The first study examined the validity of student evaluations of teaching. The second study investigated the Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT) and Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT), two widely-used instruments for measuring formal reasoning ability. GALT is very similar to …

A Case Study Examining The Implementation And Assessment Of The Profile Of The Graduate At Graduation In A Jesuit Secondary School, Daniel Joseph O'Connell

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In 2000 Campion High School, a Catholic, Jesuit, single-sex secondary school created and adopted the Grad-at-Grad statement as the school‘s expected school-wide learning results (ESLRs) and has articulated a need for a comprehensive, reliable assessment of these graduation outcomes. This case study used interviews, a survey, and participant observation to understand how the school has implemented and assessed the ESLRs since their inception. The study also thematically compared Jesuit educational philosophy to current theories of educative assessment and outcomes-centered curriculum development. Findings reveal that the school relies on a random, individual approach to curricular incorporation and has not incorporated the …

A Holistic Assessment Of The Perceived Supportive Care Needs Of Cancer Patients During Treatment, Robert B. Gardner

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to describe the personal experience of individuals undergoing cancer treatment in an outpatient clinic by examining their perceived supportive care needs. The theoretical basis of the study lies in Alfred Adler's holistic view of human beings as unique and indivisible (1927/1954). Six individuals recently diagnosed with cancer were recruited from the same regional outpatient cancer clinic located at a major university medical center. A semi-structured interview process with open-ended questions was utilized to understand how people individually and collectively experience cancer and cancer treatment. The 17 factors of the wellness model (Witmer, Sweeney, & …

Clinical Applications Of Fmri: An Adaptation Of A Standard Neuropsychological Battery, Alina K. F. Ichimura

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to advance the utility of functional brain imaging as a tool for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders by creating a statistical database of functional MRI (fMRI) brain activation patterns collected from neurologically and psychiatrically unimpaired subjects. Continuous fMRI scans have been obtained from each subject while s/he performed a variety of cognitive tasks that are commonly found in standard neurological and cognitive assessment batteries. The collected fMRI data has been processed, analyzed, and converted into database which can be used as a reference of reliable indices of normal brain activity patterns for …

Investigation Of The Association Between Attendance In Preschool Programs And Achievement Of Elementary School Students In Greeneville, Tennessee., Anita Marie Conner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference in achievement test scores exists between students who attended preschool and those who did not as measured by standardized achievement test scores of students in the 3rd and 4th grades. The variables of grade level and gender were also considered. The population consisted of students who attended 4th and 5th grades during the 2007-2008 school year in the Greeneville City Schools. Data gathered were from Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program achievement test scores obtained from the 2006-2007 school year. Analysis of variance was used to identify any relationship between variables. …

An Assessment Of Atlanta Area Emergency Operations Plans For Emergency Relief Services Utilized By Senior Citizens, Carline P. Richardson

Public Health Theses

The emergency response readiness of the public health and emergency management systems have become increasingly important topics for research, development and action in the United States. Senior citizens represent a large and growing population group in the United States. Older persons are likely to be disproportionately vulnerable during disasters because they are more likely to have chronic illnesses, functional limitations, and sensory, physical and cognitive disabilities than those of younger ages. Elderly health and safety have become the responsibility of the elderly themselves, of the community in which they live, and the various agencies and organizations charged with preparedness planning. …

Qualitative Analysis Of Teacher Perceptions And Use Of The Dynamic Indicators Of Basic Early Literacy Skills (Dibels) Within A District-Wide Reading First Program, Brian T. Gaunt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the Reading First grant program was to (a) increase quality and consistency of instruction in K-3 classrooms; (b) conduct timely and valid assessments of student reading growth in order to identify students experiencing reading difficulties; and (c) provide high quality, intensive interventions to help struggling readers catch up with their peers (Torgesen, 2002). In the State of Florida, school districts must incorporate the use of an assessment tool called the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) to qualify for Reading First grant funding. Though DIBELS has been found to be a valid and reliable assessment …

Improving Course Assessments Through A Product Assessment Template, Catharine C. Verhaaren

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to develop an instructional packet designed to help instructors create effective product assessment projects for use in assessing students' understanding of course material. The specific audience for this packet was instructors of courses offered at Brigham Young University who rely on product assessment to evaluate students' understanding and skills in any content area. The packet I prepared explains the principles of effective product assessment as they are currently understood by assessment specialists and models how to implement these principles during the creation of a product assessment project. I assembled this packet based on the …

Analysis Of The Psychometric Properties Of Two Different Concept-Map Assessment Tasks, Kenneth James Plummer

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to make sense of a wide array of stimuli presupposes the human tendency to organize information in a meaningful way. Efforts to assess the degree to which students organize information meaningfully have been hampered by several factors including the idiosyncratic way in which individuals represent their knowledge either with words or visually. Concept maps have been used as tools by researchers and educators alike to assist students in understanding the conceptual interrelationships within a subject domain. One concept-map assessment in particular known as the construct-a-map task has shown great promise in facilitating reliable and valid inferences from student …

Service Quality In Academic Libraries: An Analysis Of Libqual+„¢ Scores And Institutional Characteristics, Kathleen Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study considered the problem of assessing quality in academic libraries. The research question that framed the investigation asked whether service quality scores from the LibQUAL+ instrument were related to the following college or university characteristics: institutional type, enrollment level, or the level of investment made in libraries. Data regarding Carnegie classification, FTE enrollment, and library expenditures were collected for 159 college and university libraries that participated in LibQUAL+ during 2006. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and regression analyses were calculated and the Bonferroni adjustment was applied to significance levels to compensate for errors caused by repeated calculations using the …

Testing The Utility Of Self-Report Screens To Detect Bipolar Disorder Among Undergraduates, Christopher J. Miller

Open Access Theses

Background: Bipolar disorders represent a serious mental health problem, but clinicians often fail to detect bipolar diagnoses. The validation of brief and accurate self-report questionnaires may aid in the detection of bipolar disorder, leading to more appropriate treatment and faster recovery. Many such measures exist, but few have been thoroughly tested in undergraduates. Methods: Three self-report questionnaires used to detect bipolar disorder (the Hypomanic Personality Scale[HPS], Mood Disorder Questionnaire [MDQ], and General Behavior Inventory 15 item version[GBI-15]) were administered to undergraduate psychology students during the first week of the semester. Participants who were selected based on high and low scores …

Predicting Performance On The Pennsylvania System Of School Assessment Using The Developmental Reading Assessment And The 4sight Predictive Benchmark Assessment, Todd B. Stoltz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), the 4Sight Reading Benchmark Assessment (4Sight), and the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) reading assessment for fifth grade students in one urban school district in Pennsylvania. A goal was to determine how well each assessment, the DRA and the 4Sight, predicted student performance on the PSSA, and specifically to investigate whether the DRA, the 4Sight, or both are significant predictors of student performance on the PSSA. An additional goal was to determine whether there was any added benefit to the prediction by using …

The "White-Eyed" Eastern Towhee: A Molecular Assessment Of The Validity Of Pipilo Erythrophthalmus Alleni, Jeremy Shawn Batten

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Exploring the factors that influence the distribution and diversification of organisms is essential to the field of evolutionary biology. Molecular examination across a species' distribution may result in the discovery of differentiated populations that, when interpreted in the context of past events (e.g. climate change), may elucidate the causal mechanisms. Comparative phylogeographic studies have revealed both similar and disparate genetic patterns among co-distributed organisms, although similar geographic patterns may differ greatly in temporal scale and thus in the magnitude of genetic differentiation. Studies of diverse taxa occurring across the southeastern United States have revealed several common patterns of intraspecific divergence …

True Reflections? An Assessment Of The Correlation Between Self-Reported Racial Identities And Craniometric Patterning, Rebecca V Lockwood

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Modern anthropologists reject the notion that individuals can be assigned to clear-cut divisions of racial origins, yet this identification technique is a required practice in forensic settings. Forensic anthropologists study morphological features and craniometric values to assess the possible ancestry of an unidentified set of human remains. This ancestral assessment is subsequently translated into a "racial" description, as these categories are commonly used and understood by society; Race, however, is an artificial social construction, and racial categories fluctuate over time and space. Consequently, the forensic assessment of race based on cranial characteristics could significantly differ from an individual's self-assessment of …

A Study Of Selected Hotel Officials And Managers With Respect To Assessment Of Job Attitudes, Michael Joseph Signorelli

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify those characteristics which make up an appropriate work attitude among officials and managers in a Resort Industry setting. Upon identification of these management characteristics, acceptable guidelines would be followed to develop an objective instrument to assess management work attitudes which might help reduce job turnover, thereby reducing the costs incurred in replacing key executives; An attitude scale was chosen because instruments which measure intelligence, aptitude and achievement favor those individuals with more formal education than found among managers in the resort industry. In addition, research indicated that an appropriate work attitude increases …

Nate And The One Sixty-Eight, Michael S. Mcmillan

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the fate of 168 students who failed the Level 4 test at the American University Alumni (AUA) Language Center in Bangkok, Thailand. It examines enrollment trends of all Level 4 students during a one-year study period spanning 2006 and 2007, and reveals what happened to the students – who dropped out (and when), and who continued to study. It also examines why students might have dropped out. It then takes a critical look at certain aspects of the Level 4 test, explores what makes a test a “good” test, and recommends a series of improvements to AUA’s …

Comparing Assessment Methods As Predictors Of Student Learning In Undergraduate Mathematics, Nichole Shorter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This experiment was designed to determine which assessment method: continuous assessment (in the form of daily in-class quizzes), cumulative assessment (in the form of online homework), or project-based learning, best predicts student learning (dependent upon posttest grades) in an undergraduate mathematics course. Participants included 117 university-level undergraduate freshmen enrolled in a course titled "Mathematics for Calculus". Initially, a multiple regression model was formulated to model the relationship between the predictor variables (the continuous assessment, cumulative assessment, and project scores) versus the outcome variable (the posttest scores). However, due to the possibility of multicollinearity present between the cumulative assessment predictor variable …

An Examination Of Principal Leadership Practices And School-Level Variables In Connecticut Schools With Achievement Gains Above And Below The State's Average Performance Gain On State Assessments, David R. Cormier

Dissertations

Problem

Effective-schools research has demonstrated that a building level administrator’s leadership practices contribute to the success or failure of change efforts and impact school culture and student achievement. Research in this area has focused primarily on comparing high and low performing schools and the various antecedent/context variables of such schools. This study examined schools with annual achievement gains above and below the state’s average gain in student performance and sought to determine if there were significant differences in school antecedent/context variables, leadership practices, and mediating variables between these schools.

Method

Research participants represented a sample of Connecticut elementary schools with …

The Initial Reliability And Construct Validity Of The Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic (Asd-Dc) In Children, Melissa Luke Gonzalez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to examine the reliability and construct validity of a newly developed assessment scale designed to identify autism spectrum disorders in children: Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic for Children (ASD-DC). Participants were parents and caregivers of children between ages 2 and 16 years, who are typically developing or developmentally delayed. Participants were asked to complete several rating scales including the ASD-DC, a DSM-IV-TR/ICD-10 checklist, the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills in Youngsters (MESSY), and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Version 2 (BASC-2). In Study 1, the test-retest, inter-rater, and inter-item reliabilities of the ASD-DC was …

A Critical Item Analysis Of The Qabf: Development Of A Short Form Assessment Instrument, Ashvind Nand Singh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Due to the relative inability of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) to provide an accurate and reliable self-report, assessment in this population is more difficult than with individuals in the general population. As such, assessment procedures must be adjusted to compensate for the relative lack of information that the individual can provide and rely more on the behavioral expression of communication. One method commonly used is the indirect functional assessment that utilizes behavior rating scales that have been developed to gather behavioral data in a short time. One of the few empirically derived and psychometrically sound is the QABF, a …