Digital Commons Network^™

Standards-Based Performance Assessment In The Comprehensive Music Classroom, Matthew Stephan Mcveigh

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of standards-based assessment practices within a music performance curriculum. This pre-survey, post-survey experimental treatment included 169 students, 97 parents, and 3 teachers from 3 school districts across Wisconsin. The results from this study indicated that music teachers rely on a variety of assessment strategies to monitor student achievement regardless of if they are using standards-based assessment practices; however, teachers who used standards-based assessment were more likely to use formal assessments to determine student achievement and were more likely to assess students both formally and informally on a regular basis. Furthermore, …

Clinician's Experience Of Suicide Assessment From A Qualitative Perspective, Eric W. Macleod

Dissertations

Using a qualitative research method, the researcher explored the lived experiences of 17 clinicians in southwest Michigan who assess the risk of their clients committing suicide as a part of their professional practice. A phenomenological approach was used to interpret and understand the results. In-person interviews were conducted at a place chosen by the participant. Four broad interview questions with several subquestions within each created a semi-structured format. The questions explored the way clinicians assess suicide, the professional impact of suicide assessment, the personal impact of suicide assessment, and any changes in participants’ worldview as a result of suicide assessment. …

Ell Vocabulary Acquisition: How Improvement Measurements Are Affected By Text Type, English Reading Ability, And Assessment Methods, Joellen Magnus

Theses and Dissertations

Vocabulary acquisition is a crucial part of language learning. This study seeks to determine what textual and student factors affect vocabulary acquisition rates from reading English texts for high school students for whom English is a second language, as well as how assessment factors affect the measurement of vocabulary acquisition. In this study, vocabulary acquisition was measured by comparing the differences between pre-test and post-test scores from before and after reading different texts. Text type did not affect student outcomes, but the improvement rates were affected by students' pre-test scores, students' English reading ability, and the types of assessment questions. …

Studies In Analytical Chemistry And Chemical Education. Part 1: Characterization Of Complex Organics By Raman Spectroscopy And Gas Chromatography. Part 2: Differential Item Functioning On Multiple-Choice General Chemistry Assessments, Lisa Kay Kendhammer

Theses and Dissertations

PART 1: CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPLEX ORGANICS BY RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY AND GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY.

The analytical chemistry component of this thesis focused on instrumentation and methods to address challenges in art conservation, particularly the identification, quantitation, and reactivity of a set of representative varnishes and their degradation products. Methods for characterizing varnishes are of great interest to art conservators to restore art work more accurately. A database was created as a means to identify and quantify the composition of aged varnishes. Fourier Transform (FT)-Raman Spectroscopy was used to study common organic acids found in varnishes. The database included nine short-chain carboxylic acids, …

An Investigation Of The Association Between Arithmetic Achievement And Symbolic And Nonsymbolic Magnitude Processing In 5-9 Year-Old Children: Evidence From A Paper-And-Pencil Test, Nadia Nosworthy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Recently, there has been a growing emphasis on basic number processing competencies (such as the ability to judge which of two numbers is larger) and their role in predicting individual differences in school-relevant math achievement. Children’s ability to compare both symbolic (e.g. Arabic numerals) and nonsymbolic (e.g. dot arrays) magnitudes has been found to correlate with their math achievement. The available evidence, however, has focused on computerized paradigms, which may not always be suitable for universal, quick application in the classroom. Furthermore, it is currently unclear whether both symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison are related to children’s performance on tests …

The United States Growth Over 16 Years Of Student Correct Responses On The Timss: Are We Really That Far Behind?, Jacob Michael Zonts

Theses and Dissertations

National rank on international assessments, as measured in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), gives a limited view of the data presented. This study used average scale score data from the TIMSS (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011) that were then disaggregated based on content domains (i.e., number, algebra, measurement, geometry, data, earth science, life science, physical science, biology, physics, and chemistry). These data were graphed to show the growth of the U.S. national average scale scores in comparison to three top scoring countries (i.e., Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore), and three other post-industrial countries similar to the U.S. …

A Study Of Teacher-Buy-In And Grading Policy Reform In A Los Angeles Archdiocesan Catholic High School, Christian Martín De Larkin Ii

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Visual Art Assessment For Middle School Students, Kathryn Batlle

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This research study was designed by a middle school art teacher to fulfill the new teacher evaluation requirements in Virginia. The study was implemented in a sixth grade art classroom of sixteen students in the 2012 fall semester. This research study investigated the use of an authentic assessment tool to document student growth in a middle school art classroom. This performance assessment tool, evaluating student artwork, used detailed criterion-referenced rubrics to score student achievement in units focused on drawing and painting. The design included a pre- and post-instruction artwork that was assessed with the created rubrics. Student artwork was organized …

Student Engagement In The Assessment Context: An Examination Of The Cognitive Engagement Scale-Extended Version (Ces-E), Ashley Brianne Charsha

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Increasing pressure on institutions of higher education to demonstrate what students are learning has resulted in an increase in assessment testing. Because these assessments are often low-stakes for students, educators often question whether inferences based on the resulting student scores are valid. Not unexpectedly, questions often arise regarding the extent to which students are engaged on low-stakes assessments. Additionally, how their level of engagement impacts their performance is also questioned. These questions are empirical in nature. Before such questions can be examined, a psychometrically sound instrument of cognitive engagement appropriate for the assessment context must be identified. This study sought …

The Incorporation Of Integrative Medicine To Assess And Address Diabetic Patients’ Psychosocial Needs, Jennifer E. Ranallo

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

The purpose of this project was to increase the understanding of the assessment, implementation and referral of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in order to meet psychosocial needs and decrease stress among diabetic patients. Using a mixed method design, both qualitative and quantitative research questions were incorporated into a survey distributed using a non-probability sample of healthcare professionals working in family medicine or general medicine practices within the metro area. The study attempted to answer the following questions: Is integrative medicine being conducted by healthcare professionals to address type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients’ psychosocial needs in family medicine …

A Data-Intensive Assessment Of The Species Abundance Distribution, Elita Baldridge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

One of the most commonly observed patterns in ecology is the fact that at most locations there are a large number of relatively rare species, composed of only a few individuals per species, and a small number of relatively common species. This pattern of commonness and rarity is quantified by the species abundance distribution. As one of the most commonly observed patterns in ecology, it has been studied intensively for over 100 years.

A major emphasis of this research has been developing models to try to understand the forces that generate such a general pattern. As a result, there are …

Comparison Of The Pervasive Developmental Disorders Screening Test And Modified Checklist For Autism In Toddlers: Which Is The Better Predictor Of Autism In Toddlers?, Vanessa Marie Fessenden

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has significant impact on children and families. Early intervention optimizes long-term diagnosis for children with ASD. Unfortunately, many children with ASD are not diagnosed until after age three and often receive services from a local school district rather than through early intervention services. However, many of the symptoms of ASD can be hard to identify because symptoms during infancy may be more difficult to detect or may present differently than manifestations of the symptoms at older ages. Despite the difficulty in identifying symptoms of ASD in young children, there are certain …

High School Student Attitudes Toward Physical Education: The Comparison Of A United States And New Zealand School, Joshua Charles Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Negative health indices, specifically obesity, are not confined to the United States (US). In New Zealand (NZ) many young persons are affected (Center for Disease Control, 2010; NZ Ministry of Health, 2012). Physical education (PE) seeks to address obesity and other health issues (Pate, O’Neil, & McIver, 2011). By researching student attitudes toward PE, the efficacy of learning outcomes for students can be improved (Cothran & Ennis, 1999). This mixed methods study involved 125 students from one high school in the US and one in NZ. Results showed that the curricula of each school were greatly varied, while student attitudes …

Exploring The Knowledge Gap In Early Childhood Assessment, Daniel J. Cichoracki

Senior Honors Theses and Projects - Teacher Education

Assessment in early childhood focuses on authentic experiences with trained adults guiding the children in learning experiences. Using research and guided by best practices, early childhood professionals implement a variety of· assessment toots to identify children who may be in need of testing for developmental or other delays and to guide their classroom practice. This exploratory study identified the practical implementation of assessment tools in early childhood education to identify any gap between research and implementation with the goal of aiding future assessment research and development to reflect the needs of early childhood professionals more accurately. Despite having a small …

Understanding And Measuring Functional Impairment In Diverse Children With Adhd: Development And Validation, Lauren Marie Haack

Dissertations (1934 -)

The current study sought to develop and validate a measure to assess functional impairment related to ADHD (i.e., difficulties with academic achievement, social competence, and familial relationships) for Latino families, as research suggests that functional impairment may be a more culturally-universal construct than symptomatology. Researchers integrated quantitative and qualitative information obtained from a community sample of 74 Latino parents in order to develop the ADHD-FX scale. The overall ADHD-FX scale, as well as each subscale (i.e., school, peer, and home) demonstrated adequate psychometric properties, diagnostic utility, and cultural properties with 62 Latino parents of school-aged children. Thus, results suggest that …

Making Grades Matter: Connections Between Teacher Grading Practices And Attention To State Assessment, Gregory D. Warsen

Dissertations

Research suggests that traditional grading practices are fraught with subjective problems and that many factors go into grading that have little, if anything, to do with what a student knows or is able to do. More recent research, however, has made connections between teacher-assigned grades and subsequent performance on the American College Test using correlational studies. This study reinforces and extends that work by, first, testing the relationship between grade point averages (GPAs) and ACT scores for four graduating high school classes in two case study high schools. Then, this study qualitatively examines teacher thinking and decision making around planning …

We Know Better And It's Time To Act Like It: Ending Written Feedback, Jacob S. Rees

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have tried to demonstrate the effectiveness of written teacher feedback over the course of the last sixty years, and the results are inconclusive. Many studies point to improvement on subsequent drafts as evidence of student improvement; however, this only indicates students' abilities to follow directions. It is not an indication of autonomous writing ability. This study demonstrates that with proper curriculum support high school students can develop intentional transferability (the autonomous, intentional transferring of writing skills to varied rhetorical situations) throughout the course of one academic year without receiving any teacher written feedback.

Usefulness Of The Mms And S5 For Assessing Medication Management Capacity For Clients Post-Stroke, Jessica Jean Bolduc

Occupational Therapy Program Student Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Occupational therapists need a means to efficiently and accurately screen a client’s medication management capacity, especially for clients post-stroke. Most therapists are not aware of, nor do they utilize specific assessments for medication management capacity, partly due to lack of thorough assessments. The purpose of this study was to compare the scores of the ManageMed Screen (MMS), the Screening for Self-Medication Safety Post Stroke (S5), and the Montreal Assessment of Cognition (MoCA) on a population of rehabilitation clients post-stroke to evaluate consistency of scores and determine their usefulness in clinical practice. All screens were designed for use in occupational therapy; …

An Assessment Tool For Egs Performance Quality And Its Impact On Citizens’ Obtained Benefits: A Citizen-Centric E-Government Evaluation Model, Shatha A. Al-Haddad

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

The increasing number and sophistication of e-commerce sites has led many people to expect the same level of personalized services from their governments. As a consequence, governments have recently implemented e-government initiatives both to meet this expectation and to achieve significant potential benefits. One important benefit is the value that the public, and in particularly citizens, receives. By adopting an e-government system (EGS), a government aims to meet its citizens’ needs and to provide them with better services, through increasing their convenience and satisfaction, saving them time and effort, and reducing their costs and dependencies on others. Fulfilling this aim …

Examining Articulatory Kinematics Using Diadochokinesis In Concussed And Non-Concussed Individuals, Lindsay Deann Dolan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Cognitive and communicative deficits associated with traumatic brain injury are an active area of research. However, no research to date has reported on the functionality of motor speech following a concussion. A common tool used to evaluate the motor speech status of potentially impaired individuals is the measurement of the diadochokinetic speech rate. The purpose of this study is to investigate diadochokinetic speech rates in individuals who experience a sports-related concussion. Determining the nature and extent of motor speech involvement post concussion will contribute to the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of recovery. The present investigation will determine; (i) if …

Communication Disorders And Indigenous Australians : A Synthesis And Critique Of The Available Literature, Jasmyn Hall

Theses : Honours

Purpose: To synthesise and critique the available diverse literature related to communication disorders experienced by Indigenous Australians. This is in order to provide health professionals with a resource guide for evidence based decision making. The review has a specific focus on prevalence, assessment and effective treatment of communication disorders and explores these across the lifespan.

Method: A three phase systematic search process was adopted. A number of key databases, speech pathology journals and grey literature sources were searched to obtain articles relevant to the research aims. Two researchers independently rated articles for inclusion as well as methodological quality using the …

Foot Assessment In The Dialysis Unit, Karen Robertson

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT In 2010 the number of patients requiring renal replacement therapy in the United States increased by 1% to 593,086. This number was comprised of 593,086 in center hemodialysis patients, 179,361 functioning kidney transplants, and 29,773 peritoneal dialysis patients.

A principal difficulty in the end stage renal disease (ESRD) population is lower extremity amputation from vascular complications and nonhealing wounds. The incidence of nontraumatic lower extremity amputation among the end stage renal disease population in the United States is ten times higher when compared to the general public. Mortality rates for ESRD patients following amputation are elevated with less than …

Visible Learning In A Reggio Emilia Inspired Kindergarten: Parents' Descriptions Of Documentation, Melissa Gibbons Whetstone

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this qualitative study was to reveal multiple perspectives and thoughts of seven parents and a family member in a Reggio Emilia inspired kindergarten classroom in a southeastern state of the United States regarding pedagogical documentation, an essential tool for teaching practice and reflection. It served to make knowledge construction visible through children's interpretive concrete work. Throughout the study, pedagogical documentation was defined as both a learning process as well as the products of early childhood content. The content were concrete materials in the form of notes, photographs, audio and video recordings, computer graphics, and examples of children's …

Evidence-Based Protocols For Assessment And Treatment Of Adolescent Suicide Risk In An Emergency Department, Rebecca Bentele

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Suicide and suicide attempts are a frequently encountered clinical crisis and the assessment, management and treatment of suicidal patients is one of the most stressful tasks for clinicians (Fowler, 2012). The purpose of this project was to examine whether current assessment and treatment protocols followed in the ED, Mankato, adhere to best-­‐practices as identified through research, as well as to make recommendations to MCHS-­‐Mankato for future considerations and potential modifications to existing protocols.

Identifying Cultural Framework For Assessing Cultural Components In Client Systems And Recommendations For Agency And Practitioner Level Culturally Responsive Practice, Imad Mohamed

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

A lack of cultural appropriate practice introduces barriers to case assessment, diagnostics assessment, intervention, and evaluation (Kirmayer, Groleau, Guzder, Blake, & Jarvis, 2003; Tyson & Flaskerud, 2009; Zayas, Torres, & Cabassa, 2009). Addressing these barriers starts with identifying a framework that provides holistic approach in promoting culturally responsive practice.

An Examination Of The Influence Of Formative Self-Assessment On College Student Mastery Orientation In College Courses, Jamie Lynn Mahlberg

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examined the hypothesis that mastery orientation would increase for college students enrolled in courses that incorporated self-assessment. Early in the spring 2013 semester, 216 community college students enrolled in 16 different general education and developmental courses volunteered to participate and completed a demographic/goal orientation questionnaire. During the semester, 10 of the courses implemented self-assessment and 6 did not. At the conclusion of the semester, 143 of the original sample completed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) which provided post-test goal orientation scores along with measures of additional motivational and self-regulatory variables. Results indicated a trend in the …

The Use Of The Communication Checklist - Adult (Cc-A) For Assessing The Communication Abilities Of Individuals Post Traumatic Brain Injury, David B. Fitzgerald

Theses : Honours

Background and aims: Standardised and non-standardised assessments are used in speech pathology to evaluate an individual’s communication abilities post traumatic brain injury (TBI; e.g. Turkstra et al., 2005b). However, valid, reliable and norm-referenced standardised assessments that examine functional communication abilities of individuals post TBI outside of the clinical environment are limited. This study sought to investigate the validity of the Communication Checklist - Adults (CC-A; Whitehouse & Bishop, 2009), a caregiver questionnaire that assesses the communication abilities of individuals post TBI.

Method: The project recruited 14 participants post TBI with varying communicative impairment severities. Each participant completed a routine communication …

How Culture Shapes Personality: A Preliminary Study, Hing Man Amy Wong

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relevance of a collectivistic personality attribute indigenous to the Chinese culture to non-Asian collectivistic cultures. To measure this attribute, the CPAI-2 Interpersonal Relatedness factor scales were administered to current college students who self-identified as Mexican American, Chinese American, or Caucasian. Only less acculturated Mexican American and Chinese American participants, as measured by the ARMSA-II or SL-ASIA, respectively, were included in the analysis. Although the Mexican American and Chinese American participants did not significantly differ from one another, these two groups did significantly differ from the Caucasian participants on two scales, Traditionalism-Modernity …

An Examination Of Speech Characteristics Under Conditions Of Affective Reactivity And Variable Cognitive Load As Distinguishing Feigned And Genuine Schizophrenia, Gina M. Najolia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Proper assessment of schizophrenia is complicated by the need for clinicians to be cognizant of the possibility of malingering, i.e., the intentional production of false or grossly exaggerated symptoms, motivated by external incentives. Current standardized schizophrenia malingering detection methods rely on endorsement of improbable or exaggerated, mainly positive, symptoms. However, these detection methods may be vulnerable to successful manipulation by sophisticated malingerers, particularly if coached regarding response style assessment strategies. This paper explored the utility of supplemental variables to examine in schizophrenia malingering detection by using a simulation study design to compare schizophrenia patients, a community participant sample instructed to …

Effective Methods Of Formative Assessment, Chelse Rae Bugg

Online Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to explore the implementation of formative assessment in the mathematics classroom. Formative assessment is considered to be any data-driven activity that an educator uses to help guide and improve instruction. While there is an abundance of research that concludes that formative assessment does indeed improve student achievement, practical methods of implementation are not thoroughly discussed. To partially determine which methods of formative assessment most positively impact student achievement, a study was conducted at Lafayette High School. The researcher compared two popular methods of formative assessment: daily exit slips and unit probing (pre-, middle-, and …