Digital Commons Network^™

Improving Critical Thinking Skills In History, Carl Kosta Savich

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

This action research project, conducted by a classroom teacher, investigated strategies and techniques to improve critical thinking skills and engagement in a high school history classroom. The research methods involved comparing quiz, test, and essay scores as well as student surveys, interviews and teacher-created field notes from inquiry-based and lecturebased classrooms. The inquiry classroom involved role-playing, simulations, re-enactments, multiple text analysis, and oral/visual presentations. Students engaged in analyzing bias, examining different viewpoints and perspectives, and analyzing documents. The findings indicate that when critical thinking skills were emphasized and integrated in lesson planning, students achieved higher scores on tests, quizzes, and …

An Analysis Of Educational Programming For And Learning Outcomes, Abigail Marie Felber

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

In order to better understand the educational outcomes of English language learners enrolled in two distinct programs at this school, the researcher, a 4th/5th grade bilingual teacher, studied leading research in the field of bilingual education, administered and analyzed assessments and interviewed participants’ families as well as colleagues. The premise of the study was to compare literacy levels of two sample groups—six students who received instruction solely in English and six students who received instruction both in English and Spanish. All students were Latino, and Spanish was the predominate language spoken in their homes. Study findings revealed that, regarding English …

A Closer Look At One Elementary School's Use Of Informational Text In Classroom Instruction, Marjean Sorensen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to explore the use of informational text in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms in one elementary school. The research was based on analyzing responses given by teachers on a self-report survey; which addressed various aspects of their use of informational texts. The survey included questions about the sources teachers used to find informational texts, the criteria used in selection of such texts, and the frequency and purposes for informational text use. These data were then compared according to teachers' years of teaching experience and grade level taught to see the influence of …

Child Care Centers On Higher Education Campuses: Director Perceptions Of Internal And External Roles And Director Leadership, Kerisa A. Myers

Dissertations

An increasing focus on early childhood education and brain research offers a prime opportunity for higher education institutions to research and formulate thought concerning quality child care. Currently, there is limited research examining the impact and roles of child care centers on university campuses. To add to the base of knowledge, this nationally-focused study examined the following broad question: "what value do campus child care centers offer to a given higher education institution and its surrounding community, especially from a center director's perspective?"

An on-line survey was sent to over 400 campus child care directors at two- and four-year public …

Exploring Some Inattended Affective Factors In Performing Nonroutine Mathematical Tasks, John Douglas Butler

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Describes students' attempts to solve nonroutine math problems and explores possible correlates of their performance, focusing on inattended (i.e., intentionally avoided) dimensions underrepresented in the literature, including attitudes, interests, values, aesthetics, metacognition, and representation. Analyzes objective and subjective data gathered from a sample of 9th-grade students at a high school in Rhode Island. Finds strong evidence of students' math-aesthetics in problem solving.

Student Characteristics, Pre-College, College, And Environmental Factors As Predictors Of Persisting In And Earning A Stem Degree: An Analysis Of Students Attending A Hispanic Serving Institution, Gloria Crisp, Amanda Taggart, Amaury Nora

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined the demographic, pre-college, environmental, and college factors that impact students’ interests in and decisions to earn a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree among students attending a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Results indicated that Hispanic students were well represented among STEM majors, and students’ decisions to declare a STEM major and earn a STEM degree were uniquely influenced by students’ gender, ethnicity, SAT math score, and high school percentile. Earning a STEM degree was related to students’ first-semester GPA and enrollment in mathematics and science “gatekeeper” courses. Findings indicate that HSIs may be an important point …

Teacher Education Preparation Assessment System And The National Council For Accreditation Of Teacher Education Accreditation, Deborah Lynn Vaughan Stoulig

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the assessment systems of teacher preparation programs have changed since the new NCATE Standards were implemented in 2004, what methods of data collections are being used, and to measure coordinators' perceptions of the assessment systems. An electronic survey was developed by the researcher based upon a review of related literature, the researcher's personal experience, and years of reviewing data collection software. An invitation to the survey was emailed to 631 NCATE Coordinators or equivalent as identified from their institution's website with 221 participants completing the survey for a return rate of …

Comparing Indigenous And External Teachers: Beliefs, Origins Of Beliefs, And Expectations, Richard H. Fowler

Dissertations

This phenomenology examines rural economically poor school teachers' beliefs, belief origins, and their expectations of and for their students. Data analysis employed two lenses. The proposed lens examined participants as either indigenous or external utilizing Banks' (2001) cross-cultural teaching experiences. In this study, the indigenous participants experienced childhoods in poor rural towns, while external participants experienced childhoods in urban/suburban areas. A second emergent lens examined participants as experiencing working-class or middle-class childhoods. Findings utilizing lens one were mixed and varied with no definitive pattern. The emergent lens utilizing economic class of participants' childhoods found a number of consistent differences between …

The Relationship Between Classroom Interactions And Exclusionary Discipline As A Social Practice: A Critical Microethnography, Debra M. Pane Phd

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exclusionary school discipline results in students being removed from classrooms as a consequence of their disruptive behavior and may lead to subsequent suspension and/or expulsion. Literature documents that nondominant students, particularly Black males, are disproportionately impacted by exclusionary discipline, to the point that researchers from a variety of critical perspectives consider exclusionary school discipline an oppressive educational practice and condition. Little or no research examines specific teacher-student social interactions within classrooms that influence teachers’ decisions to use or not use exclusionary discipline. Therefore, this study set forth the central research question: In relation to classroom interactions in alternative education settings, …

An International Professional Development Collaboration In Literacy Education, Miriam Pepper-Sanello, Adrienne Andi Sosin

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

An International Professional Development Collaboration in Literacy Education is a report of an international professional development project in Guatemala designed to improve literacy instructional practices and thereby raise student achievement in reading and writing. The opportunity for coaching Guatemalan teachers in teaching literacy strategies and skills provides data for this participatory action research study. This research is intended to contribute to cross-cultural understanding by graduate and undergraduate students in literacy, improved pedagogical techniques, international outreach in developing countries, and student academic success worldwide.

Diversity Education And Student Perceptions Of Campus Climate, Bethany Zemba, Felice D. Billups

Higher Education

The term diversity refers to demographic variables such as race, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age, education, and geographic origin (Rynes & Rosen, 2006). Diversity can also include work group affiliation, life-style, career history, and cognitive style (Pendry, Driscoll, & Field, 2007). The demographic diversity found in the United States population can provide opportunities to embrace new customs and expand traditional roles. However, it may also create challenges as people struggle to find common ground in communities composed of individuals and groups with varied backgrounds and values (Rodriguez, 1998; Trauth, Johnson, Morgan, Huang, & Quesenberry, 2007).

Rapidly changing …

Stereotype Threat And The Standardized Testing Experiences Of African American Children At An Urban Elementary School, Martin J. Wasserberg

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) refers to the risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group in a particular performance domain. The theory assumes that performance in the stereotyped domain is most negatively affected when individuals are more highly identified with the domain in question. As federal law has increased the importance of standardized testing at the elementary level, it can be reasonably hypothesized that the standardized test performance of African American children will be depressed when they are aware of negative societal stereotypes about the academic competence of African Americans. This sequential mixed-methods study investigated whether the …

Pathways To The Aviation Professoriate: An Investigation Into The Attributes And Backgrounds Of Professional Pilot Education Faculty, David Carl Ison

Aeronautics, Graduate Studies - Worldwide

"The purpose of this study was to identify the pathways professional pilot program faculty take to reach their positions. Data were collected through a survey that was distributed via the internet using Survey Monkey. Pathways were defined by investigations into the occupational and educational histories of the faculty. Also, demographic attributes of the faculty were collected to create a comprehensive picture of the faculty. Statistical analysis of the survey data was conducted using SPSS Graduate Pack software. The findings of the study indicate that professional pilot faculty take a range of occupational and educational pathways to reach their positions in …

The Relationship Of Self-Efficacy With Gpa, Attendance, And College Student Retention, Stephen P. Becker, Robert K. Gable

Higher Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-efficacy or belief in one’s capability (Bandura 1977b, 1986, 1993, 1997) and first-term GPA, attendance, and retention using a modified version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) (Schwarzer, 1992, 1993, 2005; Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1993).

The study “College” is part of one of the world’s largest for-profit career education organizations. At the College, 100% of the students commute to classes and live in the metropolitan area. A large percentage of students live in difficult urban neighborhoods and grow up with low family income, abuse, gang violence, drugs, health problems, …

A Listening Pedagogy: Insights Of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers In Multi-Cultural Classrooms, Karen Paciotti, Margaret Bolick

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Although Texas schools are under the pedagogical constraints of both the Texas Assessment of Knowledge Skills (TAKS) and the national No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, it is morally incumbent upon Texas legislators and educators to listen to students’ voices to engage them with the “teaching and learning” technical core of schools (Hoy & Miskel, 2000, p. 75). Ironically, while Texas teacher certification standards mandate student-centered pedagogical practices, the current state and national pressure of a high-stakes accountability climate often lead to a teacher-centered pedagogy in which student voices are routinely excluded from the classroom (Kordalewski, 1999). This atmosphere …

Coaching Educational Leaders, Jothany Blackwood

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

As institutions of higher learning respond to the rapidly changing demographics of its administrators, they must continuously find processes that improve the performance and effectiveness of these individuals. They must also begin to understand how the integration of coaching and/or mentoring shapes educational leaders and their institutions. From developing administrator’s potential to work well with others and strengthen communication, coaching also access to mobility, career advancements, promotions and pay increases. Of interest is the presence of female administrators in the California community colleges and the role that coaching plays in their ability to be effective educational leaders.

Influence Of Test Anxiety On Performance Levels On Numerical Tasks Of Secondary School Physics Students, Bimbola Oludipe

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The purpose of the current study was to identify teacher behaviors that secondary students perceived as demonstrating caring. The questions that guided this inquiry were (a) what teacher behaviors do high school students perceive as caring? and (b) what teacher behaviors do high school students perceive as the most important aspects of caring? Whereas previous studies clearly have documented the power and influence of caring teachers on adolescents’ success, we posit that knowing what students perceive as caring behaviors can be used as a springboard to shape the context of caring for all students, especially those who are marginalized, feel …

School Administrators’ Perceptions Of School Violence, Stephanie Garrett, Casey Brown

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Across America, waves of violence within the school system have shocked and horrified American society. A generation of young people whose main focus should have been on hanging out with friends, getting homework done, not being late to class, going to the mall, or who their date to the prom was to be, instead, are engaged in a sometimes life and death struggle to survive the school day. The tragedy of Columbine High School, where two high school-aged gunmen took the lives of 13 students and teachers and wounded 23 others (Klein and Chancer 2000), while never to be forgotten, …

The Possibility Of Applying Senge’S Learning Organization Principles In Irbid Public High Schools As Perceived By Principals And Teachers, Mohammed Ashour

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Purpose of the study: 1. To be acquainted with the possibility of applying Senge’s learning organization principles in Irbid high public schools as seen by principals and teachers 2. To be acquainted with the individual differences of the participants about the possibility of applying Senge’s learning organization principles in Irbid high public schools related to the social type, experience and qualification 3. To be acquainted with the suggestions presented by principals and teachers in Irbid high public schools regarding the possibilities of applying Senge’s learning organization principles

Some Psychological Variables Differentiating Between Adolescents With Step-Parents And Those Without Step-Parents, Alaba Adenuga, A. Odusole

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The well being of adolescents has become topic of increasing interest among researchers in general. It is now regarded as something worthy of empirical investigation by researchers in eliciting without faking, the true status of the living and parenting conditions of adolescents (Marks 1998; Leug and Jim Park 2000). Newman (1994) however observed that there has been great increase in divorce rate that is threatening the marriage institution on the pages of parent media and also on the electronic media. Worse still, the failure rate of second marriages has been found to be higher than that of first-time marriages which …

Equal Access: A National Comparison Of Federal Grants-In-Aid Awarded At Public And Private Four-Year Degree Granting Institutions, Lee Waller, Sandra Weeks, Steven Westbrook, Karl Payton

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

More than twelve million undergraduate students in the United States benefit from some form of financial aid. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education (as cited in The American Council of Education 2008) indicate that 76% of undergraduates at public four-year degree-granting institutions during the 2003-2004 academic year received financial aid, while 89% of undergraduate students at private four-year not-for-profit degree-granting institutions were aid recipients.

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 21, Number 1, Fall 2009, New England Faculty Development Consortium

NEFDC Exchange

Contents

Message from the President: A Reflection of a Different Light - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology

From the editors - Jeanne Albert, Donna Qualters, and Naomi Migliacci

New England Faculty Development Consortium Fall 2009 Conference, November 13, 2009, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States; theme: When Questioning is the Answer: Reflective Practice for College Faculty; keynote presentation by Stephen Brookfield, University of St. Thomas

Excerpt from Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, Jossey-Bass, 1995 by Stephen Brookfield

NEFDC Fall 2009 Conference Agenda

Connecting with others

Contemplative and Transformative Pedagogy - Arthur Zajonc, Amherst College

SAVE the date! NEFDC 2010 Spring …

School-Based Mentoring: A Nurturing Approach To Improve The Educational Outcomes Of Students At-Risk, Paul Caldarella, Shauna Valentine, Drew Daniels, Barbara Quackenbush

Faculty Publications

Advantages of School-based Mentoring: Less costly; Identify more children; School resources, staff, administration; More convenient; Time commitment; Safety; Community support. Dubois & Karcher (2005)

A National Study Of Baccalaureate Degree Completions In The Sciences: An Overview Of Institutional Success By Public, Private, And Proprietary, Tara Tietjen-Smith, Cheri Davis, Audrey Williams, Gloria Anderson

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The purpose of this study was to examine baccalaureate degree completions in the sciences within public, private, and proprietary higher education institutions by ethnicity to determine which educational sectors (and science categories) were producing more graduates, specifically minority graduates.

An Interview With Anita Woolfolk Hoy And Wayne K. Hoy: About Instructional Leadership, Michael Shaughnessy, Robin Wells

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Anita Woolfolk Hoy received her BA in Psychology in 1969 and her PhD in Educational Psychology both from the University of Texas at Austin. She worked briefly as a school psychologist in Texas, and then joined the faculty in Department of Educational Psychology of the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University in 1979. She remained there until 1993 and served as Chair of the department from 1990 to 1993. Presently she is a Professor in the College of Education at The Ohio State University. Her professional offices include Vice-President for Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) of the American …

Stimulating Lecturers’ Innovative Behaviour In Malaysian Polytechnics, Nazidaabd Ghani, Kamaruzaman Jusoff

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Technical and vocational education that has been laid out approximately a century ago provides an important route for secondary school leavers to gain access to post-secondary technical and vocational educational and training and be successfully employed. Polytechnics of Ministry of Higher Education were established to produce semi-skilled employees to fulfil the needs of public and private sectors in the field of commerce, engineering and hospitality. However, a majority of graduates from polytechnics do not join the work force straight away but instead further their studies first to seek their bachelor degrees from universities and colleges before entering the work force. …

Teaching Students And Teaching Each Other: The Importance Of Peer Learning For Teachers, Clement (Kirabo) Jackson, Elias Bruegmann

C. Kirabo Jackson

Using student examination data linked to longitudinal teacher personnel data, we document that a teacher’s students have larger test score gains when she experiences an improvement in the observable characteristics of her colleagues. Using within-school and within-teacher variation, we further show that a teacher’s students have larger test score gains when she has more effective colleagues (based on their own students’ achievement gains from an out-of-sample pre-period). A one standard deviation increase in average teacher peer quality is associated with an increase of 0.02 and 0.04 standard deviations in student test score growth in reading and math respectively (about one …

Math And Me [9th Grade], Mckinley Rich

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The purpose of this unit is to have students question and analyze their opinions about mathematics. Students, particularly in math, have very strong perceptions of themselves as a learner. These self-perceptions have many different roots, and in this unit students will analyze the origin and perpetuation of such perceptions. Through a series of articles and some moments of self-reflection, students will look for answers to the questions: “What perceptions do I have about math?” and “What has shaped and will continue to shape my perceptions about math?”. While this is unlike 99% of math units, I believe that in order …

Examining The Factor Structure Of The Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Scale, Helenrose Fives, Michelle M. Buehl

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors examined the factor structure of the long and short forms of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; M. Tschannen-Moran & A. Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001) for practicing (n = 102) and preservice teachers (n = 270), comparing the responses to both forms of the TSES, and looked for differences in teachers' efficacy with respect to experience and grade level taught. They found the 3-factor structure - efficacy for classroom management, instructional practices, and student engagement - to be appropriate for practicing teachers, but they found a single efficacy factor to be appropriate for preservice teachers. The long and short …

Educational Leadership Preparation: What Supervisors, Candidates, And Mentors Said, J. Eric Tubbs, H. Earl Holliday

Faculty and Research Publications

The findings of this study identified practicum areas that meet the educational demands of candidates while highlighting practicum areas that need improvement. The study contributes to the knowledge base of the field by drawing upon feedback from university supervisors, school mentors and program candidates to evaluate and improve the practicum experience in the educational leadership program. Program candidates are in the best position to discuss their recent experiences of exposure to the real world. Supervisors and mentors can witness from their first hand experience how effective practicum activities work. Responses from supervisors, mentors and candidates regarding leadership practicum experiences are …