Education Commons^™

Efl Teachers’ Understandings Of The Role Of Assessment In Second Language Learning, Evelyn Almeida

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Given the important role of assessment in the process of Second Language Learning (SLL) and framed within Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), this study aims to analyze: (1) how EFL teachers’ understanding of the role of assessment in SLL can be improved, (2) how effective dynamic assessment is in their teaching practices, (3) how EFL teachers’ assessment practices reflect their understanding of the concept of assessment/dynamic assessment, and (4) what strategies can help them understand these concepts. These four points are studied within the context of English classes at a Language Institute in Quito, Ecuador. This project’s contribution brings …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

The Influence Of A Learning Management System (Lms) And Microblogging On Social Presence, Sense Of Community, And User Interface Satisfaction In A Distance Education Course, Andrew G. Leach

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

The impact of social media on everyday life is undeniable. Social media has transcended its initial purpose of connectivity and branched into other sociocultural aspects. Educators must create a rich and active learning environment where students can actively engage with their educational curriculum. This study used a mixed methods approach to investigate the influence that learning management systems (LMS) and microblogging (social media) have on key elements of distance education design. These elements include social presence, sense of community, and overall user interface design. Students’ perceptions of these elements were collected from students enrolled in a graduate course during summer …

Issue In Equity For Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students With Complex Support Needs: A Comparative Analysis Of District-Level Student Data, Rosalia Pacheco

Special Education ETDs

Research has shown that English learners with disabilities should have access to both special education and Title III services as required by law (de Valenzuela et al., 2006, 2018, 2016, 2022; de Valenzuela & Copeland, 2018; Kangas, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021). This quantitative study uncovers issues of educational inequities related to: (a) the identification of these students as English learners; (b) their access to Title III services; and (c) the instructional settings in which they are educated for culturally and linguistically diverse students with Autism (ASD), Developmental Delay (DD), Intellectual Disability (ID), Multiple Disabilities (MD), or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). …

A Statistical Analysis Of The Unm Facets Design Identity & Beliefs Survey Data, Clarissa A. Sorensen-Unruh

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

The NSF-funded FACETS (Formation of Accomplished Chemical Engineers for Transforming Society, NSF Award 1623105) grant aims to transform the undergraduate engineering experience in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico to address attrition within engineering majors, especially among underserved populations (Brainard & Carlin, 1998). The UNM FACETS Design Identity & Beliefs survey, an assessment tool used as part of the research of the grant, generated the dataset used in this study. I performed several different statistical analyses on the dataset, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis. The …

Getting To Denver: Instructor Participation In The Design Of Writing Program Assessment Technologies, Soha Fransis Turfler

English Language and Literature ETDs

This dissertation presents a framework for writing instructor participation in the design of writing program assessment technologies. I base this framework on a case study into the participation of 16 non-tenure track (NTT) and graduate teaching assistant (GTA) writing instructors in the design of a final portfolio assignment prompt for the first-year composition (FYC) program at the University of New Mexico (UNM). I specifically question how Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) and assessment designers can address the needs, interests, and values of writing instructors in the design of writing program assessment technologies, including the important need for agency and professional autonomy. …

Teachers’ Perspectives Of The Observation Process Within The Evaluation, Christine E. Lenhart

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

One of the largest challenges for administrators is to create and implement teacher evaluation systems that help improve teaching and student learning. As policymakers and administrators have worked throughout the United States to develop and implement new teacher evaluation systems, teacher involvement in developing those teacher evaluation systems has been limited. Specifically, the evaluation process and the tools used in a state in the southwestern part of the United States to evaluate teachers do not incorporate teachers’ perspectives, yet they directly impact teacher standing, ability to receive tenure status, and, in some cases, their salary.

The purpose of this research …

How Schools Create Healthy Testing Cultures And How Principals Use Standardized Test Data To Become Leaders Of Learning, Holly A. Gurule

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Standardized tests are not new to the field of education. The problem with them seems to lie in the ways these tests are now being used as criteria for various high-stakes decisions such as teachers’ evaluations, school grades, school sanctions, and even graduation from high school with a diploma. With so many different uses for standardized tests, it is easy to see how our perception of them has become skewed.

This bounded case study of a small elementary school in a large urban district centered on shifting the focus away from looking at standardized tests as a negative, as mere …

Linguistic Discrimination Against Native Spanish Speakers In The New Mexico Bar Examination In The 1970s, Marie Chávez

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

In the 1970s, many people from Hispanic backgrounds, whether their first language was Spanish or English, who had graduated from law school took the New Mexico Bar Examination. A disproportionately large percentage of them (compared with their counterparts who did not come from Hispanic backgrounds) did not pass the Bar Examination. They therefore were denied admission to the bar. This dissertation examines how this came to be.

The study centers on the history of identity politics in New Mexico for Spanish-speaking people and their descendants. It examines the relationship between language and ideologies about race and ethnicity, as well as …

A Dialectical Relational Analysis Of Tesol Quarterly 2006 Special Issue On Race: Discourse, Race, And White Supremacist Ideology, Ginger A. Looney

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Although the field of TESOL is not racially neutral this dialectical relational analysis examined (1) what discourses did the authors use to deploy race in the articles in the 2006 TESOL Quarterly Special Issue on Race (TQSIR)? and (2) how do these discourses work to either conform to, or resist white supremacist ideology? Analysis of the texts identified four key discourse: racialization, whiteness, emotional labor of racism, and sonic and optic negation of racism. These discourses were examined in the domains of scholarship, curriculum, teachers, and students. In 21 instances, these four discourses work to resist white supremacist ideology. …

A Case Study Of Two Taiwanese Students With Hearing Loss Navigating The English As A Foreign Language Requirement At Their University, Yu Chen

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Many institutions of higher education (IHE) students in Taiwan now need to meet the English proficiency requirement to earn their higher education degrees. In this case study, I intended to a) provide the opportunity for IHE students with hearing loss in Taiwan to share their opinions, thoughts, and experiences of learning English as a foreign language in higher education institutes; and b) understand how English as a foreign language policies and educational practices contribute to create opportunities and barriers for IHE students with hearing loss. The research question I intended to examine was “what are the perceptions of the lived …

Causality: A Comparative Study Of A Current Causality Model To That Of Synchronized Analysis Model (Sam) In A Rural Elementary School, Matthew L. Williams

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

The field of K-12 education has undergone an ever increasing strain to improve student and school performance in the last few decades. Many schools have failed to improve despite the attention they have been given.

The purpose of this study is to compare an elementary school’s current model of causality to the Synchronized Analysis Model (SAM) and Kaizen’s five why’s in determining low school performance. Using a qualitative instrumental case study design, surveys, interviews, and a focus group as the method of inquiry, nine employees were surveyed, four teachers and a principal were interviewed, and three leaders participated in a …

"We Might Well Have Viewed It As An Act Of War": The Normalization Of Exclusion In The Discourse Of American Educational Reform, Sandra Roth

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The purpose of this study is to examine the dominant ideology/discourse of educational reform through a critical discourse analysis of federal education reform documents with the goal of defining the discourse that naturalizes the exclusion of students of color and working class students from educational opportunity. The focus of the research is modern educational reform (1983 – present), which began with A Nation at Risk, the Reagan-era report within which the fear and blame aspects of modern reform discourse are created. Also within A Nation at Risk can be seen the advent of standardized testing discourse as we know …

Deliberate Response Falsification On Corresponding Subtests Of Two Tests Of Intelligence: Indicators For Simulating Mental Retardation, Denis William Keyes

Special Education ETDs

Among concerns inherent in psychological testing is the possibility that examinees might perform less than accurately or honestly when responding to test items (Lezak, 1983). In context of some legal proceedings, individuals may stand to gain by performing poorly on physiological tests (Anastasti, 1988). For example, defendants could attempt to falsify their answers to impersonate an individual with mental retardation for the purpose of raising issues of incompetence to stand trial, nonresponsibility, or mitigation. In some states, a finding of mental retardation may mean the difference between a life sentence and execution for a defendant convicted of a capital crime. …

A Study Of The Effect Of Adjunctive Use Of Programed Instructional Materials On Student Achievement In Selected Language Arts Areas, Ronald A. Ruble

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

It was the purpose of this study to investigate the effects of conventional teaching with programed materials used as an instructional adjunct and conventional teaching alone upon individual and class achievement in three selected areas of the language arts curriculum: (a) spelling, (b) punctuation, and (c) capitalization.

A Report Of Fifth Grade Arithmetic Program In Which Intra-Class Grouping Was Emphasized, Harley Maggart

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Since education as a science is relatively young, much research still remains to be done to improve techniques and methods of teaching children in light of their native abilities.

It was the purpose of this study (1) to show the effects of grouping in a fifth grade arithmetic class in terms of change in skills and attitudes and (2) to show examples of activities and materials used to promote growth in understandings and skills within different groups.

An Experimental Study Of The Educational Effects Of Grouping In A Fifth-Grade Arithmetic Class, Patricia Ann Hart

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

It is the purpose of this study (1) to investigate the effects of ability grouping on the achievement growth rate; (2) to present any changes of satisfaction and/or frustrations of the children in the class; and (3) to show ways in which individual differences were met and encouraged in flexible class grouping, as revealed through an experimental study.

A Critical Analysis Of New Mexico School Laws, 1933-1947, Nathan B. Mcneilly

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

It is the purpose of this study (1) to analyze those New Mexico School laws which have been enacted since 1931; (2) to criticize them on the basis of their particular value, or lack of value, to public education in New Mexico; and (3) to suggest revisions which closely parallel the recommendations of outstanding research groups and authorities in the field of educational administration.

State school law is the foundation upon which a state education system is built. In view of this fact, it is highly important that those laws be periodically studied by educations in order that those which …

A History Of Teacher Certification In New Mexico, Roy Melugin

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

It is the specific purpose of this study (1) to present the history of teacher certification in New Mexico; (2) to show what progress has thus far been made in education within the the state through means of teacher certification; (3) to compare the present practices in New Mexico with those in neighboring states; and (4) to determine the possible future trends.

A Study Of The Spanish-American Normal School At El Rito, Carl Robert Jensen

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The Spanish-American Normal School, a state institution located in Rio Arriba County, is a school in which the population of the state should be greatly interested, but aside from the meager information available in the yearly budget there is very little to be learned, expect by personal contact, about the school.

It is the purpose of this survey (1) to study those factors which surround the school, affecting it and even to some extent determining the purposes of the school; (2) to examine the internal structure of the school; and (3) to recommend such changes in the internal structure as …

Sex And Cultural Differences On The New Mexico Statewide Test Of Academic Achievement, Claude C. Mcdougal

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

For a number of years sex differences on many varied topics have been popular studies for investigations. The old belief that the female was definitely inferior to the male has largely disappeared, and the female is rapidly taking her place in the competitive fields alongside the male. Racial and cultural differences alike have been subjected to various investigations, mainly in the field of psychology, and to a lesser extent in education.

The research reported here is concerned with (1) the investigation of sex and cultural differences in the statewide examination of academic achievement as indicated by differences in the means …

Relationship Between Academic Achievement Of College Graduates In Their Major Fields And Of Graduates Out Of Their Major Fields, John Cloyd Miller

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

It is the purpose of this investigation to determine the relationship between the academic achievement of college graduates and continuation in their major fields.