Education Commons^™

Analyzing The Effectiveness Of Graphic Organizers In An English Classroom, Alexandra Espinoza

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The use of graphic organizers has risen in classrooms over the past few decades. However, it is essential to assess whether they lead to improved student learning, as some trending instructional strategies are not well-backed by quality research. The purpose of this study was to analyze if graphic organizers are indeed effective to use in a high school English class. This study took place in a secondary school setting for a weeklong unit. For this project, students completed three graphic organizers throughout the unit in order to better understand selected topics relating to the unit’s nonfiction text including inferences, characterization, …

Measuring Students' Pro-Environmental Attitudes And Behaviors Before And After Demonstration-Based Instruction, Collin Ryan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A growing amount of research exists on environmental education programs which incorporates the viewpoints of students into its assessment of the program’s efficacy. This research seeks to add to that body and evaluate an environmental education program about the sustainability of plastics, using both quantitative and qualitative data collected from participating students. The data was collected after a 90-minute instructional block of demonstration-based environmental education meant to inform students on the variability of plastics’ properties and the sorting and remolding processes of recycling. It also aimed to help build pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors in the students, and a sense of …

Implementing Food Science-Based Instruction In Career Technical Education Courses, Jasmine D. Hendrix

Theses and Dissertations

Students are exposed to food concepts in agriculture-based career technical education (CTE) courses which provide a gateway for students to become more aware of food science career pathways. Professional development for Mississippi (MS) CTE teachers is needed to effectively implement food science-based instruction since there is not a food science curriculum framework adopted in MS. The objective of this study was to assess a food science professional development training for MS CTE teachers that would increase their self-perceived knowledge of food science, self-perceived ability to conduct food science skills, and their self-efficacy to implement food science-based instruction. Thirty-one teachers participated …

The Intersection Of Writing Process Pedagogy And Prolepsis: A Phenomenological Case Study Of Secondary Writing Instruction, Jennifer O. Peñaflorida

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the lived experiences and essences of secondary high school students and participating teachers in a three-week summer journalism camp sponsored by the National Writing Project and funded by the MacArthur T. Foundation. This study employs Moustakas' (1994) modification of the van Kaam method for phenomenological data analysis in order to reveal the intersection of writing process pedagogy and prolepsis, a writing framework I developed. Data sources included pre-and-post writing samples, semi-structured interviews, field notes and student writing artifacts which were collected between May 27, 2019 and June 14, 2019. Data were analyzed …

The Institutional Pillars Of China's National College Entrance Exam: A Case Study Of Gaozhong High School And Ncee Reforms, Mei Lan Frame

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is based on a case study of a Beijing high school (referred to as “Gaozhong”) during the initial wave of reforms to the National College Entrance Exam (NCEE). Using the conceptual framework of Richard Scott’s “three pillars” of institutions (2008) to analyze stake holder perception toward the NCEE (administrators, teachers, parents, and students), this study identifies and examines the regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive elements that comprise the NCEE. Congruent with Scott’s theory that these the combined strength and interdependency between institutional elements prevent institutional change, this study also analyzes the three pillars as barriers to the implementation of …

Organizational Management Of Distance Learning: An Analysis Of Teacher Feedback Throughout Hampton Roads Public High Schools During The Covid-19 Pandemic Response, Cody P. Trudeau

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

Public schools throughout the United States experienced closures and transitions to online curriculum in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many of the policies and strategies implemented to manage teaching faculty were hastily designed and employed out of necessity. This study sought to examine organizational management policies and strategies throughout public high schools in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia through teaching faculty perspectives. This cross-sectional study examined descriptive and correlational statistics of survey responses to determine and evaluate how schools managed communication, responsibilities and delegation, and training for distance learning in order to provide policy …

The Transition Experiences Of High Achieving High School Students From Secondary Education To College : A Case Study, Lori Christine Lachowsky

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This qualitative multiple case study explored the experiences of eight students as they transitioned from high school to college. Eight students from an urban high school in the southern United States agreed to participate in this study. Participants were high-achieving students, 18 years of age, who participated in a teacher preparation class and took the MSLQ for a class project during the last semester of their senior year of high school. The researcher collected and triangulated data to ensure reliability: archival MSLQ scores from the participants’ senior year, open-ended interviews after the participants’ first year of college, document review of …

Resilience And Academic Achievement In Minority Students, James A. Britton

Theses and Dissertations

Students can thrive within school programs and sustain their capacity for success despite seemingly overwhelming obstacles. A model of school-based resilience can insulate students from risk and help students acknowledge challenges, embrace them, and learn as students encounter challenge and surmount it.

This study of a high school program analyzed the relationship between educational resilience and academic achievement through a direct measure of resilience. The research investigated whether a program increased resilience for minority and low-income high school students and whether stronger resilience was associated with improved academic outcomes. Students in the program produced significantly better academic outcomes, as measured …

Teaching To Assess: An Evaluation Of Assessment Education For Secondary Teacher Candidates, Daniel M. Frederking

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the assessment instruction of a four-year undergraduate secondary education program and its alignment to the teaching standards and the summative teacher licensure assessment. Document analyses were conducted on the program’s syllabi as well as the assessment portions of the InTASC standards and the handbook of the edTPA. Results highlighted several areas of misalignment in the areas of categorical concurrence, depth of knowledge, and range of knowledge. Also of note, preservice teachers in different secondary subject areas are receiving different amounts of assessment instruction. Additionally, local edTPA data was examined to highlight areas of strength and weakness. Students …

Teaching College Writing To High School Students: A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Dual Enrollment Composition Students' Writing Curriculum And Writing Self-Efficacy, Erin Dena Scott-Stewart

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to use a quantitative survey to assess the relationships between the credit pathways students choose to earn first-year, first-semester (FYFS) university writing credit (i.e. dual enrollment, Advanced Placement, university courses, and ACT/SAT exemptions) and several writing experiences and outcomes, including writing curriculum, self-efficacy, self-regulatory strategy use, and course performance. The same survey was also used to explore relationships between these writing experiences and outcomes and preexisting student characteristics (i.e. race/ethnicity, gender, and parents’ education). For dual enrollment (DE) students only, the following aspects of the participants’ writing experiences were also investigated using …

Creating Confident Writers: Implementing Writing Portfolios In A Secondary-Level Language Arts Classroom, Julia Smagacz

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper explores the implementation of a writing portfolio project in secondary-level English Language Arts classrooms. In addition to defining the project and describing its potential parameters, this paper describes goals and strategies that educators may use to implement this project, using research from multiple school district curricula and reputable state education resources. The paper includes testimonies from four current high school English teachers, in which each teacher details his or her experience with the writing portfolio. The teachers also provided feedback on the importance of writing and the writing process in general. Also included in this paper is a …

Culturally Relevant Education For Rural Schools: Creating Relevancy In Rural America, Joshua J. Anderson

Dissertations

In this dissertation, I investigate the ways in which culturally relevant pedagogy is conceptualized and implemented by two secondary English Language Arts educators in one school district with a strong sense of rural identity. Culturally relevant pedagogy is considered by many professionals in the field of education to be an effective philosophy to inform instructional practices for narrowing the achievement gap of historically marginalized groups (Cummins, 1990; Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994, 2000). A careful review of the literature on culturally relevant pedagogy reveals the discourse surrounding culturally relevant pedagogy has largely been dominated by urban voices (Cochran-Smith, 2003; Esposito & …

Students’ Perceptions About High School Preparation For Mathematics In Post-Secondary Programs: A Case Study Of One High School, Wendy Pratt

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined how fifteen former high school students from a small, rural high school in central Vermont perceived their preparedness for college level mathematics and identified recommendations for improvement. Student interviews and math assessment data for each participant were analyzed to respond to the research question. The interview protocol consisted of one-on-one semi-structured phone interviews that were recorded for transcription. Thirteen open-ended questions were developed to answer the research question and sub-questions grounded in the research literature and specific concerns identified by the math teachers defined in the case study. The conceptual framework for this research study …

Evaluating Project L.I.F.T And Its Impact On Reducing The Elementary Literacy Gap Through Teacher Professional Development, Quinetta Hall

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to evaluate Project L.I.F.T and its plan to reduce the student achievement gap. A 5-year plan was proposed by investment researchers who recognized the importance of increasing student achievement and closing barriers in education. Trends in research data indicate that literacy significantly falls behind math on many state tests. Despite teacher professional development, innovative literacy practices, and interventions, there has not been an increase in literacy scores among minority subgroups such as African Americans and Hispanics. There is also a trend in achievement gaps among males and females.

Project L.I.F.T was granted $55 million to be …

A Study Of High School Teachers' Experiences Of The Phenomenon Of Effective Instructional Leadership, Cheri A. Guerra

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

Instructional leadership is focused on elevating teaching and learning for the purpose of improved student achievement (King, 2002). There are many styles of school leadership represented in educational leadership research, yet there is not an abundance of research on high school teachers’ perspectives regarding instructional leadership. The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of effective instructional leadership through teachers’ experiences. Using six core practices of effective instructional leadership as the frame for the phenomenological study, eight teachers were interviewed from two high schools in two school districts in Rhode Island. Four teachers from each school shared their …

A Case Study Of Student And Teacher Relationships And The Effect On Student Learning, Patricia Brady Gablinkske

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

This research study explored the affective domain of teacher-student relationships using a single case study design. This single case study produced a synthesis of information that guides a classroom teacher in the development and maintenance of her relationships with her students. The resulting analysis and interpretation provided a description of major themes that developed regarding strong teacher student relationships, as well as, specific components to the interactions considered essential for the student’s learning environment.

The outcome of this study is an account of experiences and procedures that guide the development and maintenance of relationships between a teacher and her students. …

Characteristics Of Public Alternative High Schools Specifically For Students Placed At-Risk: A National Study Using The 2003-04 And 2007-08 Schools And Staffing Survey, Masashi Izumi

Dissertations

In this study I investigated determinants of the average daily attendance (ADA) and graduation rate of public alternative high schools specifically for students placed at-risk by analyzing the nationally representative data from Schools and Staffing Surveys of 2003-04 and 2007-08. I built three models via successive block entry, predicting the ADA and graduation rate by (a) student demographics, (b) staffing characteristics, and (c) school processes. Through multiple regression analyses on ADA, I found (a) a positive relationship between career technical education and ADA; and (b) a negative relationship between teacher-student ratio and ADA. Through the set of multiple regression analyses …

Gendered Patterns In High Achievement In Mathematics For Grades 4,6, And 8, Laura J. Falvey

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

Since 2001 , No Child Left Behind (N CLB) legislation has mandated that every state test students' educational progress annually, allowing each state to choose among many different instruments (Hoff, 2008). This demand for educational testing of all students has enabled the growth and availability of raw achievement data for subject areas tested and created an opportunity for a wide range of knowledge discovery. Not all states report testing results disaggregated by gender but in 2008, Hyde, Lindberg, Linn, Ellis, and Williams conducted research on data from I 0 states that do. They found the weighted mean achievement scores in …

Blogging About Summer Reading, Janice Becker Place

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

The purpose of this study was to investigate what happened when grade 11 high school honors students blogged about their summer reading under the monitoring of a teacher during vacation. I proposed that an educational blog might serve as an effective tool during summer vacation to help students retain skills or learning while at a physical distance from their school and teacher. In addition to the blog’s transcripts, a pre-project survey, post-project survey,and post-project interviews provided complementary data to inform my analysis. Qualitative analysis was applied to the blog discussion entries for evidence of peer learning, scaffolding, critical thinking, and …

The Dialectics Of Teacher Change Within A Community Of Practice, Armand R. Pires

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

Teacher change is at the heart of school reform. The research on teacher change has been primarily focused on teacher change from an individualistic perspective and has identified three possible paths of teacher change: beliefs precede change, change precedes beliefs, or change is nonlinear and recursive. This study looked at teacher change within a middle school during a time the school was undergoing a district-driven change in student grouping practices.

The study was conducted during the 2009-2010 school year and included ten teachers of science, social studies, and English in a grade 6-8 middle school. A qualitative study approach was …

Time For Learning, Kris A. Monahan

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

Learning takes time, but providing time does not in itself ensure that learning will take place (Carroll, 1963; Stallings & Kaskowitz, 1974; Anderson, 1981; Aronson, Zimmer & Carlos, 1999; Berliner, 1990; Kidder et. al., 1975). We need to examine more closely how students are using time and which conditions maximize student engagement. As schools continue to struggle with meeting state and national standards using traditional educational pedagogies and structures, whole school reforms are often implemented to improve student learning and success. While several studies have attempted to begin this exploration, few, if any, actually ask students about their experiences, perspectives, …

Development Of A Measure Assessing Knowledge And Use Of Internal Punctuation To Signal Syntactic Relationships, Pamela S. Van Horn Howard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A literary debate has been ongoing from the early 1900s regarding not only the place of grammar instruction in the classroom but even of the veracity of a grammatical standard, such as Standard American English, by which grammar skills may be measured. Very little empirical research has been attempted to compare the effectiveness of teaching methods because grammar assessment has been given even less attention. Therefore, to address this gap in the literature and to explore whether objective testing is suitable for assessing grammar skills, a 51-item measure was constructed to test the use of internal punctuation (commas, semicolons, and …

A Qualitative Study Of The Epistemological Interplay Between Teachers And Students In A High Stakes Testing Environment, Donald Bruce Bierman

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

Employing grounded theory methodology informed by microethnographic discourse analysis, studies the classroom conversations, interviews with students and teachers, and students' written texts in a high stakes test preparation program for tenth graders to determine the effects students and teachers have upon one another's epistemological beliefs concerning the source of knowledge. Students were preparing for the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT).

Correlating Factors Between Student Participation And Student Learning Via A Service Learning Project In Secondary Education: A Case Study, Shawn V. Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

In this study a service-learning project was conducted with secondary students in a construction technology based course. Three research questions were considered; (1) does service learning projects help to engage student participation, (2) can students learn the course curriculum while participating in a service learning project, and (3) is there a correlation between student participation and student learning as it pertains to service learning projects? The data was collected through surveys, observations, interviews, and evaluations. The researcher concluded the following from the study; 92% of the students were actively participating in the two week service project, 76% of the students …

Developing A Model Career Pathway Curriculum For South Kitsap School District, Esther L. Albertus

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop a model Career Pathway Curriculum for South Kitsap School District. To achieve this purpose, current research and an examination of literature and evaluation of current models in place were considered and reviewed. Additionally, recommendations and specific policies were adapted and developed to meet the needs of the South Kitsap School District community.

A Comparison Of Reading Comprehension And Problem Solving Abilities, Darren A. Cooper

All Graduate Projects

Recommendations of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Washington State Commission on Student Learning Essential Academic Requirements are addressed. Reading comprehension and problem solving skills of 9th grade students at Zillah High School are compared to see if a correlation between these two abilities exists. Recommendations for creating and implementing a curriculum are given.

A Model Student Personalized Education Plan Into A Portfolio Through The Use Of Career Pathways In South Kitsap High School, Charla R. Cole

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to create a Personalized Education Plan and Portfolio system to support secondary students to acquire the skills necessary to ensure employment in South Kitsap High School Port Orchard, Washington. To accomplish this purpose, current research and information related to Personalized Education Plans and Portfolios were reviewed. Additionally, career pathways were established, personal data, resume, individual career planning portfolio, and career goals inventory review worksheets were adapted and developed.

A Comparative Study Of Student Directed Dialogue Journal Writing And Teacher Directed Dialogue Journal Writing, Yolanda Paez Bailey

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to compare student directed dialogue journal writing with teacher directed dialogue journal writing. Eleven students in the student directed group wrote about self-generated topics while 12 students in the teacher directed group wrote on topics selected by the teacher. Data were analyzed in the areas of amount of writing generated, types of language functions, topics and the ability to stay on topic, level of technical improvement, types of questions posed by students and teacher, and attitudes towards writing. The results revealed that both student directed dialogue journal writing and teacher directed dialogue journal writing …

Survey Attitude Towards Title Ix As Indicated By Selected Secondary Physical Education Teachers In The State Of Washington, Lisa Rae Hanson

All Graduate Projects

An assessment of the attitudes of selected secondary physical education instructors towards Title IX was studied. A survey was conducted of 60 participants in the State of Washington. Information of the prime areas of concern and what problems and advantages were involved with the implementation of Title IX was obtained. The results are discussed in relation to the generated data. Recommendations are presented for improvement of school programs and recommendations for further study was discussed. The recommendations were based on information obtained through current research and the survey results.

Study To Determine The Effect Of Graduation Requirement Changes On Student Performance, Attitudes, And Retention In School, David R. Betzing

All Graduate Projects

On July 31, 1979, the Yakima School Board of School District 7, Yakima, Washington, approved a graduation policy change increasing the total number of credits required from forty-eight to sixty-six. This change required that eighteen credits be transferred from grade nine of the junior high school setting. This study attempts to assess the impact of the change upon the performance and attitudes of ninth grade students. Indications are that students accepted the changes positively, felt they were working harder, and, in two schools showed a decrease in the failure rate. A look at the general achievement level of students and …