Education Commons^™

Surveying The Soul: Shaping Auto-Criticism With Reflective Arts-Based Inquiry To Assess A Female Doctoral Experience, Monica Fain Rezac

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an arts-based auto-criticism assessing the author's experience in her doctoral program. It is also perhaps the first dissertation elaborating on a method called auto-criticism, as derived from educational criticism and connoisseurship. The process of inquiry is rooted in arts-based methods of representation and theories of educational criticism and critical theory in the humanities. Philosophical approaches to artwork and the use of it in these methodologies was inspired by the independent arts practices of intuitive artists. The purpose of this project is for the author to develop, articulate, and create a sense of what auto-criticism entails in the …

Middle School Noncognitive Development In A Sample Of Hispanic/Latino Youth, Jill E. Mcvey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the development of noncognitive skills in a sample of 4,769 Hispanic/Latino students as they went through middle school and the first year of high school using ACT Engage 6-9, an assessment designed to predict student outcomes by measuring students' behaviors and psychosocial attributes. The scales of Academic Discipline, Relationships with School Personnel, and Thinking before Acting were examined longitudinally through HLM analysis. The factors of gender and several indices of academic achievement were used to predict differences in students' starting scores and growth over time.

All factors related to academic achievement were significantly related to differences in …

Measuring Teachers' Knowledge And Use Of Data And Assessments: Creating A Measure As A First Step Toward Effective Professional Development, Courtney Vidacovich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current teaching standards and practices are dictated, at least in part, by state- and district-mandated standardized tests. Yet, despite being surrounded by data, teachers receive only basic trainings on how to use assessments. In reality, teachers use data and assessments daily--even minute by minute--through the assessment process, which uses multiple data sources to make informed decisions on student learning and teaching practices. A measure was needed to understand how the policies and expectations from schools, districts, and states compare with actual classroom practices. The teachers Knowledge and Use of Data and Assessment (tKUDA) measure was designed to do just that. …

Influence Of Ethnicity On English Vocabulary Measurement: Using The Montgomery Assessment Of Vocabulary Acquisition In One Rural Southeastern New Mexico School, Eileen M. Gatliffe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined vocabulary acquisition of elementary students in grades kindergarten through fifth in one rural New Mexico school. The school had 277 students. Hispanic students comprised nearly 80% of the student body. All students received free lunch and breakfast. The 65 students who participated in the study were assessed using the Montgomery Assessment of Vocabulary Acquisition (MAVA). This new assessment, published in 2008, tests receptive and expressive vocabulary utilizing the three-tier vocabulary model introduced by Beck, McKeown and Kucan (2001). The study assessed each student for proficiency in identifying and using tier-I, tier-II and tier-III words. Hispanic and non-Hispanic …