Education Commons^™

Evaluating Item Selection Methods For Adaptive Tests With Complex Content Constraints, Logan Rome

Theses and Dissertations

Adaptive testing designs have become go-to methods for large-scale test administration due to their ability to provide more accurate scores with fewer items. In recent years, new designs have been introduced, such as on-the-fly multistage testing (OMST), that combine the advantages of the well-established computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and multistage testing (MST) designs. While adaptive testing has attracted a tremendous amount of research, most studies have used only one set of test specifications to constrain the content of the test. Through Monte Carlo simulation, this study evaluated the effectiveness of CAT, MST, and OMST under varying levels of test specification …

An Examination Of The Factor Structure Of The Trauma Inventory For Partners Of Sex Addicts (Tipsa), Heidi A. Vogeler

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the underlying latent factor structure of the Trauma Inventory for Partners of Sex Addicts (TIPSA), a 53-item assessment designed to assess for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the context of sexual addiction. It was theorized that the factor structure mirrored the 5 core criteria for PTSD as constituted in DSM-5. Data were gathered from 3,199 self-selected respondents (ages 21 to 55) who completed an online version of the TIPSA. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed utilizing Mplus in order to confirm the hypothesized factor structure of the TIPSA. Several modifications were …

School Culture And Climate For Younger Learners: Measurement And Association With Academic Achievement, Leon Joseph Gilman

Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to understand the measurement of younger students’ perceptions of the school learning environment and their possible association with academic achievement. The target population is 4th and 5th grade students. Their perception of the school environment was compared to 7th graders by factor analysis, measurement invariance, differential item functioning, and hierarchical linear modeling. This study found that younger students’ perceptions are different from middle school students. However, like their middle school peers, these perceptions still predict academic performance.

An Examination Of The Psychometric Properties Of The Trauma Inventory For Partners Of Sex Addicts (Tipsa), Steven Scott Stokes

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Trauma Inventory for Partners of Sex Addicts (TIPSA). Using the Nominal Response Model (NRM), I examined several aspects of item and option functioning including discrimination, empirical category ordering, and information. Category Boundary Discrimination (CBD) parameters were calculated to determine the extent to which respondents distinguished between adjacent categories. Indistinguishable categories were collapsed through recoding. Empirically disordered response categories were also collapsed through recoding. Findings revealed that recoding solved some technical functioning issues in some items, and also revealed items (and perhaps option anchors) that were probably poorly conceived initially. In addition, nuisance …

A Case Study On The Facilitation Of Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports In A Public Elementary School, John T. Shumway

Theses and Dissertations

Disruptive behaviors in elementary schools are a serious concern for teachers. With mounting pressure from school district administrations, state and federal government agencies, and the communities in which these schools reside, teachers often struggle to determine the best path to achieve consistent student engagement. When inappropriate behaviors are not managed effectively, academics suffer. Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) have been shown to be effective in reducing such behaviors. Professional Learning Communities (PLC) have also become very common in schools as teachers are organized into teams to collaborate and plan learning opportunities and methods for the instruction and assessment of …

Alternative Methods Of Estimating The Degree Of Uncertainty In Student Ratings Of Teaching, Ala'a Mohammad Alsarhan

Theses and Dissertations

This study used simulated results to evaluate four alternative methods of computing confidence intervals for class means in the context of student evaluations of teaching in a university setting. Because of the skewed and bounded nature of the ratings, the goal was to identify a procedure for constructing confidence intervals that would be asymmetric and not dependent upon normal curve theory. The four methods included (a) a logit transformation, (b) a resampling procedure, (c) a nonparametric, bias corrected accelerated Bootstrapping procedure, and (d) a Bayesian bootstrap procedure. The methods were compared against four criteria including (a) coverage probability, (b) coverage …

Unemployment, Does It Really Hurt?, Claudia Vargas

Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the consequences of changes in the unemployment rate in Colombia on the level of education attained for adolescents. Increases in the unemployment rate are associated with an increase in the average number of years of education. No significant effect was found for men of the same age.

Identity, Power, And Conflict In Preschool Teaching Teams, Esther Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the common occurrence of teaming in preschool classrooms, very little research has explored the experiences of teachers working in such a context. Due to a high turnover of preschool teachers and a recent change in the educational requirements of lead teachers in Head Start, it is anticipated that the number of young and inexperienced lead teachers is likely to increase. The purpose of this case study research is to illuminate the teaming relationships between young, recently qualified lead teachers and their assistants working together within one classroom. Over the course of a school year, interviews and observations were conducted …

The Impact Of A Community Of Practice On The Development Of The Three Tiers Of Organizational Intelligence In The Institutional Research Professional, Rebecca S. Fidler-Sheppard

Theses and Dissertations

The demands and expectations on Institutional Research (IR) have continued to expand over the years, yet there have been no studies on cost effective ways to develop and maintain the knowledge and skills needed by professionals in the field. This quantitative study supplemented with limited qualitative data explored the impact of participating in an Institutional Research (IR) affinity group on the development of the three tiers of organizational intelligence and the strength and nature of the social network that exists among the participants. Surveys were collected from members of a community college IR affinity group in New Jersey along with …

The Impact Of Mathematics, Science And Language Arts Writing To Learn Strategies On The Culture Of Learning In Primary And Secondary Students, Ronnie Tarchichi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to institute student growth and achievement in standardized test scores in the district with the use of writing to learn strategies. The objective of the study was to ensure growth and comfort for students with standardized testing and to train teachers to implement an approach to pedagogy (writing to learn strategies) centered on skills needed to increase standardized test scores. Using experimental research embodied in an action research design, five teachers were asked to take on different experimental and control groups of students in remediation periods known as either the twilight period (after …

Synergy: Game Design + Qur'an Memorization, Sultana Jesmine Moulana

Theses and Dissertations

The rise of digital technology has transformed nearly every part of our daily lives, including the way we learn and memorize. Such transformations raise interesting questions for one of the most long-standing and demanding memorization tasks in the world: the memorization of the Islamic holy book, The Qur’an. For Muslims, The Qur’an is a timeless, sacred text, cradling within its covers many profound images, stories, and parables. Despite rigorous research in the fields of game design and memorization techniques, very little work has been done in combining these two areas of research to create a game-based memorization experience of The …

Testing The Ability Of Two Series Of Models To Predict High School Graduation Status, David T. Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to create and test two series of predictive models aimed at projecting high school graduation status. Secondary data were obtained in partnership with an urban school district. All of the predictor variables included in the models tested in this study were academic and nonacademic variables that were found to be significant predictors of high school graduation in previous empirical work. In the first series of models tested, individual academic and nonacademic variables were tested together along with school-level variables. Eighth and ninth grade variables were tested separately to avoid multicollinearity issues. The second series …

Course Quality And Hosting Platforms: Implications For Massively Open Online Course (Mooc) Design And Delivery, Rita Diane Schmallegger

Theses and Dissertations

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) began as an experiment in connectivist learning in 2008 (Downes, 2012). While the number of MOOCs offered has risen, as has the number of universities offering MOOCs (Brown, Costello, Donkon, & Giolla-Mhichill, 2015), perceptions of the quality of MOOCs have been mixed (Bali, 2014; Peterson, 2014). From a perspective of Merrill’s first principles of instruction (2013), this qualitative study examined MOOC delivery platforms to determine what learning platforms and what specific characteristics may best promote and sustain MOOC quality. MOOCs selected for this study include those offered in English, open to anyone with Internet access, …

Evaluación De Criterios E Indicadores Curriculares Como Estrategia Para Aseguramiento De La Calidad En Programas Académicos Universitarios, Erika Rivera Gutiérrez

Theses and Dissertations

La presente disertación surge de la necesidad de evaluar el nivel de cumplimiento decriterios e indicadores curriculares como estrategia para contribuir al aseguramiento de la calidad en programas académicos universitarios. La institución pública de educación superior se ubica en el municipio de Ixtlahuaca, estado de México.

El propósito de este estudio fue evaluar el nivel de cumplimiento de los criterios eindicadores de calidad del Plan de Estudios (PE), conocer la apreciación de los profesores, así como definir las áreas de oportunidad del programa académico (PA) de Diseño Gráfico (DG). Por tanto, se determinó una perspectiva metodológica de corte cualitativo con …

Upper Elementary Reading Instruction In The Age Of Accountability: Balancing Best Practices With Pressures To Achieve On High-Stakes Tests, Christina H. Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

The present study identifies reading instructional practices used in upper elementary classrooms during the age of high-stakes test accountability and compares reading practices among schools of varying accreditation status and socio-economic status (SES). The current study partially replicates and extends a study conducted by Baumann, Hoffman, Duffy-Hester, and Ro in 2000. The Baumann et al. (2000) study provides a frame of reference to compare instructional practices prior to high stakes testing with those used in the current high stakes testing environment. Third- through fifth-grade teachers in seven school districts in central Virginia were asked to complete an electronic survey. Descriptive …

Validation Study Of The Science Literacy Assessment: A Measure To Assess Middle School Students' Attitudes Toward Science And Ability To Think Scientifically, Tammy Mckeown

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated validity evidence for the Science Literacy Assessment, an instrument designed to assess middle school students’ ability to think scientifically as well as their motivation and beliefs about science (Fives, Huebner, Birnbaum, & Nicolich, 2014). Specifically, three sources of evidence were considered; internal structure, concurrent criterion-related, and predictive criterion-related. Exploratory factor analysis was utilized to examine the underlying factor structure of each of the instrument’s two components, motivation and beliefs related to science and demonstrated scientific literacy. Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated to determine the relationship between scores on the motivation and belief component of the Science Literacy …

Assessing Acquiescence In Surveys Using Positively And Negatively Worded Questions, Amy C. Hutton

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of acquiescence on both positively and negatively worded questions, both when unidimensionality was assumed and when it was not. To accomplish this, undergraduate student responses to a previously validated survey of student engagement were used to compare several models of acquiescence, using a priori goodness-offit statistics as evidence for model fit, in order to develop a model that adequately accounted for acquiescence bias. Using a true experimental design, undergraduate students from a variety of classes at a large, urban university were randomly assigned to one of three versions of the …