Education Commons^™

A Qualitative Study Of Facilitators And Barriers Perceived By Black Students And Their Effect On Advanced Placement Course Enrollment In High School, Austin R. Cole

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Advanced Placement (AP) classes can provide many benefits to students. The rigorous curriculum gives students an academic challenge to expand their educational abilities (The College Board, 2014). However, students of color are often underrepresented in AP participation (The College Board, 2014). Research has investigated factors among students of color that predict participation and success in AP courses, suggesting that family SES and prior academic achievement (Dixson et al., 2017; Ndura et al., 2003), and racial barriers impact students’ ability to choose to take AP courses (Jeffries & Silvernail, 2017; Walker & Pearsall, 2012). This study addressed a gap in the …

A Principal's Story Of Leadership: The Evolution Of School Culture In A School For Gifted Education, Lori Wiley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A school’s culture evolves over time and guides the ways in which those who interact within the school think, feel, and act. It is grounded in shared meanings, foundational beliefs, and value systems created by a school (Deal & Peterson, 2009). The principal plays a key and critical role in influencing and shaping school culture. The literature representing gifted education, school culture, and the role of the principal in shaping school culture is substantial; however, there is a gap in the literature that explores the role of the principal in gifted education and how the principal might shape the culture …

Advances In Global Education And Research: Volume 4, Waynne B. James, Cihan Cobanoglu, Muhittin Cavusoglu

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This is the fourth volume of the Advances in Global Education and Research Book Series. This volume has the following parts:

• Part 1: Adult Education
• Part 2: Curriculum and Instruction Development
• Part 3: Educational Technology
• Part 4: Education in Other Specialties
• Part 5: English as a Second Language
• Part 6: Global Competence
• Part 7: Higher Education and Educational Leadership
• Part 8: Inclusive Education
• Part 9: International Education
• Part 10: PreK-12
• Part 11: Research Methods in Education

ISBN: 978-1-955833-04-2

Adult Education

• Teaching for knowledge transfer: Best practices from a graduate-level educational psychology distance learning program
  • Bobby Hoffman
• A study on the …

Influences Of Reasoning And Achievement Motivation On Complex Problem Solving In A New Microworld Operationalization, Stephan Bartholdy, Ulrike Kipman

Journal of Global Education and Research

Complex Problem Solving (CPS) can be defined as those psychological processes that enable a person to achieve goals under complex conditions, which are characterized by their complexity, connectivity, dynamics, lack of transparency, and polytely. Although many hypothesized influences have previously been tested concerning their relevance for the process of solving complex problems (e.g., general intelligence), results were often found to be rather heterogeneous. As this was found to be partially caused by fundamental differences between measurements of CPS, a new operationalization was used in the present study: Following the Microworld approach, CPS was assessed in the simulation game Cities: Skylines …

Reducing Underrepresentation: Promising Practices In Florida, Catherine A. Mullins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examined representation rates of gifted students from diverse backgrounds in Florida county school districts. Florida state legislation governing gifted student education allows for alternative identification methods to be used for students from underrepresented groups if plans for such identification are approved by the Florida Department of Education; however, this option, informally referred to as “Plan B” after subsection B of the legislation governing gifted services, is not a requirement that districts must follow. Consequently, there are large differences in the ways districts identify underrepresented students for gifted services. State legislation identifies underrepresented populations as students with …

Early Identification Of Students In Accelerated Curricula With Signs Of Academic And Emotional Risk: Working With Teachers To Identify At-Risk Students, Elizabeth D. Storey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As part of a comprehensive, multi-tiered system of support for students’ emotional, academic, and behavioral success, effective universal screenings are essential to identify students who may benefit from early intervention and targeted prevention services (Strein, Kuhn-McKearin, & Finney, 2014). Although many screening procedures and methods have been developed and evaluated for general education populations, more research is needed on screening procedures designed for one traditionally underserved population in school-based mental health services—students in accelerated curricula (namely, students in Advanced Placement classes or in the International Baccalaureate program; AP/IB). When teachers are involved in universal screening procedures, regardless of student population …

Differences In English Language Proficiency Growth: A Possible Indicator Of Giftedness For English Learners, Myriam Lindo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The disproportionality of culturally and linguistically diverse learners in exceptional education is an ongoing issue (Bernal, 2002; Ford, 2012). One of these special populations is that of English learners (ELs), who are overrepresented in special education programs and underrepresented in gifted and talented programs (Ford, 2012).The extant literature suggests that a rapid rate of growth in English language proficiency (ELP) may be one of the characteristics used to indicate giftedness in English learners (Brulles, Castellano, & Laing, 2011; Harris, Plucker, Rapp, & Martinez, 2009). However, no studies have analyzed English Language proficiency (ELP) growth trajectories of gifted ELs. This study …

Developing Differentiated Reading Instruction Online For Gifted Third Graders: A Design Experiment, Beth E. Jordan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The high stakes on standardized testing in the United States of America’s education system pressures teachers to ensure every child meets minimum standards. Teachers report this pressure motivates them to focus the majority of their time on struggling students. Combined with lack of training and resources, intellectually gifted students may remain under-challenged in a regular elementary classroom. To address the problem, the researcher continued the development of an online instructional environment, which teachers may use to extend and enrich the regular language arts curriculum for intellectually gifted students. The researcher conducted a formative design experiment “to create a viable theory-driven …

Gatekeepers For Gifted Social Studies: Case Studies Of Middle School Teachers, Teresa Michelle Bergstrom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a multiple case study of the ways middle grades social studies teachers, as curricular-instructional gatekeepers, may make decisions to provide their gifted students with purposeful differentiated instruction. More specifically, this study explores what teachers believe they should do to instruct gifted students, in what ways teachers prepare and adapt curriculum and instruction for gifted students, and how instruction for gifted learners can take place in a middle school social studies classroom. Through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and supportive visual evidence, six middle grades (6-8) social studies teachers disclosed in what ways they differentiate their middle grades social studies …