Education Commons^™

Identifying Contributors To Disproportionality: The Influence Of Perception On Student Social, Emotional, And Academic Behavior Ratings, Chelsea Salvatore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Successful implementation of the MTSS framework involves equitable assessment and decision-making. This calls for researchers to investigate the processes utilized to identify students for early behavioral support, such as multi-informant universal social-emotional behavioral screening. The current study aimed to investigate this by first examining the usability of the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Subscale (SAEBRS) and the student self-report version (mySAEBRS) across Black and White students in grades seven through nine. After examining these tools for measurement invariance, the trifactor model was employed with race as a predictor variable to examine the mean difference of Black and White students’ scores …

Successful Novice Teachers’ Conceptualizations And Enactments Of The Collaborating Teacher Role: A Dual Case Study, Kia Sarnoff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive, exploratory, dual case study was to understand the ways two successful novice middle school mathematics teachers serving as first-year collaborating teachers (CTs) for preservice teachers (PSTs) from the same “Grow Your Own” (GYO) educator preparation program (EPP) where they received their initial preparation conceptualized and enacted their CT roles. The CTs’ perceived impact of being alumni of the same middle school mathematics EPP as their PSTs was also explored. Analysis of interview, observation, and document data collected throughout the PSTs’ initial field experience and the CTs’ first-ever mentoring experience resulted in several key assertions including: …

Engineering Career Academies: A Comparison Of Middle School Student Academic Performance, Jakub D. Prokop

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A quasi-experimental study tested an integrated curriculum design in two career academies with engineering themes at the middle school level. Teachers in the engineering career academies, using the National Standards of Practice, implemented cross curricular units to middle school student cohorts. Participant cohorts ranged in sample sizes (n = 79, 155, 237, and 232) during the four years of analysis. Constructivism was used as a framework for the study and supported by integrated curriculum units. This study examined middle school students’ performance in reading and mathematics on state assessments of students in the engineering career academies to students not enrolled …

What Does It Mean To Be A Service-Learning Teacher? - An Autoethnography, Kristy Causey Verdi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This personal narrative autoethnography of my lived experiences as a middle-school service-learning course teacher has helped me solve a personal mystery and present an important perspective for the K-12 service-learning field. With an eye on revealing a unique service-learning classroom concept to educational leaders, enhancing middle level teacher education, and hopes of providing greater opportunities for advancing research on service learning in K-12 education, this study has also aided me in understanding my professional self and my subjective educational theory through a personal interpretive framework (Kelchtermans, 1993, 1999, 2009). Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004; Ellis & Bochner, 2006) as a method …

Influence Of Language Arts Instructional Practices On Early Adolescents’ Motivation To Read: Measuring Student And Teacher Perceptions, Sarah E. Pennington

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early adolescence is a critical time for examining academic motivation, specifically motivation to read (Hervey, 2013). In order to support self-determined motivation to read, students’ needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness must be met within the classroom context (Miller & Faircloth, 2014). Since classroom instructional practices are a key component of adolescents’ daily experiences in the classroom, research which investigates the influence of these practices on students’ self-determined motivation to read is needed. In addition, the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the degree to which classroom instructional practices meet students’ needs as well as the influence of classroom instructional …

Writing Groups In Eighth-Grade Honors Language Arts: Student And Teacher Perceptions, Jennifer Sara Meister Denmon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative case study, I investigated eighth-grade honors students’ and their language arts teacher’s perceptions of the support provided in writing groups, the climate in writing groups, and student and teacher support that enhanced students’ motivation to write in writing groups. Eleven study participants engaged in the inquiry, 10 middle school students and one language arts teacher. I collected data during the fall semester of 2014. Data were individual interviews, classroom observations of participants in writing groups, and program-related documents. The main aim in this investigation is to discover middle school students’ and their teacher’s perceptions of the support, …

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 …

A Case Study Of Adolescent Females' Perceptions Of Identity In An After-School Book Club, Holly Atkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reading is a perennial educational hot topic - but now extends for beyond early literacy to the secondary level. Reading researchers are growing in our knowledge of how to reach and teach struggling adolescent readers yet too often success in literacy is measured solely by performance on standardized tests. Literacy is seen on one hand as a one-dimensional set of skills students need to possess to be successful in school and their future workplaces. A more expansive view of the importance of literacy and what it means to adolescent females' growth as individuals and members of communities is needed.

This …

Middle School Transition: How It Affects The Achievement Of Hispanic Students Relative To Ell Status, Socioeconomic Status, Gender, And Previous Test Scores, Kevin D. Gordon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomena of middle school transition and achievement as it relates to Hispanic students. According to the 2000 U.S. census, there are more than 35 million registered Hispanic citizens. Of those, 3.6 million are public school students. The literature indicated that there was a marked regression in student achievement during the transition to middle school.

Through the use of descriptive statistics and regression analysis, sixth grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) reading and math developmental scale scores (DSS) were analyzed to determine if the mean achievement improved or declined after the transition …

Belonging In Parent-School Partnerships: Perspectives Of Parents Of Middle School Students With Autism, Michael Wayne Riley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to contribute to understandings of parent-school relationships involving parents of students with autism by exploring notions of belonging with a small group of parents. The purpose of the study is to describe the experiences of middle school parents of children with autism. From these descriptions, I examined how parents of students with autism might contribute to understandings of belonging in school-family partnerships and enable schools and families to collaborate more effectively. This study addresses an apparent gap in understandings of belonging of parents of children with autism in their relationships with their child's school. …