Education Commons^™

Response To Intervention At The Secondary Level: The Effectiveness Of A Tier One Model, Kimberly A. Berliner

Master of Education Program Theses

Research on the effectiveness of Response to Intervention (RtI) models used at the secondary level is limited. Most studies focus primarily on elementary settings. In addition to this, states vary in their progression through RtI implementation process. This study seeks to look at one model implemented at a high school with the purpose of increasing literacy for freshman and sophomore students. The study seeks to determine what are the most effective methods for implementing RtI and who should be tasked with the various roles within implementation.

Kindergarten Phonics Instruction, Erika Hall

Master of Education Program Theses

Understanding phonics is a critical component in a young student's ability to read. Research studies have shown the important role phonics plays in helping students become strong readers. The purpose of this study was to discover the ways that kindergarten teachers in Christian schools in West Michigan are teaching phonics in their classrooms, and to determine if kindergarten teachers share a list of common phonics goals for each of their kindergarteners to achieve by the end of kindergarten. The present study was a qualitative design using a survey to collect information from teachers in private elementary school kindergarten classrooms in …

Effective Transitional Strategies For The First Grade Classroom, Ashley Rose Perrin

Master of Education Program Theses

Transitions take time in any classroom. First grade students make many transitions in a day. Students transition from activity to activity as well as moving from location to location. With a limited amount of instructional time, teachers strive to have their students engaged in learning and to increase the students’ time on task. There are transitional strategies available that teachers utilize to decrease transition time and increase student-learning time. Two such strategies are visual cues, such as a timer; and auditory cues, like a song. The goal of this research study was to discover effective transition strategies for first grade …

Teaching Third-Grade Writing Using The Self-Regulated Strategy Development Model, Ellen Korver

Master of Education Program Theses

Writing is a self-directed activity that involves the intelligent use of a variety of mental operations and skills. Christian teachers want their students to be able to write well because it enables them not only to examine God’s world for themselves, but also to communicate with others. This communication is essential in many areas of modern life. However, research studies show that many students have only partially mastered writing skills. In this study, the effectiveness of an instructional mode, the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model, was examined in order to determine if its implementation would have a positive effect on …

Self-Assessment In The Middle School Science Classroom, Stephanie Tanis

Master of Education Program Theses

Teachers using self-assessment in classrooms understand its vital role in a student’s ability to understand their own learning. The diversity of the student learners requires a diversity of assessment strategies. Specifically, in an inquiry-based science classroom, students must be able to identify their current skills and their areas of growth. The implementation of self-assessment strategies helps students to set goals and achieve them. The goal of the researcher in this study was to determine if self-assessment strategies are effective in the middle school science classroom and to determine if such strategies provide evidence supporting the growth of student achievement. Through …

Correlation Between Interactive Ebooks And Printed Text In Reading Achievement And Student Interest, Kimberly D. Beimers

Master of Education Program Theses

Interactive eBooks or traditional printed text? Teachers face difficult decisions when determining which are the most effective tools to use to increase student reading achievement. Studies (Chong, Lim, & Ling, 2009; Ciampa, 2012; Coyle, 2008; Huang, Liang, Su, & Chen, 2012; Jones, & Brown, 2011; Larson, 2010; Martinez-Estrada, & Conaway, 2012; Maynard, 2010), have found that students prefer the additional features of interactive eBooks over traditional printed text; however, studies have failed to prove that these additional text features increase student reading achievement over traditional printed text. There has not been enough evidence to show that student reading achievement increases …

This Is God’S World: A Study Of Student Worldview In A Small Rural Christian High School, Rachel Elizabeth Bootsma

Master of Education Program Theses

This qualitative phenomenological study examined a small rural Midwest Christian high school and its influence on the biblical worldview of its students. The author surveyed and interviewed current seniors and former students from this Christian high school to better understand the biblical worldview of the students from their perspective. The study also attempted to identify the influence of the school and the school’s strengths and weaknesses on its students' biblical worldviews. This phenomenological study demonstrates how the practices, programs, procedures, curriculum, and relationships at a small Christian high school lead to a foundational biblical worldview in its students.

Best Practices In The Foreign Language Classroom, Allison Kleinsasser

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research project attempted to determine the best practices in teaching a foreign language to high school students. In order to determine these best practices, the researcher read literature and studies that had been previously conducted with foreign language students. This study attempted to determine if students would learn better in the context of real-life communication rather than overt grammatical lectures. Students were given a pre- and post-test to determine whether or not their levels of language acquisition and grammatical understanding improved over the course of the study. The results of the study revealed that more time is needed …

Study Of Fifth Grade Service Learning, Phyllis Van Gelder

Master of Education Program Theses

This study examined the effectiveness of the service learning implemented within the fifth grade curriculum of a small private school in the Midwestern United States with the goal of fostering civic responsibility and altruism within the fifth grade students. Data was collected from sixth grade students within two private schools; one group was the experimental group that had been involved in weekly service learning throughout their fifth grade year and the other group was the control group that had not been involved in service learning the previous year. Nominal-polytomous questionnaires, qualitative scenario-response questionnaires, and personal interviews were used to collect …

Interpersonal Intelligence And Problem-Based Learning, Denise M. Denevers

Master of Education Program Theses

This study examined the relationship between problem-based learning and interpersonal intelligence. The primary goal of this study was to see if using problem-based learning in the classroom would increase one’s interpersonal intelligence. After conducting this study, the researcher found the interpersonal intelligence of the class of twenty-one seventh grade students, as a whole, increased from an average of 59.04 points out of 70 points possible to an average of 59.47 points out of a possible 70 points; a less than one percent increase, indicating a weak relationship between interpersonal intelligence and problem-based learning.

Character Education In Christian Schools, Curtis Van Dam

Master of Education Program Theses

Character education programs have been an important part of school systems across the country since the Colonial time period. The way character education has been taught has changed over the years, but the goal to help students make ethical decisions remains the same. Over the last few decades, Christian values have slowly been removed from many character education programs and replaced with values concentrating on citizenship. The goal of one small midwestern Christian elementary school was to develop an effective character education program that was centered on Christian values to help carry out its mission statement. This study shows that …

Motivating English Language Learners: An Indonesian Case Study, Rebekah Nichols

Master of Education Program Theses

Motivation is a complex issue, especially when considered in the Asian context, where passive learning and teacher-centered lessons dominate. This study attempted to identify student-preferred motivational strategies that would correlate to increased attention and engagement among and increased levels of intrinsic motivation in Chinese Indonesian students in a Year 12 English classroom. Student surveys indicated preferences for the use of audiovisual material and the use of collaborative reading quizzes. The implementation of these strategies resulted in positive levels of attention and engagement in the classroom, but no increase in levels of intrinsic motivation were observed.

Using Rti In First Grade Language Arts, Valerie Kroll

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study investigated the effects of the use of Response to Intervention (RtI) in a first grade language arts class at Timothy Christian School in Elmhurst, Illinois. The participants were twenty-four first grade students in a general education classroom. Students were placed in tiers based on an assessment given at the end of the first quarter of the school year. Tier II and Tier III students participated in a twice-weekly pullout intervention session in addition to weekly guided reading sessions for nine weeks. These students were progress monitored bi-weekly with fluency probes checking letter names, letter sounds, and …

Cooperative Learning In Today's Bilingual Classrooms, Heath Swanson

Master of Education Program Theses

This research study examined the strategy of cooperative learning and whether or not it is an effective strategy for English Language Learners (ELLs). Previous studies have shown that by utilizing cooperative learning groups, each ELL student is enabled with an opportunity to work in a team with other students who have already gained proficiency with the language. The group dynamic of cooperative learning not only provides a supportive environment for learning new content and acquiring English language skills, but also helps to foster friendships and social development (Holt, Chips, & Wallace, 1991) This research study looked specifically at how cooperative …

Teaching Seventh Grade Statistics And Probability: An Inference Based Approach, Tammy Veenstra

Master of Education Program Theses

The Common Core State Standards have provided schools with a new set of required objectives. Specifically in the area of statistics and probability, seventh grade math teachers have new objectives they are required to teach, but they do not necessarily have the required knowledge or curriculum to meet the standards. The Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) Report and the college introductory level statistics curriculum Introduction to Statistical Investigations were used as resources and revised for the seventh grade level to teach the standards for seventh grade statistics during a three-week statistics and probability unit. Results of …

Case For Foreign Language In The Elementary School, Mary Beth Pollema

Master of Education Program Theses

Our students are learning and growing in a rapidly changing world that is far more globally interconnected and culturally diverse than we had envisioned at the close of the 20th century. As we are now well into the 21st century, research and test scores consistently reveal that U.S. students are not prepared to take their place as the servant-leaders of their time where opportunities for active participation require the ability to compete, cooperate, and communicate cross-culturally.

Research shows that language is acquired best when instruction is initiated in early childhood and sustained over an articulated number of years. Since the …