Education Commons^™

Examining The Effects Of Linguistic Accommodations On The Colorado Student Assessment Program—Mathematics, Marisol Enriquez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act changed assessment for English Language Learners (ELLs). Under the law, states must validly assess ELLs' English Language Proficiency (ELP) and content knowledge. The law shed light on the achievement of ELLs while also creating challenges for states in validating state assessment and accountability systems. Test accommodations are used for ELLs to reduce threats to test score validity and measure academic achievement as accurately and fairly as possible. Since ELLs are working towards proficiency in English, they face linguistic and socio-cultural barriers under the confines of large scale assessment. A limited body of research …

A Global Education Transition: Computer Simulation Of Alternative Paths To Universal Basic Education, Mohammod T. Irfan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As an acknowledgment of the critical role of education in realizing other development targets, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of the United Nations include education in a framework of development targets. The MDG targets for education include achieving universal primary education and gender parities in all levels of education by 2015.

Recent global campaigns have added to the momentum of the rapid progress of educational expansion, which began in roughly the 1960s. Countries with universal or near universal participation and completion in elementary education have started to look beyond primary, towards free and compulsory basic education- education up to lower …

The Curricular And Instructional Implication For The Tacit Knowledge Exhibited While Creating A Forensic Craniofacial Reconstruction, Daniel Marion, Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In our teaching careers, K-12 classroom teachers come to know that the way a given student connects the dots to comprehend a concept, lesson, or subject is not always (and most likely never is) in a straight linear fashion. The connections between the dots are defined as the student’s personalized understanding (tacit knowledge/knowing) of concepts, lessons, and/or subjects. The student most likely did not perceive, process, and/or retain the concept, lesson, or subject in the manner it was taught to her or him. Teachers asking a student to explain how he or she arrived at an answer or knew the …

Effects Of Plain Language Revision On Item Difficulty, Discrimination And Dif, Holly E. Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Colorado assesses approximately 98% of students enrolled in grades 3-10 in the area of mathematics. In 2005, 69,872 English Language Learners (ELLs) in grades 3-10 participated in the state content area assessments. In 2007, 88,060 ELLs participated in the state content area assessments. With this dramatic growth in the ELL population in the state of Colorado and elsewhere in the nation, ensuring that ELLs have access to comprehensible materials on state assessments is of paramount importance. Accommodations provide access for students based on their individual needs. Likewise, assessment items designed and/or revised using the principles of plain language and universal …

Competency-Based Curriculum For A Master's Program In Service Science, Management And Engineering (Ssme): An Online Delphi Study, Rahul Choudaha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The overarching purpose of this research was to provide theoretical and conceptual foundations for developing a competency-based curriculum for an interdisciplinary master's program in Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME). Specifically, the objective was to ascertain the competencies and courses that are relevant for developing a competency model for a service scientist and a curriculum blueprint for SSME. The study employed three rounds of the online Delphi survey to achieve the research objectives. The three rounds were used to identify, prioritize, and define competencies and courses. A panel of industry professionals and university faculty were invited to participate as experts. …

Transcending Curriculum Ideologies: Educating Human Beings Well, Kevin M. Cloninger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to consider the role of well-being in schooling. Recent advances in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and medicine have led to a reexamination of the role of well-being in society. There is a growing body of educational theory on the subject of well-being in schools that draws on these advances (Cohen, 2006; Noddings, 2003, 2006; Ruyter, 2004; Spring, 2007). The few serious treatments on the role of well-being in education consider it from a theoretical perspective. Few if any empirical research studies in the fields of Curriculum or Educational Psychology have been conducted that …

Integrating Service-Learning Into Undergraduate Students' Curricula: Recommendations For Best Practices, Neivin Mahmoud Marzouk Shalabi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several recent studies have revealed that there is increasing individualism and declining interest in politics and civic engagement among college students. Accordingly, many scholars called for reinvigorating the civic mission of higher education. This thesis study examines academic service-learning as an effective pedagogy for promoting students’ civic engagement. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the best ways of integrating service-learning into the curricula of undergraduate students. Using McCarthy’s (2003) conceptual framework, the “Concept of Triangles,” this study provides a comprehensive review of literature on the theoretical underpinnings, partners, and relationships of academic service-learning. The results of the study …

Toward A New Social Contract: A Tripartite Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Social Sustainability At Three Land-Grant Universities, Lyndsay Josephine Agans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly, colleges and universities in the United States are adapting toward a model of behavior that incorporates issues of sustainability. This adaptation in universities and in society has implications on the organizational and nation-state level, the very core of which may serve to reshape the social contract between the two. In addition to supplying a strong counter-hegemonic argument that alters the competitive economic agenda-setting paradigm, this study serves as a tripartite comparative case study analysis of university adaptation toward social sustainability. By employing a social capital lens to understanding social sustainability in higher education, this study seeks to examine the …