Education Commons^™

Keeley Probes As A Tool For Uncovering Student Ideas: How Do Teachers Use Formative Assessment Probes To Plan And Adapt Instruction?, Kalin Tobler

Dissertations and Theses

Formative assessment probes, known as Keeley probes, are one tool teachers use to reveal students' scientific misconceptions, so that they can move them closer to conceptual understanding. The purpose of this research was to document how four elementary school teachers used formative assessment probes to plan and adapt instruction to improve student learning. Specifically:

• How did teachers choose appropriate probes? What learning goals did teachers hope to address by using the probe??
• What instructional sequences did teachers envision when planning to use a probe?
• What did teachers notice when analyzing student data from a probe?
• How did teachers use the …

Designing Innovative Alternatives To Traditional High Schools: What Leaders Need To Know, Chester Roy Edwards

Dissertations and Theses

The need for new and innovative alternatives to traditional high schools has never been greater. Never designed to graduate all students on time, traditional high schools and their high dropout rates have remained unchanged for the last 30 years. Improving secondary schooling for all young people is a worthwhile social and educational objective. Many school leaders want to create alternative high schools but may lack the knowledge of what to do, nor may they have a comprehensive design process to follow.

The research question explored in this dissertation is: What do leaders in education need to know to design innovative …

Development Of A Teacher Rating Instrument: Methodological Implications, Carole Gygi

Dissertations and Theses

In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities which constitute an effective teacher and promote a positive learning climate, a field study methodology was employed to develop an evaluative instrument and to gain descriptive data.

For the purpose of developing an instrument to describe and measure effective teachers, 24 actual learning sessions (classes) were observed, extensive notes taken, and tape recordings were made in order to isolate and describe the behaviors which seemed critical to the situation being studied. This was done by observing the teacher as he taught and the learners while they learned. The teacher …