Education Commons^™

Through The Looking Glass: Assessing And Enhancing The Effectiveness Of Bourdieu’S Theory Of Practice To Understand The Achievement Gap In British Columbia's Inner-City Schools, Victor Brar

Journal of Practitioner Research

This paper emerges from a 2016 conceptual study borne out of an ongoing practitioner inquiry in which I, as a practicing K-12 inner-city Canadian teacher, tried to understand, on a theoretical level, why the children at my inner-city school in Vancouver consistently underperform in an academic sense in spite of being provided with additional learning resources. The achievement gap that exists between British Columbia’s inner-city children and their more affluent peers cannot be adequately explained by differences in finances alone, but it has sociological roots, which I explored in this study. To understand the achievement gap, I chose to filter …

The The Relationships Between The Leadership Styles Of Principals Assigned To Title I Middle Schools, Staff Longevity, School Climate, And Overall School Achievement, Anna L. Rodriguez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The achievement gap stands as one of the top priorities framing educational policy through the past half-century. The middle school level amplifies this gap especially in urban areas. The role of principal leadership in closing the achievement gap is key.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the leadership styles of principals assigned to Title I middle schools, staff longevity, school climate, and overall school achievement. The researcher applied a non-experimental, ex-post facto research design to investigate the research hypotheses. Utilizing the Google Survey Platform, 290 staff members across 30 middle schools within a large urban …

Improving Literacy For Diverse Low Socio-Economic Status Middle School Students, Vivian Fowler Means

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In an urban district, Surfside School personnel were concerned that student literacy proficiency levels were low during 2011-2014 and teachers had not been able to close the achievement gap despite a focus on literacy practices and literacy professional development (PD) provided by the district. The purpose of this case study was to explore the perceptions of teachers and administrators in relation to the best instructional practices for increasing self-efficacy when teaching literacy skills and related literacy PD for teachers. Knowles' andragogy theory and Vygotsky's social learning theory formed the theoretical foundation of this study, which hold that PD should provide …

An Equity Council And The Struggle To Transform A School District, Grace Tara Rodriguez

Online Theses and Dissertations

Significant efforts at the national, state and local levels have focused on closing achievement gaps between student populations in public schools. Some research suggests that parents and community members can help hold schools accountable for meeting academic and other goals. The Equity Council serves in an advisory role to the Wilson County school board in a district in the southeastern part of the United States. The council monitors equity in the district on several measures, including the hiring of minority educators, student achievement and suspension rates. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand and describe the functioning …

Characteristics Of Effective Reading Language Arts Teachers In Closing The Achievement Gap, Latasha Price Bassette

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined an urban school district in the southern United States that continued to experience student achievement gaps despite the implementation of initiatives as the African American Success Initiative. The school leadership needed a deeper understanding regarding what strategies were successful with closing the achievement gap. Using Gay's theory of cultural responsive pedagogy, the purpose of this study was to identify inward attributes, outward strategies, and professional development perceptions of teachers with no achievement gap among ethnically diverse students. Employing an instrumental case study design, 8 middle school reading teachers who closed the reading achievement gap were interviewed; these …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Differentiated Instruction In Elementary Reading, Olwen Suzette Stewart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many teachers in a low socioeconomic school district in Florida struggle with differentiating instruction for the large at-risk population; however, one school has been identified as a high functioning school. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how classroom teachers at the high functioning school are differentiating instruction and how their reading coaches are supporting the teachers in designing instructional interventions. Guided by the concepts of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and Tomlinson's differentiated instruction, this study examined the connection between these 2 concepts and explored approaches to the creation of an instructional model to support at-risk …

"High Flying School" Showcase, Ken Hildebrant, Alonza James, Anissa Johnson

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Teachers and principals from three “High Flying Schools” showcase how they closed achievement gaps and raised achievement for all students in their schools. The audience is invited to hear their stories and ask questions. “High Flying Schools” meet six criteria: (1) high achievement, (2) high poverty, (3) high diversity, (4) community collaboration, (5) citizenship development, and (6) democratic education.

Narrowing The Gap: Exploring The Characteristics And Practices Of Urban School Principals Closing The Achievement Gap, Gordon D. Amerson Jr

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to critically analyze the experiences and practices of Inland Empire urban school principals as they work to close the African American achievement gap. The achievement gap begins in elementary school and continues to persist throughout elementary and secondary schools producing differences in high school graduation rates, college and career attainment, and ultimately socio-economic differences in income between various racial and ethnic groups.

We know the impact of school principals on student achievement is significant. The literature demonstrates that school principals play a key role in developing the structures and systems necessary to improve …

The Role Of Social Capital And Internal Locus Of Control In The Academic Achievement Of Traditionally Disadvantaged Students, Randy Couwenhoven

Ed.D. Dissertations

The academic achievement gap between minority and low socioeconomic status children and their more advantaged counterparts is a well-documented phenomenon. Many factors have contributed to this gap. The current quantitative, non-experimental, fixed-research design study has examined the potential of three social capital variables and locus of control to predict academic achievement. From a sample of 98 high school seniors, the results indicated that none of the independent variables studied were significant predictors of academic achievement for disadvantaged students. However, feelings of parental rejection were found to be a statistically significant negative predictor of grade point average (GPA) for the No …

Closing The Gap: Use Of The Instructional At-Home Plan (Iahp)® By African American Parents And The Impact On Literacy Achievement Among Their Kindergarten Children, Tanya Foster Demers

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this ex post facto study was to investigate the use of the Instructional At- Home Plan (IAHP)® by African American parents and its impact on kindergarten literacy achievement among their children. The study used DIBELS data from students who attended a Chicago Public School with a population that averaged 98.6% black and 96.75% low-income status. Parents of students who attended classes for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years utilized the Instructional At-Home Plan. The achievement of their children was analyzed and compared to those students who attended kindergarten for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years: students whose …

The Relationship Between African American Students' Self-Beliefs And Beliefs About Teachers And Academic Outcomes And Disciplinary Referrals, James Matthew Thompson

Dissertations

This research study addressed a facet of the academic achievement gap regarding students' beliefs. The specific area that was examined is African American students' self-belief and beliefs about their teachers, while Caucasian students were used as a comparative group. The sample consisted of 34 African American and 65 Caucasian fifth-grade students from a southeastern public school district. The purpose of the study was to explore correlations between beliefs and African American students' academic outcomes. The theoretical foundations regarding beliefs, cultural context, and stereotype threat that were explored in this study addressed the variables located in Chapter III: Methodology. Additionally, these …