Education Commons^™

Does Introductory Writing Instruction Help Students To Succeed At Montclair State University?, Sean Molloy

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study examines whether Montclair State University (MSU) students who were placed into an introductory writing course between 2005 and 2009 later succeeded as measured by retention rates, academic advancement and available grade data. While available data was limited, retention rates and grade data suggest that most of these students have succeeded so far at MSU. The study also submitted an online survey to former introductory writing course students which asked whether they believe that their experience in that course was an actual contributing cause to their academic success. Survey responses of 68 students confirm that most believe the course …

The Effects Of Coauthoring On Student Writing, Stacey E. Spector

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Teaching student writing can be a very frustrating yet rewarding experience. Because there are so many ways to approach writing instruction and the writing process, there is often a disconnect between teachers’ expectations and students’ performances. A plethora of research has been done on teaching the writing process: peer editing, revising, and other areas of writing instruction. However, not much has been explored in terms of how writing can improve if we ask students to write together.

The goal of having students write together, or coauthor, is to allow them the chance to learn from each other and explore the …

Building The Bond Between Families And Schools, Mary Ann Folkes

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Research has shown that parents in today’s society face many obstacles. Many parents have increasing struggles to raise children while earning a living. The more social and political forces parents have to contend with the more the stability of the family structure is threatened (Shonkoff, J.P., Phillips, D.A. (eds). 2000).

There seems to be a chain reaction in our community. As the difficulties in parenting increase so do the difficulties in teaching students. Our community is in need of cohesive programs that will alleviate some of the pressures parents encounter by providing them with programs that will help them rise …

Fairway Community College’S English Basic Skills Departmental Exam : Mastery Test Madness, Kelly Alanna Keane

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The developmental English departmental mastery exam that all students who were placed into remedial English must pass before they can move to College English is problematic because of questionable reliability and validity. Additionally, it has unintended consequences for the courses that comprise the developmental English program at Fairway Community College. These consequences include though are not limited to: decreasing pass rates from developmental English to College English, curriculum that is negatively impacted by this assessment, and a complete disconnect between practice and theory in the classroom. After working through current assessment theories combined with best practices in basic writing, I …

Stimulating Students’ Interest In And Curiosity About Nature Through Frequent And Brief Trips Outdoors, Joanne Claire Kornoelje

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study considers whether frequent and brief trips outdoors can affect students’ interest in and curiosity about nature. Recent research shows that people - and children in specific - are not spending as much time outdoors as in previous generations. This has raised concerns that today’s children will be less likely to champion environmental issues as adults, due to their lack of connection to the environment that surrounds and supports them.

I took my five sixth-grade science classes outdoors eleven times for ten-minute field trips during the 2009-10 school year. Using inquiry-based instruction, the initial trips were focused observation. Subsequent …

Preparing Low-Income Middle And Secondary Students To Participate Effectively In Academic Discourse Through Writing, Franc Lacinski

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Students from low-income families often perform poorly on formal assessments in language arts. Examining data using the 2008-2009 State of New Jersey Department of Education School Report Cards, a comparison was made between low-income districts and affluent districts in three areas: High School Proficiency Assessment Language Arts Literacy Scores, SAT Verbal Scores and SAT Essay Scores. Students from low-income districts performed significantly lower in these areas than students from the higher income districts and from the average performance rates for the State of New Jersey. This lag in performance affects students’ choices for higher education, for job opportunities, as well …

The Role Of Movement Scaling On Quiet Eye Duration During An Aiming Task, Michelle Sachiko Okumura

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Strategies Students Use When Reading, Evelyn Gilles

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Research in the field of reading has shown that oral reading fluency is important because it is correlated to successful reading comprehension. Although some students acquire fluency skills, others struggle to use strategies to develop fluency. My concerns about reading fluency came about because my students were not reading texts smoothly and accurately. This action research project was designed to discover what strategies first grade students use to read unfamiliar words. Specifically, I focused on whether or not blending would be a good strategy to improve reading fluency. In order to address the issue of reading fluency, I gathered information …

Discovering The Connections Students Make During Reading, Suzanne Nepomuceno

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Research shows that reading comprehension is enhanced if the reader constructs meaning by making connections to the text. Connections may be made between readers and their background knowledge and/or between readers and other texts they have read. The purpose of this action research project was to determine if teaching students how to make these two kinds of connections would enhance their comprehension. To this end, a metacognitive strategy called Making Connections was implemented and taught to the students during their normal reading lessons. Data were collected through interviews with the students about this strategy, observation charts that recorded their connections, …