Education Commons^™

Program Assessment And Evaluation Spc 530, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Program Development For Nonprofit Leaders Spc 545, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Charter School Performance In Rhode Island, Lena Vye

Senior Honors Projects

In the last few decades, there has been considerable debate over whether or not charter schools are beneficial to the American education system. Charter schools are given government funding, but they have independence from the established educational system. Charter school supporters argue that increased autonomy and innovation in teaching, as well as competition between schools, improves the quality of education. Opponents of charter schools argue that charter schools are not more effective than public schools. However, the research is mixed: some studies suggest charter schools perform better, some suggest they perform similarly, and some suggest that they perform worse than …

Retention Effects Of An Experiential Pedagogical Approach, Kelsea E. Adams

Senior Honors Projects

The quality and nature of delivery of education, especially at the K12 level is a major focus of the education reform movement. As an aspiring teacher, I am interested in developing a personal understanding of the efficacy of different modes of delivery. A large body of studies has examined the differences between experiential learning versus traditional classroom learning as well as effects on student retention. Traditional classroom learning involves literary texts, PowerPoint presentations and teacher-centered learning. In contrast, experiential learning is a hands-on, real world experience that provides students with an environment to expand their critical thinking skills and apply …

High-Stakes Standardized Testing In Schools, Samantha Destremps

Senior Honors Projects

Standardized testing provides an important means to measure students’ performance relative to their peers and grade-level learning objectives. Over the past twenty years or so, the use of results from standardized testing has been expanded as a measure of performance of schools and school districts. Increasingly, these results are also being used for making decisions regarding graduation, grade promotion, teacher’s pay and employment, school funding, and more. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on highstakes standardized testing, including the impact of this movement towards accountability, what the test scores are used for, implementation of testing and …

Experts As Teachers: Can We Abate The Disconnect Between Expert And Student?, Bailey Mallon

Senior Honors Projects

Studies have found that experts often fail as good teachers, mainly because there is a lack of communication within their specific area (Feldon, 2007). Experts may routinely underestimate how difficult a task can be for a newcomer (Hinds, 1999) and even when attempting to make a task easier, they omit information a novice would find valuable (Hinds, Patterson, & Pfeffer, 2001) because they unintentionally assume that non-experts are aware of and possess knowledge that only those already familiar in the field might have, and would thus know what they are talking about. Furthermore, there are factors controllable by the professor, …

The Learning Landscape: An Assessment Of State Science Standards And Application In A Uri Outreach Center Youth Education Program, Sarah A. Robinson

Senior Honors Projects

Rhode Island state education standards provide educators with curriculum guidance and achievement goals for each grade level. In this case study, I examined the RI state standards and expectations for science education. I undertook this investigation in support of the URI Outreach Center and their elementary education program, Learning Landscape Field Trips. Learning Landscape provides Rhode Island teachers with an opportunity to meet state science standards through the medium of hands-on environmental education programs. Through my investigation, I became fluent in the Learning Landscape curriculum, teaching in more than 20 two-hour sessions. As well, I became familiar with the current …

Competency-Based Education In Public High Schools, Angus M. Cantwell

Senior Honors Projects

Recent government-backed programs such as Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind have increased competition in schools in an effort to improve student and teacher performance. However, these programs have not had as drastic an impact as many had hoped, and the United States continues to toil in the middle of the pack educationally when compared with the rest of the world.

As many students have continued to struggle in school, many different ideas have been introduced into different levels of the education system in an attempt to raise scores and boost performance. One such idea is competency-based …

Répétez S’Il Vous Plaît !: L’Enseignement De La Compréhension Auditive Dans La Salle De Classe, Jordan M. Bessette

Senior Honors Projects

Foreign language acquisition is a subject of increasing importance in today’s world, acting as the backbone of international relations, trade and communication. In addition, through examination of a foreign culture and language, individuals can come to appreciate philosophies and values other than those pertaining to their own society. However, the difficulty and apparent uselessness of the subject material in the “here and now” dissuades many students from continuing language acquisition after obligatory general education requirements have been fulfilled. Through examining acquisition theories and factors which affect students’ motivation to continue second language acquisition; I developed a strategy in order to …

Evaluation Of Ri Middle School Science Kits In Regards To The Ri Grade Span Expectations, Melissa L. Wetzel

Senior Honors Projects

Evaluation of Rhode Island Middle School Science Kits in Regards to Rhode Island Grade Span Expectations

Melissa Wetzel

Faculty Sponsor: Jay Fogleman, Education

The Rhode Island Department of Education provides a set of Grade Span Expectations (GSEs) that outline major ideas in science, including physical, life, and earth and space science. Students in Rhode Island schools are expected to be able to demonstrate understanding of each GSE in order to graduate high school with proficiency in science. Educators do not always have the time to “unpack” the GSEs that line up with the grade level they teach. Unpacking a GSE …

Analysis Of Students' Misconceptions Of Research Methods In Relations To Thinking Style, Tonya Tavares

Senior Honors Projects

This study explores college students’ misconceptions about scientific research methods and their predisposition for rational-analytic thinking or experiential-intuitive thinking. The measures used in assessing misconceptions and thinking style were a seven-item version of Students’ Conceptions of Research Methods Inventory (SCoRI), specifically the misconceptions of research methods subscale (Meyer et al.(2005), and Epstein’s Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI) Scale (1996), respectively. The REI Scale consists of two subscales adapted from the Need for Cognition scale (NFC, J. T. Cacioppo & R. E. Petty, 1982) and Epstein’s Faith in Intuition (FI) scale, each with five questions; REI-NFC measures rational-analytic thinking, while the REI-FI measures …

Living Proof: The Decline In Northeast Arts Education - And What Can Be Done About It., Chris Comer

Senior Honors Projects

All my life, I have been raised and tempered by the public schooling systems of the Northeastern states. As I near the completion of my undergraduate studies, I can look back at all my years of education and see how my personality and skill-sets were forged into what they are today. Now, in the age of the No Child Left Behind Act, and in the middle of a war overseas, public schools nationwide and here in the Northeast are finding it increasingly difficult to produce the test results and proof of knowledge that is being asked of them. This mismatch …

University Of Rhode Island Neasc Self-Study 2007. Standard Seven: Library And Other Information Resources

Collection Development Reports and Documents

Self-Study report by the University of Rhode Island, prepared in fall 2006 for the 2006/07 accreditation visit of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Included here is Standard Seven: Library and Other Information Resources.

This standard was prepared by Standard Seven Committee Chair Karen M. Ramsay, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Technical Services in the University Libraries. Also on the Standard Seven Committee were: Lisa DiPippo, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science & Statistics; Karol Leuzarder, Senior Tech Programmer, TOPS; Mary MacDonald, Associate Professor, University Libraries; David Eifler, Graduate Student; Jim Loy, Professor, Anthropology; …

The Sat: Sine Qua Non Or Negligible For College Admissions?, Emily Anderson

Senior Honors Projects

Last summer I began interning at the Provost’s office at URI. Through this experience, I discovered just how critical the admission process is to the University, since the future of a university lies with its student body, both from the perspective of its mission and revenue. Admitting students on a fair and equal basis can be extremely difficult. I became interested in the SAT Reasoning Test (SAT) because it is a highly criticized aspect of the admission process. The SAT Reasoning test was formerly known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, but the acronym holds no formal …