Education Commons^™

How Schools Create Healthy Testing Cultures And How Principals Use Standardized Test Data To Become Leaders Of Learning, Holly A. Gurule

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Standardized tests are not new to the field of education. The problem with them seems to lie in the ways these tests are now being used as criteria for various high-stakes decisions such as teachers’ evaluations, school grades, school sanctions, and even graduation from high school with a diploma. With so many different uses for standardized tests, it is easy to see how our perception of them has become skewed.

This bounded case study of a small elementary school in a large urban district centered on shifting the focus away from looking at standardized tests as a negative, as mere …

Improving Measurement And Expanding Meta-Analytic Knowledge: Social And Emotional Learning In Elementary And Early Childhood, Dana M. Murano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last several decades, the development of student social and emotional skills in educational contexts has received much attention, both domestically and internationally. Whereas previous school-based educational practices had primarily focused on the teaching and testing of cognitive skills, we now recognize that there are constituents of academic success beyond the cognitive skills that are traditionally taught and tested, and the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) has emerged as a result. This two-study dissertation attempted to fill existing gaps in the development of SEL practices by exploring new horizons in both intervention and measurement with preschool and …

Comparison Of National Assessment Of Educational Progress (Naep) Reports And State Physical Education Mandates, Erick Alfonso

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

There have been several studies that analyzed the relationship between physical education and academic achievement at a local level, but a longitudinal analysis across the United States has not been done. An understanding of the relationship between physical education policies across the United States and academic achievement at the state level may provide insight into best practices to ensure that comprehensive physical education policies are adopted in all states. Using data from the Society of Health and Physical Educators and The National Assessment of Educational Progress, I investigated the relationship between physical education policies and academic achievement. Minor relationships with …

A Closer Look At Toefl Speaking Assessment Test: A Guide To Teaching Toefl Ibt Speaking, Glen Ryan Alejandro

Master's Projects and Capstones

The lack of reliable speaking learning materials has been a problem of some non-native English speakers who are preparing for the TOEFL iBT Test (Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test) and who are struggling most with the speaking section of said standardized test. Consequently, the lack of these reliable resources has been the main concern of TOEFL iBT speaking instructors whose main goal is to help meet the needs of these struggling students. As a result, many non-native English speakers who are preparing for the speaking section of the TOEFL iBT Test are not able to meet …

Improving The Rigor Of Online Education: Exploring Characteristics Of Faculty And Syllabi Within An Online Program Assessment Process, Brad J. Hamel

All NMU Master's Theses

As online course enrollments grow, overall perception of rigor still lags compared to that of traditional face-to-face education. The purpose of this research was to tie faculty and syllabi characteristics to the rigor of online courses. This study explored the relationship between faculty and syllabi characteristics and performance on an online entry-level course design quality assurance assessment (pass, pass with concern, or fail). A decision tree analysis was used to predict the relationship of the independent (faculty and syllabi characteristics) and the dependent (entry-level course design assessment) variables. Findings suggest that faculty rank and writing intensive are key characteristics predictive …

Reliability And Validity Of An Evaluation Capacity Assessment Instrument For Principals Of Public Schools In Michigan And The Current Distribution Of Evaluation Capacity By Poverty Concentration, Christine M. Lewis

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to investigate the reliability and validity of an Evaluation Capacity Assessment Instrument (ECAI) for principals of K-12 public schools in Michigan. The ECAI was then used to investigate whether scores between principals of high poverty schools and low poverty schools were significantly different. The ECAI was administered to 121 principals across Michigan. Based on the results of the CFA, evidence of fit to the a priori model was not established but internal consistency statistics provide some reliability evidence. A Principle Components Analysis (PCA) was conducted and factor loadings were examined. Some groups of …

Surveying The Soul: Shaping Auto-Criticism With Reflective Arts-Based Inquiry To Assess A Female Doctoral Experience, Monica Fain Rezac

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an arts-based auto-criticism assessing the author's experience in her doctoral program. It is also perhaps the first dissertation elaborating on a method called auto-criticism, as derived from educational criticism and connoisseurship. The process of inquiry is rooted in arts-based methods of representation and theories of educational criticism and critical theory in the humanities. Philosophical approaches to artwork and the use of it in these methodologies was inspired by the independent arts practices of intuitive artists. The purpose of this project is for the author to develop, articulate, and create a sense of what auto-criticism entails in the …

Undergraduate Students' Attitudes About The Collection, Use, And Privacy Of Search Data In Academic Libraries, Laura W. Gariepy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand undergraduate students’ attitudes about search data privacy in academic libraries and their preferences for how librarians should handle information about what students search for, borrow, and download. This is an important area of study due to the increasingly data-driven nature of evaluation, accountability, and improvement in higher education, along with libraries’ professional commitment to privacy, which has historically limited the amount of data collected about student use. Using a qualitative approach through the lens of interpretive description, I used the constant comparative method of data collection and analysis to conduct semi-structured interviews …

Validating Bloom's Revised Taxonomy As A Rubric For Assessing Middle School Students' Levels Of Thinking, Siri Torrence Deforest Reynolds

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educators in a rural charter middle school in the United States were challenged with the reliable assessment of student thinking skills even though the development of higher order thinking was an espoused goal for the school. The purpose of this study was to validate a new rubric based on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy (BRT) to reliably assess student levels of thinking as reflected in the students’ written work. A quantitative, nonexperimental design was used. The focus of the research questions was on the BRT rubric’s reliability and validity. Interrater reliability was assessed using Krippendorff’s alpha. Validity was explored by assessing the …

Advising Assessment Practices Of Advising Professionals At An Accredited United Kingdom Urban Career-Focused Higher Education Institution: A Replicated Quantitative, Descriptive Analysis, Catherine E. Mahrt-Washington

Dissertations

The Problem

As the world has flattened, the globalization and quality education movement surrounding higher education worldwide has led to the accountability of all stakeholders regarding student success in and beyond the classroom. Student mobility continues to impact tertiary enrollments as families and students consider the proliferated traditional and non-traditional enrollment alternatives along with prospective lower tertiary debt options. Although assessment, an accountability tool, in co-curricular areas such as advising has been overlooked by leaders, advising is not impervious to accountability consequences. The problem is that assessment of advising, if performed, is oftentimes implemented informally, without a well-defined framework or …