Education Commons^™

Family Experiences With Standardized Assessments Leading To Participation In The Opt Out Movement, Christy Lee Evans

Doctoral Dissertations

With the hope of giving voice to individuals who are usually left out of conversations regarding standardized assessments—the families who live with the effects of those tests on their children—this study was designed to answer the following research questions:

1) Who are some of the individuals who are participating in the opt out movement?

2) How are some individuals making the decision to participate in the opt out movement?

a) What knowledge do these individuals who are participating in the opt out movement have regarding the standardized assessments that their children are being given in public schools?

b) How have …

Learning To Teach Online: An Investigation Of The Impacts Of Faculty Development Training On Teaching Effectiveness And Attitudes Toward Online Instruction, Karen Elizabeth Brinkley

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between one approach to training for online faculty and the ways in which the program influenced the participants’ teaching effectiveness and attitudes toward online instruction. Two research questions guided this study: (1) how did participating in an intensive course redesign intervention influence instructors’ teaching effectiveness in the online environment? and (2) how did participating in the training influence instructors’ beliefs or attitudes about online teaching? The theoretical framework guiding this study was the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model, developed by Mishra and Koehler (2005). Using a concurrent, mixed-methods design, …

Multimodal Assessment In Action: What We Really Value In New Media Texts, Kathleen M. Baldwin

Doctoral Dissertations

As the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing illustrates, writing teachers at all educational levels can no longer ignore multimodality and the challenges that come with incorporating multimodal writing—texts composed using a combination of sound, images, video, etc.—into the classroom (NCTE, Framework). A chief struggle most writing teachers face is how to evaluate the multimodal texts their students produce, texts that are inherently diverse. In answer to the calls of scholars such as Yancey, Herrington, and Moran for research exploring multimodal assessment in situated classroom practice, my dissertation examines what K-16 writing teachers are and should be valuing in …

Young Children Positioned As Storytellers In The Classroom: An Examination Of Teacher-Child Interactions And The Storytelling Event, Peggy L. Martalock

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT YOUNG CHILDREN POSITIONED AS STORYTELLERS IN THE CLASSROOM: AN EXAMINATION OF TEACHER-CHILD INTERACTIONS AND THE STORYTELLING EVENT SEPTEMBER 2016 PEGGY MARTALOCK, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON M.A. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN LACROSSE Ed.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Claire E. Hamilton Responsive, well-attuned, sensitive, dynamic, and individual interactions between teachers and children in early childhood classrooms support language and literacy development. This study looks at the nature and qualities of teacher – child interactions during Vivian Paley’s storytelling approach when implemented as a curricular activity. This is a microethnographic study conducted from a socio-cultural theoretical framework of two …

Shared Focus/Collective Responsibility: The Lived Experience Of Educators As Members Of A Data Team In A Connecticut Public High School, Abbie-Jean M. Lareau

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT SHARED FOCUS/COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATORS AS MEMBERS OF A DATA TEAM IN A CONNECTICUT PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL This study explores the experiences of five high school English Teachers in a Connecticut public school acting as an Instructional Data Team as prescribed by the Connecticut Accountability for Learning (CALI) model. Data Teams are teams of educators that participate in collaborative, structured, scheduled meetings, which focus on the effectiveness of teaching as determined by student achievement. Data Teams adhere to continuous improvement cycles, analyze trends, and determine strategies to facilitate analysis that results in action. Data Teams can …

“Do I Want To Die On That Hill?”: Perceptions Of Rural Appalachian English Teachers About Using Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Queer/Questioning Young Adult Literature In The Secondary English Classroom, Stacey Rochelle Reece

Doctoral Dissertations

Research from GLSEN has shown that rural, Southern schools are some of the most dangerous places to be for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning students. These students hear more disparaging language, face more bullying, have less resources for information, and are less likely to see positive representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people in their school’s curriculum. Based on this research, I wanted to understand the perceptions of secondary English teachers in a small, Southern rural school district of using LGBTQ young adult literature (YAL) in the classroom.

Drawing on parts of Paulo Freire’s dialogic method …

Exploring The Ways New Faculty Form Beliefs About Teaching: A Basic Interpretive Study, Beth Ann White

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the formation of beliefs about teaching held by faculty in their first three years of teaching in higher education classrooms and their perceptions of the ways those views may or may not have changed as they gain experience. This study followed a basic, interpretive approach with a sample of new faculty who explored the formation and enactment of their beliefs about teaching in higher education. Based on a thematic analysis of the interview data, three themes were identified as influencers of belief formation: modeling, teaching experience, and formal instruction. Changes in belief …

“It’S Like A Mountain”: The Lived Experience Of Homeless College Students, Valerie Karen Ambrose

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of college for homeless students. Using a phenomenological approach, the researcher completed interviews in which participants were asked to describe what college was like for them. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a hermeneutic approach. All interviews were analyzed within the contexts of each other to identify themes. The participants all lived in a world of homelessness that they could never fully ignore. The world of homelessness was grounded in the contexts of the body and other people. An encompassing central theme of “Escaping the Homeless World through …

Turning Around The Culture Of Teaching And Learning: A Turnaround School Success Story, Rachael B. Lawrence

Doctoral Dissertations

In 2009-2010, Riverton Elementary School in Portland, ME was awarded a School Improvement Grant (SIG), supported by the Federal Department of Education (Federal DOE) through the Maine Department of Education. With this funding, Riverton undertook the challenge of the turnaround school model between 2010-2013, which resulted in positive change in academic achievement for their students and an improved teaching and learning climate and culture. This dissertation examines why the turnaround model may work, what is currently known about SIG funded turnaround schools, and what the specific actions and changes that led to the successful turnaround of this school were. While …

Reclaiming Voices And Identities: An Examination Of African American Educators’ Experiences Before And After Brown V. Board Of Education, Leta Hooper

Doctoral Dissertations

The Brown v. Board of Education rulings in 1954 and 1955 are often regarded as cases that set the precedent for dismantling schools operating on a racially “separate but equal” system. The outcome of the Brown v. Board of Education rulings led to the closing of Black schools as well as the dismissal and displacement of Black educators (Fultz, 2004). Black educators’ experiences of teaching in segregated and desegregated schools, as well as their role in challenging inequitable education conditions, are topics that continue to be ignored in mainstream society (Fultz, 1995; 2004; Siddle-Walker, 2013). The purpose of this life …

The Student Experience Of Other Students, Brian Kelleher Sohn

Doctoral Dissertations

The literature on higher education classroom climate and its relationship to teaching and learning is dominated by studies and theorizing regarding the role of the instructor. But when instructors use learner-centered approaches and diffuse the role and authority of the teacher, students gain a higher level of influence in the learning experience of their peers. In this phenomenological case study of a unique graduate seminar, I interpreted the thematic structure of the student experience of other students (SEOS). Data sources included field notes, audio recordings of class sessions, weekly student post-class reflections, and individual and focus group interviews with students. …

College Student Engagement Patterns In Small Group Learning Activities Conducted In Courses Organized Using A Flipped Learning Instructional Pedagogy, John Creighton Cummins

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine student engagement patterns in smallgroup learning activities conducted in courses organized using a Flipped Learning Instructional Pedagogy (FLIP) at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK). A literature search on FLIP revealed no papers that examined student engagement at a fine-grained level. Classrooms were examined using an observational tool developed specifically for the examination of fine-grained student engagement. In order to observe overt engagement patterns of students during active learning in small groups, an observation tool was designed by combining an engagement framework with an in-class activity inventory.The Complex Level of Overt …

Remediating Secondary Alternative School Students’ Academic Outcomes Using The Writing And Sharing Connections Process, Laura Karen Kildare

Doctoral Dissertations

Given steady increase in numbers of students enrolled in alternative schools (U.S. Department of Education, 2003, 2008), a lack of emphasis on academic gains, as opposed to behavior control (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Stecker, 2010), and the well-documented school-to-prison pipeline for students considered school behavior problems (Wald & Losen, 2003), there is a need to establish viable, engaging instructional approaches with youth in alternative school settings. This study was designed to investigate effects on secondary alternative students’ attitudes toward writing and their ability to express complex ideas in writing, as a function of implementation of Writing and Sharing Connections (W&SC) (Wooten, …

Arabic Teachers' Perception Of An Integrated Approach For Teaching Arabic As A Foreign Language In Colleges And Universities In The United States, Abeer Al-Mohsen

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the perception of Arabic teachers on whether an integrated approach is critical for students’ communicative competence in Arabic. Additionally, the study attempts to uncover what might be potential barriers to the integrated-approach program-wide implementation in the field of Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language in higher education institutes in the United States. Although many studies investigated students’ perception of learning Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) only, few studies focused on teachers’ perceptions of the issue and understanding of what communicative Arabic instruction should entail.

Using a mixed-method study, the researcher conducted the study in two sequential phases: a …

Implementation And Strategies To Address Sensory Regulation Of Students With And Without Disabilities In Two Kindergarten Classrooms, Yvette Rosil Mere-Cook

Doctoral Dissertations

Results from previous research studies suggest that inclusive settings benefit all learners. However, general education teachers often do not have built in supports within the classroom to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Implementing a sensory diet curriculum (SDC) is one instructional practice that addresses needs of students with disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder, and could be applied widely for students without disabilities. Sensory regulation is defined as the body’s physiological process of adapting arousal or alertness levels to cope with sensory events and situational demands that occur throughout the day. The purpose of this study was to …

Understanding The Relationship Between Teacher And Organizational Intercultural Competency In International Schools: A Mixed Methods Study, Sally Emily Hirsch

Doctoral Dissertations

The number of international schools and their student populations are increasing around the world. These schools are culturally diverse educational spaces, providing opportunities for cultural understanding but also cultural conflicts. Teachers working in international schools need to be able to provide culturally relevant and responsive curriculum as well as be able to communicate effectively and appropriately with students, other teachers, administrators and parents. Research shows that students do best academically when taught by teachers who are interculturally competent yet there is a gap in current research on how this skill is developed in international teachers, and identified by school leaders. …

An Investigation Of Multimedia Instruction, The Modality Principle, And Reading Comprehension In Fourth-Grade Classrooms, Laura Angela Sandoval

Doctoral Dissertations

Elementary-school teachers are faced with the responsibility of finding the most effective ways to educate their students using multimedia approaches. The use of instruction with visuals and audio has resulted in positive learning outcomes on retention and transfer tasks for junior-high and high-school students. This approach that results in the modality principle has been tested less frequently in elementary-aged students.

The purpose of this study was to examine two different multimedia instructional approaches to investigate which condition offers beneficial learning outcomes through recall and transfer assessments during a lesson on different types of energy in fourth-grade classrooms using a Powerpoint® …

Training In Summarizing Notes: Effects Of Teaching Students A Self-Regulation Study Strategy In Science Learning, Michelle Mendoza Nebres

Doctoral Dissertations

The last two decades of national data assessments reveal that there has been a sharp decline in nationwide standardized test scores. International assessment data show that in 2012 a very low amount of American students were performing at proficiency or above in science literacy. Research in science literacy education suggests that students benefit most when they are self-regulated (SR) learners. Unfortunately, SR poses a challenge for many students because students lack these skills. The effects of having learned few SR strategies at an early age may lead to long term learning difficulties—preventing students from achieving academic success in college and …