Education Commons^™

Center For Academic Excellence: Annual Report 2008-2009, Patrice Hudson, Leslie G. Mcbride, Kevin Kecskes, Amy Spring, Janelle De Carrico Voegele, Michael Chamberlain, Vincent Schreck

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since its inception in 1994, the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) has provided a comprehensive array of cross-disciplinary and discipline-specific development activities in support of the educational function of the university. The Center has a dual mission of faculty development in teaching, learning, and assessment and in the development of community-university partnerships. Th e Center is a place of innovation, a gathering place for idea generation and testing, and a place where faculty may turn for individual consultation and professional advice. Increasingly, CAE supports faculty interested in community-engaged research.

We are proud to present the 2008-2009 Annual Report of the …

Early Gender Differences In Self-Regulation And Academic Achievement, Jamaal Matthews, Claire Cameron Ponitz, Frederick J. Morrison

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examined gender differences in self-regulation in the fall and spring of kindergarten and their connection to gender differences in 5 areas of early achievement: applied problems (math), general knowledge, letter-word identification, expressive vocabulary, and sound awareness. Behavioral self-regulation was measured using both an objective direct measure (N = 268; Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task) and, for a subsample of children, a teacher report of classroom self-regulatory behavior (n = 156; Child Behavior Rating Scale). Results showed that girls outperformed boys in both assessments. Although gender differences in self-regulation were clear, no significant gender differences were found on the 5 academic achievement …

A Structured Observation Of Behavioral Self-Regulation And Its Contribution To Kindergarten Outcomes, Claire Cameron Ponitz, Megan M. Mcclelland, Jamaal Matthews, Frederick J. Morrison

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors examined a new assessment of behavioral regulation and contributions to achievement and teacher-rated classroom functioning in a sample (N = 343) of kindergarteners from 2 geographical sites in the United States. Behavioral regulation was measured with the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) task, a structured observation requiring children to perform the opposite of a dominant response to 4 different oral commands. Results revealed considerable variability in HTKS scores. Evidence for construct validity was found in positive correlations with parent ratings of attentional focusing and inhibitory control and teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that higher levels of …

The New Arkansas School Performance Report, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The Arkansas Department of Education has just released the Arkansas School Performance Report, a yearly report on academic achievement in all of Arkansas’ schools.1 One important addition to the Report this year is an academic improvement rating for all elementary and middle schools in the state. This rating should be of interest to all school observers who desire more nuanced information about school and student performance than is provided in commonly used school performance indices, such as the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) rating. We applaud the Arkansas Department of Education for collecting and releasing this invaluable information on student growth.

Health Status Of Children Entering Kindergarten: Results Of The 2008-2009 Nevada Kindergarten Health Survey, Clark County School District, Southern Nevada Health District, Nevada State Health Division, Nevada School District Superintendents, Denise Tanata Ashby, Tara Phebus, Amanda Haboush, Jennifer Waddoups, Enrique Lopez

Nevada Institute for Children's Research and Policy Reports

Academic achievement for children is vital to their success in life. Those that do well in school have greater opportunities for post-secondary education, and later have better prospects for employment. One of the major factors that can affect a child’s academic achievement is his or her health status. Academic outcomes and health conditions are consistently linked in the literature (Taras & Potts-Datema, 2005). Children with poor health status, and especially those with common chronic health conditions, have increased numbers of school absences and more academic deficiencies (Taras & Potts-Datema, 2005). In a study concerning excused versus unexcused absences, children with …

A Center For Academic Achievement: How Innovative Collaborations Between Faculty And Learning Center Administrators Built Model, Credit-Bearing, First-Year Courses With Embedded Support For At-Risk Students, Elaine Bukowiecki, Susan Miskelly, Dorie Aucoin, Heidi Burgiel, Kathryn Evans, Ruth Farrar, Julia Stakhnevich, Steven Viveiros

Elementary and Early Childhood Education Faculty Publications

Establishing a centralized learning assistance program to systematically address the academic challenges of all students was the first priority of the Academic Achievement Center (AAC) at Bridgewater State College when it was formed in 2001. This new, open, bright, comfortable, and inviting place has truly become the heart of the campus, for it is here that abundant human and material resources are available to support all students. In this learning environment, students can access services in advising, testing, disabilities resources, study, research, writing, communication, mathematics, adaptive technology, tutoring, and English as a second language. Primary responsibility for learning assistance lives …

Community College Online Course Retention And Final Grade: Predictability Of Social Presence, Simon Y. Liu, Joel Gomez, Cherng-Jyh Yen

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

This study employed a quantitative research design to examine the predictive relationships between social presence and course retention as well as final grade in community college online courses. Social presence is defined as the degree of one's feeling, perception and reaction to another intellectual entity in the online environment. Course final grades included A, B. C, D, F, I, or W. Course retention was defined as successfully completed a course with an A to C grade. The results of the binary and ordinal logistic regression analyses suggest that social presence is a significant predictor of course retention and final grade …