Education Commons^™

Professional Learning Community Perceptions For Propelling Academic Growth In A Rural North Carolina School System, Steven E. Howard

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Small rural schools often struggle to facilitate true professional learning communities (PLCs) when there is one teacher per grade level in the building. The district selected for this study contained four elementary schools with one teacher per grade level and a combined middle and high school to collect perception data. Utilizing a concurrent triangulation design method, this dissertation set out to answer three research questions by analyzing the perceptions of PLCs from the lens of teachers and administrators. The research questions focused on collective efficacy impacts, student achievement impacts, and the COVID-19 pandemic impacts on PLC operations. These impacts were …

Gifted And Talented Science Instruction At The Middle Level: A Mixed Methods Evaluation Of Teacher Practices And Impact On Student Achievement, James King

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Middle school students (Grades 6-8) face a unique set of challenges. Add a gifted and talented (GT) identification, and the need for differentiation in instruction for the exceptional adolescent becomes critical. This research focused on specific practices such as ability grouping, curriculum compaction, providing students choice, problem-based learning, and professional development among others in a primarily rural school district. This mixed methods research used an explanatory sequential design and sought to examine what practices are being used in a middle school GT sixth-grade science classroom using a survey instrument to assess frequency of practice. The results of the survey indicated …

Lay It All On The Line: The Effect Of Teacher-Student Conferencing In Middle Grades Mathematics Classrooms, Natalie Ostrander

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Increasing math achievement continues to be a commonly talked about subject in the educational setting. This case study observes one classroom teacher who implemented teacher-student conferencing in middle grades mathematics classes. The purpose of this study was to reveal the perceived impact of teacher-student conferencing on student engagement and with student achievement. Through a qualitative approach, perceptual data were collected through teacher journaling, conference logs, observations, and an interview. Research occurred in one school district in southeastern North Carolina with middle grades students in sixth and eighth grades. After the qualitative data were collected by me, data were analyzed using …

Finding The Right Equation For Success: An Exploratory Study On The Effects Of A Growth Mindset Intervention On College Students In Remedial Math, Tyrone A. Fleurizard, Patrick R. Young

Journal of Counseling and Psychology

More and more students enter college in need of math remediation. Students in remedial math courses tend to report low self-efficacy, which negatively affects academic performance. To help low-achieving students succeed, researchers such as Dweck (2006) find that fostering a growth mindset increases self-efficacy and academic performance. The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of a growth mindset intervention on the self-efficacy and performance of students in remedial math. It was hypothesized that students who participated in the growth mindset intervention would report higher levels of self-efficacy and test scores than the students who did not. …

The Influence Of Balance Within The Competing Values Framework And School Academic Success On Teacher Retention, Charisse Gulosino, Louis Franceschini Iii, Portia Hardman

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

The primary aim of this study is to use the survey items from the TELL Tennessee Survey (2013) using the Competing Values Framework (CVF) to determine whether teachers' observations about a set of topically organized school climate dimensions and school performance levels are associated with their immediate professional plans. Using a three-by-two-level Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), we find that the effect of CVF “balance” and school performance level explain much of the variation in the percent of teachers who intend to stay at their current school, independent of the school’s student demographic characteristics. Specifically, the effect of having a balanced …

The Effects Of Teacher And Student Satisfaction On Student Achievement, Sean Mcwherter

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine factors contributing to both teacher and student satisfaction and to determine if a relationship existed between the satisfaction levels and student achievement. The contributing factors identified in this study consisted of items that could be influenced or controlled in the school environment. Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs was used to help identify factors that could contribute to teacher and student satisfaction.

The subjects for this quantitative study came from a rural high school in the southern part of the United States. The participants in this study were analyzed according to their level of curricular …

The Effect Of A Summer Reading Program On Student Reading Achievement, Danielle Triplett

Education Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the relationship between reading during the summer and reading achievement. The participants consisted of second through fifth grade students in a rural, western North Carolina elementary school. Continued focus on increasing reading abilities and closing the achievement gap prompted the interest for this research.

Data were gathered through the use of qualitative and quantitative measures such as state and county assessments, surveys, and program reports.

Analysis of the data indicated the role that reading during the summer had on reading achievement.

The Impact Of Collective Teacher Efficacy On Student Achievement In High School Science, Mark W. Burcham

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the impact of collective teacher efficacy on high school science achievement by looking at relationships among collective teacher efficacy, its two constructs, group competence and group task analysis, and high school science achievement scores at four rural high schools in Northwestern North Carolina.

The researcher gathered historical test data from the testing coordinator from the school system and then administered the Collective Teacher Efficacy Instrument, developed by Goddard, Hoy, and Woolfolk Hoy (2000), to 24 science teachers from the four high schools. Using this information, the researcher conducted statistical analyses to determine the relationships …

The Effects Of Teacher Stability On Third Grade Student Achievement As Measured By The North Carolina End-Of-Grade Tests In Reading And Mathematics, Juddson W. Starling

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the effects of teacher stability on student achievement as measured by the North Carolina End-of-Grade tests in reading and mathematics for third grade students. The perceptions of third grade teachers and elementary school principals concerning issues with teacher stability were also examined. Accountability for public schools in North Carolina has driven educators to find ways to increase student achievement. Teacher stability is a variable that can be controlled by educators in an attempt to increase student achievement.

The writer gathered test data from a target school district and analyzed test scores by the number …