Education Commons^™

The Benefits Of Using Open-Note Assessments, Logan Schaefers

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study investigated the impact of open-note assessments on student learning as measured by the student’s overall score on unit assessments inside of a 9th grade Algebra 1 classroom. This study included 332 freshmen: an experimental group (open-note assessments) of 72 students and a control group of 260 students. Findings of this study did not show a statistically significant increase in the scores of students using open-note assessments. However, when looking at the different quartiles of test scores, the overwhelming evidence by the researcher revealed the benefits that open-note assessments had on student’s academic performance resulting in better …

“My Work Doesn’T Need To Be Perfect As Long As The Effort Is There”: A Case Study Of Multilingual Student Perceptions Of Labor-Based Grading Contracts In The First-Year Writing Classroom, Allison M. Hosman

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Recent developments in the fields of both TESOL and Composition indicate a need for conceptualizing and developing assessment practices that support the needs of multilingual writers that are in line with the aims of justice-oriented pedagogies. One such specific pedagogical practice, assessment, has been proposed as an area of pedagogy in which to operationalize approaches that maintain and sustain justice in the multilingual composition classroom. Although contract grading, and more specifically labor-based grading contracts, have been at the center of such recent conversations, few investigations have centered multilingual students, asking how they perceive and understand such an assessment method in …

Increasing Collaboration To Improve Student Outcomes: Improvement Science, Cassandra Diane Thonstad

Dissertations and Theses

The aspiration of achieving equitable outcomes for all students is a focus of schools, districts, and communities but has largely remained unattainable with the top-down implementation of change ideas and directives that come and go as quickly as they are implemented. Too often the direct users, students and classroom staff, are left out of the conversations around what works best to improve student success, contributing to the achievement gaps experienced by our students of color, students receiving special education or English language services, or in the case of a hook discipline, young men. By utilizing Improvement Science through collaboration across …

The Long Island Opt-Out Movement And Local Politics In Four School Districts, Raymond James Webb

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study focused on the political influence of the Long Island Opt-Out Organization, an interest group that promoted the right of parents and guardians to have their children opt out of standardized testing. The study examined the activism and influence of this group on school board elections and policy agendas in four school districts in Long Island, New York during 2014-2019.

The African American And The California Basic Skills Requirement For Teaching, Willie C. Thomas Ii

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examines why the passing rates of African Americans on the CBEST are the lowest in California at 60%. Madkins (2011) identified licensure testing as a significant reason why African Americans cannot enter the teaching progression. According to Darling-Hammond et al. (2016), California has an ongoing credentialed teacher shortage. An even more significant need is for teachers of color. According to the California Department of Education (2021), 60% of the state’s educator workforce is White, while the state student body, multicultural and multilingual, is only slightly more than 22% White. While licensure testing for teachers is required in all …

Journey Of Reform: A Phenomenological Study Of The Perceived Impacts Of Standards-Based Grading On Curriculum, Assessment, And Instruction, Melanie K. Cleveringa

Master of Education Program Theses

This phenomenological study included interviewing a purposeful sampling of eight teacher-leaders in the Sioux Center Community School District in Sioux Center, Iowa, to discover the perceived impact that the district’s professional development reform to standards-based grading (SBG) and personalized competency-based education (PCBE) had on their curriculum, instructional, and assessment practices - as well as on student learning. Analysis of these experiences and perceptions was undertaken with the intention to deepen the understanding of what implications, principles, and elements might be critical to the following leadership goals around such reform: advancing district-wide guidance around next steps and destinations for short- and …

Education's Death Row : The Standardization Network And A Persistently Lowest Achieving School In The Era Of Common Core, Valarie J. Karas

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In 2010, New York State both adopted the Common Core Learning Standards and identified the State’s first 67 “persistently lowest achieving” schools, the most severe failure designation available under the State’s accountability system as based upon standardized test performance and/or graduation rates (Common Core Standards Initiative, 2015; NYSED, 2010a). The Common Core Learning Standards were advertised as a pathway to a high-quality education for all American students (Common Core Standards Initiative, 2015; Supovitz & McGuinn, 2019). However, a public uproar occurred in the late summer of 2013 following the release of standardized “Common Core” test scores which showed an increase …

Growing Motivation And Learning For The Middle School Student Through Reassessment Practices, Payton Ponstein

Master of Education Program Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the best reassessment practices, in a middle school setting, that would nurture a learning and motivating classroom environment. The research questions sought to discover the best reassessment practices in middle school and how do these practices increase a middle school student’s ability and motivation to re-learn. Forty-eight middle school students in the 7th and 8th grade were surveyed to assess the effectiveness of each reassessment practice. Furthermore, interviews with four students were conducted for a more in-depth exploration of student learning and motivation. Statistical significance was found in the quantitative data indicating …

Identifying Exceptionally Performing Third Grades In Indiana: Who Is To Blame?, Emily Troyer 19

Honor Scholar Theses

Federal and state governments want to know that their constituents' tax dollars are being spent well, and that public education is serving the People well. To assess a school's efficacy, they calculate an accountability score. Although state-level scoring systems vary, neither the federal law nor a single state's law require that demographic characteristics of a school's student population be held constant when it is being evaluated. This complicates the assessment of a school's adequacy because factors outside of a school's control influence student performance; when a school is evaluated without taking this into account, it is being unfairly credited with …

Predictive Validity Of I-Ready Diagnostic Scores For High-Stakes Test Outcomes With Middle School Students : A Program Evaluation, Rachel Eva Aguilar

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Assessment is a powerful tool that can be utilized to enhance teaching and learning. Within a response-to-intervention (RtI) framework, data collected via assessment are used to measure student proficiency, track progress, and subsequently align instruction with student learning needs. The purpose of this program evaluation was to explore the use of a computer-adaptive testing (CAT) measure, i-Ready Diagnostic, as part of a rural middle school’s assessment process, within an RtI model. This program evaluation sought to gather evidence regarding the ability of different i-Ready reading and math measures, administered in the fall, winter, and spring, to predict student performance on …

The Ouroboros Of Rubrics: A Conundrum, A Case, And A Call, Anita Bright

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this think piece, the author explores a conundrum and tension related to using rubrics to evaluate doctoral work. She ponders whether the use of rubrics provides beneficial ways for students to “crack the code” of academia, and/or whether the use of rubrics is perhaps a tool to engender conformity. With these competing ideas in mind, the author considers in what ways one might press for means to provide this on-ramp of access for students to the existing power structures, while at the same time seeking to change academia, to more equitably provide spaces for a range in ways of …

What If Assessment Was A Gift?, Patricia C. Kornelis

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Tool To Assess Students’ Conceptual Understanding In Introductory Statistics, Nathan L. Tintle, Jill Vander Stoep

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Few tools exist to assess students’ conceptual understanding in post-secondary, introductory statistics courses. The CAOS test is widely considered to be the gold standard, but was first published in 2007 and does not necessarily reflect some of the changes in student learning at the secondary level. Furthermore, it may not be sensitive enough to measure student conceptual understanding in modern post-secondary statistics courses (e.g., simulation-based inference). In this paper we will describe the process of developing a new instrument which uses some CAOS items, as well as additional new items to improve validity and reliability. We will share the validity …

Comparative Use Of The Ages And Stages Questionnaires In Low‐ And Middle‐Income Countries, Jason W. Small, Hollie Hix-Small, Emily Vargas-Baron, Kevin P. Marks

Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Aim: To map the breadth of use of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) across world regions, and examine procedures for ASQ translation, adaptation, psychometric evaluation, and administration.

Method: We conducted a review of all original, peer‐reviewed studies written in English referencing use of the ASQ in LMICs. We used a consensus rating procedure to classify each article into one of four categories: feasibility study, psychometric study, prevalence study, or research study.

Results: We analysed 53 peer‐reviewed articles written in English detailing use of the ASQ in LMICs. We found evidence …

Exploring Validity Of Computer-Based Test Scores With Examinees' Response Behaviors And Response Times, Fusun Sahin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Examining the testing processes, as well as the scores, is needed for a complete understanding of validity and fairness of computer-based assessments. Examinees’ rapid-guessing and insufficient familiarity with computers have been found to be major issues that

"That's The Test?" Washback Effects Of An Alternative Assessment In A Culturally Heterogeneous Eap University Class, Abigail Bennett Carrigan

Dissertations and Theses

To determine learner attitudes toward an alternative assessment, additional washback effects, and possible relationships between cultures of learning and learner attitudes, a mixed methods study was conducted in an advanced multicultural EAP (English for Academic Purposes) class in the USA, where a poster project was implemented as a summative assessment. Qualitative and quantitative data from a pre- and post-test questionnaire as well as classroom observations and an interview with the instructor were used to investigate learners' attitudes towards the assessment. The twenty-four participants representing five cultures of learning from the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia expressed largely positive …

Evaluating An Assessment Instrument For The Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan, Susan Mae Duncan

Dissertations and Theses

This mixed methods study evaluated the validity, and reliability of an instrument designed to assess a middle school student's proficiency in systems thinking as described in the 2010 Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan. In Stage 1, a forum of middle school students, formal, and non-formal educators used the Delphi technique to reach consensus regarding which skills were important to include in a scoring guide for systems thinking. In Stage 2, the scoring guide was field tested by formal and non-formal educators using a sample of students' work. The two groups' scores were compared using Cohen's kappa to make inferences regarding inter-rater …

Predictive Validity Of Curriculum-Based Reading Measures For High-Stakes Outcome Assessments With Secondary Students Identified As Struggling Readers, Tierney Gifford

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) tools are used widely to assess students’ progress within different stages of the Response to Intervention (RTI) process. Despite the wide-spread use, little research has identified the efficacy of reading CBMs in predicting secondary student outcomes on high-stakes assessments. High-stakes assessments are being utilized to determine outcomes for not just students, but teachers, administrators, and districts. More research is needed to determine if reading CBMs are useful tools for the populations of struggling secondary readers. The current study was a secondary analysis of existing data, which attempted to gain an understanding of this through examining the predictive …

The Role Of The Standards For Educational And Psychological Testing In The Development Of Student Evaluations Of Teaching Effectiveness In Higher Education, Anna Valentinova Valcheva

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purposes of this study were to 1) investigate the extent to which the standards for instrument development, as articulated by the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA/APA/NCME, 2014) are applied during the process of creating student evaluations of teaching (SETs) in order to ensure their reliability and validity, and 2) the factors affecting the application of the standards. The results were analyzed in terms of the percentage of reported standards followed, as well as in terms of the three relevant sections of the Standards. Eighty-nine professionals involved in the process of developing and/or using SETs at their institutions …

A Textbook Case: The Connection Between Textbooks, Standardized Testing, And Student Achievement, Megan P. Miller

Theses & Honors Papers

The textbooks physical presence, though, is marginal compared to their theoretical presence, as textbooks can drive almost every decision a teacher makes when preparing for a day, a week, a month, the year. For example, in my 11^th-grade English classes at Grafton High School in York County, Virginia, there are two levels of understanding. One is that I am teaching American literature, its development, importance, people, and purpose; the other is that everything I teach will, in some way, better prepare my students for their SOL test at the end of the year. The textbook has been laid …

The Impact Of Criteria-Referenced Formative Assessment On Fifth Grade Students' Theater Arts And English Language Arts Achievement, Fei Chen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of criteria-referenced formative assessment (CRFA) on elementary students' achievement in theater arts and the transfer effect of the treatment on English language arts (ELA) achievement. The role of gender and task type in moderating the treatment-achievement relationship was also explored. The analytical sample included 520 fifth-grade students from thirteen classes who participated in the Arts Achieve project. Selection bias in treatment assignment was adjusted with propensity score analysis (Rosenbaum & Rubin, 1983) for the purposes of obtaining asymptotically unbiased estimates of treatment effects.

Effects Of Criteria-Referenced Formative Assessment On Achievement In Music, Christopher Valle

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of criteria-referenced formative assessment on music achievement. Archival data from 1,173 students who participated in the first two years of the Arts Achieve project were used to examine the overall and school level effects of criteria-referenced formative assessment on music achievement, as well as its effect on content knowledge, listening, and performance achievement tasks. The relationships between sources of feedback from formative assessment – self, peer, teacher – and music achievement were also investigated. Unbiased causal treatment effects were derived after employing propensity score analysis to minimize selection bias and …

Assessment Of First-Year Composition Students' Information Literacy Skills, Erin E. Rinto

Lied Library Open House for the 2014 American Library Association Conference

One of the ways we have been assessing the information literacy skills of our first year students is through developing and applying rubrics to a sample of annotated bibliography projects from the required English Composition course at UNLV. The annotated bibliography assignment consists of a paper proposal and the annotations for 5 sources the student plans on using in their final research paper. The "source evaluation rubric" was applied to each individual annotation (totaling 1358 annotations) and the rubric examined the extent to which students were using the evaluative criteria of currency, relevance, and authority when selecting and evaluating an …

A National Study Comparing Charter And Traditional Public Schools Using Propensity Score Analysis, Jason M. Bryer

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Unlike their private school counterparts, charter schools receive public funding but are relieved of some of the bureaucratic and regulatory constraints of public schools in exchange for being held accountable for student performance. Studies provide mixed results with regard to charter school performance. Charter schools are, by definition, schools of choice, and this means that observational data methods are required for comparing such schools with others. In observational data contexts, simple comparisons of two groups such as traditional public and charter schools typically ignore the inherent and systematic differences between the two groups. However, given well-designed observational studies and appropriate …

The Importance Of The Teacher's Role And Opinions On Individual Education Plans, Shallymar Ileana Bender

Theses Digitization Project

This study focused on gather a better understanding of what teachers are familiar with when working with and Individual Education Plan (IEP), and how this affects the implementation of IEPs in the mainstream classroom. This study also focused on accommodations teachers are required to make, or additional information needed to accomodate for the needs of children with special needs in the mainstream classroom.

Comparing Cognitive Models Of Domain Mastery And Task Performance In Algebra : Validity Evidence For A State Assessment, Zachary Borden Warner

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study compared an expert-based cognitive model of domain mastery with student-based cognitive models of task performance for Integrated Algebra. Interpretations of student test results are limited by experts' hypotheses of how students interact with the items. In reality, the cognitive processes that students use to solve each item may be very different than those assumed by the test developers. Without knowledge of how students are actually operating on these test items and the cognitive processes they use, interpretations from the results of the examination may be compromised. In this study, I investigated the cognitive processes that students used when …

Post-Oppositional Culture Theory: Counter Narratives Of African American Preservice Teachers, Sonya Victoria Scott

Theses Digitization Project

This study seeks to counter the social narrative that African Americans resist schooling by examining African American post baccalaureate college students that have developed a passion for learning as demonstrated in their persistence and motivations to enter the teaching profession. Racially correlated disparities prevalent in standardized test scores, high school dropout rates and college eligibility remain one of the most pervasive educational dilemmas facing public schools across the nation. African Americans are identified as significantly under performing when compared to the average performance of white students.

What Is The Relative Influence Of Nj School Report Card Variables On Nj Ask 5 Scores?, Dorian Marrone Gemellaro

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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U.S. Student Achievement From A Global Perspective, Thomas Loveless

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Tom Loveless, a former sixth-grade teacher and Harvard public policy professor, is an expert on student achievement, education policy, and reform in K-12 schools. He also is a member of the National Math Advisory Panel. What do we know about U.S. students' academic achievement compared to students in other countries? The talk will present the latest evidence on U.S. performance on international tests and examine long term trends. In addition, the performance of Nevada and Las Vegas students will be reviewed in the context of national and international assessments.

Relationships Between Initial California High School Exit Exam Performance And Academic Success Of High School Students, Jennifer Ellen Lucht

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) and 11th grade GPA and ACT scores as measures of academic success.