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What Is The Relationship Between The Degree Middle Schools Implement The Essential Elements, Student Achievement And The Programs And Practices Applied In Each School, Ravo Root Iii

Dissertations - ALL

ABSTRACT

By 2003, both the New York State Board of Regents Policy Statement and the new Commissioner’s Regulation 100.4, required all middle level programs to implement a set of policies and practices called the NYS Essential Elements of Standards-Focused Middle-Level Schools and Programs. Early adolescence (ages 10-14) is a time when students experience, the most tumultuous physical and mental changes occur during adolescence, with the exception of a child’s first year of life (Montessori, 2004). Middle grade level philosophy and a description of what middle schools should be like are directly linked to taking a balanced approach to meeting the …

The Tale Of Two Middle School Literacy Coaches: Implications For Building Coaching Capacity, Tina Edwards

Dissertations

This study examines the day to day practices of two middle school literacy coaches. My intention is to capture how coaches continue to build their capacity. Data were gathered through multiple sources, in the form of interviews, observations, a focus group, field notes, reflection journal and artifacts. I then analyzed the data to look for themes. Three major themes emerged through this research and several implications are made for literacy coaches, principals, district leadership, professional development providers, university programs and school systems.

Relational Aggression, Middle School Girls, And The Development Of Critical Consciousness, Casey Quirarte

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This study, Relational Aggression, Middle School Girls, and the Development of Critical Consciousness, engaged both feminist theory and critical pedagogy as a means to deconstruct the issue of relational aggression among adolescent girls. The objective of this research was to contribute to the growing body of literature pertaining to relational aggression and fill some gaps in the literature surrounding preventative programming. This study investigated the experiences of middle school girls engaged in a solution- oriented approach in order to postulate possible program approaches and educational initiatives to decrease the prevalence of relational aggression in middle school girls. The collection and …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Effects Of Problem- And Project-Based Learning On Academic Achievement In Grades 6-12 Populations, Kimberly J. Jensen

Education Dissertations

Researchers and proponents of problem- and project-based learning (PBL) indicate that PBL as a curriculum and instruction approach (Savery, 2006; Schmidt, Loyens, Van Gog, & Paas, 2007) provides an effective way for teachers to respond to students’ needs, provides opportunities for students to actively engage in and take responsibility for learning by engaging in meaningful and relevant work, and provides students opportunities to directly apply their knowledge and skills (Hmelo-Silver & DeSimone, 2013; McCombs, 2010; Parker et al., 2011). Although primary research within secondary (6-12) contexts indicated that problem-and project based learning (PBL) is often superior to traditional, lecture-based instruction …

Teacher Perceptions Of The Use Of School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports At Reducing The Presence Of Bullying In Middle Schools, Kristine Marie Harper

Dissertations

Each day students throughout the world are exposed to bullying in many different ways and on many different occasions. Bullying has received such a great amount of attention through the media, that it leaves parents and community members with the belief that bullying has become a bigger problem today than it ever has before Austin, Reynolds, & Barnes, 2012; Carrera, DePalma, & Lameiras, 2011; Packman et al., 2005; Rigby & Smith, 2011). Nearly every state in the nation has passed laws regarding bullying and increasing the responsibility of schools and districts to implement programs to prevent and/or address bullying on …

A Phenomenological Study Of Middle School Bullying In The Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Vanessa Cristina Cantu

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this paper was to describe the study concerning special education students in middle school who were bullied. Many students in the special education program are being bullied, whether it is due to their disabilities or other factors (Mishna, 2003; Rose, Espelage, & Monda-Amaya, 2009; Coloroso, 2008; Christensen, Fraynt, Neece, & Baker, 2012). While several quantitative studies have been conducted addressing this worldwide phenomenon, few qualitative studies have been performed. A phenomenological approach allowed the participants to share their own experiences with bullying. Twenty-five students from several middle schools (6th, 7th, 8th grades) in a city in the …

Priming Middle School Females’ Engagement In Engineering And Technology, Mary Bonk Isaac

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to validate data collected between 2009-2013 via an instrument used to assess middle school girls’ identification with and interest in engineering and technology following the Society of Women Engineers’ WOW events. Recognizing the importance of measuring the impact of such mentored E & T activities on young females’ attitudes about and interest in STEM, and more specifically, engineering and technology, SWE outreach experts developed a participant survey based on event objectives and domain knowledge, but never rigorously examined whether it produced statistically valid data that could be used to draw inferences about girls’ propensity …

Effects Of The Student Success Skill Program On Feelings Of Connectedness, Parent-Child Relationship, And Success Skill Engagement In Middle School Students, Phyllis Hannah Bowers

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

The author of the current study examined the effects of the Student Success Skills (SSS) program on middle school students' perceptions of connectedness, parent-child relationship, and engagement in success skills. The sample included 41 predominantly Hispanic seventh grade students from an impoverished community in the rural southwest. The author used a paired-samples t-test to determine the effects of the SSS program on connectedness, parent-child relationship, and success skill engagement. Overall, students reported significantly decreased perceptions of connectedness and success skill engagement. A rationale for the students' results reflects the context of current educational climate, sex factors, and ethnic considerations. Based …

What Middle Schoolers Want: An Analysis Of The Most Circulated Texts In A Public School District, Kimberly Flanders Mccuiston

Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s climate of education reform and the classroom concentration on texts that are academically rigorous, it is easy to forget the importance of encouraging voluntary reading for adolescents. Understanding students’ interests in texts can provide teachers with the knowledge to promote voluntary reading within the classroom. This embedded case study examined the popularity of texts in a public school district’s middle school libraries through quantitative data drawn from library circulation records. The records from 12 public middle school libraries from a school district in the southeastern United States were used to determine the 10 most frequently checked out books …

"Keep Funding Or Else... It's Mustaches": Building A Community Of Literacy At Owl Creek, Ian Whitlow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following research report on literacy practices presents an analysis of the data collected over the course of four months at Owl Creek middle school in Northwest Arkansas. Following a qualitative research protocol, I interacted with middle school students who participated in the Razorback Writers after-school literacy outreach program sponsored by the University of Arkansas. This report details the two major literacy practices encouraged in this after school program - the collective read-aloud sessions focusing on the graphic novel I Kill Giants, and the students' creation of their own graphic novels, which were developed in group workshops. In the following …

Reading Intervention Strategies For General Education Middle School Students: Providing A Space For Teachers To Share Effective Methods, Amy Michelle Baas

Masters Theses

While studies have been conducted to highlight intervention strategies that will help struggling readers, very few of these empirical studies have used middle school aged students as participants. And among those studies which have, the results were based solely on quantifiable data; the opinions of the classroom teachers who work with these students daily cannot be found in these or any of the empirical studies. The purpose of this thesis is to fill this gap by offering a space for middle school English language arts teachers to share effective intervention strategies that they use in their classrooms to help struggling …

Zoom: The Changing Nature Of Middle School Shared Instructional Leadership On The Way To The Common Core, Ann M. Yanchura

Dissertations

The complexities, diversity, and nuances of schools today require the shared leadership of the best and brightest that education has to offer. All across the country, school districts are embarking on the challenging journey toward higher and better standards and performance found in the adoption of the Common Core State Standards. This dissertation describes the early CCSS implementation efforts of the middle schools in a Midwest suburban district. In particular, it examines the instructional leadership that was shared among the administrators and literacy coaches who led the adoption and implementation of the new Standards. The research was conducted during their …

The Effects Of Parental Motivations On Home-Based And School-Based Parental Involvement, Steve C. Strickland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students at a Title I middle school in Georgia have scored low on standardized state tests for several years. Of the many possible ways to address low test scores, the school focused on increasing parental involvement, which can have a strong positive correlation with academic success. Researchers have indicated that parental involvement programs are more successful when created based on the specific motivations of parents. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parental motivation on parents' home-based and school-based involvement behaviors. The theoretical framework for this study was the work of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler who …

The Effects Of Peer Mediated Instruction To Teach Math Skills To Middle School Students, Ellen S. Bloyd

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a functional relation between a peer-delivered modified system of least prompts procedure (SLP) and an increase in level and trend of performance on finding the area of polygons or finding the volume of cylinders, spheres, and cones, and could the peer tutor reliably implement the modified SLP procedure with middle school students with mild to severe disabilities. A multiple probe days across participants design was used. Results from this study show that there was a functional relation across students in which students were able to make progress on academic …

Bringing The Outside In: Connecting Literacy Practices In A Layered, Technologically-Driven Seventh Grade Honors English Curriculum, Geneva L. Scully

Wayne State University Dissertations

As technology consumes our society today, it was one intention of this study to examine whether purposeful curriculum design that both scaffolded and layered technological tools into a unit of study in a seventh grade honors English classroom would lead to more critical and creative thinking. Through a qualitative design, case study analysis of three students whose experiences demonstrated how students were able to achieve increased levels of critical thinking was described. Another intention of this study was to examine whether or not students connected their in-school and out-of-school literacies through this experience in a more meaningful way as contributors …

A Study Of The Social And Emotional Growth And Development Of Students With Disabilities In An Inclusive Setting In An Inner-City Middle School, Heather Rachelle Lemmons

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this retrospective, explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was to determine the impact of an inclusive educational setting on the behavioral, social, and emotional growth and development of students with various disabilities. Many aspects of a student’s educational experiences can be affected by a proper placement in an inclusive setting with non-disabled peers including discipline rates and referrals, need for behavioral goals and plans, and perceptions concerning personal social growth and development.

The setting for this research study was an inner-city middle school serving Grades 7 and 8 in western North Carolina. Eighth-grade middle school students identified as students …

Evaluating The Effects Of The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program On Middle School Bullying, Michelle Marie Kendrick

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This project study addressed the problem of bullying, victimization, and the awareness of these activities at a public suburban middle school in Northwest Georgia. The study school implemented the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) in 2009, yet had not evaluated the program to identify whether or not it met its goals after 1 year of implementation. Using a quasiexperimental, goal-free program evaluation, the research questions explored whether or not the OBPP succeeded in reducing the student reported rates of bullying and victimization while also increasing awareness of such activities. A Mann Whitney U test was utilized for analysis due to …

Analysis Of Attitudes, Gender, And Beliefs Of Adolescent Students Concerning Interactive Technology, Courtney L. Teague

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide insight about the perceptions of middle school students attending a Title I school about technology use and careers. Using a mixed methods approach, the researcher explored the beliefs and circumstances that affect attitudes and behaviors in technology usage by eighth-grade boys and girls. The research questions for this study included: 1) female Title I middle school students' perceptions of interactive technology, 2) male Title I middle school students' perceptions of interactive technology, and 3) gender differences towards interactive technology. Data were collected from six focus group participants and 226 students who completed a …

Parenting Practices Of Lower Socioeconomic Status Parents Of High Achieving Students, Michael S. Elia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many lower socioeconomic status (SES) students at the middle school level in a school district were not achieving academically, and many of their parents were not involved in the school. To assist these parents, this qualitative case study examined the perspectives of lower SES parents of middle school students who were experiencing academic success. The intent of this investigation was to illuminate the parenting practices and involvement that appeared to be effective for this subpopulation. The theoretical framework was Bandura's self-efficacy theory. Research questions focused on lower SES parents' practices that supported their child's academic success. Data were collected through …

Towards More Effective Teacher Professional Development Initiatives, Laura Sebastian Hooks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The No Child Left Behind Act (2002) and Race to the Top (2009) legislation have forged new school accountability measures and led to a sharp increase in demand for teacher professional development (TPD). However, data revealed that there is a disconnection between the training that teachers receive and its implementation, limiting its impact on student achievement. This qualitative case study's purpose was to reveal major barriers to TPD implementation and provide suggestions for crafting more impactful TPD. Based on the social constructivist foundation, this study sought to address the factors that increase teachers' receptiveness to more effective teaching techniques. It …

The Relationship Between Middle School Configurations And Student Success, Asia Ali-Hawkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public schools have used varying school configurations for middle grades-typically K-8 or traditional middle school arrangements-to improve students' academic outcomes. A small Northeastern school district was experiencing problems with student achievement, suspensions, and truancy, and was considering school configuration as a potential method of improving student performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the associations between school configuration and student achievement, suspensions, and truancy. Erikson's psychosocial theory of development and Dickinson's middle school philosophy guided this study since both address the needs of adolescents. Five years of archival data were collected from 2 demographically comparable Northeast school …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Take Action: Making Goals Happen Curriculum, Kelly Wulf

Theses and Dissertations

As the accountability movement emerged with the passage of No Child Left Behind and the amendments of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act, there was a growing concern regarding how to best provide transition services for youth with disabilities. As Cobb, Lehmann, Newman-Gonchar, and Alwell (2008) have stated, a research base has emerged concerning the role of self-determination and other moderators that impact postschool outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify if Choicemaker: Take Action: Making Goals Happen curriculum is effective in increasing global self-determination among middle school students with disabilities. Multiple Regression analysis was used with a …