Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Singing Their Stories: A Musical Narrative Of Teaching And Testing, Desi Richter

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This musical, arts-based educational research describes the lived experiences of four K-12 New Orleans educators who believe that end-of-year standardized tests hinder their ability to teach in ways they believe are best. Using songwriting as a form of data elicitation and narrative restorying, this study documents the lived experiences of teachers who have experienced test-related cognitive dissonance. While curricular narrowing and other test-related practices have been studied in many contexts, the perspectives of New Orleans teachers are barely documented. Thus, this study fills a content gap in the testing literature. Musically restorying the data contributes to the accountability literature in …

Power In Plain Sight: Exploring The Class Privilege At In Curriculum At Wealthy High Schools, Miriam Gross

Master's Projects and Capstones

While secondary education has moderately improved in its approach of racial and gender issues in the classroom, social class remains an undiscussed topic, especially in school communities serving students of the highest social classes where financial privilege often intersects with racial privilege. The lack of discussion of social class is considered against the role schooling is meant to play in creating good citizens and the different ways that is construed. Taking into account research into the identity formation of wealthy adolescents, the hidden curriculum in secondary schools that supports the current social order, and pedagogical practices that could be used …

Practices That Attribute To The Success Of Boys: A Study Of Title I Middle Schools In Texas, Laura L. Duhon

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

While it is commonly believed that boys are more successful than girls academically, research shows that boys are failing to thrive, academically, behaviorally, and socially. Boys comprise 70% of school suspensions as well as 80% of high school dropouts along with other alarming statistics. The purpose of this research study was to investigate approaches that contribute to the success of boys within six Title I middle schools located in various regions of Texas. These schools were selected based on state assessment (STAAR) scores where their male population was achieving the same or greater success as the females as measured by …

Supporting Student Connectedness And Social Satisfaction During Recess, Elizabeth Teasdale Wells

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This project examines the effects of how recess preparation and reflection can be focused on providing students an opportunity to connect socially and strengthen overall happiness. By investigating the role social satisfaction plays in a child’s life during recess, educators may gain knowledge about how to foster social connectedness for every child. While most studies about recess focus on a child’s level of physical activity or negative behaviors, researchers have yet to investigate recess as a place to improve a child’s well-being and social satisfaction. This study was conducted at a public elementary school through qualitative interviews and observations. Teachers, …

Service Learning Through Extracurricular Activities: Development And Implementation Of A Transportation Engineering Learning Module, Karla Diaz Corro

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project developed an easy to implement, low-cost learning module. The module has students compare and contrast the challenges of gathering comprehensive and quality transportation data through advanced technologies and traditional approaches while introducing traffic engineering topics like traffic signal timing. The modules target middle through high school students and first and second year undergraduate engineering students. The learning modules introduce transportation engineering using an engaging open-source computer simulation game adapted by students at the University of Arkansas, as part of a capstone project. The activities in the learning modules require off-the shelf, low-cost computer hardware, making it easy for …

Gearing Up For College, Beatriz Amy Huerta

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Sadly, in the Greenfield community, there are exceedingly high rates of individuals who lack post-secondary education. The Census (2010), states that only 4.8% of persons age 25 years and older in Greenfield, CA obtain a bachelor’s degree. At Greenfield High School over the past five years, an average of 16 students enrolled at a CSU campus (The California State University, 2018). In efforts to promote higher education, Gear Up (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) empowers students and families of the Monterey County by fostering equitable access to postsecondary education and career readiness through relevant rigorous academic and …

Using Strategic Discourse For Building Understanding In Elementary Mathematics: What Do Teachers And Students Think?, Mary Coakley

Doctoral Dissertations

The mathematics reform movement has not had a significant or lasting impact on the practice of teachers and learning of students throughout the country (Boylan, 2010, Kazemi & Stipek, 2001). Students are not developing the types of skills critical thinking skills needed to solve problems in mathematics. Research suggests a need for structural changes that include providing opportunities for students to develop more autonomy and authority in the mathematics classroom (Cuban, 2013). To meet these challenges, teachers and students must make significant changes to implement instruction that fulfills this demand. This expectation has left teachers struggling to determine essential changes …

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report, Derek L. Silva

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

The Galt High School Agriculture Department is committed and dedicated to promoting and developing personal growth, career technical skills and rigorous/ relevant instruction for all students. Offering several pathways in the Agri-Science, Ornamental Horticulture and Ag Mechanics personalized to student’s career and technical skills interest areas through engaging hands on laboratories and industry insight and certification.

In order to accomplish the skills and abilities listed above, the Galt High School Agriculture Department currently overs the following courses for the 2017-2018 school year: Introduction to Agriculture Mechanics 1, Agriculture Mechanics 2, Agriculture Power Mechanics 1, Advanced Agriculture Mechanics, Agricultural Construction BITA …

Theme-Based Lessons: Teacher Perceptions Of A Theme-Based Approach And Its Influence On Student Engagement In Grades 3-8, Robin Penna-Baskinger

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to explore how teachers in Grades 3-8 in one New Jersey school district perceive theme-based lessons on student level of engagement and teaching pedagogy when using their own initiatives to develop a theme-based approach. Research was conducted using a qualitative design to investigate the perceptions and observations of those directly involved in developing theme-based lessons in the classroom. Twelve participants, all experienced teachers within the district of study, participated in a pre-selection questionnaire and an interview process. Increased student engagement, good teaching practices, and teaching pedagogy were dominant themes in this study. The study …

The Initial Planning Process Of An International Service-Learning Pilot Initiative Under Development, Denise P. Krohn

Theses & Dissertations

This research explored the initial planning process of an international service-learning (ISL) initiative under development that involved a collaboration among a south-central Texas private university, a ministry of Catholic Sisters in Peru, a U.S. non-profit organization, and a Peruvian optometry school. Three collaborators were founded by the same religious order. An overlapping in mission and values influenced the context. By delving into the expectations of higher education and its pedagogical practices, ISL’s history and conceptualizations, and concepts of program planning and designing related to the fields of ISL and adult learning, this study presented significant program development aspects. Furthermore, the …

Breaking Traditions: Teaching Efl In The Dominican Republic, Farlin Paulino

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of the author’s beliefs in regard to effectively teaching English as a Foreign Language and Spanish as a Second language. This work was completed for the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University. All the work compiled in this portfolio centers on the teaching philosophy statement, which contains what the author believes to be the most important aspects of teaching a second language. In the first section of the portfolio, the author presents the experiences that made him pursue the profession of teaching languages, his personal philosophy of teaching shaped by …

School Climate: A Comparison Of Teachers, Students, And Parents, James A. Jacobs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the benefits of positive school climate and to measure the perceptions of school climate for intermediate grades in a Northeast Tennessee School district. An online school climate survey was used to collect responses from participants in intermediate grades and focused on the 3 major components of school climate: school engagement, school environment, and school safety. Data were collected for 2 consecutive years in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. Response totals included 1,955 student responses, 116 teacher responses, and 210 parent responses that were analyzed and used for this study. Of the student totals, some students that …

The ‘Just City’ Or Just A City? : Evaluating Social Justice And Equity In Planning Education., Wes Grooms

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary evaluations of accredited planning education performance have eschewed the principles and methodologies of formal program evaluation and performance management. This dissertation tests hypotheses that this contributes to the lack of social equity and justice commitment, content, and inquiry on the part of accredited graduate planning degree programs, their clients, and administrators. The organizations, resources, and processes involved in the purveyance of accredited graduate planning education were conceptualized as a singular, evaluable program and illustrated in a series of program logic models. These models revealed sources of the inattentiveness to normative issues that past evaluations have evidenced, and informed assertions …

Life After The Civil War: A Fifth-Sixth Grade Curriculum To Address Post-Emancipation Discrimination As A Way To Provide Background For Lingering Inequality, Debbie Nehmad

Graduate Student Independent Studies

As part of the coursework required for EDUC 517, I decided to address an extensive gap in my own knowledge of U.S. history: the aftermath of the Civil War and Emancipation for newly freed slaves. This work felt imperative to me because of the uptick in visible racism and violence against the black community coupled with feelings that I could not respond intelligently to racist and judgmental comments I would hear from members of my community. This project includes a researched analysis of the problematic mentalities I observed and aims to address them proactively by helping middle school students develop …

Embedding Diversity Into The Curriculum: Facilitating Challenging Conversations, Chimille E. Dillard

Dissertations

Wagner, Kegan, Lahey, Lemons, Garnier, Helsing, and Rasmussen’s (2006) four C’s, consisting of competency, conditions, culture, and context, were used to think systemically when looking at the current (As-Is) and projected (To-Be) in the Galaxy School district. This paper focused on the need to embed past and current racial and gender diversity issues into the everyday curriculum in an effort to have a positive impact on students’ social-emotional learning skills. The current curriculum has limited racial and no gender diversity. Students can go from Kindergarten to eighth grade being taught very little history and current events that are racially and …

Embedding Racial And Gender Diversity In State Mandated Common Assessments: A Policy Advocacy Document, Chimille E. Dillard

Dissertations

The purpose of this policy advocacy document was to promote the need to modify the Illinois School Code 5/27-20.4 to include language about a state developed, common assessment that focuses on past and current racial and gender diversity issues in the United States. It highlights the need for embedding past and current racial and gender diversity issues in the United States in the everyday curriculum. Additionally, this document discusses the positive impact this policy will have on students’ social and emotional learning skills.

An Examination Of A Social And Emotional Learning Program And Implications For Diversity Development, Chimille E. Dillard

Dissertations

This paper evaluated the Second Step program used by the Galaxy school district and many of the surrounding school districts in the area as the sole social and emotional learning program for elementary and middle/junior high school students. Research was conducted to discover whether or not the Second Step program addressed the social and emotional skills students need when encountering racial and gender-diverse issues in their everyday lives. Both quantitative and qualitative methods (such as surveys; interviews with teachers, social workers, and administrators; and classroom observations) were used when collecting data throughout the research. It was concluded that the Second …

Cognitively Guided Instruction In Elementary Mathematics: Understanding Factors That Influence Classroom Implementation, Teresa A. Conowal

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

This study focused on the teaching technique known as cognitively guided instruction (CGI), through which teachers explore the individual learning styles of their students and use the information they gather to teach more complex concepts more effectively. The focus of this study was on 10 elementary mathematics teachers, with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of the reasons they are making limited use of CGI techniques in their classrooms. The study used interviews and classroom observations of the 10 participants to identify the factors influencing their willingness or reluctance to apply CGI techniques to their instructional practices. The study …

Perceptions Of Middle School Math And Language Arts Teachers On High-Stakes Testing Cultures In Public Schools, Robert Daniello

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Instruction in public schools today is highly prescribed to meet state standards, which, in turn, prepare students for success on standardized assessments. Teachers in language arts and mathematics are being held accountable for standardized assessment results in their end-of-year, summative evaluations. The development of curriculum and delivery of instruction is being impacted and, most specifically, revised and paced according to skills required to demonstrate levels of proficiency on standardized assessments. No Child Left Behind (2001) changed the game for teachers and started the mandate of placing teacher accountability and evaluation on high-stakes tests. However, it was difficult to place a …

Bullies And Allies Near The Playground: Mothers' Experiences Of Aggression In Their Children's Schools, Mara Vicente Robinson

Dissertations

Despite an increasing understanding of the importance of both parent-involvement and aggression among women, there appears to be little understanding of how these two areas influence each other; specifically, the lack of literature examining the extent to which female guardians experienced aggression from other female guardians and the effect it had on their involvement in their children’s schools. In an effort to investigate the extent to which aggression was prevalent among female guardians, the factors that influenced the aggression, and the effects of that aggression on women’s involvement in their children’s education, a convergent parallel mixed methods design was used …

Einstein Or Columbine: Impact Of School Environment On The Socioaffective Development Of Gifted And Talented Adolescents, Rebekah Granger-Ellis

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Why do some gifted minds thrive in life while others fail to fulfill their potential? The spotlight on violence perpetrated by bright individuals questions what went wrong, could it have been prevented, and whether schools are meeting the needs of gifted individuals. Thus, it is important to examine the impact of participation in various gifted and talented programs on the socioaffective development of gifted adolescents. The purpose of this study was to understand (1) if gifted individuals’ social and emotional development were similarly developed as their academic and creative abilities, and (2) if a particular school environment led to differences …

Teaching Juan Rodriguez: Enacting Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy In Elementary Social Studies, Natalie Kuhl

Graduate Student Independent Studies

A fourth grade social studies curriculum and corresponding rationale are presented on the topic of Dominican historical figure Juan Rodriguez, his appearance in the Hudson harbor in 1613, and his legacy as captured by the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute in upper Manhattan. Curricularized racism in education and the responsibility of teachers to correct entrenched curricularized racism is addressed in undertaking the writing of an original curriculum centered on the known scholarship of Juan Rodriguez. As a relatively unknown historical actor and a free man of color from colonial La Española (modern-day Dominican Republic), his story is leveraged to help Dominican …

Exploring Existing Innovative Education Models: A Best Practice Guide For A New School Design In Lewiston, Maine, Katie Bosse

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The purpose of this research is to both identify best practices in innovative school design and then identify a guide to assist new school design teams on how to make the transition out of current practices of traditional education. First, I describe the current structure of traditional education, the challenges schools face in regard to school structure, community, and academics. Then I examine six public schools that are working to create strategies to address the challenges stated in traditional schools. Through school site visits and interviews with teacher and faculty, I explore the strategies of existing innovative school models and …

The Effects Of A Physical Activity Program Called "Minds-In-Motion-The Maze" On Balance And Motor Skills In Middle School Aged Students., Liliana Vargas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Competing time demands in the curriculum have left physical education as a low priority among schools. Consequently, school aged children are not meeting the recommended 150 mins/wk of physical activity. We studied the effects of Minds in Motion-MAZE on middle school aged (n=74) children’s balance and motor skills. Minds in Motion-MAZE is a low cost physical activity program designed to improve balance and motor control. Participants participated in Minds in Motion-MAZE for 15 minutes during the 7^th period. A multivariate test did not show a statistical significance of participating in Minds in Motion-MAZE and improved balance and motor skills. …

Empowering Hispanic English Language Learners For Academic Success, Tanya Navarro

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The following senior capstone research project examines the issue of empowerment of Hispanic English Language Learners (ELLs). Through the construction of this literature review and through interviews with various specialists at a middle school level, the following were identified as issues that have impacted the ELL students: academic disparities, dropout rate, modified curriculum, cultural relevance and lack of motivation and aspiration. The result findings indicate that there is a need to implement culturally relevant curriculum and instructions along with language support that could facilitate and empower the ELL students for academic success.

Academic And Social Effects Of Waldorf Education On Elementary School Students, Christian Zepeda

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As society becomes more critical of public education, alternative education systems are becoming more popular. The Waldorf education system, based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, has increased in popularity and commonality each decade. Currently, 23 Waldorf institutions exist in California. With this increase in popularity, it is important to analyze and examine the effectiveness of this education philosophy. An examination of Waldorf education, through research and interviews of Waldorf teachers and administration, will provide parents and teachers with an understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, Waldorf education provides a positive environment for students, yielding positive effects but this …

The 'Be' Project: A Professional Development Series For Supporting Mindfulness In The Classroom, Kara N. Davies

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Kara N. Davies on April 18, 2018.

Michalski Ma Portfolio: Finding My Path, Victoria L. Michalski

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio is the culmination of my work in the English Teaching specialty Master's program at Bowling Green State University. In addition to the works I produced for my classes and subsequently re-wrote for my portfolio, I've added an analytical reflection about my growth and evolution during my studies in the English MA program, and about overcoming my difficulties until I finally found the connection between English and historical interests that I sorely needed in order to heighten my enthusiasm and motivation. This reflection brings together the reasons I chose the works in my portfolio to represent my initial discomfort …

Creating Grace And Space: The Foundation On Which Progressive Educators Build A Sense Of Belonging And Safety For Marginalized Gender And Sexual Diverse High School Students, Lisa M. Ortiz

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This descriptive case study focused on a single high school community which is intentional in its efforts to craft a school culture, fostering belonging and safety in students who are Gender and Sexual Diverse (GSD). The researcher examined the perspectives of classroom-based and non-classroom-based educators, as they strove to articulate how they address the needs of this student-population without negatively impacting academic and other school priorities, and how they incorporate understandings regarding this population into their practice. Through a multi-phase process including interviews, observations, focus group, and document analysis, the researcher explored how seven educator-participants navigate changing demographics both personally …

Social And Emotional Learning In Portland Public High Schools, Makenzie Thompson

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) can be defined as, “the capacity to recognize and manage emotions, solve problems effectively, and establish positive relationships with others; competencies that clearly are essential for all students. Thus, SEL targets a combination of behaviors, cognitions, and emotions to better students in school and prepare them for the world after”(Zins et al., 2003,p.1). Emerging evidence suggests that schoolwide and teacher-focused interventions involving a social and emotional learning framework are among the most effective approaches for improving student behavioral outcomes and student success in school (Anyon, et al., 2016). The aim of this study was to …