Educational Administration and Supervision Commons^™

Technology-Based Professional Development For Teaching And Learning In K-12 Classrooms, Nijia Byrd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In an urban Georgia school district, teacher satisfaction surveys revealed that technology-based professional development was not equipping teachers with the skills or support needed to implement technology into their teaching practices. The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to explore teachers' experiences and perceptions of technology-based professional development and its effect on self-efficacy. Guided by Piaget's constructivist theory, this study was based on the perspective that teachers often construct knowledge rather than gain it. Guiding questions explore the experiences teachers have had with technology integration in daily teaching practices, their self-perceived competency level and self-efficacy regarding technology, their attitudes …

Optional Flexible Year Program And Middle School Student Achievement In Reading, Robyn Alane Fender

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Local student reading results on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness have decreased. It is of great concern that many students had less than full mastery of the prerequisite, fundamental skills in reading. The study site used the Optional Flexible Year Program for remediation of students at risk of not passing the state assessment. The purpose of this concurrent explanatory study was to explore the relationship between participation and nonparticipation in the remediation program and student reading achievement and to better understand staff perceptions regarding the remediation program. Guided by Vroom's expectancy theory of motivation, quantitative research questions …

A Freshman Academy's Influence On Student Connectivity, Attendance, And Academic Achievement, Nancy Olivia Lopresti

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A Freshman Academy's Influence on Student Connectivity, Attendance, and Academic Achievement

by

Nancy O. LoPresti

MA, Montclair State University 2005

MAT, Marygrove College, 2002

BA, Kean University 1981

Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Education

Walden University

June 2017

Critical Soft Skills To Achieve Success In The Workplace, Gloria A. Meeks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The focus of this study was a problem identified by human resources directors and managers in a medium sized community in the southeast of the United States. The problem was that some college graduates are not equipped with the necessary soft skills to be successful in the workforce. Executive directors and human resources managers brought this problem to the attention of the career center directors in the community. Goleman's theory of emotional intelligence was the theoretical framework to ground this study. This study involved purposeful sampling to select 9 human resources directors from local companies. To investigate soft skills in …

Senior Students' Experiences, Perspectives, And Attitudes Of Technological Competencies In Nursing Education, Patricia C. Bennett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Technological standards appear to be needed in undergraduate nursing education, as existing research has yet to establish technological standards for undergraduate nursing students. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of senior nursing students with respect to their perceptions regarding exposure to and abilities gained in the areas of information management, information literacy, and computer literacy. The framework of the study was based on Bandura's theory of self-efficacy and the Dreyfus model of skills acquisition. Using a phenomenological approach, in-depth face-to-face interviews were used with a purposive sample to collect data about the technological competencies …

Implications Of Small Group Instruction For Overage Secondary Students' Academic Performance, Orlando Ledyard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a secondary school in a southeastern state a large number of overage students who are at least 2 grade levels behind where they should be in academic terms, have struggled with academic performance and have often dropped out of school. Educational researchers have found that the implementation of instructional interventions is important in meeting the learning needs of these students. The purpose of this bounded case study was to determine educators' perspectives of possible intervention strategies to improve the academic performance of overage students in grades 9 and 10 at the school. Constructivism was used as the conceptual framework. …

Instructional Strategies Of Effective Mathematics Teachers Of African American Upper Elementary Students, Susan Warthen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

National assessments have revealed that African American students do not demonstrate proficiency in mathematics to the same degree as their White counterparts; however, some teachers are able to guide their African American students to mathematics success. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine the instructional strategies of teachers who have been successful in promoting mathematics achievement in African American students. This study was guided by a single research question that focused on the instructional strategies used by teachers whose African American upper elementary students demonstrated proficiency in mathematics on a state standardized test. Feuerstein's mediated learning experience …

Working Memory Difficulties And Eligibility For K-12 Special Education, Corrie L. Wilson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Working memory (WM) has long been associated with deficiencies in reading. Approximately 35% of students in the United States who receive special education services do so under the category of specific learning disability (SLD). The study's theoretical underpinning was Baddeley's model of WM; previous research revealed a significant literature gap regarding how WM difficulties affect eligibility for special education under the category of SLD in reading. In this quasi-experimental study, a purposive sample was taken from archival data of two groups of K-12 students who had been referred for special education eligibility evaluation: The two groups were students evaluated for …

Qualitative Examination Of Strategies To Overcome Resistance To Change In Lean Manufacturing, Elizabeth Burmester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Approximately 80% of lean manufacturing program initiatives are abandoned in the first year of implementation. Only 2% of organizations that embark on the lean journey complete it with the results and the sustainability they expected. There is a gap in past research regarding, the leadership strategies organizations can use to overcome resistance to change during lean manufacturing program implementations. The problem in this study was that leaders have limited information to overcome resistance to change when implementing these programs. The purpose of this study was to explore how leaders within manufacturing organizations may overcome resistance to change through leadership strategy. …

History Teachers' Perspectives Of Time Constraints, Engagement, And Relevance In The Curriculum, Christy Mimie Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the last 20 years, many state school administrators have reduced social studies instructional time in favor of time dedicated to reading or math skills due to the pressure of standardized testing. The purpose of this qualitative case study, which was based on constructivist theories about learning and schema theory, was to analyze teachers' perspectives on teaching history lessons, in terms of engagement and relevance, while working within new time constraints. Purposeful sampling was used to select 6 teachers for interviews; all had experience teaching social studies courses at the upper elementary and middle levels in a public school district …

A Case Study Of Middle School Teachers' Preparations For High-Stakes Assessments, David Lee Yeary

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students, educators, and schools across the country have been presented with challenges as a result of rigorous standards and high-complexity tests. The problem addressed in this case study was that teachers in a rural middle school in a southeastern state were preparing students to take a new high-stakes state-mandated assessment in English language arts with very little information about what should be done to best prepare students to perform well. Danielson's work on instructional leaders, Webb's work on alignment of standards and assessments, and Tankersley's research on alignment of instruction and assessment provided the frameworks for the study. The participants …

The Relationship Between Map Assessment And Pass Results For Eighth Grade, Torri Darrell Barber Barber

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a South Carolina middle school, students were performing poorly on the state assessment in reading. Eighth grade students were not passing the Palmetto Assessment of State Standard (PASS) assessment administered each spring. The purpose of this study was to examine whether student performance on the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) reading test in the fall predicted PASS scores in the spring. The theoretical framework was based on the item response theory (IRT)-the relationship between individual performance on a test item and the test takers' levels of operating along an overall measure of the ability that item was designed to …

Expatriate Students' Perceptions Of Attendance And Persistence At A Private Malaysian Institution, Jin Deng

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although Malaysia primarily relies on expatriates to develop its economy, a private Malaysian institution had not examined the retention of expatriate students who might contribute toward the country's future economy. The problem that prompted this study was the institution showed low graduation rates for expatriate students and had not assessed the perceptions of key factors that impacted their attendance and persistence. The purpose of this study was to provide insights about expatriate students' perceptions of key factors about attendance and persistence at the institution. Tinto's longitudinal model of dropping out and the conceptual model guided this study. With a guiding …

K-5 Educators' Perceptions Of The Role Of Speech Language Pathologists, Dr. Karmon D. Hatcher

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Rarely is a school-based speech language pathologist (SLP) thought of as an active contributor to the achievement of students or to the learning community in general. Researchers have found benefits for students when members of the learning community collaborate, and the SLP should be a part of this community collaboration. This qualitative case study examined elementary school teachers', administrators', and reading specialists' perspectives related to knowledge of and the inclusion of the SLP in the learning community at a local elementary school in central Georgia. Schon's theory of reflective practice and Coleman's theory of social capital provided the conceptual framework. …

A Study Of Instructional Methods On Fourth Grade Reading Achievement, Benita Jessup

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a significant percent of 4th grade students read below the basic level. In one elementary school students participated in additional reading instruction as intervention for students scoring basic and below basic on the state standardized test. The purpose of this ex post facto non-experimental quantitative study was to determine the effectiveness of direct instruction versus fluency (repeated reading) instruction on the reading achievement of 4th grade students. This study is based on the theory of automatic information processing in reading and the theory of prosody. The overarching research question for this study …

Intermediate Teachers' Perceptions Of Reading Instruction Strategies And Professional Development Needs, Barbara Jean Joyner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 1 urban Tennessee school, students in Grades 3 through 5 had not met adequate yearly progress in reading for the past 5 years. The purpose of this case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of current district-recommended teaching practice in reading. The research questions related to current instructional strategies, teaching practices, challenges, and perceptions of current instructional strategies and changes needed to improve students' reading achievement. This study was grounded in the constructivist theoretical framework of Vygotsky. Twelve educators from Grades 3 through 5 and a reading specialist participated in this study. The data were collected from interviews, minutes …

Differentiating Successful And Unsuccessful Nursing Students, Trilla Mays

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Administrators of nursing programs in community colleges are aware of the need to retain and to graduate students to meet the growing demand for licensed practical nurses (LPNs). High attrition in a 2-year nursing program in South Carolina affected the number of students either graduating as a LPN after completing the third semester, or continuing in the program to become a registered nurse (RN). Guided by Jeffreys's nursing undergraduate retention and success model, this causal comparative study investigated the differences between students who were and were not successful in the initial 3 semesters of the program. Archival student records for …

Improving Literacy For Diverse Low Socio-Economic Status Middle School Students, Vivian Fowler Means

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In an urban district, Surfside School personnel were concerned that student literacy proficiency levels were low during 2011-2014 and teachers had not been able to close the achievement gap despite a focus on literacy practices and literacy professional development (PD) provided by the district. The purpose of this case study was to explore the perceptions of teachers and administrators in relation to the best instructional practices for increasing self-efficacy when teaching literacy skills and related literacy PD for teachers. Knowles' andragogy theory and Vygotsky's social learning theory formed the theoretical foundation of this study, which hold that PD should provide …

The Experience Of Children Living With Sensory Processing Disorder, Melissa Scotch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sensory processing disorder (SPD) is a neurological condition that alters the way an individual perceives sensory information. Although the condition has been studied for more than 40 years, SPD remains a difficult condition to diagnose, treat, and live with because it affects individuals uniquely, and the symptoms can change from childhood to adulthood. For children diagnosed with SPD, the misinterpretation of sensory cues can cause difficulties in family, social, and academic settings. While there is some research on the assessment and treatment of SPD, what is missing is a deeper understanding of the family, social and academic challenges these children …

Leader–Member Exchange Between Academic Deans And Faculty In Community Colleges, Alexander Lincoln Clifford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Between 2011 and 2016, 84% of senior leaders in community colleges indicated retirement intentions and thereby exposed a need to provide better mentorship, training, and early selection of potential replacements for college executives. The purpose of this study was to determine the nature and extent of the relationships between the independent variables (mentorship, leadership training, and time in the position as dean) and the dependent variable (demonstrated leadership of academic deans in community colleges). A popular approach that describes this dynamic is Graen and Uhl-Bien's leader–member exchange theory, which was operationalized by the LMX–7 instrument. A causal–comparative design was used …