Digital Commons Network^™

Developmental Higher Education: Exploring Time Lapse As A Precursor To Mathematics Developmental Education Placement, Debra Satterfield Holley

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Developmental Higher Education: Exploring Time Lapse as a Precursor to Mathematics Developmental Education Placement: This dissertation attempts to elucidate two of the many factors that could be contributing to the high rate of students who take developmental or remedial mathematics classes. Because many possible causal factors exist, the current focus was on examining the time lapse between the student’s most recent mathematics course and taking a placement test on course placement. Mathematics instructors at a community college in Eastern North Carolina indicated that this factor appears to be significant among the students at the college based on their informal observations. …

Components That Increase Oral Reading Fluency For Grade 6 Students, Joy B. Simpson

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The primary purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the effect of different strategies that would help (a) oral reading fluency (ORF) development, (b) the pattern of relationships between the pretest and posttest measures of oral reading fluency, and (c) reading comprehension of Grade 6 students who were reading below grade level and who were categorized as high risk of failure. Data collection for this study included a pretest and posttest using both the Maze and state ORF assessments.

The study was conducted for 12 weeks. Twelve students in the treatment group received a total of 12 hours simultaneous …

Educating Parents Concerning Age-Appropriate Practices In A Private School Setting, Joseph T. Picarella

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This dissertation was designed to increase parent awareness of age-appropriate practices in a Grade 2 private school setting. Grade 2 students were experiencing difficulty with transitioning from the home environment to the school environment. There was no program in place to help parents understand the problems with transition and age-appropriate activities to help their children.

The subjects involved in this study attended a series of workshops designed to increase their knowledge, comprehension, and approval of developmentally appropriate practices. Research-based information was shared during the workshops and communication was maintained between the researcher and participants in the study. Subjects observed teachers …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Student Life Skills Courses In The Social And Academic Integration Of Community College Students, Lourdes M. Perez

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to determine if Student Life Skills (SLS) courses impact the social and academic integration of community college students. Additionally, due to the unique demographics of the student population of the research setting, this study also examined if factors such as native language, income and employment workload impact the social and/or academic integration of students enrolled in a community college.

The writer developed an instrument using the Institution Integration Scale (IIS) consisting of 30 items constructed to assess the dimensions of academic and social integration. The instrument requires respondents to indicate their involvement with faculty, staff, …

An Analysis Of Kindergarten Through Grade 5 Teacher Efficacy And Character Education, Timothy J. Tierney

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This quantitative study examined teacher efficacy in implementing character education in the classroom. The construct of efficacy is paramount to successful performance. The research demonstrated that the construct of efficacy as it related to teaching character education could be the major contributing factor in the success of the district character education.

This study was conducted in an urban southern school district with a diverse population. The study examined both general teacher efficacy and personal teacher efficacy as measured by the Character Education Efficacy Belief Instrument (CEEBI). The CEEBI was distributed to 30 elementary schools and approximately 1,400 district teachers of …

A Program To Improve The Reading Skills Of Eighth-Grade Students, Timothy Thurman

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The applied dissertation examined the effectiveness of Reader’s Workshop (Orehovec & Alley, 2003) on students’ reading skills on the SAT-10 state assessment and the Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR, Renaissance Learning, 2002).

The site of the applied dissertation was a school located in rural Alabama. Based on STAR tests administered in August 2008, 19 out of 48 (40%) of the 8th-grade students taking the STAR at the school that was the site of the applied dissertation scored below grade level in reading. The 8th-grade class for the 2009-2010 school year followed the same trend and produced scores …

An Elementary-To-Middle School Transitional Program And Its Effect On Student Behavior, Kyle Sheer

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The transition from elementary to middle school has proven to be difficult for all stakeholders. Reports of increased discipline infractions and truancy, combined with a noticeable drop in overall student achievement, have resulted in numerous attempts to ease the anxieties and frustrations that are characteristic of this transition. Schools often establish transitional programs to prepare incoming middle school students with the skills needed to be successful in a new educational environment. Transitional programs are often very expensive to operate and require an extensive amount of planning. This program evaluation considered 1 specific transitional program that took place during the summer …

The Impact Of Selected Behavior Intervention Strategies On Achievement Of Students In Adult Basic Education, Doris J. Granberry

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide a better understanding of the strategies that were available to practitioners in adult education programs that were designed to improve student retention. The adult center where this dissertation was implemented experienced a large number of Adult Basic Education Program students who discontinued their studies before earning either the General Equivalency Diploma or the traditional High School Diploma. Many students exhibited aggressive behavior toward the teachers and other students. Consequently, the teachers felt helpless to alter the trend.

The writer developed lesson plans and strategies to train the students and to teach them how …

Effects Of Remedial Reading On The Oral Fluency Skill Of Students With Disabilities Enrolled In An Inclusive Setting, Willie B. Green

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Research showed students with poor reading skills face difficulties in general education classes. Schools are face with the challenge of meeting the needs of all students. Therefore, researchers recommended using a research-based reading intervention program to improve students’ reading achievement.

The Reading to Read intervention program was used to supplement reading benchmarks for each student. Instructions were provided and monitored by assistant teachers trained in the Reading to Read procedure. To measure the effects of the program, pretest-posttest scores were compared for 20 students in the treatment group who participate in the interventions and 20 students in the control group …

Analysis Of The Retention Level Of A Foreign Language Among High School Students After Graduation, Obed Barrientos

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to measure student retention levels of the Spanish that they learned during high school. The researcher compared the scores of participants who took Spanish in college to the scores of participants who did not attend college. In addition, the purpose of the study was to (a) see if motivation had an impact on retention, (b) see if high school grade point average correlated with retention, and (c) investigate specific topics of the curriculum that former students remembered the most. The researcher tested former students who graduated from high school between 2002 and 2011.

Students completed …

The Effectiveness Of A Ninth-Grade Mentorship Program For Increasing Reading Comprehension, Yolanda M. Tucker

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation compared 50 Grade 9 students’ reading and English language arts performance before and after a mentoring program focused on reading. There were no instructional support programs at this high school that could assist struggling students in the area of reading and English language arts. This high school mentoring program was implemented during the 2008–2009 school year to help students in areas such as oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension in response to a growing number of Grade 9 students failing the state’s annual reading assessment. Foundational reading skills are needed to succeed in all subject areas. …

Exploring The Impact Of Digital Publishing: A Case Study Involving Service-Learning Integrated With Technology, Bridget Ann Bonczyk

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The study explored the long-term academic effects on the educational progress for three students who participated in a technology driven service-learning program. The purpose of the study was to describe the long-term effects of the program on the students’ academic experiences and students’ sense of self-efficacy. The study examined whether or not the associated activities involved in the creation of digital books had an impact on the technology skills the students were presently learning.

The writer developed the child-centered service learning project entitled, RealeWriter and RealeLibrary ~ Leading English Language Learners to Learn and Serve in the spring of 2006. …

An Ethnographic Case Study Of Elementary Principal Leadership Strategies And The No Child Left Behind Act, Cassandra J. Poole

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Leadership is regarded as the key to comprehensive school improvement efforts and the principal is expected to lead the charge/change. Book knowledge is good, but the difference between effective and less effective principals is not what they know but what they actually do. What do principals do to meet AYP? Young (2004) pointed out that some principals recognize they can gain the edge and survive by learning from other effective practitioners. NCLB and AYP demand change to meet the mandates that will bring about improvement in student achievement. NCLB has changed the educational landscape. Numerous articles and literature exists on …

Evaluation Of A Special Education Reading Program For Secondary Students, Lorraine Yonally Kibler

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide information regarding the training of personnel, implementation of the programs within the classroom, and outcome results of the “Plugged-in to Reading” program for special education students and staff at two high schools. The reading programs were intended to serve adolescents who are at-risk. The programs had been in use for an average of four years and no evaluation had been done to determine if using the program had improved reading levels for these students.

The researcher designed this study to evaluate the training, utilization, and outcome data of a reading program utilizing a …

The Effectiveness Of A State Mathematics, Science, And Technology Initiative On Improving The Science Achievement Of Urban Fifth-Grade Students, Michal Grant Robinson

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide data for use by the science department in an urban school district regarding the Alabama Mathematics, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) to improve science achievement. The initiative offered teachers sustained, ongoing professional development and support in science. AMSTI data indicated an overall increase in student achievement at its sites as measured by the Stanford Achievement Test-10th Edition (SAT-10) and the Alabama Science Assessment.

Fifth-grade students from six schools in the district were involved in the study. Three were intervention schools participating in the AMSTI initiative. Three schools from the same district with similar …

Does The Current Inclusion Program Provide Skills Needed By Students With Disabilities To Meet Standards On The Georgia High School Graduation Test?, Kathy Lynes-Jordan

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation proposal was designed to evaluate whether the current inclusion program contributed to the development of skills needed by 11th-grade students with disabilities (SWD) in meeting the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) by the time they graduated. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the present inclusion model had any impact on SWD achievement in English Language Arts (ELA). This study had 2 foci: (a) to explore affects of inclusion on special education students at the 1st administration of the GHSGT and (b) to explore the effects of inclusion on SWD passing the GHSGT by …

The Effectiveness Of The Reading Recovery Program In A Southern Florida School District, Jacqueline Dallas-Sanders

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The Reading Recovery (RR) program is an early literacy intervention that provides individualized daily instruction to 1st-grade students with the lowest reading abilities in their classrooms. The program aims to increase the students’ reading performance levels so that they perform at the same level as their peers. A school district in southeast Florida is currently experiencing school district-wide problems as a result of poor reading achievement among its students. The RR program was implemented at many elementary schools as an intense early intervention for reading. This applied dissertation evaluated the effectiveness of the implementation of the RR program in the …

Teacher Retention: What Motivates Highly Qualified Urban Teachers To Stay?, Orlando B. Milligan

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide insight into what motivates highly qualified teachers to remain in urban schools. Research has shown that the single most important factor in a child’s education is the teacher. Consequently, the issues related to teacher recruitment and retention rank as serious problems facing urban schools and the achievement of their children.

The purpose of this study was to examine what motivates highly qualified teachers to remain in urban schools and to identify factors that may contribute to the retention and recruitment of an urban teaching corps. This study also sought to determine if there …

Effects Of Teacher Training On Implementation Of Research-Based, Reading-Comprehension Strategies With Students With Autism, Katie Roggie

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Mastering reading comprehension is vital to an individual’s long-term success. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) typically struggle with developing reading-comprehension skills. Adequate teacher training in research-based, reading-comprehension strategies is necessary for developing students’ skills in implementation of the strategies. This applied dissertation addressed the lack of training teachers in the research setting received to adequately teach reading-comprehension strategies to students with ASD.

Teachers of students with ASD received in-service, workshop-style training sessions and individualized mentoring sessions. The content was developed and delivered by the researcher based on current literature on reading-comprehension strategies for students with ASD and effective teacher-training …

Adjunct Faculty Perceptions About Educational Technology Integration In Higher Education Courses: A Descriptive Study, John Lutzyk

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this applied dissertation was to gain an understanding of adjunct faculty members’ perceptions about integrating educational technology in the classroom. Surveys were distributed to adjunct faculty at the targeted university to collect quantitative data to determine perceptions about educational technology and integration in the classroom. In addition, two focus groups consisting of university administrators were held to discuss the target university’s perceptions and expectations of the both university and adjunct faculty members with regards to technology integration in the classroom.

There were 25 procedures used to complete this study. First, a literature review was completed. Next, formative …

The Implementation Of Blogging And The Perception Of Its Impact On Student Writing, Charles R. Ford Jr.

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This qualitative study took place at a school district located in a northeastern state in the United States. The town has approximately 25,000 residents and covers approximately 8.5 square miles. The study took place at an elementary school with approximately 400 students in kindergarten through Grade 4. This study targeted the 69 students at this research site who were enrolled in the 3rd grade and divided into 4 sections. Each section utilized the same district-approved language arts literacy program.

The problem addressed in this study was that students were not receiving maximum scores on the writing-analysis portion of the New …

The Effects Of Suitability And Readability Of Printed Health Information Materials On A Sample Of Black Diabetic Patients In South Florida, Katia Dardompré Chamberlain

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to explore the effects of suitability and readability of printed health information materials on a sample of Black diabetic patients in South Florida to determine if the printed health information materials they were given were composed at an appropriate reading level between sixth and eighth grade and were culturally suitable.

The researcher developed a survey instrument and an interview instrument to determine the participants’ viewpoint on diabetic printed health information materials that they were given. Furthermore, the researcher gathered 10 diabetic printed health information materials that the participants were given and applied the Simple Measure …

Daily Flash Card Drills And Systems Thinking To Master Math Addition Facts, Jerome Ravenna

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide better access to information for the students and staff in an elementary school regarding acquisition and retention of basic addition math facts. Teaching techniques and strategies were explored that would enable elementary students to master essential skills in mathematics.

By the end of the first semester in Grade 1, learners must demonstrate knowledge of basic mathematic facts, especially in addition. Learners are subjected to diversified instruction where schools strive to teach a wide variety of subject materials rather than focus on basic skills and mastery. The result is broader student awareness of many …

Developing A Standardized Articulation Model For Florida High School Career And Technical Graduates To Florida’S Community And State Colleges, Dennette Foy

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide Florida college educators with a standardized process for determining credit portability for Florida high school career and technical graduates to career programs of Florida’s 28 community and state colleges. This study focused on the process of local articulation development and the analysis of assessment methods employed to determine college credit for career pathways (formerly Tech Prep) within the Florida colleges and the local school districts.

This study employed a survey and document analysis. Study participants were key college administrators involved in the career pathways articulation process, including the articulation officer, student advising administrator, …

A Study Of The Leadership Dimensions Of National Distinguished Principals, Judith Mccollum

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The identification and recruitment of effective school principals who can transform schools in the midst of today’s chaotic economic, social, and global environments require a thorough understanding of the research on effective leadership. Current research indicates that principals who exhibit transformational leadership and, most recently, instructional leadership, are the most successful by all measures, including school climate, teacher empowerment, community support, and high student performance results.

This study focused on a sample of principals from a population who recently received the distinction of a National Distinguished Principal (NDP) to determine if a correlation existed between their leadership dimensions and that …

Effects Of A Counselor-Led Intervention On Student Attendance, Mary Harris Watlington

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation investigated the impact of a counselor-led intervention on student attendance. The intervention used in this study applied the guidance-curriculum component from the Gysbers and Henderson (2006) comprehensive guidance and counseling model, which was designed to help students develop and learn the academic, personal, and social skills needed to be successful in kindergarten through Grade 12 and postsecondary education. The 9-week counselor-led intervention was intense and incorporated small-group and large-group sessions, along with individual counseling sessions, which required participants to interact with peers and work in teams.

To evaluate the impact of the counselor-led intervention program, a quasi-experimental …

An Analysis Of Teachers’ Concerns Toward The Implementation Of Instructional Technology In The Curriculum, Yaritza Gonzalez

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this research study was to conduct an analysis of concerns experienced by teachers when it came to the implementation of instructional technology in the curriculum. As a result of a lack of technology implementation at the study site, teachers were surveyed in order to analyze concerns that could have been barriers. The theoretical foundation of this research was the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM). In addition, a literature assessment of the effectiveness of teaching with technology, barriers to technology integration, and professional development was conducted to further support the research.

Four research questions were addressed in the study: …

Evaluation Of An Early Intervention Program In A Rural County, Andrea Thomas

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an early intervention program (EIP) in the southeastern United States. The program was adopted in 2000 by the state’s assembly and implemented in 2001. The goal of the program was to help students in kindergarten through fifth grade to perform on grade level in reading and mathematics. Students were identified and placed in the program based on standardized test scores and teachers’ checklists. Once placed in the program, students were given individualized programs targeted to help them perform better in reading and mathematics.

The research questions focused on the student achievement of …

Impact Of A Supplemental Instruction Model On The Mathematics Skills Of College Students, Cara S. Harrell

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The applied dissertation was designed to determine if a supplemental tool would improve the achievement of students enrolled in an introductory college mathematics course. The study was conducted to determine if students who were exposed to a mathematical model would learn information at a more significant level than those students who did not use the mathematical model.

Four research questions were investigated. During this study, 53 students were members of the experimental group and control groups. Eight individuals were part of the evaluation committee. The experimental group consisted of 26 participants who were exposed to the mathematical model, and the …

Alignment Of Academic Preparation And Job Skills: A Health Promotion Case Study, Michael P. Mcneil

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to describe the alignment or misalignment between the essential and preferred competencies at the Director-level outlined in the American College Health Association’s (ACHA) Guidelines for Hiring Health Promotion Professionals in Higher Education and the graduate-level course learning objectives in a single site case study. The study used a document review methodology with an evaluative matrix to demonstrate the connections between the ACHA Hiring Guidelines and learning objectives from the study site graduate courses. Additionally, the researcher utilized experts to describe the potential need for a concentrated program of study addressing health promotion in higher education. …