Digital Commons Network^™

A Comparison Of The Academic Achievement And Perceptions Of Leadership Skills And Citizenship Traits Of Jrotc, Student Athletes, And Other Students In An Urban High School Setting, Carmen Williams-Bonds

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare three groups: JROTC students, student athletes, and other students, to determine if there were differences in academic achievement. Gaining an understanding of the necessary skills required to become academically successful and make healthy life choices, could provide educators working within an urban environment insight for student success. The study was conducted within a Midwest urban high school in which, 98.5% of the students were African American. Student performance data in the areas of reading and math for the past three years had been trending downward and caused the high school to be …

Rti Characteristics Commonly Implemented In High Performing Middle Schools, Mark Joseph Fitch

Dissertations

The Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004 allowed schools to use a Response to Intervention (RtI) model as opposed to the discrepancy model to qualify students as learning disabled. The incorporation of the RtI model provided earlier interventions for students and reduced avoidance of special services and false diagnosis. With the success of the RtI model at the elementary level, middle schools attempt to implement the program with varying success. In this study, middle school principals were surveyed to determine their respective building’s current level of implementation in regard to RtI. The building’s implementation scores were compared to academic achievement …

Development And Use Of Essential Learning Goals And Their Effect On Student Achievement In Grades Two Through Five

Dissertations

This study looks at the use of Essential Learning Goals and their effect on student learning in grades two through five. Teachers in the treatment group participated in a yearlong professional development program. The treatment incorporated the concepts developed by Wiggins and McTighe (2011) in their research “Understanding by Design”, Marzano’s (2009) work on development of learning goals and objectives, and Hess’s (2007) work on Learning Progressions. The treatment provided training to teachers through a professional development program designed to enhance teachers’ content knowledge to improve student achievement. Student achievement was measured using a district wide communication arts assessment tool. …

Exploring The Relationship Between The Ventures For Excellence Teacher Styleprofile Data And Teacher Performance, Barry Nelson

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a commercial teacher selection tool, the Ventures for Excellence Teacher StyleProfile, had a statistically significant relationship with teacher evaluation and performance feedback data gathered during a teacher’s first year of teaching in the Midwest School District. A review of the literature confirmed the importance of teacher selection. School improvement initiatives have verified the need to improve the process of teacher selection as a critical variable in the improvement of instruction and student performance. These initiatives have fostered the exploration of utilizing commercial assessment tools to objectify and improve the hiring process. …

A Study Of Best Practices And Student Achievement In Elementary And Middle School Reading, Tracey L. Hankins

Dissertations

Reading and writing proficiency are skills necessary to be successful academically and in today’s workplace. Literacy skills are directly linked to a better quality of life, the ability to read labels, civic documents, to expand knowledge, and to boost self-esteem (SIL International, 2012). Teaching reading and writing is a complicated arena in education and must be addressed in a systematic manner in order for students to excel. In this study, state test scores in Communication Arts for students in grades 3 through 8 in Missouri were examined to determine the top 10% of schools. Once the top 10% of schools …

The Lifetime Experiences Of Being Labeled “Gifted”: Case Studies Of Adults Who Participated In A 1959 Public School Gifted Program, John R. Beckerle

Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the current perceptions of adults who were enrolled in the gifted program of the St. Louis Public Schools in the fall of 1959 or spring of 1960. At this time in history the Cold War was a reality and the U.S. enacted the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) to find talented young people and give them the opportunity to excel academically. The program in this research was already in place when the NDEA was put into effect. A pool of 62 potential subjects was identified and 33 accepted the invitation to participate. …

The Effect Of Manipulatives On Achievement Scores In The Middle School Mathematics Class, Elaine D. Doias

Dissertations

When applied to mathematics education, manipulatives help students to visualize mathematical concepts and apply them to everyday situations. Interest in mathematics instruction has increased dramatically over the past two decades with the introduction of virtual manipulatives, as opposed to the concrete manipulatives that have been employed for centuries. This quasi-experimental study proposed to explain the relationship between concrete and virtual manipulatives when used in a seventh-grade mathematics classroom. Using students’ mathematics composite scores on standardized and teacher-created assessments, it compared the effectiveness of using concrete manipulatives alone versus using a combination of concrete and virtual manipulatives. The foundational theory of …

Goal-Setting, Self-Monitoring, And Teacher-Student Conferences And The Relationship With Overall School Climate And Student Academic Achievement, Paul Thomas Godwin

Dissertations

Programs and reforms have come and gone in the educational arena with little impact on student performance. The problem at the school of study was the students’ perception of their sense of belonging and the sense of the school as a community and the students’ academic performance did not show adequate growth. The study took place in a mid-western suburban elementary school serving 440 students kindergarten through fifth grade. The significance of the study was to examine the impact of a Goal-Setting Worksheet, along with regular teacher-student conferences, as a strategy to improve the overall school climate and academic achievement …

Federal Education Laws And The Fine Arts, Kim R. Cavener

Dissertations

Due to federal laws requiring standardized testing of only a select few of the core subjects, many students have been divested of fine arts instruction (Chen, 2008; Garcia, 2010; Jacobsen & Rothstein, 2009; Maxwell, 2008; Suzuki, 2009). Moreover, school officials have reduced funding allocated to non-tested content areas as one means of balancing district budgets in a poor economy (Chen, 2008; Garcia, 2010). This mixed method study examined music educators’ and curriculum directors’ perceptions of how federal education laws have affected public school fine arts. Analysis of data from interviews of six music educators and six curriculum directors were conducted …

The Effect Of Pbis On The School Environment And Test Scores, Denise A. Buettner

Dissertations

Since the beginning of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) program in the Study School District there has not been an evaluation of its effectiveness in reducing student discipline referrals and student suspensions and its success in promoting a positive learning environment leading to improved academic achievement. This study determined the effectiveness of the Positive Behavior Interventions System (PBIS) in the Study School District. It focused on determining the fidelity and consistency of implementation of PBIS in the District, the effect of PBIS on reduction of office discipline referrals and student suspensions from school, teacher attitudes toward implementation of …

Optimization Of Path Based Sensor Spacing On A Freeway Segment For Travel Time Prediction During Incidents, Patricia Kathleen Dijoseph

Dissertations

Congestion on freeways is increasing and a key source of it is non-recurring incidents. Accurate vehicle travel time predictions are needed during these incidents in order for roadway users to make informed trip decisions. Path based sensors are becoming a leading technology in gathering real-time travel time data. The data is used to make travel time predictions that are then provided through various means, such as dynamic message signs, to roadway users. These types of sensor are located at stationary points along a roadway and collect individual vehicle travel time data from vehicles as they drive pass the sensors.

The …

Exploitation Of Infrared Polarimetric Imagery For Passive Remote Sensing Applications, Joao Miguel Mendes Romano

Dissertations

Polarimetric infrared imagery has emerged over the past few decades as a candidate technology to detect manmade objects by taking advantage of the fact that smooth materials emit strong polarized electromagnetic waves, which can be remotely sensed by a specialized camera using a rotating polarizer in front of the focal plate array in order to generate the so-called Stokes parameters: S₀, S₁, S₂, and DoLP. Current research in this area has shown the ability of using such variations of these parameters to detect smooth manmade structures in low contrast contrast scenarios.

This dissertation proposes …

Structural Indicators For Effective Quality Assurance Of Snomed Ct, Ankur Agrawal

Dissertations

The Standardized Nomenclature of Medicine -- Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT -- further abbreviated as SCT) has been endorsed as a premier clinical terminology by many national and international organizations. The US Government has chosen SCT to play a significant role in its initiative to promote Electronic Health Record (EH R) country-wide. However, there is evidence suggesting that, at the moment, SCT is not optimally modeled for its intended use by healthcare practitioners. There is a need to perform quality assurance (QA) of SCT to help expedite its use as a reference terminology for clinical purposes as planned for EH R …

Pressure Swing Membrane Absorption Process For Separation Of Low Temperature Post-Shift Reactor Syngas, John Chau

Dissertations

This thesis is concerned with a cyclic pressure swing membrane absorption process (PSMAB) for separation of the feed gas mixture containing —40% CO₂-He balance using pure ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([bmim][DCA]), and its solution containing poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer Gen 0 primarily with a dry feed gas. An advanced pressure swing membrane absorption process is developed to produce purified He as a surrogate for H₂ at a high pressure from simulated low- temperature shifted syngas for different membrane modules. The PSMAB process also simultaneously produces a highly purified CO₂ stream containing bulk of the CO₂ in …

Development Of Correction Algorithm For Pulsed Terahertz Computed Tomography (Thz-Ct), Suman Mukherjee

Dissertations

For last couple of decades, there has been a considerable improvement in Terahertz (THz) science, technology, and imaging. In particular, the technique of 3-D computed tomography has been adapted to the THz range. However, it has been widely recognized that a fundamental limitation to THz computed tomography imaging is the refractive effects of the sample under study. The finite refractive index of materials in the THz range can severally refract THz beams which probe the internal structure of a sample during the acquisition of tomography data. Refractive effects lead to anomalously high local absorption coefficients in the reconstructed image near …

Application Of Iron Complexes As Catalysts In C-O And C-C Bond Forming Reactions, Pushkar Sudhakar Shejwalkar

Dissertations

‘Green Chemistry’ is a philosophy that encourages chemists in research and industry to reduce toxic waste for cleaner and safer chemical production. Oxidation reactions are commonly used in industry and are traditionally achieved by methods that involve toxic metals (such as chromium) and solvents, generating considerable waste compared to the value of the final product. The Mukaiyama Aldol reaction is another organic reaction that utilizes metals as Lewis acid catalysts. The principles of Green Chemistry suggest that chemical reactions should be performed with a maximum of efficiency and with a minimum of side product formation, accompanied by a minimal use …

Siloles Bearing Coordination-Active 2,5-Substituents: Synthesis, Reactivity, Structural And Spectral Properties., James Bryan Carroll

Dissertations

Siloles, or silacyclopentadienes and other group 14 metalloles are structurally analogous to their all-carbon analogue, cyclopentadiene, except for the heavy group 14 element (i.e., Si, Ge, Sn, and Pb) in the 1-position. The placement of the heavy element in this position allows for unique properties, such as high electron affinity, mobility, and bathochromically shifted optical spectra, as compared to cyclopentadienes, and the relatively low-lying lowest-unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) helps to account for these properties. The substituents about the silole have a significant impact on the electronics and properties observed, with 2,5-substituents inducing the most substantive changes. Even as many 2,5-substituents …

The Effects Of Co-Teaching On Regular Education And Special Education Students’ Standardized Communication Arts Test Scores In A Suburban Midwest Middle School, Angeline Nicole O'Neal

Dissertations

ABSTRACT In response to numerous mandates in the field of education, schools have found it imperative to ensure that teachers are incorporating effective instructional methods which meet the diverse needs of student populations within a single classroom. The co-teaching model of instruction is just one way educators have chosen to lead classroom instruction in order to reach all learners. In the co-teaching setting two or more teachers work together to deliver instruction to a heterogeneous group of students in a class. This research study was completed to determine if the co-teaching method featuring two content area teachers had a positive …

The Journey Of A Science Teacher: Preparing Female Students In The Training Future Scientists After School Program, Rona Marie Robinson-Hill

Dissertations

Abstract What affect does female participation in the Training Future Scientist (TFS) program based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Maslow’s Hierarchies of Needs have on female adolescents’ achievement levels in science and their attitude toward science and interest in science-based careers? The theoretical framework for this study was developed through a constructivist perspective, using dialogic engagement, coinciding with Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural learning theory. This action research project used mixed methods research design, targeted urban adolescent females who were members of Boys & Girls Club of Greater St. Louis (BGCGSTL) after-school program. The data collection measures were three qualitative instruments (semi-structured …

Building An Effective One-On-One Working Relationship Between Middle School Teachers And Parents: What Are The Steps Of Learning For Teachers?, Karen Cheung Leong

Dissertations

The topic of parental involvement has been widely studied but within the topic, the area of training teachers to work with parents has not. The training and preparation for teachers to work with parents are scarce and at times, non-existent. The primary purpose of this study is to examine effective middle school teachers about the steps on their path of learning to work effectively with parents. The study also included middle student teachers that shared their needs in learning how to work with parents. The study focused on interviewing highly successful middle school teachers in the area of working with …

National Board For Professional Teaching Standards Certification And Teacher Self-Efficacy, Lynn A. Hines

Dissertations

Due to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and state-level mandates, an economic and moral imperative requires educators today to not only accommodate differences in learning rates and allow extra time for students to experience success, teachers must foster in students the belief that success is within their reach if they keep trying. These new expectations for student learning are clashing with old conceptions of teaching and outmoded approaches and structures for teacher practices. Given the new mission of schools, finding strong models of professional development is imperative. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is a promising model. Self-efficacy, …

Ecological Psychology And Media Consumption Among Young Adults: A New Framework, Alice Diana Cade Ferguson

Dissertations

The Pew Research Center (2010, March 1) identified three crucial “new metrics of news” (p. 2) that help to explain the appeal of new, interactive media forms among young adult news consumers. These metrics of Portability, Personalizability and Participation (Pew, 2010) highlight the rapid transformations in technology and user interests that have helped create a new manifestation of what McLuhan called an “age of anxiety” (1967/2001, pp. 8-9) in mass media industries and in mass communication education and scholarship. The purpose of this research is to investigate this very shift in how news is delivered and consumed, with particular attention …

The History Of Shakespeare In American Education, 1620-1930, Joseph P. Haughey

Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Shakespeare’s role in American education from colonial times through the Progressive Era. The history is divided into four overlapping historical periods, each represented in its own chapter and derived from four different sets of primary sources. The first chapter provides a synopsis of Shakespeare’s presence in American education in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and then, through case studies of the records of two nineteenth-century university literary societies – the Hasty Pudding Club of Harvard University and the Sherwood Rhetorical Society of Kalamazoo College – examines the role extracurricular activity played in first introducing Shakespeare at the …

Why Do Some Succeed? The Impact Of Goal Orientation And Need For Closure On Learning And Engagement In A Problem-Based Learning Environment, Cassendra M. Bergstrom

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Bayesian Estimation Of The Fractal Dimension Index Of Fractional Brownian Motion, Chen-Yueh Chen

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Defining And Measuring Teacher Legitimacy, Douglass Martin Drake

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

What Instructional Coaches Need From Principals To Impact Teacher Effectiveness: Developing A Grounded Theory, Diane L. Lauer

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Student Engagement Activities, Discipline Referrals, And Student Achievement In Reading First Schools, Shelly Lynette Fransen

Dissertations

High quality student engagement activities are essential if students are to be successful learners. Over the years, many instructional strategies and models have been devised to encourage teachers to develop student engagement activities that result in high achievement. The Reading First Model initiative was introduced as a part of the No Child Left Behind legislation and was implemented in hundreds of schools across the United States over the last twelve years. Yet, in 2009, federal funding for Reading First was eliminated. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between student achievement on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) …

Science Fair: Is It Worth The Work? A Qualitative Study On Deaf Students' Perceptions And Experiences Regarding Science Fair In Primary And Secondary School, Vivian Lee Smith

Dissertations

Science fairs have a long history in American education. They play an important role for establishing inquiry-based experiences in a science classroom. Students may be more motivated to learn science content when they are allowed to choose their own science fair topics. The purpose of this study was to examine Deaf college students’ perceptions and experiences regarding science fair participation during primary and/or secondary school and determine the influence of science fair involvement on the development of language skills, writing skills, and higher order thinking skills as well as its impact on choice of a STEM major.

This study examined …

Practitioner Perceptions About Documenting Special Education Best Practices Within A Standard Teacher Performance Rubric, Moira Aileen Coogan

Dissertations

No abstract provided.