Digital Commons Network^™

Bridging The Chasm: The Impact Of Dual Credit Courses At A Rural Illinois Community College, David Seiler

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impact on students of taking at least one dual credit class in a rural Illinois community college district from 2006 through 2012. The dual credit courses were taught almost exclusively in the high school setting. The smallest of the high schools included had 12 th grade classes of under 20 students while the three largest schools each had over 200 students. The study utilized Propensity Score Matching (PSM), a process developed by Rosenbaum and Rubin (1984). PSM creates a quasi-experiment in which study subjects who received a treatment, in this case dual credit classes, are matched …

Practices And Perceptions Of Teacher Induction Programs In The State Of Indiana, Christopher A. Himsel

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Indiana is experiencing a greening of its teaching profession. Over the past five years, the percentage of Indiana early-career teachers has increased, while the percentage of veteran teachers has decreased. During the 2015-2016 academic year, more than 30% of Indianas teachers had five or fewer years of teaching experience; whereas, less than one-fourth of Indianas teachers had 21 or more years of experience (Indiana Department of Education [IDOE], 2016). If Indianas teacher retention rate is similar to the reported national trends (Alliance for Educational Excellence [AEE], 2014) and the number of teacher candidates continues to decrease (Slabaugh, 2014), then the …

Principal Perceptions Regarding Autonomy And School Improvement In Saudi Arabia's Educational System, Nada Almutairi

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to determine the perceptions of public and private elementary school principals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding the autonomy to implement the Ministry of Educations 12 administrative authorities issued in 2011. This study also sought public and private principal perceptions used to determine levels of accomplishment across select measures of continuous school improvement. Finally, this study utilized select demographic variables of the principal respondents (i.e., gender and years of experience) on levels of autonomy to implement the 12 administrative authorities and levels of continuous school improvement. A total of 135 public and private …

The Effects Of Secondary School Accountability Grades On College And University Transfer, Jill Robinson Kramer

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Workforce projections indicate that a majority of jobs to be created in the U.S. economy will require some form of postsecondary Education (Cappelli, 2015; Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2010). At the same time, colleges and universities are being held accountable for completion and graduation of their students (The Commission, 2014) and secondary schools are being graded under changing accountability systems (Center for Education Policy, 2008; Dee & Jacobs, 2011, Figlio & Ladd, 2008). This study looked at the longer-term implications of high school accountability grades, A–F, and the impact on student transfer, associates degree completion, and time to associates degree …

The Effects Of Virtual Versus Physical Lab Manipulatives On Inquiry Skill Acquisition And Conceptual Understanding Of Density, James R. Brinson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study compared the effects of virtual versus physical laboratory manipulatives on 84 undergraduate non-science majors (a) conceptual understanding of density and (b) density-related inquiry skill acquisition. A pre-post comparison study design was used, which incorporated all components of an inquiry-guided classroom, except experimental mode, and which controlled for curriculum, instructor, instructional method, time spent on task, and availability of reference resources. Participants were randomly assigned to either a physical or virtual lab group. Pre- and post-assessments of conceptual understanding and inquiry skills were administered to both groups. Paired-samples t tests revealed a significant mean percent correct score increase …

The Perceptions Of Change And Change Readiness In Junior And Senior Engineering & Technology Students, Perry J. Moler

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand what perceptions junior and senior engineering & technology students have about change, change readiness, and selected attributes, skills, and abilities. The selected attributes, skills, and abilities for this study were lifelong learning, leadership, and self-efficacy. The business environment of today is dynamic, with any number of internal and external events requiring an organization to adapt through the process of organizational development. Organizational developments affect businesses as a whole, but these developments are more evident in fields related to engineering and technology. Which require employees working through such developments be flexible and adaptable …

It Is Expensive To Be Poor: Equity In Financing Education In Turkey (2004–2012), Elene Murvanidze

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Turkish government, under the rule of Justice and Development Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP), (2002-2017) has conducted many educational reforms. Different researchers have evaluated effectiveness of those policies differently. Some claim that policies result in a more inclusive and diverse educational system, others argue that the reforms would rekindle child labor, increase child brides and condemn girls to illiteracy. In our research we measure the effects of educational reforms on equity in financing education (i.e., out-of-pocket expenditures).

After estimating Gini, Concentration and Kakwani indices, and graphing Lorenz and Concentration curves, we find out that education financing in …

A Case Study Of The Interactions Amongst The Elements Of An Elementary Teacher's Educational Belief System, Goals, Enactment, And Reflection, Phillip Pittman

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Contemporary educational reform has attempted to improve teaching quality and raise student achievement through high-stakes teacher evaluation and through the introduction of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). However, to advance teaching and learning, instructional leaders must shift their focus from teacher evaluation and the CCSS themselves to how teachers attempt to meet the CCSS in their classrooms through decisions about curriculum, instruction, and assessment and why they make those decisions. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study is to develop a deep understanding about the elements of, and interactions between, a fifth grade teacher’s educational belief system (consisting of …

A Case Study Of The Design And Implementation Of A New Teacher Evaluation System In A Northern Michigan School District, Scott Moore

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify how one district attempted to meet the need for greater accountability in the teacher evaluation process as mandated by law and to describe strategies that were employed by the district to ensure the integration of student achievement data. This research highlighted how a teacher evaluation instrument evolved over a 5-year period from 2011 to the end of the 2014–2015 school year. This qualitative, single-case study comprised examination of interview responses of 17 stakeholders including a former superintendent, technology director, two board of education members, three former principals, and ten teacher-leaders. Open-ended interview …

Assessing Technical Inefficiency In Private, Not-For-Profit, Bachelor's And Master's Universities In The United States Using Stochastic Frontier Estimation, James L. Refenes

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research explored the technical inefficiency of 813 private, not-for-profit, four-year, bachelor’s and master’s colleges and universities in the U.S. using data from 2006 to 2011. The goal of the study was to describe and explain the level of technical inefficiency in this group of institutions that can be identified using a stochastic frontier estimation (SFE) method and to evaluate the applicability of SFE to higher education. Categories of expenditures were utilized to create a production frontier against which the inefficiency of individual institutions to produce degreed students was measured. The analysis using panel data showed this sector of higher …

Ai Education: Open-Access Educational Resources On Ai, Todd W. Neller

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Open-access AI educational resources are vital to the quality of the AI education we offer. Avoiding the reinvention of wheels is especially important to us because of the special challenges of AI Education. AI could be said to be “the really interesting miscellaneous pile of Computer Science”. While “artificial” is well-understood to encompass engineered artifacts, “intelligence” could be said to encompass any sufficiently difficult problem as would require an intelligent approach and yet does not fall neatly into established Computer Science subdisciplines. Thus AI consists of so many diverse topics that we would be hard-pressed to individually create quality learning …

The Dividing Lines Of Opportunity: The Relationships Among Student Characteristics And Selected Institutional Services At Two-Year Public And For-Profit Colleges, Elizabeth Anne Gilblom

ETD Archive

This study examined if and to what extent selected institutional services and special learning and credit opportunities in the 2-year private, for-profit college sector and community colleges in the United States are related to race, socioeconomic status and urbanicity. The researcher evaluated whether the institutional services and special learning and credit opportunities available to students at these 1,479 institutions are stratified by the socioeconomic and racial characteristics of their student bodies and their local communities, by institutional control, by the institution’s degree of urbanization, and the student financial aid characteristics. The researcher also investigated the relationship among institutional services, special …

Teacher Motivation Matters: An Hlm Approach To Understanding Motivation Towards The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, John Murphy Moore

ETD Archive

The International Baccalaureate Organization’s Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) has experienced explosive growth in the United States since its early stages in 1994. Despite its aggressive expansion, little research has explored the relationship between teachers and the program, ignoring the role of motivation in the ways in which the external standards and practices of the program are internalized and enacted. External regulation threatens teachers’ autonomous motivation and is thus associated with compliance attitudes, increased burnout, and less autonomy-support in the classroom. Conversely, teachers who experience more autonomous motivation are generally more creative, resist burnout, and inspire lifelong learning in students.

This …

Modeling With A Conceptual Representation: Is It Necessary? Does It Work?, Rebecca C. Jordan, Steven Gray, Amanda E. Sorensen, Samantha Pasewark, Suparna Sinha, Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

In response to recent educational imperatives in the United States, modeling and systems thinking have been identified as being critical for science learning. In this paper, we investigate models in the classroom from two important perspectives: (1) from the teacher perspective to understand how teachers perceive models and use models in the classroom and (2) from the students perspective to understand how student use model-based reasoning to represent their understanding in a classroom setting. Qualitative data collected from 19 teachers who attended a professional development workshop in the northeastern United States indicate that while teachers see the value in teaching …

Computer Science Technology Education: An Incredible Explosion, Iwasan D. Kejawa

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This paper explore what computers are, their usages and their functionalities. Computers can be used to learn or comprehend the understanding of all subjects, be it physics aerobics, swimming, biology, mathematics, agriculture, chemistry, business administration or commerce, just to name a few. In education, computers are used to project information to individuals in the classrooms or anywhere education is taking place, in churches, homes, schools, conference halls and so on. It is also used to convey the logic of a subject or behind a topic. Computers play an important role in educating our mind. With the usage of computers, we …

Perception Of Administrators: Characteristics Of Effective Teachers In High-Poverty Secondary Schools And The Alignment Of These Characteristics With The Teacher Evaluation System, Toni Baggiano-Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of an effective teacher in a high-poverty school as perceived by high school administrators and the alignment of these characteristics with the teacher evaluation system. School administrators identified the characteristics of an effective teacher in a high-poverty school. The characteristics of an effective teacher in a high-poverty school were compared with the teacher evaluation tool, EDUCATEAlabama. The comparison of the characteristics of effective teachers in high-poverty school with EDUCATEAlabama revealed the attributes of an effective teacher in a high-poverty school did not align with the state evaluation tool, EDUCATEAlabama …

A Study Of Mathematics Achievement, Placement, And Graduation Of Engineering Students, Sara Hahler Blazek

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine how background knowledge impacts freshmen engineering students' success at Louisiana Tech University in terms of grades in two different freshman classes and graduation. To determine what factors impact students, three different studies were implemented. The first study used linear regression to analyze which demographic and academic variables significantly impacted freshman math and engineering courses. Using regression discontinuity, the second study determined if the university's placement requirement for Pre-Calculus was appropriate. The final study analyzed factors that impact graduation for engineering students as well as other disciplines to determine which significant variables were …

Low-Fee Private Schools In West Africa: Case Studies From Burkina Faso And Ghana, Corinne Brion

Dissertations

Every year billions of dollars are spent on development aid and training around the world. However, only 10% of this training results in the transfer of knowledge, skills, or behaviors learned in the training to the work place. Ideally, learning transfer produces effective and continued application by learners of the knowledge and skills they gained through their learning activities. Some studies suggest that technology usage can serve as an effective post-learning intervention to enhance the transfer of learning.

Currently, there is a limited body of research examining the factors that hinder and promote learning transfer in professional development, particularly the …

Female Education: The Facilitating And Hindering Factors Regarding Female Education In Gilgit-Baltistan Context Of Pakistan, Sultan Alam

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

This paper reports a study conducted in one of the villages of Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan. The purpose of the study is to explore the perceptions of female students and their parents regarding female education. A qualitative case study method was employed to investigate the subject matter. The participants were selected on the basis of pre-determined criteria. The findings of the study showed that female education in the context is influenced by various factors including societal norms, parents perceptions and teachers attitude. It was depicted that female students have adapted such critical circumstances and are motivated to acquire their education. Since …

Paying For Attendance: Using Incentives To Combat Chronic Absenteeism, Madeline H. Meth

Faculty Scholarship

Students with poor attendance miss opportunities to learn social and academic skills.' They perform worse on achievement tests. ² They are also less likely to graduate.³ A student who misses school in as early as the first grade is significantly more likely to eventually drop out of high school.⁴ Individuals who drop out see a significant loss in earnings and are more likely to be jobless; women who drop out make about 60% of what female high-school graduates earn, and men who do not graduate lose approximately $9,564 in annual wages. Because high-school dropouts earn less than those …

Educating The Whole Being: Yoga & Mindfulness In Schools, Trang Huynh

LMU Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Gender Differences And The Effect Of Financial Parenting On Financial Self-Efficacy, R. Lea Hollowell

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Much research has been completed regarding the need for financial literacy over the past two decades. Teaching financial knowledge alone is not enough to improve financial outcomes due to the psychological factors that may result in bad financial decisions despite individuals being aware of financial best practices. Financial self-efficacy, the belief that one is capable of making good financial decisions without being overwhelmed, has been proposed as the conduit between financial knowledge and financial outcomes. Past research has found that males tend to outscore females in financial literacy assessments as well as a variety of types of self-efficacy; however, very …

Grit Literature: Developing A Grit-Building Curriculum To Increase Task Perseverance, Eric Sinclair

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ThisDissertation was designed to examine the effects of a curriculum designed with basic tenets in mind to help students build grit in their academic careers and beyond. Before and after executing this modified curriculum, students performed tests of academic grit and task perseverance to determine whether the curriculum affected their abilities to persist through difficult tasks, specifically revising and editing their own narrative writing.

The Impact Of The Systematic Incorporation Of Tolerances On Gypsum Board Installation, Curtis W. Bradford

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To meet the challenges of productivity in construction new technologies and management techniques have been introduced. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has shown signs of increased efficiency on projects. Lean Construction is founded in the principles of Lean manufacturing and is focused on reducing waste at all steps in the construction process. Construction robotics has emerged as a viable solution to skilled labor shortages. Each of these solutions are based on consistency of product installation and tolerance use will be vital to success. Although each of these initiatives shows progress they have failed to meet the expectations of the customer or …

Trends In Naep Scores Among 17-Year-Old Students In The Era Of Accountability, Katherine Kyler

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Education has undergone a sweeping renovation throughout the last several decades as part of the school accountability movement aimed to increase student success. High school graduation rates are the highest they have been in decades. School accountability measures continue to be implemented and modified with a goal of increasing student success and closing the achievement gap (Maleyko & Gawlik, 2011). Accountability measures are in place that require data analysis and reporting of information such as graduation rates and standardized test scores (No Child Left Behind Act [NCLB], 2008). While it is important to hold schools accountable, many of the currently …

The Impact Of Stereoscopic Three-Dimensional Learning Strategy On Undergraduate Technology Students' Procedural Learning Inbailey College Of Engineering And Technology, Jared Wuerzburger

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of stereoscopic three-dimensional strategies on long-term and short-term memory performance, as compared to traditional two-dimensional media strategies on undergraduate technology students learningBailey College of Engineering and Technology. Additionally, student perceptions of the stereoscopic three-dimensional viewing experience were also investigated. A sample of 98 students from Indiana State University participated in this study. The design utilized in this study was a posttest-only control group design with an immediate and delayed posttest. The experimental grouping received stereoscopic three-dimensional instruction with narration, while the control group received two-dimensional instruction with narration. The stereoscopic …

Lost In Translation: Wittgenstein As A Tragic Philosopher Of Education, Norm Friesen

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

As a landmark philosopher of language and of mind, Ludwig Wittgenstein is also remarkable for having crossed, with apparent ease, the “continental divide” in philosophy. It is consequently not surprising that Wittgenstein’s work, particularly the Philosophical Investigations, has been taken up by philosophers of education in English. Michael A. Peters (1999), Christopher Winch (2002), Smeyers & Burbules (2010), and others (e.g., Aparece 2005) have engaged extensively with the implications of the later Wittgenstein’s philosophy for education. One challenge they face is Wittgenstein’s use of the word “training.” It appears throughout his discussions of language learning and in his periodic references …

Building Bridges: Why Expanding Optional Practical Training Is A Valid Exercise Of Agency Authority And How It Helps F-1 Students Transition To H-1b Worker Status, Pia Nitzschke

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Small Town, Big Future: Preparing Rural Maine Students For College, Elizabeth C. Huber

Honors Theses

While the need for a college degree has increased in the knowledge economy era, acquisition of this degree has remained difficult for low-income and first-generation students. At the same time, college preparatory programs designed for this demographic of student tend to be clustered in urban centers while very little focus is given to disadvantaged students in rural communities. The academic prospects of rural students in regards to higher education are the focus of this project. More specifically, this project explores the ways in which college-cultured programs may address the educational needs of students living in rural communities. By doing in-depth …

Research Trends In The Use Of Mobile Learning In Mathematics, Helen Crompton, Diane Burke

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The use of mobile learning in education is growing at an exponential rate. To best understand how mobile learning is being used, it is crucial to gain a collective understanding of the research that has taken place. This research was a systematic review of 36 studies in mobile learning in mathematics from the year 2000 onward. Eight new findings emerged: (1) The primary purpose of most studies was to focus on evaluating mobile learning. (2) Case studies and experimental design were the main research methods. (3) Most studies report positive learning outcomes; (4) Mobile phones were the mobile device used …