Education Commons^™

"The Positive Impacts Of A Professional Learning Community Model On Student Achievement In Small Schools", Christy Mariani-Petroze Dr.

Journal of Catholic Education Pre-Prints

This study explores the impact of professional learning communities on student achievement in a small school setting. Aaron Hansen’s book, How to Develop PLCs for Singletons and Small Schools, offered a guide for arranging vertical, grade-level teams with one teacher per grade level at one private, K-8 school. The faculty engaged in high quality, effective professional development using PLC objectives and norms to analyze NWEA MAP data. They adapted instructional practices and implemented formative assessments to influence student growth in math and reading scores. Results indicate that the PLC training that took place between the Fall and Winter MAP testing …

The The Relationships Between The Leadership Styles Of Principals Assigned To Title I Middle Schools, Staff Longevity, School Climate, And Overall School Achievement, Anna L. Rodriguez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The achievement gap stands as one of the top priorities framing educational policy through the past half-century. The middle school level amplifies this gap especially in urban areas. The role of principal leadership in closing the achievement gap is key.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the leadership styles of principals assigned to Title I middle schools, staff longevity, school climate, and overall school achievement. The researcher applied a non-experimental, ex-post facto research design to investigate the research hypotheses. Utilizing the Google Survey Platform, 290 staff members across 30 middle schools within a large urban …

The Impact Of Teachers With Differing Levels Of Degree Attainment On Student Performance In Mathematics, Marie Call

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act states that in order for K-12 teachers to be considered “highly qualified” they must obtain at least a bachelor’s degree. However, research shows that the vast majority of states compensate teachers more highly for obtaining graduate degrees. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in mean scores and/or pass rates of fourth-grade students on the Georgia Milestones End of Grade (EOG) Assessment in Mathematics for teachers with various levels of degree attainment (bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialist, and doctoral degrees). The theoretical framework that this study was rooted …

Lifting Achievement Levels And Improving The Return On Australia’S Investment In Schooling : Submission To The Review To Achieve Educational Excellence In Australian Schools (Chair: Mr David Gonski), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation

Many students in our schools are not learning as well as they could because they are not being given learning opportunities at an appropriate level of challenge. Instead, students are grouped by year level (age) and teachers deliver curricula assumed to be appropriate for all students in the same year of school. However, the most advanced ten per cent of students in any year of school are five to six years ahead of the least advanced ten per cent. For less advanced students, the year-level curriculum is often too far ahead. Many are judged to be underperforming year after year, …

The Effects Of Professional Development On Elementary Students’ Mathematics Achievement, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Keith W. Thiede, Sam Strother, Dan Jesse, John Sutton

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper describes the effects of a professional development (PD) program – Developing Mathematical Thinking – on student achievement. Six Title I elementary schools with similar demographics, within one school district, were chosen to participate as either a treatment or comparison school. Three schools were chosen to participate in professional development that incorporates effective PD recommendations. All the teachers had to participate in all aspects of the PD, thereby eliminating potential self-selection bias. Using the state standardized achievement test as the before and after measure, results suggest improved student performance after professional development was implemented over a two year period.

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Instructional Technology Integration And Student Achievement, Carla Holt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This correlational, causal-comparative research study examined the relationships between secondary career and technical education teachers’ gender, experience, professional development and their perceptions of technology use. The research also investigated how the teachers in this study perceive the adequacy of their student’s technology skills for meeting college and workplace demands. Eighty-four career and technical education teachers in six North Carolina high schools completed the School Technology Needs Assessment Survey 4.0 (STNA), which also included demographic questions that asked about age, gender and years of experience. A two sample t test, correlation analysis and multiple linear regression were performed. The results of …

Developing Multiplication Fact Fluency, Jonathan Brendefur, S. Strother, K. Thiede, S. Appleton

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using specific components of three broad learning theories—cognitive, social-interactional, and behavioral—students in 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th grade classrooms were given multiplication fact fluency instruction over a period of five weeks for 10-15 minutes each day. Two different approaches were utilized with two distinct groups of students for the purpose of comparing different approaches to fluency development. Results indicate that students using a strategy-based approach for fluency development by means of instructional tasks emphasizing social-interactional and cognitive theories (particularly Bruner’s theory of Modes of Representation) increased multiplication fact fluency, with a greater degree of consistency, than students …

A Study Comparing Fifth Grade Student Achievement In Mathematics In Departmentalized And Non-Departmentalized Settings, Karen Nelson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to examine the application of the teaching and learning theory of social constructivism in order to determine if mathematics instruction provided in a departmentalized classroom setting at the fifth grade level resulted in a statistically significant difference in student achievement on the Virginia 2011 Grade 5 Mathematics Standards of Learning (SOL) Test when compared to the achievement of students in a non-departmentalized setting. Regular fifth grade education students, who attended non-Title 1, Pre-K through Grade 5 elementary schools in an urban eastern Virginia school district, participated in this study. A three-way between-groups …

A Professional Development Program To Improve Math Skills Among Preschool Children In Head Start, Jonathan Brendefur, Sam Strother, Keith Thiede, Cristianne Lane, Mary Jo Surges-Prokop

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of providing early educators professional development experiences and activities to improve the mathematical skills of preschool children in Head Start around four domains of mathematics. Because of the need to provide necessary mathematical experiences to young children to improve their early understanding and skills and provide the foundation for future success in mathematics, we provided the treatment group of early educators with professional development and center-based activities to promote four critical areas in mathematics. By randomly selecting Head Start centers to participate as the treatment group or control group, we …

Cognition And Student Learning Through The Arts, Steven A. Melnick, Judith T. Witmer, Martha J. Strickland

NERA Conference Proceedings 2008

An increasing number of recent research studies suggest connections between cognition, social and emotional development, and the arts. Some studies indicate that students in schools where the arts are an integral part of the academic program tend to do better in school than those students where that is not the case. This study examines home/school factors that contribute most to variance in student learning and achievement and the arts from over 8,000 students in grade 5. The findings suggest in-school arts programs may have less of an impact on student achievement than proposed by previous research.