Education Commons^™

School Climate Measurement And Analysis, Adrian J. Vandenberg

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research project examined the concept of school climate and measured and analyzed school climate data in a mixed methods study at an independent school in British Columbia. In this study, 341 students participated in a survey which included demographic questions and items from the School Climate Measure (SCM). The quantitative data from the survey measured the school climate in 10 different domains at the school and was used to compare and analyze different subgroups within the student population. Six students were also interviewed to collect qualitative data and analyze the school climate more comprehensively. The data and subsequent …

Expanding Outcomes In Educational Program Evaluation: Student Outcomes, Systemic Effects, And Policy Implications, Heidi Lauren Holmes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Education policy debates over the last twenty years have focused on the need to increase students’ test scores. The federal government and states have implemented and expanded a variety of test-based, school accountability policies. Accountability pressures have incentivized schools to narrow their curriculum, decrease time allocated to extracurricular activities, and focus on short-term student outcomes. This dissertation focuses on expanding outcomes in educational program evaluations and demonstrates the value of looking beyond the goal of increasing student test scores. The first chapter, using random assignment, estimates the causal effects of culturally enriching field trips on various student outcomes. Such field …

Capstone Assessment As Faculty Development, Rowanna L. Carpenter, Seanna M. Kerrigan, Vicki Reitenauer

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland State University (PSU) is a public institution in Portland, Oregon, serving 28,000 students, including 23,000 undergraduates. PSU implemented Capstone courses in 1995 as the culminating experience in the revised general education program, University Studies (UNST). Capstones at PSU are community‐based courses composed of interdisciplinary teams of students actively engaged with community partners, designed to address the UNST learning goals (inquiry and critical thinking; communication; ethics and social responsibility; and diversity, equity, and social justice). Each Capstone course creates one or more collaboratively developed final products intended to serve the community partner.

In this article, we describe the evolution of …

Assessment As Critical Programmatic Reflection, Vicki Reitenauer, Rowanna L. Carpenter

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article argues that general education assessment is an opportunity for engaging faculty and the general education program as a whole in critical reflection on the practices and pedagogies that affect the entire undergraduate body. Through intentional assessment practices tied to learning outcomes, pedagogical expectations, and faculty and student classroom experience, an assessment program can meet accreditation expectations while serving as a rich location for critical reflection and continuous improvement. To illustrate, this article takes the reader through a year in the life of University Studies' assessment at Portland State University. It provides details about the individual elements of our …

Childhood Fitness And Academic Achievement: An Exploration Into The Effect Of Physical Fitness Scores On Academic Assessment Tests, Kevin Vanderwal

Master of Education Program Theses

This research study examines the correlation between the effects of physical fitness scores on academic assessment tests. The study examines students’ PACER scores and what impact that causes with the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) test. The study included a sample of 147 students from a large Midwestern elementary school of fifth graders. The study found that PACER scores seems to have a positive relationship with students’ MAP scores; that improving on the PACER does not show significant gains to show a connection between the two variables; that high BMI scores can indicate lower MAP scores and that lower BMI …

Visual Formative Assessment And Learning Styles, Julie Pickard

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study investigated the impact of visual formative assessments on the achievement levels of students with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles. The study was conducted in four classes of freshmen at Southwest Christian High School in Chaska, MN, with a total of eighty-four participants. Two pairs were created for the study with control and treatment groups in each pair. Students were classified according to learning style, and a unit pre-test was administered to identify growth. Treatment groups were instructed using daily visual formative assessments for the duration of the unit. Students were assessed again at the end …

A Comparative Study Of Competency-Based Courses Demonstrating A Potential Measure Of Course Quality And Student Success, Jackie Krause, Laura Portolese, Christopher Schedler

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

While competency-based education is growing, standardized tools for evaluating the unique characteristics of course design in this domain are still under development. This preliminary research study evaluated the effectiveness of a rubric developed for assessing course design of competency-based courses in an undergraduate Information Technology and Administrative Management program. The rubric, which consisted of twenty-six individual measures, was used to evaluate twelve new courses. Additionally, the final assessment scores of nine students who completed nine courses in the program were evaluated to determine if a correlation exists between student success and specific indicators of quality in the course design. The …

Designing And Assessing Learning Outcomes: A Framework For Co-Curricular Sustainability Programs, Heather E. Spalding, Dilafruz R. Williams, Vicki L. Wise

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, Co-Curricular Sustainability Programs (CoCSPs) have been established at many higher education institutions. However, few such programs have developed learning outcomes or assessment processes to measure the types of learning that are occurring within their programs. This case study creates synthesis between sustainability education and student leadership competencies and shares a place-based framework for designing and assessing learning outcomes. By utilizing learning outcomes and assessment processes, leadership educators can strengthen the effectiveness of their sustainability programs and facilitate transformational learning experiences for students across campus.

Needs Analysis: The First Step In Library Instruction Assessment, Anne Pemberton

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Using instructional design methods, specifically conducting a needs analysis, can provide librarians with a road map for designing an assessment plan for library instruction. Instructional design models are often unfamiliar to librarians and underutilized in library instruction and in information literacy programs. One instructional design model is ADDIE: Analyze Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. The first step in the process, the analysis, can be done by developing a needs analysis for your specific institution in order to measure the gap between what faculty expect students to know and the knowledge and skills that students actually possess. Conducting a needs analysis …

Proposing Measures For Assessing Systems Thinking Interventions, Megan Aline Hopper

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper presents an analysis of systems thinking interventions in educational settings. Although these interventions have been implemented in K-12 classrooms since the mid 1980s, there is still no clear definition of systems thinking or identification of the best method to test the effectiveness of interventions or methods for teaching systems thinking The goal of this paper is to answer the question: how do we assess the effectiveness of systems thinking interventions in education? In order to answer this question, I had to address the following sub questions: (1) what is systems thinking, (2) what systems thinking interventions are being …

Assessment Of The Extent Of Agreement On The Implementation Of Instructional Design Principles Among Corporate Training And Development Experts, Elba C. Grovdahl

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

A sample of corporate instructional designers and professors of instructional design completed the "Corporate Instructional Design Scale." The data yielded information on the extent of agreement that descriptive statements identified conventionally and systematically designed instruction.

Descriptive and asymmetric log linear (statistical) analyses were conducted. In the asymmetric log linear analyses, the extent of agreement was used as the dependent variable. The three independent variables with three levels each were Program type (conventionally designed instruction, both conventionally and systematically designed instruction, and systematically designed instruction), Instructional component (instructional intents, instructional strategies, and instructional assessments), and Trainer type (professional trainers in manufacturing, …