Education Commons^™

Are Students Satisfied With Media: A Canadian Case Study, Gerd Gidion, Luiz Fernando Capretz, Ken Meadow, Michael Grosch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The article presents partial results of a survey about media usage habits for studying and learning conducted in 2013 at Western University, a large Canadian university. The article focuses on students’ frequency of use and satisfaction with media for studying and learning. The results of this study support the assumption that student’s media usage includes a mixture of traditional and new media. The main traditional media continue to play an important role in the students’ academic life, and some new media have emerged as seemingly on equal footing or even more important than the traditional forms of media. The use …

At The College Gates: A Phenomenological Study Of Stem Identity Formation At A Stem Program At A Historical Black University, Maria O'Hearn

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Melguizo and Wolniak (2011) contend that increasing the success of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields is a significant national and state policy issue given the data showing gaps in gender and racial/ethnic bachelors degree completion rates in these fields (Rask, 2010). Recommendations made by the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE, 2013) highlight the importance of school structures as being fundamental for improving the STEM pipeline from high school to college for underrepresented minority students. Thus, the purposes of this study were to describe the lived experiences of African American students attending a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and …

Identification Of Specific Learning Disabilities: Georgia School Psychologists' Perceptions, Marie T. Underwood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An on-line survey was conducted to investigate the assessment practices and perceptions of 366 practicing school psychologist in the state of Georgia concerning various operational components, and the use of RTI when determining SLD eligibility. Results were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression to determine if psychologists’ perceptions could be predicted based on various explanatory variables. Results revealed that a little over half of the respondents preferred assessment of cognitive processing deficits evidenced through patterns of strengths and weaknesses for establishing SLD classification; while well over two-thirds continue to also value analysis of cognitive ability (IQ) scores. Psychologists’ assessment practices were …

An Examination Of The Correlation Between The Seven Critical Leadership Functions And Middle School African-American And Hispanic Student Achievement, Shannon A. Flounnory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examined possible correlations between each of the seven critical leadership functions and achievement in the areas of mathematics for eighth grade African-American and Hispanic students. The 117 participants included school leaders and students from 12 of the 19 middle schools in a metropolitan school district in the southeastern region of the United States. Principals from the middle schools in the district distributed the Critical Leadership Functions Questionnaire to members of their leadership team (e.g., assistant principals, school counselors, department chairs, etc.). CRCT scores measured student achievement. The researcher conducted a correlation study, using Pearson’s multivariable correlation data …

The Relationship Between Financial Aid Type And Academic Success In A Public Two-Year College In Georgia, Donald D. Avery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between financial aid type and academic success in a public two-year institution in the state of Georgia. Financial assistance contributes significantly to higher education in the form of subsidy to the participants in higher education through student financial aid. Much of the research available on this topic is based on data provided by four-year institutions and research was not identified which investigates the aid type and potential relationship to academic success.

In an attempt to establish this relationship, the investigation considered grades earned in foundational coursework as …

Creencias De Los Estudiantes De Los Colegios En Convenio De Bogotá Sobre La Institución Escolar, Jairo Antonio Torres Méndez, Karen Yissed Sosa Valero, Carlos Andrés Munar Vivas

Maestría en Docencia

Esta investigación pretendió indagar acerca de las creencias de los estudiantes sobre la institución escolar, la cual permite aportar a la transformación de los colegios partícipes; igualmente, la Secretaría de Educación Distrital se beneficia, ya que tendrá una mirada y acercamiento a las creencias de los estudiantes. La población escogida fueron 1790 estudiantes de décimo y undécimo de 32 colegios en convenio de cinco localidades de la ciudad de Bogotá: Suba, Usme, Ciudad Bolívar, Kennedy y Bosa, caracterizadas por tener gran cobertura estudiantil en el sector oficial y con el mayor número de colegios en convenio. El tipo de investigación …

The Continuing Evolution Of The Research Doctorate, Bianca L. Bernstein, Barbara Evans, Jeannette Fyffe, Nelofer Halai, Fred L. Hall, Mukobe Siggaard Jensen, Kazim Papeiva, Suzanne Ortega

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Assessment & Evaluation In Physical Education: Making It Work For Students & Teachers, Brigitte S. Webster

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Physical Education must assume a stronger role in elementary schools. Rising childhood obesity, exceptional family dynamics, and increases in screen time are factors in students' sedentary lifestyles. As a result, curriculum delivery and assessment and evaluation techniques have come under examination. This thesis evaluates the Feedback in Physical Education Tool (FPE Tool), designed for teachers to use when evaluating students in Physical Education. Increasing communication and supporting the development of self-regulated learners were the primary aims of the research. Three elementary educators (Gr. 4, 5 & 6) and sixty-nine students in a mid-sized, urban elementary school volunteered to use the …

Kingswood Lake Management Plan, Sarah Martina Tierney

Honors Theses and Capstones

High water quality and natural buffers exist on Kingswood Lake located in Brookfield, New Hampshire. A comprehensive lakes inventory (CSI) was recorded and health of the land, wildlife, and waterways were observed. Educational outreach was taken to inform the local community and to instruct them on proper stewardship of the land. A completed watershed management plan was constructed including key recommendation of limiting nitrogen loading in the area, checking septic systems for leaching, stabilizing shoreline from erosion, and establishing man-made rain gardens to help preserve water quality. The Kingswood watershed management plan acts as a guide for the town of …

A Microgenetic Approach To Examining Set For Variability: An Exploration Of Early Reading Development, Phil R. Cave M.A.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Learning sight words is a process that involves forming connections between letters and their sounds in order to connect spellings of words with their pronunciations as well as their meanings. During the development of sight word reading, children will sound out (phonologically recode) words that they do not yet know by sight (Share, 1995). Because English lacks transparency, sounding out according to grapheme-phoneme correspondences often only results in an approximation to the target word. The process by which a child must match a word they have recoded phonologically with a word that exists in their vocabulary has been referred to …

Effect Of Ebooks On Reading Level, Reading Behaviors, And Attitude Of Second Grade Students, Annette Vanaken

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the effect of ebooks as a tool for providing small group reading interventions and independent reading practice to second grade readers in the classroom. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, non-equivalent control group design was used to compare whether instructional reading environments (ebooks only, traditional books only, or both ebooks and traditional books) affect reading level and attitudes towards reading, while a posttest only non-equivalent control group design was used to measure reading behaviors of second grade students. A convenience sample of 88 English-speaking students at a rural, public elementary school in Southern Michigan participated. Reading level was measured by …

The Disconnect Between College And Reality, Janice Bell Underwood, Elizabeth Burns

STEMPS Faculty Publications

With formative assessments, teachers can more accurately determine student interests and aptitudes and drive achievement.

Impact Of College Counseling Within Private High Schools On First-Generation College-Bound Students' Enrollment In Four-Year Colleges: A Case Study, Ana Maria Soler

Doctoral Dissertations

First-generation college-bound students (FGCBS), students whose parents do not have a college degree, are at a disadvantage during the preparation for and enrollment in 4-year colleges, according to the literature. A majority of these students either never enter 4-year colleges, or enroll in 2-year colleges and never complete a bachelor's degree. With the demand in the work force for college degrees, much research has been conducted on understanding the experiences of these students. Previous research has focused on college counseling for FGCBS within public schools, traditionally low-resourced public schools, as this is where most FGCBS are enrolled.

This study addresses …

Assessing Student Learning With Technology: A Descriptive Study Of Technology-Using Teacher Practice And Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Tpack), Lara Elaine Ervin-Kassab

Doctoral Dissertations

In 2013, a majority of states in the US had adopted Common Core State Standards under the Race to the Top initiative. With this adoption came the opportunity to utilize computer-delivered and computer-adaptive testing. Although the computer-based assessments were intended to assist teachers in designing classroom assessments and using student data to inform instructional practice, teacher-reported data indicated that the areas in which teachers are most unprepared, lack confidence, or are in need of development were assessment (DeLuca, 2012; Wayman et al., 2007) and technology (Brush & Saye, 2009; Kramarski & Michalsky, 2010).

The Technology Assessment Practices Survey (TAPS) study …

On Being Transminded: Disabling Achievement, Enabling Exchange, Anne Dalke, Clare Mullaney

Literatures in English Faculty Research and Scholarship

We write collaboratively, as a recent graduate and long-time faculty member of a small women’s liberal arts college, about the mental health costs of adhering to a feminist narrative of achievement that insists upon independence and resiliency. As we explore the destabilizing potential of an alternative feminist project, one that invites different temporalities in which dis/ability emerges and may be addressed, we work with disability less as an identity than as a generative methodology, a form of relation and exchange. Mapping our own college as a specific, local site for the disabling tradition of “challenging women,” we move to larger …

Participatory Perspectives: A Photovoice Narrative Study Of Zambian Vulnerable Youth, Lori K. Imasiku

Doctoral Dissertations

The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals aim to meet the needs of the world's poorest people by 2015 through universally agreed upon targets. Goal number two aims to provide universal primary education and states that "by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling" (United Nations, 2010). Zambia, located in Sub-Saharan Africa, in an effort to increase school access and attendance, developed the Free Basic Education Plan which eliminated school tuition up to grade 7 and allowed for a large number of children to enroll in school. While this effort …

Evaluation Of Student Writing And Its Effects On Motivation, Scott May

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Pisa Problems, Christopher Tienken

Christopher Tienken

Project-Based Chinese As A Foreign Language Instruction: A Teacher Research Approach, Gulbahar Beckett

Gulbahar Beckett

Implementing A Generic School Improvement Framework: Experience Of The National School Improvement Tool In Australian Settings, Elizabeth A. Hartnell-Young, Robert Marshall, Robert Hassell

Robert Marshall

This is a collection of three papers presented at a symposium ‘Implementing a generic school improvement framework: experience of the National School Improvement Tool in Australian settings’ at the 27th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) , Yogyakarta Indonesia, 27 January 2014.

Paper A: Development of a school improvement framework with broad application in different contexts by Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, ACER. School improvement has been a focus of attention in Australia for some time, but the publication of results in international testing such as PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science …

Faculty Attitudes Toward General Education Assessment: A Qualitative Study About Their Motivation, S. K. Macdonald, L. M. Williams, R. A. Lazowski, S. Jeanne Horst, K. E. Barron

S. Jeanne Horst

No abstract provided.

Social Epistemology And The Pragmatics Of Assessment, Kenneth J. Gergen, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

In the present offering we challenge the presumption that the educational testing of students provides objective information about such students. This presumption largely rests on an empiricist account of science. In light of mounting criticism, however, empiricist foundationalism has given way to a social epistemology. From this standpoint, empirical data are only objective for those who share assumptions and values that are themselves without foundations. Thus, the major questions to be raised about testing are not in terms of whether test results supply the truth about those who are evaluated, but concern the utility of the tests for the full …

Children’S Enjoyment Of Play During School Lunchtime Breaks: An Examination Of Intraday And Interday Reliability, Brendon P. Hyndman, Amanda Telford, Caroline Finch, Shahid Ullah, Amanda Benson

Dr Brendon P Hyndman

Background: Enjoyment and play during school lunchtime are correlated with children’s physical activity. Despite this, there is an absence of studies reporting children’s enjoyment of play during school lunchtime breaks. The purpose of this study was to examine the intraday and interday reliability of children’s enjoyment of school lunchtime play. Methods: Surveys used to assess children’s enjoyment of lunchtime play were distributed to and completed by 197 children (112 males, 85 females), aged 8–12 years attending an elementary school in Victoria, Australia. Children completed the surveys during class before lunch (expected enjoyment) and after lunch (actual enjoyment) for 5 days. …

Rasch Maximum Likelihood Estimation For Theta And W-Scores With Panel Study Of Income Dynamics Woodcock-Johnson Revised Achievement Raw Scores, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

This appendix explains the estimation of the Rasch maximum likelihood estimated thetas using the raw scores of the Woodcock-Johnson Revised Achievement Measure in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. It is then discussed how to estimate the W-scores from the Rasch maximum likelihood estimated thetas. The W-scores ensure stability in score changes that accounts for item difficulty and person ability for growth modeling.

Advancing Grounded Theory: Using Theoretical Frameworks Within Grounded Theory Studies, Donald Mitchell Jr.

Donald Mitchell Jr., Ph.D.

Assessing The Need For Graduate Global Education Programs In The United States, Krishna Bista, Amany Saleh

Krishna Bista

Global education plays an increasingly important role in enriching students’ learning experiences in US institutions of higher education. Students are connected to the world through global culture, economics, politics, technology and immigration. This paper examines the perceptions of 305 graduate students and alumni concerning the need for global education programs in the United States. Participants shared their views of the importance of global education in understanding today’s economy, culture, and environment, while addressing our future needs and challenges. There were no significant statistical differences between the perceptions of graduate students and alumni or between those of international and American students …

Facilitating Teachers’ Thinking About Pedagogy And Technology With An Online Curriculum Planning Tool, Kirsten R. Butcher, Heather Leary, James Foster, Holly Devaul

Heather Leary, Ph.D.

The current study analyzed the impact of a year-long adoption of an online curriculum planning tool on teachers’ thinking about content and pedagogy, as well as their use of technology in the classroom. The online planning tool was adopted district-wide following professional development training with the purpose of supporting teachers’ development of differentiated, student-centered instruction with digital resources. Structured interviews with high school science teachers were used to determine how teachers’ thinking about key concepts and instruction changed during the course of technology adoption. Verbal protocol analysis was used to code interviews, using comprehension theory and national reform approaches in …

The Development, Validity, And Reliability Of A Psychometric Instrument Measuring Competencies In Student Affairs, Rishi Sriram

Rishi Sriram, Ph.D.

The study of competencies in student affairs began more than 4 decades ago, but no instrument currently exists to measure competencies broadly. This study builds upon previous research by developing an instrument to measure student affairs competencies. Results not only validate the competencies espoused by NASPA and ACPA, but also suggest adding a new competency and dividing some existing competencies into separate ones. Competency strengths, competency weaknesses, and implications for current practice and future research are discussed.

Development Of A School Improvement Framework With Broad Application In Different Contexts, Elizabeth A. Hartnell-Young

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young (Consultant)

School improvement has been a focus of attention in Australia for some time, but the publication of results in international testing such as PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) in recent times has heightened awareness of comparisons between Australian students and their peers in other countries (eg. Thomson, Hillman, Wernert, Schmid, Buckley, and Munene, 2012). This paper describes the National School Improvement Tool (ACER, 2012) developed in Australia to support school and system improvement efforts.

Implementing A Generic School Improvement Framework: Experience Of The National School Improvement Tool In Australian Settings, Elizabeth A. Hartnell-Young, Robert Marshall, Robert Hassell

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young (Consultant)

This is a collection of three papers presented at a symposium ‘Implementing a generic school improvement framework: experience of the National School Improvement Tool in Australian settings’ at the 27th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) , Yogyakarta Indonesia, 27 January 2014.

Paper A: Development of a school improvement framework with broad application in different contexts by Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, ACER. School improvement has been a focus of attention in Australia for some time, but the publication of results in international testing such as PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science …