Education Commons^™

Rural High School Principals And The Challenge Of Standards-Based Grading, Tom Buckmiller, Matt Townsley, Robyn Cooper

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to better understand how principals in rural schools are thinking about assessment and grading practices and if they anticipate implementing policy changes in the near future that may require increased support. Principals of schools in rural areas often face challenges that are significantly different from those of their urban and suburban counterparts. The researchers used a mixed-method survey to better understand if progressive grading policies were a part of the vision for principals of rural high schools, if they possessed conceptual underpinnings of such practices, and if they believed they had the capacity within …

Losing As And Fs: What Works For Schools Implementing Standards-Based Grading?, Matt Townsley, Tom Buckmiller

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this essay is to document what works when K-12 schools implement standards-based grading through a deep dive into related literature and to suggest areas for future considerations. To ignore what others are doing and what is presented in the research literature on teaching and learning is not only inefficient, it is also irresponsible and unprofessional (Gupton, 2010). As more schools work to implement a robust teaching, learning and assessment system, K-12 teachers and administrators in the early stages of redesigning their grading practices will be looking towards the successes and struggles of early adopters in order to …

Considering Standards-Based Grading: Challenges For Secondary School Leaders, Matt Townsley

Faculty Publications

Rather than awarding points for a combination of worksheet completion, quiz performance, in-class participation, and essay writing, standards-based grading separates academics from non-academic factors and communicates students' nonprogress towards mastery of course or grade-level standards. Some secondary schools are moving towards standards-based grading (SBG) in an attempt to produce more consistent grading practices, however the empirical evidence resulting from this change is mixed. The purpose of this article is to describe principles of standards-based grading, empirical support of SBG, and several common challenges secondary school leaders may face when considering this philosophical shift. Future research recommendations include exploring the perspectives …

A Professional Development Plan To Increase Student Motivation Through The Analysis Of Three Motivational Components : Student, Teacher, And Accountability Measures, Ashley Ann Oleson

Graduate Research Papers

This paper contains professional development plan and instructions to be used to train educators about student motivation. While the plan was created to be implemented as a year-long professional development, it could be used in smaller increments focusing on one or two of the three total components that influence student motivation. The three components include: student, teacher, and accountability measures. The final plan, Student Motivation Professional Development Plan, SMPDP, was formulated from research referenced within this paper. SMPDP agendas, plans, and all necessary materials needed for implementation are also included.

Effects Of Gamification On Motivation And Engagement In Secondary Curriculum, Matthew J. Molumby

Graduate Research Papers

This literature review investigates the ways and means schools have attempted to influence motivation through the process of gamification in secondary curriculum. This literature review analyzed 31 peer-reviewed empirical studies that sought to understand the links between motivation and engagement with gamified lessons. This review attempts to analyze and synthesize the studies that are related to the definitions of gamification and beyond, the successful implementation along with the failures for motivation and engagement, and a whole system that afford school districts a more deliberate approach to gamification in the high school curriculum. The reviewer has attempted to chronicle studies to …

Teachers’ Efficacy For Supporting At-Risk Students And Their Perceived Role In Dropout Prevention, Kimberly Knesting-Lund, Brent O'Rourke, Anthony Gabriele

Faculty Publications

Research on the construct of teacher efficacy has demonstrated its positive relationship to a number of student outcomes, such as improved academic achievement, increased levels of self-efficacy, and a stronger belief in their ability to solve a math task and their motivation for completing it. Based on these findings, this research considered the possibility that teacher efficacy for supporting at-risk students could be related to their understanding of high school dropout, potentially suggesting ways to improve schools’ dropout prevention efforts. This study was an initial exploration of the relationship between high school teachers’ perceived efficacy for supporting at-risk students and …

An Analysis Of Online And Blended Learning Environments : Measuring Approach And Learning Outcomes In Corporate Settings, Meghan B. O'Neal

Graduate Research Papers

Organizations use training as an investment with the desirable end goal of gaining a valuable employee, despite cost and time constraints on their organization. This review investigates how e-Learning and blended learning training methods are currently used in organizations. It measures the Return-On-Investment of e-Learning and blended learning training methods within corporate learning environments and examines means to improve learning outcomes for learners and the organization.

For this review, peer-reviewed journals were evaluated to analyze e-Learning and blended learning methods and outcomes. Conclusions reveal that both e-Learning and blended learning training models are being successfully used in corporate training modules. …

The Effects Of Web 2.0 Pedagogy On Student Engagement, Collaboration, And Achievement, Kelsey Lage

Graduate Research Papers

This review explores various studies and articles on the effects of Web 2.0 pedagogy on student engagement, collaboration, and achievement in a K-undergraduate setting. A critical review of purposefully selected peer-reviewed journal articles highlight the relationship between Web 2.0 pedagogy and student engagement, collaboration, and achievement. This literature review provides an analysis for administrators and teachers when implementing Web 2.0 pedagogy. This review suggests that the implementation of Web 2.0 pedagogy increases student engagement, collaboration, and achievement.

What Would My Avatar Do? Gaming, Pathology, And Risky Decision Making, Kira Bailey, Robert West, Judson Kuffel

Faculty Publications

Recent work has revealed a relationship between pathological video game use and increased impulsivity among children and adolescents. A few studies have also demonstrated increased risk-taking outside of the video game environment following game play, but this work has largely focused on one genre of video games (i.e., racing). Motivated by these findings, the aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between pathological and non-pathological video game use, impulsivity, and risky decision making. The current study also investigated the relationship between experience with two of the most popular genres of video games [i.e., first-person shooter (FPS) and …

How Mathematics Teachers Can Help Curb Childhood Obesity, Elana Joram, Anthony J. Gabriele

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Meeting Social Emotional Needs In Early Childhood Education, Veronica Armstrong

Graduate Research Papers

Is our nation's educational system heading in the right direction? Tremendous emphasis is being put on academic achievement. With this emphasis comes severe consequences for those schools not meeting standards. This situation is causing many administrators, teachers, and support staff as well as parents, community members, and government officials to have blinders on when it comes to how best to help children succeed. Some believe that the best way to help children learn is to cram it at them quickly and efficiently and hope they retain the information long enough to regurgitate it for the standardized test. Others believe that …

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Angela Bigelow

Graduate Research Papers

Obsessive Compulsive Disorders have the potential to destroy people's lives. The negative consequences of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can affect so many people-the people suffering from the disorder, the family of the sufferer, as well as the lack of insight of the disorder within the community. According to the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation (2010), the disorder affects between 2 to 3 million adults in the United States and around 500,000 children and teens have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Due to the alarming statistics and the secret lives of incredible pain and humiliation OCD sufferers' experience, it is imperative that mental health counselors educate …

Divorce : Supporting Children And Adolescents, Shannon Griffiths

Graduate Research Papers

Divorce impacts millions of families each year. The experience of a divorce is a process rather than a single event. Children and adolescents experience the divorce process differently. Children often go through five grieving stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Divorce can be devastating to adolescents because they have a broader sense of reality and the world as it applies to their life. Older children are often seen as capable of handing the divorce process and asked to make difficult decisions regarding custody. All children and adolescents who experience their parent's divorce should try counseling. The children and adolescents …

Major Depression : Diagnosis And Intervention, Lindsay Linck

Graduate Research Papers

This paper will be an analysis of the psychological disorder of major depression. First, the classification of this disorder using the DSM-IV-TR will be reviewed. The areas of etiology, differential diagnosis, and treatment will then be considered. Following, a theory-specific approach to the disease including theoretical framework, diagnosis and treatment, and outcomes of using this approach, will be examined. Finally a personal reflection on the subject of major depression, and lessons learned from this project, will be discussed.

Applying Forgiveness Therapy To Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv), Tiffany L. Clark

Graduate Research Papers

Twenty-five percent of women in the United States will report some form of intimate partner violence (IPV) within their lifetimes (Mac, Ferron, & Crosby, 2009). At these rates, IPV has become an epidemic, touching the lives of most people. The effects of lPV on victim's physical and psychological health may be severe and chronic (Weaver & Clum, 1995). Finding potent therapy approaches with this population is essential. The author of this paper proposes forgiveness therapy as an approach worthy of further investigation. This paper focuses on explaining what forgiveness is and is not, describes common sequelae of lPV, reviews Enright's …

Exploring Behavior Disorders In Children And Adolescents, Melissa Berger

Graduate Research Papers

Over the last century more and more children and adolescents have been diagnosed with behavior disorders. While problematic behaviors in adolescents have always been seen in and out of schools, it has only been in the last century that psychologists have looked deeper into the root of these behaviors. The term "behavior disorders" can in fact encompass a number of different disorders seen among both children and adolescents. The three specific disorders discussed in this paper will be attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHA), conduct disorder (CD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). A great deal of the time, children exhibiting these types of …

The Question Is The Answer : Making The Language Arts Classroom Meaningful With Essential Questions And Student-Driven Inquiry, Ashley A. Jorgensen

Graduate Research Papers

Coalition research scholar, Grant Wiggins, firmly believes the idea of a question-driven, inquiry approach to teaching and learning should be at the heart of a school's mission. In examining one of the chief questions of a school's mission, that is, 'What are the aims of a high school curriculum,' Wiggins says it must involve getting students to "use their minds well" (Cushman, 1989). Wiggins says that, "students should emerge from their high school career with an integrated vision of how to think within the culture, which implies a broad understanding, not just narrow or rote expertise" (Cushman, 1989). In order …

Promoting The Development Of Creativity In Students, Amy M. Anderson

Graduate Research Papers

Creativity may contribute to student success in each of ASCA's key areas of student development: career, academic, and personal-social. However, the wide range of theoretical constructs of creativity may impede school counselors seeking methods for supporting creative development. This literature review explores various definitions of creativity and suggests a recently proposed developmental model may be most useful to school counselors in conceptualizing all students as creative and capable of growth. Using this model, the paper examines research into factors influencing creativity, including personality, self-efficacy, appropriate feedback, the perception of judgment, mood and affect, and motivation, and suggests practical ways school …

Attachment And The Schools, Jennifer N. Allan

Graduate Research Papers

In order to be effective workers in the schools, school staff members must be able to form some sort of relationship with individual students. The ability of students to form relationships depends upon the attachments they have formed with their caretakers. The purpose of this literature review was to explore different types of attachment, interventions that can be used with students who have attachment issues, and how attachment can affect schools all of which are given from. the perspective of a school counselor. The literature review investigates and summarizes the impact both healthy and unhealthy attachment has on a student …

Health Literacy In The Mathematics Classroom: The Iowa Core Curriculum As An Opportunity To Deepen Students’ Understanding Of Mathematics, Elana Joram, Susan Dobie-Roberts, Nadene Davidson

Faculty Publications

By 2012, all high schools in Iowa will be required to incorporate the new Iowa Core Curriculum, followed by elementary and middle schools in 2014 (Iowa Department of Education, 2009). The Iowa Core Curriculum addresses the question: "How is Iowa's educational system preparing our youth for successful lives in the 21st-century global environment?" (Davidson, 2009). It consists of core content standards, and identifies essential concepts and skills for content areas. The Iowa Core Curriculum also includes the ―21st Century Skills‖ of ―health, financial, technology, and civic literacy, and employability skills. These skills are to be infused into existing subject matter …

Counseling And Educating Deaf Individuals, Sarah Zollar

Graduate Research Papers

Counseling and educating deaf individuals involves unique and important skills that professionals need to have. This paper researches different areas of concern, including ethical dilemmas facing the deaf culture, the importance of clear communication, appropriate uses of interpreters, and the importance of confidentiality in counseling. A project was developed in conjunction with this paper, which includes flash cards with some basic signs. These flash cards could be used in a variety of settings, including a classroom. Future research areas are also discussed, including the use of new technologies and continued observation of the differences in diagnoses between hearing and deaf …

Implementation Of Early Reading Interventions To Increase Student Achievement, Julie Schmitz

Graduate Research Papers

How to close the achievement gap amongst students has been a hot topic for educators. Many educators are studying a variety of educational programs and theories which would lead to the educational success of all students. Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence has a history of students who are not meeting the new standards set by No Child Left Behind. As the administrators and teachers discuss and analyze the data of the students we teach we are looking for upward or downward trends. Discussions are a large part of data analysis. As we look at the trends we ask ourselves …

Personal Epistemologies And The Learning Paradox In Teacher Education: A Neglected Dilemma, Elana Joram, Carmen Montecinos

Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we discuss the role that personal epistemologies play in teacher education, particularly with respect to the potential problems and roadblocks they may present. We suggest that epistemological beliefs govern the kind of knowledge that preservice teachers consider to be legitimate and worthwhile learning in their programs, regulate the ways in which they make choices among competing knowledge claims and justify their own choices. A body of research has examined epistemic cognition as a dimension of the cognitive growth that occurs during the college years (e.g., Baxter- Magolda, 2002; King & Kitchener, 2002; Perry, 1970), and recently, the …

Co-Teaching And Inclusion: A Model For Effective Implementation, Sara A. Straw

Graduate Research Papers

Teachers with training in special education are found in most schools. Why are some special education teachers teaching students in a 'pull-out'. model while others are teaching in a 'push-in' model? For those students who are "pushed in", are they supported in the classroom? And if so, how? If it is by a co-teaching model, what is the most beneficial way of teaching special education students in a general education classroom? What are some of the attitudes of special education students who are pushed into a co-teaching classroom?

Year-Round Education : A Continuing Debate, Heather D. Schultz

Graduate Research Papers

Year-round education has been a common debate in recent decades. The studies and analyses that are discussed in this paper will give insight to what is being debated surrounding year-round schooling. While many studies have shown a positive relationship between a year-round calendar and academic achievement, others have shown no relationship between the two. This paper sets out to answer several questions regarding year-round calendars and academic achievement. Besides academic achievement, there are several other factors and steps to consider before a district and/or school decides to modify their calendar(s). In order for districts/schools to make a just decision involving …

Instructional Strategies Within Single-Gender Learning Environments, Rachelle Sarrah Grandon

Graduate Research Papers

Various instructional strategies can be beneficial in both gender-specific classrooms, as well as co-educational environments. When developing age-appropriate, individualized instruction, it is crucial to consider gender-specific needs that may assist according to certain learning styles. In order to better relate to students of each gender, these practices must be given thoughtful consideration. There are many methods, found in both types of classroom settings have been explored based on practical, research-based experiences from the real-world setting.

Factors That Influence Student Motivation, Abbie Petsche

Graduate Research Papers

This paper discusses different factors in a student's education that can affect motivation and overall learning. It focuses on extrinsic and intrinsic strategies, social-cognitive processes, and the classroom environment. There have been many studies done on motivation and achievement. This paper will focus on the findings of studies done on strategies used to enhance students' beliefs about ability and emotions as well as environmental strategies used by teachers.

Spelling Instruction In The Classroom, Kristin Zweibohmer

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to identify research-based, effective spelling strategies that will improve students' abilities in a classroom. There has been a great debate about the effectiveness of spelling instruction in the classroom. Many studies have been conducted on spelling instruction using a word sort technique. By looking at past and present studies of spelling instruction, educators will be able to see how well these strategies for spelling instruction have worked. This knowledge can help educators design a spelling instruction program that will enhance their students' scores in many curriculum areas. An effective, research-based, contemporary model for teachers …

Motivation Success And Failure, Dawn D. Buol

Graduate Research Papers

My research question for this paper is: how can teachers identify the different types of unmotivated students as well as motivated students in the classroom? Moreover, what strategies could be used to motivate those unmotivated students in order to make them become successful life long learners?

Music And The Brain, Kimberly D. Madison

Graduate Research Papers

A great deal of literature focuses on the subject of music and the brain and how music can affect learning. Music stimulates brain patterns, and therefore should be considered essential in an academic setting. This review was written to provide an analysis of the published literature and studies in the area of music and cognitive development, to examine how the brain is wired for music, and to determine whether music is an effective tool in enhancing environmental and cognitive learning conditions in classrooms.