Education Commons^™

Perceptions Of High Stakes Testing And Burnout As Predictors Of Quality Of Life Among Primary School Teachers In Trinidad And Tobago, Victoria Patricia Elder

Dissertations

Problem

This study explored how high-stakes testing (HST) and burnout affected the quality of primary school teachers in Trinidad and Tobago. HST refers to school exams often required by government agencies that are used to make key decisions pertaining to students, teachers, and schools (Embse & Hanson, 2012). Burnout is defined operationally as a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and impaired personal accomplishment induced by repeated workplace stressors (Maslach & Schaufeli, 2017). Quality of life (QoL) is the measure of an individual’s ability to function physically, emotionally, and socially within his/her environment at a level consistent with his/her own …

Teaching To The Test Or Limiting Students?, Victoria Rivera

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

The purpose of this paper is to shine light on the way the school systems have been teaching and how it is affecting students in a negative way. It focuses mainly on teaching to the test and how it stops students from learning creatively and also does not let teachers teach the way they might want to. It also shows how this is a wicked problem and is more than a small school system issue. This impacts students, teachers, and the society we live in. The results of this research was that there were a lot of other authors that …

Exploring Sense Of Belonging In Online Learning Environments Through Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicators, Jennifer Moore

All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects

Online learning has dramatically increased over the last decade. With this increase, a student’s sense of belonging has emerged as a critical factor that contributes to student learning and success. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®), an instrument for understanding personality differences, is widely used as one of the most popular psychological assessments. Through a mixed-methods research design, this study addressed the concept of a sense of belonging in online learning environments and the potential connections to the Myers-Briggs personality type indicators. Undergraduate and graduate students taking at least one online course at a small, private university took the MBTI assessment …

Experience And Philosophy In Urban Public Schools, Austin Wade

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper examines the educational philosophy and experience in urban public schools. Combined with relevant educational research and personal reflection, this review presents an educational philosophy, specifically regarding aspects of discipline, classroom management, testing, curriculum, motivation, and achievement. The paper heavily relies upon my own personal experiences as a 10^th grade student teacher at Canton McKinley High School, in Canton, Ohio.

Students' Lived Experiences Of The Realization Of Academic Wrongness (Raw), Dana Carol Kemery

Theses and Dissertations

Being wrong is a common phenomenon for students in academic environments; however this phenomenon has yet to be described from the student perspective. The purpose of this phenomenologic inquiry is to describe the realization of academic wrongness (RAW) as experienced by senior level nursing students during a high stakes testing period. Observations, class documents, communications, and semi-structured interviews were collected to gain a full description for the realization of academic wrongness within context and as this phenomenon unfolded for the students. The data were analyzed using Moustakas (1994) 7 step phenomenological process. Fourteen invariant constituents emerged during data analysis which …

Measuring The Outliers: An Introduction To Out-Of-Level Testing With High-Achieving Students, Karen Rambo-Hernandez, Russell Warne

Russell T Warne

Out-of-level testing is an underused strategy for addressing the needs of students who score in the extremes, and when used wisely, it could provide educators with a much more accurate picture of what students know. Out-of-level testing has been shown to be an effective assessment strategy with high-achieving students; however, out-of-level testing has not been shown to work well with low-achieving students. This article provides a brief history of out-of-level testing, along with guidelines for using it.

"Thinking" In A Deweyan Perspective: The Law School Exam As A Case Study For Thinking In Lawyering, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

As creatures of thought, we are thinking all the time, but that does not necessarily mean that we are thinking well. Answering the law school exam, like solving any problem, requires that the student exercise thinking in an effective and productive manner. This Article provides some guidance in that pursuit. Using John Dewey’s suspended conclusion concept for effective thinking as an organizing theme, this Article presents one basic set of lessons for thinking through issues that arise regarding the approach to a law school exam. This means that the lessons contained here help exercise thought while taking the exam — …

History And Development Of Above-Level Testing Of The Gifted, Russell Warne

Russell T Warne

Above-level testing (also called out-of-level testing, off-grade testing, and off-level testing) is the practice of administering a test level that was designed for and normed on an older population to a gifted child. This comprehensive literature review traces the practice of above-level testing from the earliest days of gifted education through the present. It was found that there were five reasons frequently given for above-level testing: raising the test ceiling, increasing score variability and discrimination, improving reliability, the sound interpretations of above-level test data, and reducing regression toward the mean. Although all of these reasons were theoretically supported, the strength …

Improving Irt Parameter Estimates With Small Sample Sizes: Evaluating The Efficacy Of A New Data Augmentation Technique, Brett P. Foley

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The 3PL model is a flexible and widely used tool in assessment. However, it suffers from limitations due to its need for large sample sizes. This study introduces and evaluates the efficacy of a new sample size augmentation technique called Duplicate, Erase, and Replace (DupER) Augmentation through a simulation study. Data are augmented using several variations of DupER Augmentation (based on different imputation methodologies, deletion rates, and duplication rates), analyzed in BILOG-MG 3, and results are compared to those obtained from analyzing the raw data. Additional manipulated variables include test length and sample size. Estimates are compared using seven different …

High-Stakes Testing And Special Populations, Gary H. Sherwin, Todd Jennings

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This opinion paper critically examines the use of high-stakes testing on special populations. Without appropriate accommodations, standardized exams are not valid for some students with special needs. Unfortunately, many classroom teachers who must initiate testing accommodations lack knowledge of appropriate accommodations and regularly fail to provide the necessary testing accommodations. The deficit understanding of testing accommodations makes comparisons between classrooms, schools, and districts invalid since some scores loose validity. Solutions specific to standardized testing and students with special needs are offered and a more encompassing solution to the problems incurred from these tests when used for high-stakes is suggested.

High-Stakes Testing And Assessment: One Is Not The Other, Enrique Murillo, Alayne Sullivan

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Since the institution of the common school and the advent of universal education, Americans have placed tremendous faith in public schools. Public education cultivates an informed citizenry, one of the pillars of a liberal democracy. But more importantly, schools are a repository for our common dreams of human potential and individual self-actualization. Because they so thoroughly shape the lives and life-chances of our youth, school issues are freighted with an emotional charge. Education remains the last fully public American institution, one in which millions of students cast their common lot daily and strive to become better readers, better citizens, better …

The Effect Of Aerobic Exercise On Self-Esteem And Personal Management In Undergraduate College Students, Karen E. Watts

Theses & Honors Papers

Many students in college have poor self-management skills and poor self-esteem. Physical exercise is associated with feelings of well-being. Twenty-five undergraduate college students participated in an experiment which measured self-esteem, self-motivation, and various physical abilities and heart rate. Stu- dents in the experimental group were asked to increase their aerobic exercise frequency by at least thirty minutes per week as well as to keep a log of their physical activities. No significant increases in self­ motivation nor self-perception in either the control or the experimental group were found. Some physical improvements were found, however, and most participants reported feeling better …

The Prevalence And Sources Of Perceived Occupational Stress Among Teachers In Western Australian Government Metropolitan Primary Schools, Graeme Lock

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence and sources of self- reported occupational stress among primary school teachers in Western Australian Government schools. Five specific objectives form the basis of this study. First, the study develops an instrument which measures the perceived levels of occupational stress and reveals the sources of such stress. Second, the study applies this instrument to determine the perceived levels, and sources, of occupational stress among primary school teachers in metropolitan Perth. Third, the study investigates differences in the perceptions of stress and stressors when categorised by socio-biographical characteristics of teachers. Fourth, the …

The Influence Of Brain Hemisphericity On The Composing Process Of Twelfth Graders, Reinholdine Breien-Pierson

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

Despite the popularization of the concept of brain hemispheric dominance, little serious research has been done in the area of the role of brain hemisphericity in learning and thought. The purpose of this case study was to explore the role of hemisphericity in the area of student composition to test the theory that the composing process and writing of student papers differs relative to the students' hemispheric dominance. A second area of investigation was to test the theory that teachers value papers written by students who share their hemispheric dominance.

The subjects, eight twelfth graders and four (English) teacher evaluators, …

The Effects Of Various Kinds Of Background Music On The I.Q. Scores Of Ninth-Grade Students, L.C. Bud Johnston

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

One hundred 9^th-grade students were divided into four groups of 25 each through systematic sampling procedures. Each of the groups were tested, pre and post, by the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test, forms J and K. During the pretest for all groups, the background condition of silence was observed. During the posttest, one group was again tested in silence. The other three groups were each tested to one of three background conditions: pop music, hard rock music, and soft rock music. Pop music played was characterized as more mellow, more melodic, and less intense than rock music. Hard rock …

Use Of The Pals Test To Differentiate Between High Achieving And Low Achieving Fifth Gradestudents: A Validity Study, Mickey H. Parson

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the PALS Tests (Williams, 1958, 1961, 1964) would significantly differentiate between low achieving and hie;h achieving 5th-grade students. The basic design was the same basic design as used by Williams (1961), except that high achieving and low achieving students were used instead of acting-out and normal children. It was intended that this research supplement existing data concerning validity of the PALS Tests. The test author (Williams 1958, 1961, 1964) seems to be the only person who has conducted research regarding the PALS.

Interpreting Tests To Parents Using Group Interview And Percentile Rank, Frank William Norwood

Graduate Student Research Papers

The purpose of this study was (1) to review the literature concerning counselor-parent interview and methods of test interpretation; (2) to report a personal survey of 28 practicing counselors designed to sample the present-day practices of counselor-parent interview and test interpretation; (3) to suggest a method worked out by one school district which has proved effective to handle test interpretation.