Education Commons^™

How To Improve High-Risk High School Student Achievement And Well-Being Through Using Best Practices, Particularly In An Alternative Setting, Laura Lopez Dahl

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Many high-risk students struggle in education and find it difficult to be successful in mainstream educational settings. Alternative educational programs (AEP) are used as an intervention for students who are struggling in the mainstream setting and are at risk for failure. Students in AEP programs have an opportunity to overcome their barriers and achieve graduation as opposed to dropping out or getting their general education diploma (GED). Many of the students in these programs struggle with adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and have had negative educational experiences. This capstone project addresses the research question: How to improve high-risk high school achievement …

Using English Language Arts As An Outlet For Addressing And Defining Student’S Past Trauma, Dalton J. Pieske

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research supports the notion that trauma can have a list of negative social, psychological, neurophysiological, emotional and physical ramifications on at-risk adolescents. Research has also shown that trauma-occurrence is affected based on racial demographics and geographical location. Therefore, this capstone project intends to answer the question: How can ELA teachers use their classes as an outlet for addressing and defining ethno-racial minority and U.S. born student’s trauma? There has been an increase in mental health professionals in schools to address increasing student trauma but this project argues the English Language Arts classroom can provide students an outlet for building skills …

How Can General Education Teachers Learn To Build Positive Relationships With El Students By Integrating El Best Practice Strategies Into Their Teaching?, Philip Dennison

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was, how can general education teachers learn to build positive relationships with EL students by integrating EL best practice strategies into their teaching? This project involves a teacher’s creation of a project directed at educating other teaching staff on how to create and develop positive relationships with language learner students. The project made use of Knowles best practices in adult education to make the most effective use of time when addressing adult learners. The author describes the process of building and then delivering the project content. He also reflects on the successes, limitations, …

Increasing Opportunities For Academic Talk For English Learners In The General Education Classroom, Brianna Pontinen O’Brien

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone project is to address the question, how can teachers increase opportunities for quality academic talk for English Learners in the general education classroom? This was answered by researching data pertaining to the population of English learners in United States public schools, as well as, how historical context, issues of social justice, and sociolinguistic factors all affect English learners. Included in the research is also theories, definitions, and the importance of academic talk for productive learning. Several methods for increasing academic talk in the general education classroom are discussed, specifically Accountable Talk with Talk Moves ( …

Transformational Leadership Professional Development Website For Leaders Of Urban, Voucher Schools, Christina Lundberg

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Teachers in the United States are leaving the classroom at alarming rates (Ingersoll, Merrill & Stuckey, 2014). In order to give all students access to high-quality education, this issue of teacher retention needs to be addressed. The professional development website designed for this capstone project focuses on answering the research question: What effects does a principal’s transformational leadership style have on teacher retention at an urban, voucher school? There has been a great deal of research dedicated to the causes and solutions to teacher attrition (Darling-Hammond, 2003); however, there is little research specifically on how transformational leadership affects the retention …

An Equitable Educational Experience For All: Strategies For Secondary General Education Teachers To Meet The Learning Needs Of Special Education Students Learning In Their Classrooms, Joseph Z. Walker

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone project focuses on the issue of providing equitable educational experiences for all students. More specifically, the project examines the most effective strategies for secondary general education teachers to provide modifications, accommodations, and differentiation for special education students in the areas of instruction and assessment. A central tenet of contemporary special education policy is the principle of inclusion. In accordance with this principle, students with special needs are increasingly learning in the general education classroom among their peers. This places an additional responsibility upon general education teachers to ensure that they are meeting the unique learning needs of special …

Using A Fun And Frugal Approach For Teaching 21st Century Digital Literacy Skills To Teachers, Rochelle Lockridge

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

With the high-value placed on digital learning and the consequential need for accompanying 21st-century digital literacy skills, effective teacher professional development is crucial. Surveys report that K-12 teachers are largely dissatisfied with their current training options. They prefer collaborative learning experiences that are energizing, supportive, and hands-on; focusing less on presentations and lectures and more on opportunities to apply learning through demonstrations, modeling, and practice. An underfunded public education system combined with a perceived “tech bloat”, the juggling of too many digital tools, exacerbate training and support issues. The 10-week professional development curriculum designed for this project facilitates the development …

How Can Educators Make Use Of Feedback Types And Process To Optimize Student Performance?, Trang Nguyen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Feedback is one of the most common educational tools, which is frequently used in classrooms among multiple fields and grades. Although teachers use it to improve students’ learning, not all feedback would impact students positively. Instead, some feedback can be ineffective or damaging to learners, leading to a decrease in educators’ teaching productivity. This paper strives to answer the question, How can educators make use of feedback types and process to optimize student performance? It addresses research surrounding feedback and categorizes it based on four factors: positivity, levels, language used, and forms of feedback. From the research findings, this paper …

A Reflective Approach To Building An Inclusive Classroom And School Community For Students In Special Education, Yama Moua

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Teachers today have a responsibility to teach a wide range of learners in the general education classroom. Federal laws in the United States such as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) were implemented to ensure that all children are held to higher expectations and with appropriate services to learn in public schools. At the same time, researchers have demonstrated that a teacher’s experience, lack of support in the classroom and varied belief on inclusive education can impact the outcome of achieving inclusion. The purpose of this research is …

Implementation Of Standards-Based Grading In Secondary Settings, David Schreiner

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Current grading methods in secondary settings lack a basis in research and deserve to be scrutinized for their accuracy and fairness. The current literature points to a problem of accuracy and a lack of sound measurement theory principles concerning the grading of students. The problem of accuracy and fairness is not one of miscalculations by computer software, but rather of misrepresenting the level of content mastery that students have attained. Standards-Based Instruction and Grading seeks to be the answer to this problem of practice. Standards-Based Instruction is defined as tailoring and aligned classroom content to align with standards while Standards-Based …

The Prevalence Of Peter Senge's Five Disciplines Of A Learning Organization In A Rural High School's Professional Development, Jacquelyn Stevens

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study used mixed methods data collection to research the prevalence of Senge’s (2006) five disciplines of a learning organization in a rural high school’s professional development. It also examined how the presence or absence of the five disciplines impacted teachers’ perceptions of professional development. The study included participants at a Midwestern rural high school and focused on elite interviews with the principal and professional development coordinators, a focus group with eight teachers, and survey results from fifty percent (50%) of the high school teaching staff. Findings indicated that the discipline of team learning is most prevalent in …

Integration Of Social Studies And/Or Science Within Your Literacy Workshop Model: A Professional Development Presentation, Karry Helgestad

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question examined for this capstone was “How does the integration of science and/or social studies standards with language arts standards impact the reading comprehension of upper elementary students? Topics explored in the literature review were different models of integration, such as CORI - Concept of Oriented Reading Instruction; Science IDEAs - In-Depth Expanded Application of Science; Dr. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences; and project-based learning. Additional literature was examined on how background knowledge and vocabulary impact reading comprehension. A teacher professional development workshop was developed as the project to educate teachers about the benefits of integrated instruction. …

The Roles And Identities Of English As A Second Language Teacher Leaders, Madeline Benson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Due to rising numbers of English Learners (ELs) nationwide, mainstream teachers are increasingly called upon to meet the needs of their ELs without adequate preparation to do so (Correll, 2016). In an effort to address these needs, the English Learners in the Mainstream (ELM) Project trains English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers to assume a leadership role in their buildings. Through a model of peer instructional coaching, ESL teachers provide professional development for their mainstream colleagues. The goal of this study was to answer the following questions:

1) After being trained as teacher leaders, do ESL teachers experience a …

Comprehensible Input And Output In The Math Immersion Classroom: A Professional Development Series, Kimberly Kulhanek

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The one-way immersion classroom provides a unique environment for students to learn content through instruction in their non-native language. However, students in early elementary grades typically have not had enough exposure to the target language to maintain sentence-level dialogue. The professional development series designed for this project uses the concepts of growth mindset, cognitively guided instruction, comprehensible input, and comprehensible output to increase students' ability to process and explain their mathematical thinking in the target language. Both growth mindset and cognitively guided instruction have been used in classrooms for years, but there has been little research into their implementation in …

Working With Hispanic Learners: Information And Strategies For Educators, Katie Stalberger

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The overall Hispanic population in the U.S. has been and is projected to continue to increase. In line with this population trend, U.S. schools are also seeing increases in Hispanic students. National test scores indicate there is a long standing achievement gap between Whites and Hispanics. This achievement gap shows that the academic needs of Hispanics are different from their peers of other ethnicities. This capstone has sought to answer the question: what specific home, school, and second language acquisition strategies and interventions are successful in helping Hispanic students perform so that they are not at risk, or underachieving? The …

Black Males And The Literacy Gap: How Can Professional Development Help Support Literacy Development Of Elementary Black Males In A Western Suburban School District?, Keenan Jones

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question addressed in this project was how can professional development help support literacy development of elementary Black males in a western suburban school district? This project was intended to provide going professional development for educators addressing the Black male literacy gap. The achievement gap amongst Black and White students has been well documented by many in the world of education. Data also shows that there is a gap between Black male and White male students in our American classrooms. Four-two hour sessions were created for this professional development.The first session is to explain what the literacy gap is, …

Workshop To Improve Parental Involvement For Somali Esl Parents, Adan Ali

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question addressed in this project was how can schools improve the involvement of Somali ESL parents? The aim of the project was to use a workshop model to discover further ways of improving the relationship between the school and the families. Somali ESL parents were targeted for this project because of cultural differences that limit their understanding of the American school system thus leading to low parental involvement. The project's content was influenced by parental involvement literature and Epstein's framework about the Six Types of Parental Involvement. The workshop content was delivered though facilitator-led presentations and group discussions …

Learning Science In A Second Language, Alisha Tomsen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project addresses the question, how to enrich and expand the vocabulary of kindergarteners in a Spanish immersion program through science lessons and science-focused learning objectives. The project was born from the author’s experience as a language-immersion primary teacher and her desire to create a space for more science in the classroom while also facilitating target language growth. Literature concerning second language acquisition, language immersion education, inquiry-based learning, national science standards, and connections between science and literacy were researched and consulted to create this project. A five-part professional development was created, directed towards primary-level immersion educators that focuses on supporting …

Using Reading Fluency Assessment To Target Intervention In The Middle-Level Mainstream Ela Class, Ashley Gaschk

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Secondary English language arts teachers are often responsible for teaching reading, writing, and language standards in a single class hour. Although the goal is to have all students reading at grade level, all too often that is not the case. Many secondary teachers are not trained to identify or provide the best interventions to help their struggling readers, many of whom are several grade levels behind in reading achievement. The capstone reviews the literature to answer the research question, How can middle-level English Language Arts teachers use reading fluency assessment to better know their students and target reading interventions in …

Oral Academic Discourse: How It Supports Educational Equity For Els In The Mainstream Classroom – A Professional Development Workshop For Mainstream Teachers Of Els, Ciera Nelson-Cheeseman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Given the growing number of English language learners (ELs) in mainstream classrooms, teachers of these students will need to be increasingly prepared to meet both the content and language demands of these learners. This Capstone project consists of a 2-day professional development workshop for mainstream teachers of ELs. The project seeks to empower participants to combat issues of educational equity in classrooms through awareness of EL academic learning needs and the use of research-based, oral academic discourse strategies. These strategies, which include Productive Talk Moves, have been shown to effectively support the academic language needs of ELs in content-areas classrooms. …

Reconnecting Young Children With Nature For Healthy Growth And Development, Suzanne Schiffman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project seeks to answer the question of how early childhood educators can help their young students build connections with nature. The literature review for this study focused on educators’ knowledge of child development as it relates to environmental education and outdoor play; curriculum planning, implementing and assessment using Minnesota state standards and developmentally appropriate practices; availability and accessibility of natural play spaces; and environmental literacy of educators. The project is divided into two parts consisting of three interactive slideshow presentations for professional development and three sets of educational support materials. This capstone is relevant for administrators and early childhood …

Nature Play For Urban Elementary Preschoolers: Benefits To Their Development And Connectedness To The Environment, Sharon Smith-Lossiah

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project identified how nature-based activities can be integrated into nature play for preschoolers that are located at urban elementary schools. In a world that is becoming

increasingly disconnected from nature, there is a growing body of evidence which shows the life- long implications for preschoolers to their cognitive, social-emotional, and physical growth and

development with daily exposure to nature based activities. The literature review for this study defined nature play, its benefits and how it can be incorporated in an urban elementary school. It identified the benefits and barriers that preschool teachers have when providing nature play opportunities at …

Childhood Trauma: What Is It, And How To Help Our Students Heal, Melissa C. Andretta

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Elementary schools are filled with children of varied backgrounds. Many of these children come to school having experienced trauma. It is an educators job to address not only the academic needs of the students, but the social-emotional ones as well. Chapter one of this Capstone gives background information as to why this work is important to the author, and to the field of education. Chapter two sheds light on to research done on childhood trauma, and gives teachers a way to incorporate trauma-sensitive practices into the classroom and larger elementary school setting. Chapter three describes the staff development Capstone project, …

Steam And Social Studies: Creating An Integrated Classroom, Anna Penner

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone is to address the question what strategies does the research recommend for supporting social studies educators in integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) practices into their core content? STEAM education has been adopted by many American school districts to help prepare students to be successful in 21st century careers. With a focus on problem-based learning and critical thinking, STEAM education can teach students real world skills. The goals of social studies education include preparing young people to be empathetic, active members of society. When teachers are educated in the best methods of integrating …

Entering And Continuing The Journey In The Classroom: Personal Explorations, Professional Learning And Cultivating Emotional Resilience, Jillian Stockmo

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Data shows that Minnesota teachers are leaving the classroom at alarming rates; teacher retention is an issue for both new and tenured teachers that must be addressed for the sustainability and longevity of our schools. The professional development sequence designed for this capstone project focuses on answering the research question: what impact does cultivating emotional resilience in teachers’ professional development have on teacher retention for both new and tenured teachers? Much research has been devoted to teacher retention and attrition, its causes and potential solutions - however research on how teachers can build habits and dispositions that lead to greater …