The Effects Of The Esol Program On African American Vernacular Speaking Students Reading, Marquice Clark

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South Carolina’s public education system is broken. For the past several years, the State of South Carolina and the nation have somehow managed to do the nearly impossible. Both have produced more English Language Learning (ELL) students to be proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) (i.e., reading, writing, and usage) than native English speakers. The issue of low black performance on state and national standardized assessments has always been a cumbersome task for America's public school system. Although Black students comprise more than 30 percent of the total student population in America, more Limited English students are demonstrating a higher …

Implementation Of An Early College Design In A Rural High School: Empowering Place-Conscious Leadership To Affect Change And Overcome Barriers To Innovation, Michael Timko

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This qualitative, improvement science, autoethnograpic case study aims to examine a unique perspective on rural research through the lens of place-conscious leadership. With an identified problem of inequity in advanced-level course offerings, which resulted in lost student opportunities and student attrition to neighboring schools, the leadership at Forest Lakes High School (FLHS) in rural South Carolina began the ambitious journey of reframing their narrative. As a scholarly researcher and administrator at FLHS, I had the unique opportunity to immerse myself fully in all aspects of this study. My dual positionality allowed me to study this process while sharing the lived …

Bridging The Gap Between High-Stakes Testing And 21st Century Skills, Patricia Gosnell

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The purpose of this research study is to determine how successful teachers allocate class time between the need for students to meet high-stakes testing and creating a constructivist learning environment that prepares students for real-world careers. In this study, I used an explanatory sequential mixed method design to explore how much class time teachers of English Language Arts (ELA) and math allow for constructivist activities and direct instruction. The findings showed that teachers of gifted and talented (GT) and advanced classes who use 70% or more of their class time for constructivist learning still successfully have 60% or more of …

Managing Teacher Attrition: Improving Teacher Self-Efficacy Through The Implementation Of Professional Learning Communities, Stephanie Peagler

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Teacher retention is at a more critical place in education than ever before. School districts are struggling to hire and retain teachers, partially due to COVID-19 and its overwhelming impact. Teacher retention was an issue for South Carolina public schools before and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focused on how the implementation of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) can increase teacher self-efficacy and teacher retention rates within a large high school in South Carolina. An improvement science study with a concurrent mixed methods study with an embedded qualitative study approach was used throughout the research study to …

Teaching Them To Fish: Using A Districtwide System Of Supports To Improve College And Career Readiness In A Rural School District, Lavonia Johnson-Davis

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This dissertation served as a case study that examined the impact of a districtwide system of support drawn from existing literature and organizational structure and management. The identified framework, the Limelight County College and Career Readiness Intervention (LCRI) Framework, utilized the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle of improvement science. Three reoccurring themes or focus areas were identified as significant: curriculum instructional framework redesign, comprehensive guidance, and professional development.

While the study's findings are constrained by the density of the data gathered within a limited time frame, the findings provide many opportunities for longitudinal studies and confirm the integrity of …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Entrepreneurship Programs On Student Interest In Entrepreneurship Competitions, Toni Sharp

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According to a survey by ACNielsen International Research, over half of Americans want to start their own business to build wealth and achieve independence (Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2011). In the research community, most entrepreneurship education research happens in business schools (Matlay, 2006). As a result of continually researching one form of entrepreneurship, less attention has been paid to other forms contributing to the “definitional obscurity with important consequences for the direction of the field” of entrepreneurship (Baker & Welter, 2017). This has created a need for research on entrepreneurship at the college level in fields outside of business.

Clemson University …

Expanding Tolerances For Wobble: Pushing Through Tensions To Provide Critical Literacy Pedagogy, Daniel Stockwell

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Secondary English language arts (ELA) teachers are in unique positions to support their students in critical literacy practices so youth can use reading and writing to advocate for social change and use what they learn in class to make the world more equitable (Morrell, 2005; 2008). This is possible if secondary ELA teachers embrace the full liberatory potential of their subject and if they intentionally enact critical literacy pedagogy (Morrell, 2008; 2017). Unfortunately, current sociopolitical discourse surrounding teaching, particularly surrounding what texts are deemed appropriate to be included in schools (see Limbong, 2022; Stout, 2022), and the outcry against the …

A Multi-Agent Modeling Social Network Analysis Of Cooperative Learning Groups Within A Simulated Adult Education Classroom Learning Environment, Leverett Bruner

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Illiteracy and a lack of a high school diploma are impediments to a fulfilled and meaningful life. Low or reduced literacy and non-attainment of a high school diploma are significant problems in the United States. Adult education can be a vehicle to address these ever-present issues. A disproportionate number of students in adult education are minorities, members of lower socioeconomic statuses and traditionally marginalized groups who lack effective literacy skills and/or a high school diploma. Adult education and its related entities can serve as a vehicle to address these pervasive issues, but adult education as a program type is a …

Annotations Of Awareness: A Framework For Externalizing Thinking To Promote Metacognitive Discourse In High School English And Social Studies Classrooms, Todd Howard

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Teachers find it challenging to integrate metacognition into the classroom to promote critical thinking, but such rigorous instruction is one way to improve access to quality education for all students, no matter their access to outside-of-school resources. To help teachers find more comfort and confidence in designing for increased critical thinking and metacognitive discourse and to help close the theory-practice gap in metacognition research, I conducted a mixed-methods case study focusing on assessment-design interventions. Using the Metacognitive Framework for Assessment Design and Annotations of Awareness, both designed in response to my literature review, my 90-day action research included three Plan-Do-Study-Act …

It’S Just An Idea: How Rural Teachers Implement Personalized Learning Within The Education System, Kedralyn L. Folk

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This exploratory case study revealed how rural educators navigate the shift required to implement personalized learning. I collected qualitative data at HMK8, where a personalized learning framework was implemented. This study used improvement science theory to understand the experience of rural teachers’ implementing personalized learning by exploring the experiences of rural educators applying personalized learning practices in the classroom and reviewing how rural educators explain their support needs. About 40% of schools in South Carolina are rural, so this study focused on rural teachers’ needs. The data analysis is rooted in sensemaking theory, which I use to explain and understand …

Using Blended Learning To Support Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic To Increase Credit Recovery Passage Rates: A Mixed-Methods Study, Anjail Salahudin-Bolden

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During the spring of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forever changed the lives of Americans. Being an educator, I experienced the school shutdowns of March 2020 and felt the impacts on our educational system on a personal level. More students than ever failed courses needed to be promoted and to graduate high school. This led to more students at my school needing to take VirtualSC credit recovery courses. VirtualSC credit recovery courses are fully virtual and have no face-to-face interactions with teachers. Instead, they are self-paced courses that provide students with learning modules that they move through as they master each …

Genetics And Genomics Education Among Physician Assistants, Wesley Patterson

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This dissertation comprises five chapters to describe genetics and genomics education among physician assistant/associate (PA) students and practicing PAs. Chapter I introduces the gap in supply and demand of genetic services, the need for non-genetics healthcare providers to fill the gap, and the PA profession as a solution.

Chapter II is a rapid literature review that summarizes the available literature regarding genetics and genomics education for PAs. A paucity of literature exists to describe the current state of PA genetics-genomics education. The few studies retrieved describe content being taught in PA programs, the number of genetics-genomics contact hours PA students …

An Exploratory Multiple-Case Study Of Nepal’S Science Teacher Educators’ Knowledge And Practices Of Active Learning And Culturally Responsive Teaching, Sunil Pokhrel

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The benefits of implementing active learning (AL) embedded with culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices are well established: students’ deep learning of science is promoted and the achievement gaps between students of majority and minority backgrounds are reduced. Unfortunately, the acceptance for AL and CRT in Nepal’s science teacher programs is low and implementation is superficial. Using a qualitative multiple-case study, the study examined the understanding of seven Nepali science teacher educators (STE) of AL and CRT practices. The challenges faced by the STEs to implementing these two pedagogies at three of Nepal’s science education-focused Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) programs were …

Inclusive Pedagogy: Connecting Disability And Race In Higher Education, Meredith Persin

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Higher education was never made for marginalized people. The academy was created based on the privileged white, able-bodied, males who preoccupied higher education for the longest time. While that has certainly changed over the years, the institution itself is still in the past resulting in BIPOC students and disabled students continuing to struggle within higher education. While instructors have begun to take interest in the need for inclusive pedagogy within the last decade, it still has a far way to come in order to help the marginalized students with intersecting identities and students who may not benefit from a one …

The Effects Of Using An Information Literacy Model On The Information Seeking Behavior Of Sixth-Grade Students, Jessica L. Kohout-Tailor

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This action research study describes how teaching an information literacy model affects the information behavior of sixth-grade students. The theoretical framework that supported this study was Carol Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process or ISP (1989). This study used a sequential mixed-methods design to examine the following questions: “How will teaching the Simple Four information literacy model (Alewine, 2006) to sixth-grade students affect their information seeking behavior?” The study also explored the effects the model had on students’ affective behavior through the second research question: “How will teaching the Simple Four information literacy model (Alewine, 2006) to sixth-grade students affect their confidence …

A Comparison Of Adolescents' Digital And Print Reading Experiences: Does Mode Matter?, Heather J. Mccrea-Andrews

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The purpose of this mixed-methods research study was to investigate the comprehension and motivation of 36, sixth-grade students reading moderately challenging text under two conditions: Nook or book. Using a Sequential Explanatory Design model, quantitative data were collected prior to qualitative data collection (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). A Matched Pairs Design model (Hinkle, Wiersma, & Jurs, 2003) was employed for the quantitative portion of the study with 18 participants randomly assigned to the Nook group and 18 participants randomly assigned to the book group. Nook group participants were instructed to use the following electronic features during reading: highlighting, note …

Public School Credits For Devotional Courses In Religion: The Evangelical Reconceptualization Of Released Time, Benjamin James Bindewald

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Released time is an arrangement through which students are excused from public schools, during regular hours, to participate in devotional lessons conducted by local religious organizations. The courts have upheld this practice as long as classes are held off public school premises, with parental permission, and without government aid. South Carolina has become the center of operations for a movement of evangelical Christians to expand proselytizing released time programs throughout the United States. As a result of the movement’s lobbying efforts, in 2006 South Carolina became the first state to enact legislation allowing public schools to award graduation credits for …

Effects Of Teacher Training On Preservice Teachers' Knowledge, Personal Beliefs, And Attitudes, Sloan Smith Huckabee

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This study examines the effects of the NAMI Parents and Teachers as Allies training on the Mental Health Literacy, Personal Beliefs, and Stigmatizing Attitudes of preservice teachers. A researcher developed survey was administered three times to the training group prior to, immediately following, and two weeks after the training. A nonequivalent control group was administered two surveys—a preliminary measure and a follow up measure—to provide comparison data for investigating the effects of the intervention on the group of preservice teachers receiving the intervention. Results of the study indicate the Parents and Teachers as Allies training is an inexpensive, relatively short …

The Effects Of Story Grammar On The Oral Narrative Skills Of English Language Learners With Language Impairments, Rhonda D. Miller

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Studies with monolingual English speakers have demonstrated the significance of children’s narrative development for the acquisition of literacy skills. This research has shown that children’s ability to perform school narrative tasks may significantly predict children’s early literacy skills (Gutiérrez-Clellen, 2002), including English reading comprehension outcomes within and across languages in Spanish-speaking ELLs (Miller et al., 2006). This study investigated the effects of a story grammar intervention that used a Story Grammar Marker ® and repeated story retells on the oral narrative skills of third and fourth grade ELLs with SLI. A single case multiple probe across participants design was used …

Investigation Of Remedial Education Course Scores As A Predictor Of Freshman-Level Course Performances, Larry Ulmer

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This study sought to determine the relationship between the performance in remedial courses (English and math) and college-level course performances among students in a large university. This study investigated whether remedial education improves the achievement in freshman level collegiate courses. The study contributes to the literature on remedial education courses and placement testing, therefore offering possible enhancements and improvements to the improvement in remedial education.
The researcher selected the correlational research design because the study sought to explore relationships between remedial course scores and freshman-level course scores. The findings from this study showed remedial course performance was associated in a …

Citizenship Education In Kenya: A Content Analysis Of State-Sponsored Social Studies Instructional Materials, Anna Mukhongo

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The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the principal citizenship issues identified by scholars as significant with regard to the African experience were addressed in state-endorsed Kenyan social studies instructional materials. This study also determined whether or not the treatment of the principal citizenship issues was consistent with the recommendations in the citizenship literature. In addition, this study analyzed and evaluated the pedagogical exercises present in social studies instructional materials.
A qualitative content analysis was used for the study. Content in the social studies materials was read iteratively to determine patterns and generate themes. The generated …

The Effects Of Traditional And Instructional Models Of Sustained Silent Reading On The Reading Achievement And Motivation Of Third And Fourth Grade Students, Jacquelynn Malloy

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Despite a lack of empirical support for the effectiveness of sustained silent reading (SSR) in the literature, the practice of providing time for students to read materials of their own choosing during the school day is still offered in many classrooms today (Block & Mangieri, 2002; Nagy, Campenni, Shaw & Shaw, 2000; Pressley, Rankin & Yokoi, 1996). While many of the previous studies investigated a traditional version of SSR, where the teacher served as a model by reading silently during the period, this research also explores the effectiveness of an instructional version of SSR, known as Instructional Sustained Silent Reading, …

Of Merlins And King 'Authors': A Freireian Analysis Of The First-Year Writing Narrative, Ashley Lusk

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This thesis uses a Freireian analysis to unravel underlying ideologies in the university's first-year writing curriculum. By examining the characterizations and plots of the writing classroom narrative, we discover where issues of conflicting purpose and structure arise within frameworks of ideological constraint. This thesis considers the student-hero, the antagonistic qualities of the general education and state-mandated standardized curricula, and the role of the teacher who lies between these two entities. The Learning Community (LC) model provides a dialogic revision to current classroom practices in the student/teacher dynamic. The LC model accepts Freire's socially and ethically responsive conscientiza‹o as a way …

Elementary School Teachers' Understanding Of Essential Topics In Statistics And The Influence Of Assessment Instruments And A Reform Curriculum Upon Their Understanding, Timothy Jacobbe

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With the increased emphasis on statistics at the elementary school level as recommended by the GAISE document, it is important to consider the current status of teachers' understanding of statistics. This study explored teachers' understanding as they implemented new curricula materials which have ten lessons focused on statistical topics at each grade level. These curricula materials provided a medium for discussion that helped reveal whether or not elementary school teachers possess an adequate understanding of essential topics in statistics to implement the standards they are now called upon to teach.
The results of this study indicate that elementary school teachers …

Preservice Teachers' Procedural And Conceptual Understanding Of Fractions And The Effects Of Inquiry-Based Learning On This Understanding, Hope Marchionda

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ABSTRACT Non-negative rational numbers play a major role in the K-8 curriculum and continue to permeate mathematics content through high school and college in all strands of mathematics. The difficulty that both students and teachers encounter with these concepts is well documented in the literature. This study looked at preservice teacher knowledge and how an alternative means of instruction might improve their conceptual understanding of fractions. To accomplish this task, the study took place in two stages over the course of two semesters. During the first stage, preservice teachers' conceptual and procedural knowledge of fractions and their associated algorithms were …

An Investigation Of Proportional Thinking Among High School Students, Kirsten Dooley

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The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics suggests that formal proportional reasoning instruction take place during grades five through eight (1989). While extensive research has explored both pre-instructional and intra-instructional student proportional thinking strategies, little research has been done on post-instructional proportional thinking strategies used by high-school aged students. As proportional reasoning is fundamental for success in Algebra and other advanced mathematics, it seems relevant to verify that these students retain their reasoning abilities and can apply them in both high school and college mathematical situations.
This study sought to: (1) determine whether high-school students from specific rural, low-income school …