Education Commons^™

Creating A New Reporting System For Effective Communication Between The School And The Home, Dennet John Sidell

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to create and use a new reporting system that would better communicate with parents how their child was performing in school. The system used before the implementation was fragmented (each grade used a different reporting system), outdated (not complementing what was happening in the classroom), used confusing codes (parents not receiving a clear message), and unreliable (teachers used the reporting systems for different purposes). The new reporting system would have a common purpose, be consistent in format between grades, and use vocabulary that was clear and easy to understand.

Three solution strategies were incorporated into …

The Effects Of Home-School Communication On Parental Involvement, Donna Demusis Dekle

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to determine the effectiveness of an integrated reading and study skills program intervention implemented for seventh and eighth grade middle school students identified as having problems in motivation and academic achievement. The design of the program was based on current research regarding best practices on improving the motivation and literacy skills of middle school students. Student achievement results for this new program were compared with those for a previous program that did not integrate content area curriculum.

Participants attended the program for one class period each day and received instruction on reading strategies to improve …

Leap Forward: A Reading Extended Learning Program To Improve Reading Achievement, Donna Hinton

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

A group of students in 4th grade were identified as having difficulty obtaining the necessary skills to become good readers. Based on teacher observations and feedback, these students did not receive enough reading practice during the school day. The purpose of this applied dissertation was to study the effects of an extended learning program to improve reading achievement of 4th graders in an elementary school in rural Georgia. The school population was approximately 389.

The writer developed Project LEAP Forward to allow students the opportunity to improve reading skills through a structured, extended learning program. The program included a summer …

Improving The Word Recognition And Decoding Skills Of High School Students, Dorothy Reed

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide African American high school students with a number of reading strategies that they could use when confronted with unfamiliar words. These strategies would allow the students to recognize unfamiliar words rapidly and independently. Although the participants of the host community continued to make progress academically and are currently in their expected grades they have struggled in the area of reading. None of them have been identified by school officials as students who struggle with reading consequently, these students are not receiving special services in the schools they attend. As a result, African American …

Increasing Enrollment Sustainability: A Practical Model For A Community College’S Leadership, Dwight D. Dorman

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes an academic achievement program designed to keep 1st-year college students eligible for continued learning. At the onset of the program, results of the English department’s records indicated that approximately 60% of the students enrolled in English 101 were not eligible to continue to advance in a sequential manner. This study identified the problem areas that confronted 1st-year English 101 students who did not successfully complete the course.

A creative teaching model was developed that sought to improve the attendance and retention rate of students. The project also sought to empower the students to be responsible and …

Improving Behavior And Academic Achievement For Students At Sandersville Elementary School, Fate R. Simmons

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to improve discipline and academic achievement at Sandersville Elementary School. This school, located in the Washington County School System, serves students in Grades 3-5. An analysis of data collected in the 2001-2002 school year revealed that 53% of the teachers were dissatisfied with student discipline, and 55% were dissatisfied with the academic climate at Sandersville Elementary School.

Planned solution strategies included a 2-part discipline and academic achievement improvement program. The program focused on helping teachers to understand and address the needs of Early Intervention Program students. The program included in-service training for teachers on specific …

Effects Of The Phoenix Program On Behavior And Academic Performance Of Participants, Grace Y. Wyatt

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report is a formative evaluation of the Phoenix Program, an alternative program for high school students who are at risk of dropping out of school. A 1-year follow-up study of 75 of its participants indicated that the program had positive effects on students’ behavior and attendance. The study indicated that the greatest positive impact of the program was on students’ behavior. The program had minimal but positive effects on students’ academic performance.

A time series analysis was used to examine program impact. Data were collected from students, teachers, counselors, and administrators. Data that described attendance, discipline, and grades were …

Parental Involvement In A School Setting, Heather Zevator Lebensburger

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide parents with the education necessary to facilitate speech and language enriched environments at home. The problem to be resolved was that minimal parental participation delayed the students’ progress with their speech-language goals. The writer created a parent education program for parents who have children with a speech or language eligibility.

Parents were asked to attend three 1-hour 30-minute seminars on the topic of speech and language services. The first seminar introduced the foundations of speech and language. The second seminar introduced specific information about the treatment process. The last seminar allowed parents to …

Increasing Students’ Performance In English Within A Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Program, Jacquelyne Hoy

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

During the 2000-2001 school year, 30.76% of the 1st- through 3rd-grade students performed below grade level in the English reading comprehension test. Consequently, 35% of the students withdrew from Lycée Franco-American during the 2000-2001 school year because their parents feared that their children would not perform at or above grade level in English.

This writer conducted an initial analysis of the study in May of 2001, which revealed the following causes for the low performance in English reading comprehension: (a) teachers’ lack of training and experience in 2-way bilingual immersion programs, (b) the English program was too cumbersome and did …

An Historical Review Of Three Schools’ Special Education Referral Processes, Jessica J. Webb

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation is an historical review and assessment in order to guide policy. The purpose of this study is to review the referral procedure, issues, and variances of the special education process among 3 schools in the Roosevelt School District. John R. Davis School, John F. Kennedy School, and Sierra Vista School use the inclusion model for servicing the special needs students in their schools. In addition, John F. Kennedy School serviced moderate mental retardation students in a self-contained classroom.

Roosevelt School District has experienced various problems in the past related to the severe disparity between the number of …

Developing And Using A Welfare Reform Model Of Social Work To Increase The Role Of Social Workers In Assisting Welfare Customers To Self-Sufficiency Through Employment, Jessie Jordan-Parker

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to increase and enhance the role of the Welfare Social Workers in providing case management services to Welfare customers. Welfare Reform (WR) Social Work positions were being eliminated because some thought that traditional social work models could not be adapted to the requirements of employment centered WR programs. This was thought because no research had been carried out and no data was available to indicate the efficacy of social workers or social work models in assisting those welfare customers to self-sufficiency through employment.

The writer developed a WR model of social work intervention. The model …

Addressing Retention, Discipline, And Achievement Problems Among High School Freshmen, John Rhett Harris

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Problems with ninth grade retention, discipline, and achievement and the attempts to correct those problems were examined as a part of the practicum assignment for Nova Southeastern University. The creation of a ninth grade academy patterned around research describing schools within- schools (SWAS) served as the vehicle for reform aimed at correcting these dilemmas. Statistical evidence revealed that our retention and discipline rates school wide were worsening, particularly among freshmen. Consultation between the researcher and the school principal lead to the creation of a new learning setting whose priority was to reverse the negative trends we were seeing through new …

A Saturday School Program For At-Risk Students, Melvin Hitchens

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem under investigation is the frequency and severity of behavior related infractions. Township administrators are concerned because growing populations of students were violating the district’s policy on character education. Administrators were also concerned because a majority of these students academically lagged behind their peers.

The Saturday School Program was established for students who demonstrated a lack of respect for others. Students have threatened administrators with physical violence. Such behavior was a violation of the school policy on character development, which states that students should exhibit an attitude of caring, courage, honesty, responsibility and self-discipline. Although the lack of character …

Providing A Curriculum In Kindergarten That Develops Reading Skills For Students Prior To Their Entrance Into First Grade, Linda J. Fouse

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report describes programs and activities to assure the development of reading readiness skills in kindergarten students in a suburban elementary school. Kindergarten students were entering 1st grade with little or no reading readiness proficiency. This was apparent by their lack of skills on the 1st-grade entrance survey test developed by the 1st-grade teachers. This report examines research on reading techniques and the effects of early training on reading success.

Strategies included in this report are (a) early phonological awareness, (b) using both whole-language and skill-based instruction through a computerized program, (c) use of centers in the classroom, (d) peer …

Desarrollo De Un Ambiente Virtual De Aprendizaje En Salud Pública, Mariano Fernández Silano

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Esta disertación aplicada fue diseñada para evaluar la contribución de los ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje, basados en la web, en la enseñanza de la salud pública. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo de la implementación de una asignatura del Curso de Ampliación de Conocimientos en Salud Pública. Este estudio aportó información relevante para la implementación y optimización de los cursos en la enseñanza de la Salud Pública. La Escuela de Salud Pública, dicta cursos de capacitación bajo la modalidad semi-presencial en el interior del país, con gran éxito. La alta demanda de cursos, la disponibilidad limitada de recursos humanos y financieros …

Development Of A Historic Preservation Outreach Program With Evaluation Plan For The University Of Arkansas At Little Rock History Department, Franklin Allen Latimer

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem is that the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (AHPP) is ignoring the large potential constituency on the state’s college campuses. By ignoring this potential constituency, the agency is not meeting its goal of educating the public on historic preservation to the fullest extent and the agency is missing an opportunity to recruit people into working for preservation of the state’s cultural resources. This project was intended to develop a preservation outreach program to facilitate delivering information on the state’s historic resources as well as services offered by AHPP to the students in the history department of the University of …

The Negative Impact Of Middle School Mathematics Achievement On Classical High School, William G. Frost

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ version of high stakes assessment testing that has moved to the forefront of education reform over the past decade. True accountability for students and principals is present only at the high school level because students must pass the English language arts and mathematics sections of Grade 10 MCAS to qualify for a diploma.

Archival MCAS data over 4 years of testing reveals 2 inescapable conclusions. First, regardless of level (Grades 4, 8, and 10 are MCAS benchmark years), students have performed significantly better in English language arts than mathematics, …

The Development Of A Plan For The Viability Of Physical Education At Calhoun Community College With A Plan For Implementation And Evaluation, Nancy Keenum

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The current economic decline in Alabama has meant that educational institutions have had to deal with serious financial shortfalls and budget cuts. The problem facing Calhoun Community College is that funding cuts have resulted in an 80% reduction of the Physical Education department at a time when the administration has an interest in future long-term growth, physical education courses remain a viable option for students, and there is an increased awareness of the concomitant health benefits. This applied dissertation was designed to provide a comprehensive plan for the Physical Education department to meet the needs of the students by remaining …

Development Of A Sports Management Option To The Associates Degree In Health And Exercise Science At Camden County College, With A Plan For Implementation And Evaluation, Nicholas J. Dicicco

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The department of health and exercise science at Camden County College (CCC) offers certificate, and degree programs. The degree program is its largest. The problem is that the curriculum in this program has not evolved to keep pace with advances in the field. This has led to a disconnect between the four-year institution program offerings in this field, and the program offerings at CCC, a trend of declining enrollments, and the loss of credits upon transfer by students in the degree program.

As a response to this problem, a sport management option to the curriculum was developed, along with a …

Possible Factors For Achievement Gap In Reading For Eighth-Grade African American Males, Sherry L. Harrison

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to gain insight into the reading achievement gap of African American males in Grade 8 on the North Carolina (NC) End of Grade (EOG) test, to provide insight into 4 schools in NC. Schools in which this group of students scored better on the NC EOG test were compared with schools in which this group of students did less well on the NC EOG test. Two randomly selected low Level 1 schools and 2 randomly selected high Level 2 schools identified by the NC 1999-2000 EOG test scores of 8th-grade African American male students were …

The Creation And Implementation Of A Teacher In-Service Training Program To Change Classroom Strategies Of Teachers Of Learning Disabled Students, Samuel R. Barfell

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes a setting in an Indiana non-public school with a student enrollment of 590 students and 40 instructional faculty members. Approximately 13.3% of the student population struggled with some degree of learning deficiencies or disabilities and performed poorly in the traditional classroom.

The school does have a resource room called the Talent Development Lab where students receive academic assistance. Although students have experienced great and quantifiable success in the Talent Development Lab, there is a gap between what happens in the Lab and what happens in the classroom. The problem is that teachers have not accepted their …

Development And Implementation Of A Plan To Reduce Aggressive And Violent Behavior Of Middle School Students During And After The Lunch Period, Carrissima W. Faust

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Aggressive and violent behavior in schools is a growing problem being debated at the national, state, and local levels. Quantitative and qualitative research techniques were used to determine staff and student perceptions regarding aggressive or violent behavior at Fitz Simons Middle School. Fifty-five teachers and staff were surveyed; 110 students in Grades 6, 7, and 8 were surveyed, and 10 students from each Small Learning Community (SLC) were also interviewed.

The results of the surveys indicated a concern about the number of incidents occurring in the afternoon. Quantitative data of reported serious incidents showed an increase of aggressive or violent …

Integrating Socioemotional And Moral Education Within Early Childhood Teacher Preparation, Dianne K. Alexander

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to prepare early childhood student teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of a peacemaker to manage classroom aggression with competence and confidence. During field placements student teachers reported frustration in their ability to manage the increasingly aggressive and disruptive socioemotional behaviors of their young students. Recurring patterns of anti-social behavior became a daily challenge, exacting a toll not only on instructional time, but also on student teacher attention, patience, and, over time, efficacy. An in-depth study of the university nursery through third grade early childhood teacher preparation program revealed little or no violence prevention …

Increasing The Use Of Spatial And Musical Intelligences To Demonstrate Understanding Of Learning In Middle-School Students, Tempest Diane Booth

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was implemented to provide opportunities for nonexceptional middle-school students to demonstrate understanding of learning in the content area using the spatial and musical intelligences. The subject site emphasized more traditional learning strategies thus fewer opportunities existed for students to demonstrate content learning through the music and spatial intelligences.

An after school enrichment study was provided to give students opportunities to demonstrate understanding of learning using the spatial and musical intelligences. An effort was made to minimize traditional practices and place greater emphasis on creative teaching and learning experiences. The eight month study met twice weekly for one …

Improving Second-Grade Students’ Language Arts Achievement Scores, Thomas W. O'Neill Ii

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to determine whether or not changes in curriculum, teacher selected activities, and grouping techniques have an impact on standardized test scores. Second-grade teaching techniques were limited to teacher driven activities including worksheets and lectures. Teachers were not familiar with student-centered instruction such as cooperative learning or center-based instruction. Teachers of second grade believed the reading series at their grade level was outdated and that there was a need to purchase a current curriculum that included the use of phonics in conjunction with the whole-language approach. Teachers in kindergarten, first, and third grades agreed to change …

Improving Reading Comprehension In The High School Setting, Robert L. Harris

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The setting for this applied dissertation is Springville High School. Twenty percent of the ninth grade students at this school scored below the 30th percentile on norm referenced Stanford Achievement Test 9 in reading comprehension. The test results reflect the lack of reading instruction at the secondary level. The implementation period was for two 18-week periods, which used reading strategies from the researched-based Alabama Reading Initiative Program. An intervention was developed and utilized to improve the reading comprehension of a select group of ninth-grade students. The objectives for this project were to significantly increase the reading comprehension scores of the …

Development And Implementation Of A Compliance Plan For A School Magnet Program In East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Parish School System, Clayton M. Wilcox

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study presented information which indicated that there was a need to improve the non-Black enrollment in the programs within a school magnet program in East Baton Rouge Louisiana Parish School System. An analysis of data indicated that of the 22 magnet programs studied, only one had achieved the non-Black enrollment stated in the Consent Decree (desegregation plan).

Techniques were identified which were implemented to enhance the programs within a school magnet program to make them more inviting and attract more non-Black students. Techniques identified included: (a) identifying a staff member in each magnet designated as being accountable for recruiting, …

Pretraining Assessment To Improve Computer Skills Of Alternative Education School Teachers, Cheryl D. Smith-Brown

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to assess the computer skills of teachers at 5 alternative education schools so they could be grouped into sessions that would meet their ability level. Teachers at the alternative education schools used at least 5 educational software programs to enhance the curriculum at their schools; however, these teachers did not have the most basic computer skills and, therefore, experienced problems managing multiple educational software packages and the Microsoft Windows operating system. Although the district provided educational software training for teachers, the training was designed for participants with basic computer skills. Therefore, teachers who attended the …

Improving School Bus Safety By Reducing Bus Accidents, Thomas F. Boyle

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes an accident prevention training program for school bus drivers who transport students for the Somerset County Educational Services Commission (SCESC) on a countywide basis. Students were transported on bus routes that spanned mountainous rural areas, winding suburban streets, and high-speed congested highways in all weather conditions. It was the goal of this applied dissertation to identify and implement a program that would reduce bus accidents and improve student safety.

Planned solution strategies included (a) a customized instructional course on school bus defensive driving taught to a cohort of bus drivers by the SCESC’s certified school bus …

Improving Grade 6 Reading Comprehension Skills At Dvorak Academy By Implementing A Reading Program, Leonard B. Moore

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes a reading literature-based program to increase reading achievement of Grade 6 students at Dvorak Academy, public school, located in Chicago, Illinois. Based on the skills analysis report of Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading scores from 1999 through 2001, 64% of Grade 6 students averaged below the national 50th percentile.

Possible causes for the problem included (a) inappropriate reading instructional methods, (b) lack of student motivation in reading the required number of recreational reading books, and (c) lack of teacher preparation in teaching reading.

The goal of this applied dissertation was to improve reading by …