Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons^™

Characteristics Of Effective Reading Language Arts Teachers In Closing The Achievement Gap, Latasha Price Bassette

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined an urban school district in the southern United States that continued to experience student achievement gaps despite the implementation of initiatives as the African American Success Initiative. The school leadership needed a deeper understanding regarding what strategies were successful with closing the achievement gap. Using Gay's theory of cultural responsive pedagogy, the purpose of this study was to identify inward attributes, outward strategies, and professional development perceptions of teachers with no achievement gap among ethnically diverse students. Employing an instrumental case study design, 8 middle school reading teachers who closed the reading achievement gap were interviewed; these …

Critical Thinking To Justify An Answer In Mathematics Classrooms, Angelique E. Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students' critical thinking in mathematics was a concern for grade 5 through 8 teachers at a Title 1 public school in the northeastern United States because of the students' poor performance on constructed response questions on the state's mathematics exam. In this exam, students were required to justify their answers in writing. When teachers recognize the connection between writing and critical thinking, they can devise strategies to help students develop mathematical literacy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how 5th through 8th grade mathematics teachers use the GoMath mathematics literacy program to teach the critical thinking …

Case Study Of An African American Community's Perspectives On Closing The Achievement Gap, Cleopatra Lacewell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The disparity in test scores, known as the achievement gap, between African American and European American students has persisted despite research and reforms. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine what African American community members in a North Carolina school district perceived as the causes of the local achievement gap and what support they believed they could offer to close the gap. The theories of cultural-historical psychology, social cognition, learned helplessness, social disorganization, and the funds of knowledge concept, guided the data collection from the 3 focus groups from the local community. Each focus group contained 6 …

Graduation Coach Program Effects On High School Attendance And Graduation Rate, Anya V. Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The rise in the number of students who drop out of high school has gained national attention. High school dropout rates in the state of Louisiana are a primary concern to school administrators in the state. The Graduation Coach Program is an intervention implemented in several high schools across Louisiana to assist students with completing their high school education. Many of the programs' attributes are based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, students' needs, and the presence of positive adult relationships that might improve student achievement. The purpose of this study was to compare archival attendance and graduation rates among independent …

Afterschool Program Effects On English Learners' Reading And Teachers' Reading Curriculum Perceptions, Helen Marie Mayfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This project study addressed the problem of 3rd grade English language learners (ELLs) not passing the state mandated reading test at the same rate as other students between 2009 and 2013 in Georgia. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of an elementary school's afterschool program (ASP) on ELLs' reading achievements and to investigate 3rd grade afterschool teachers' perceptions of the reading curriculum using a mixed methods explanatory sequential design. Schema theory, the framework used to guide this study, indicated prior knowledge and experiences are necessary to comprehend new ideas or concepts. Prior knowledge and experiences can …

A Study Of Teachers' Challenges With The Inclusion Of Middle And High School Students With Autism, Marcie Anne Goodrow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Middle and high school general education teachers in the school district in this bounded case study

were facing challenges with meeting the needs of students who have autism in the current inclusion

program. The purpose of this study was to understand teachers' challenges with components of the

inclusion program and serving students with autism in the general education classroom. The

conceptual framework was Villa and Thousand's 5 system-level best practices for successful

inclusive education. A purposeful sampling procedure was used to select 4 general education

teachers who were teaching autistic students in an inclusive setting; this sample included 2 middle …

Elementary General Education Teachers' Knowledge Of And Experience Teaching Students With Disabilities In Science And Social Studies, Diane Rice

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Grades 3 to 5 at a suburban southeastern elementary school, the percentage of students with disabilities (SWDs) who do not meet state standards in science and social studies is greater than that of their nondisabled peers. To address this disparity, district administrators required that proficiency ratings increase for SWDs without providing general education (GE) teachers with training. A qualitative bounded case study was used to understand how GE teachers constructed their knowledge of and met SWDs instructional needs and to understand GE teachers' needs as they worked toward meeting the district goals. Piaget's constructivist learning theory served as the …

Exploring The Transition Of First-Generation Mexican American Students From Grade 8 To High School, Mary C. Curry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The dropout rate for first-generation Mexican Americans students in American schools has increased in the past decade. The purpose of this study, as reflected in the central research question, was to explore the factors that influenced the decision of first-generation Mexican American students to transition to high school or drop out after Grade 8. The research design was a phenomenological case study. The conceptual framework was based on current research surrounding first-generation Mexican American student dropout questions. In addition, how the concepts of family and community involvement and relationships between the home and school have an impact on the first …

Examining Administrator Perceptions On The Success Of A Ninth Grade Transition Model, Felicia Renee' Walker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ninth grade students are at a greater risk of dropping out of high school than are other grade-level populations. Factors such as a lack of academic preparedness, social and developmental changes, and the decline of parental support often result in 9th grade students falling behind in their academic work. Using holistic education as the conceptual framework, the goal of this intrinsic case study was to explore the perceptions of school and district office administrators on the impact that a 9th grade transition program has on the 9th grade retention and dropout rate of a high school located in the southeastern …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Manipulatives During Middle School Math Instruction, Angela L. Vizzi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a Colorado school district, school personnel and parents were concerned that middle school math proficiency levels were low for 2011-2014 and math teachers were not using manipulatives in their classes to increase math performance. The district's math coordinator did not foresee providing specific professional development (PD) for math manipulative use to address these concerns. Without this PD, math teachers may be ill-quipped to teach math concepts when using manipulatives, which, in turn, could lead to further poor math performance. The purpose of this qualitative bounded collective case study was to explore middle school teachers' perceptions of PD and perceived …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Differentiated Instruction In Elementary Reading, Olwen Suzette Stewart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many teachers in a low socioeconomic school district in Florida struggle with differentiating instruction for the large at-risk population; however, one school has been identified as a high functioning school. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how classroom teachers at the high functioning school are differentiating instruction and how their reading coaches are supporting the teachers in designing instructional interventions. Guided by the concepts of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and Tomlinson's differentiated instruction, this study examined the connection between these 2 concepts and explored approaches to the creation of an instructional model to support at-risk …

"The Relationship Between Test Anxiety And Standardized Test Scores", Beth Ann Fulton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of standardized achievement tests that students in the United States are required to take has increased significantly during the past decade. Researchers have found that test anxiety is often a problem related to the increase in testing. This correlational study investigated the relationship between anxiety levels of 50 4th grade students and their standardized test scores. Test anxiety questionnaires and pulse rates were used as a measure of the anxiety level of each of the 4th grade students just before the standardized test was administered, and standardized test scores were used as a measure of academic performance. The …

Technology Paved The Road For Students In A High-School Dropout Recovery Program To An Online College Class, C. Jayne Brahler

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Although there are Federal programs that are intended to assist a wide range of people with getting a college education, the educational attainment statistics confirm that these programs are not reaching the students who are the least apt to go to college. This chapter describes how technology enabled 52 inner-city high school students, 49% of whom had cumulative high school grade point averages (GPA) that were between 1.0 and 1.9 points, to be dually enrolled in an online college class and their online high school classes. The class average for the quizzes the students completed was 88% and the students …

An Examination Of Academic Grit In Urban High Schools, Ronald Gorman

Dissertations

Currently, in America’s schools, approximately one in five high school students will not graduate with his or her peers, and many others will never receive a high school diploma (Stillwell & Sable, 2013). Many students arrive in our nation’s high schools without the requisite skills to be successful, and when they exhibit failure for the first time, a large percentage of them do not have the passion and perseverance to accomplish their long term goals – otherwise known as “academic grit,” a term coined by Duckworth (2007), a leading researcher in the area.

To investigate the issues mentioned above, a …

Teacher Reaction To Change In The Lutheran Elementary School: A Grounded Theory Approach, Kim D. Marxhausen

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

Schools, and the teachers and administrators who work in them, need the flexibility to adapt to current student needs. Past research has focused on organizations and plans for change; little research has been done on individual teacher reaction to change situations leaving a gap in the literature. The goal of this constructivist grounded theory study was to explore how individual teachers, in LCMS Lutheran elementary schools, react when presented with change. Data were collected through interviews involving an event history calendar to facilitate memory. A theoretical sampling process was used to collect and analyze data utilizing a constant comparative method. …

Deaf Children’S Science Content Learning In Direct Instruction Versus Interpreted Instruction, Kim B. Kurz, Brenda Schick, Peter C. Hauser

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

This research study compared learning of 6-9th grade deaf students under two modes of educational delivery – interpreted vs. direct instruction using science lessons. Nineteen deaf students participated in the study in which they were taught six science lessons in American Sign Language. In one condition, the lessons were taught by a hearing teacher in English and were translated in ASL via a professional and certified interpreter. In the second condition, the lessons were taught to the students in ASL by a deaf teacher. All students saw three lessons delivered via an interpreter and three different lessons in direct ASL; …

What I Taught My Stem Instructor About Teaching: What A Deaf Student Hears That Others Cannot, Annemarie Ross, Randy K. Yerrick

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Overall, science teaching at the university level has remained in a relatively static state. There is much research and debate among university faculty regarding the most effective methods of teaching science. But it remains largely rhetoric. The traditional lecture model in STEM higher education is limping along in its march toward inclusion and equity. The NGSS and Common Core reform efforts do little to help university science teachers to change their orientation from largely lecture-driven practice with laboratory supplements. While it is impossible to address all diverse student groups, the need for accommodations tend to be overlooked. As a Deaf …

The Quest For Success: A Phenomenological Study Aimed At Understanding The Experiences Of Successful African American Females In High School, Vanntaccale Price

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This phenomenological research study was conducted to better understand the experiences of successful African American females in a high school setting and to draw implications for learning related to their perceptions of success in school. The study describes African American female students’ perceptions of factors that influence their achievement in school. Participants included six African American female students attending high school in the Midwest. Data was gathered from student interviews, parent/guardian questionnaires, informal observations, and student visual displays. From the analysis of the aforementioned data several themes emerged which include the importance of the students’ family and teachers to their …

The Impact Of High Stakes Testing On School Leadership, Yanira Oliveras Ortiz

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dr. Oliveras-Ortiz describes principals' view of changing classroom environments because of the state of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests. Further, she shares instructional leadership viewpoints of campus principals and proponents and opponents of high-stakes testing. This mixed method study surveyed and interviewed principals from four large school districts in Texas to understand their perceptions of changes in their leadership practices working under accountability practices.

Longitudinal Effects Of School Climate On Middle-School Students' Academic, Social-Emotional And Behavioral Outcomes, Jennifer Lynn Engelland-Schultz

Theses and Dissertations

Millions of youth are at risk for low academic achievement, school dropout, risky behavior, bullying, and mental health concerns, especially those living in rural areas. Protective factors can reduce the likelihood of children and adolescents experiencing these negative outcomes. Research shows that positive school climate is a powerful protective factor for youth. The present study investigated the longitudinal relations between middle school students' school climate perceptions and their academic, social-emotional, and behavioral development over two years. Specifically, 510 students in grades 5-9 from six rural schools rated their support and influence at school as well as their internalizing problems, personal …

From The Co-Editors, Todd Pagano

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

We continue to work diligently to improve JSESD. One of the largest challenges to the journal remains the solicitation of manuscript submissions. As such, we are asking the journal’s readership to assist us in advertising the journal. If you are familiar with individuals who might be interested in submitting a manuscript, please pass along the JSESD author link provided above. We are especially interested in articles on science education for students with varying types of disabilities and at a full range of grade levels (K-12 and postsecondary).

A Historical Perspective On The Revolution Of Science Education For Students Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired In The United States, Cary A. Supalo Dr.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The following was an invited presentation given by Dr. Cary A. Supalo to the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois annual state convention that was held in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, October 28, 2011. These remarks were slightly modified for the Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities.

Cary A. Supalo

What does the term Revolution mean? To some it can simply mean change. To others, it can mean drastic change, and still to others, revolution is no more than a descriptor for something else. In this context, I believe revolution refers to a time of significant change.1 …

Formative Assessment Strategies: Levels Of Use By High School English And Mathematics Teachers, Danielle Love Hauser

Theses and Dissertations

The levels of use of formative assessment strategies and types of feedback by high school English and mathematics teachers were examined. A non-experimental, quantitative survey approach was used to test whether the levels of use of formative assessment strategies vary by content area taught (English vs. mathematics), teacher's perceptions of their knowledge of these practices, and other teacher demographics (e.g., gender, years of experience, degrees/ qualifications). Survey items on formative assessment strategies included specific items from Classroom Assessment for Student Learning Doing It Right Using It Well. Feedback survey questions were based on Nyquists' typology of feedback. One-hundred twenty-five surveys …

Imparting Practical Wisdom And Resilience To Our Students, Charles (Derrick) Lawson

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The powerful impact of communicating a teacher’s belief in a student is presented. By sharing trade books and novels with metaphoric messages, teachers can impart practical wisdom and enable students to develop resilience when facing challenges.

A Mixed Method Study Of The Effectiveness Of Gaining Early Awareness And Readiness For Undergraduate Programs (Gear Up) Federal Incentive Program In Southern Mississippi Public Secondary Schools, David Micah Maxwell

Dissertations

The Gaining Early Awareness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) incentive program has been in place since the late 1990s nationally. This grant, which covers a time span of six years and offers up to eighteen million dollars in federal funds, is designed to increase college readiness and decrease dropout rate among high school students. This study examines the effectiveness of this grant in southern Mississippi for the graduating class of 2014. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods to determine the effectiveness of this grant, this study draws some conclusions and recommendations for this incentive program.

The Relationship Between Teacher Collaboration And Teachers' Level Of Knowledge, Implementation, And Confidence Related To Common Core State Standards For Literacy In History/Social Studies, Science And Technical Subject Areas, Talia Shaunte' Lock

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between elements of teacher collaboration and teachers’ level of knowledge, level of implementation, and level of confidence related to CCSS for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subject Areas in grades 6-12. The study included an extensive literature that included an introduction, pertinent literature and research regarding literacy in the 21^st century, CCSS, cross curriculum, teacher collaboration, the role of leadership, and the theoretical framework. The study also included the methodology, research results, the conclusions, recommendations for policymakers and practitioners, and recommendations for further research.

It was discovered …

High School Educators’ Perceptions Of Their Schools’ Conduciveness To English Language Learners’ Success, Jill Winiger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of administrators, guidance counselors, and classroom teachers in the high schools of Northeast Tennessee regarding their schools’ academics, climate, culture, parent engagement, and their English Language Learners’ school experiences. The researcher sought to ascertain if significant differences exist between the perceptions of different groups of educational professionals in the school, with those groups to include school administrators, guidance counselors, and classroom teachers. Data were analyzed from 50 survey questions with 42 of those questions measured on a 5-point Likert scale, 5 questions as multiple choice, and 3 questions as open-ended. …

Rural Nebraska Elementary Students' Aspirations To Attend Institutions Of Higher Education, Brock T. Rezny

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Numerous studies exist on college and career readiness in the middle and high school grades, but these studies often exclude the elementary grades. Even less research has been done regarding this topic in rural education. With more research indicating a need for college readiness beginning in elementary school, this study adds to the literature by seeing if rural elementary students in Nebraska have aspirations for continued education and who influences those aspirations. The sample population of this quantitative study were fourth graders in five rural schools in an athletic conference in Nebraska. The survey was created with collaboration from two …

Beyond Nafsa: An Assessment Of Professional Development Needs Of Secondary-Level International Education Professionals, Emily A. Keizer

Capstone Collection

For many professionals, attending a conference or workshop offered by a professional organization is a logical course of action. These resources help to expand knowledge of a field, improve performance at work and connect those who share interests. Almost every field has an organization or association of some sort that offers these type of professional development opportunities for individuals seeking to learn and grow in their work. However, high school level International Education professionals struggle to find this type of resource.

As an emerging subset of International Education, the field of international high school student advising is in need of …

Masculinities, Gendered Expression, And The Social, Emotional, And Academic Well-Being Of High School Boys, Cynthia Bazinet

Educational Studies Dissertations

There has been longstanding concern over the seemingly intractable problem of boys’ academic achievement. Despite extensive research, there is little consensus among researchers and educators regarding best practices and approaches in mitigating and remediating the problem. This mixed-methods study sought to illuminate the issue further by focusing on the meaningful lived experiences of six young men aged 18 to 24 who attended and graduated from a central Massachusetts public high school. The study asked participants to reflect through prompted writing upon the stresses and pressures as well as the factors and conditions that affected their abilities to manage their performativities …