Other Educational Administration and Supervision Commons^™

The 'Rules Of Engagement': The Ethical Dimension Of Doctoral Research, Christopher Berg

Journal of Research Initiatives

The pursuit of a doctorate is a rite of passage that requires a student to successfully navigate the transition from “student” to “scholar.” One area of practice, however, that is often marginalized is the role of ethics. Though there is no formal coursework in ethics, its importance cannot be understated. This essay examines the conceptual role of ethics in doctoral research as both an individual reflective essay as well as a broader discussion of ethics in general. The ethical dimension considered is broken down into eight principles or ethical research and practice in doctoral research. The “Eight Ethical Principles” will …

Hiring The Most Effective Teachers: An Examination Of Policy And Practice In Pennsylvania, Barbara Launi Powers

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Hiring the most effective teachers not only has an impact on America’s children, but on America’s economic future as well. For two decades, much research about the failings of America’s schools has been conducted. Since the advent of No Child Left Behind (2002), never has more focus been applied to teaching quality. Hiring the best teachers for our children leverages the single largest in-school influence on achievement. James Coleman, in his seminal work, The Coleman Report (1967), notes that a child’s home socio-economic status and race are more significant influences than any in-house school influence. Subsequent research on teacher quality …

Personality As A Predictor Of Unit Nonresponse In Panel Data: An Analysis Of An Internet-Based Survey, Albert Cheng, Gema Zamarro, Bart Orriens

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Unit nonresponse or attrition in panel data sets is often a source of nonrandom measurement error. Why certain individuals attrite from longitudinal studies and how to minimize this phenomenon have been examined by researchers. However, this research has typically focused on data sets collected via telephone, postal mail, or face-to-face interviews. Moreover, this research usually focuses on using demographic characteristics such as educational attainment or income to explain variation in the incidence of unit nonresponse. We make two contributions to the existing literature. First, we examine the incidence of unit nonresponse in an internet panel, a relatively new, and hence …

Comparing Performance Of Methods To Deal With Differential Attrition In Lottery Based Evaluations, Gema Zamarro, Kaitlin Anderson, Jennifer L. Steele, Trey Miller

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

In randomized controlled trials, it is common for attrition rates to differ by lottery status, jeopardizing the identification of causal effects. Inverse probability weighting methods (Hirano et al, 2003; Busso et al., 2014) and estimation of informative bounds for the treatment effects (e.g. Lee, 2009; Angrist et al., 2006) have been used frequently to deal with differential attrition bias. This paper studies the performance of various methods by comparing the results using two datasets: a district-sourced dataset subject to considerable differential attrition, and an expanded state-sourced dataset with much less attrition, differential and overall. We compared the performance of different …

School Choice: The Personal And The Political, James V. Shuls

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Enrollment in school choice programs is growing, so is overall support for school choice. Many have analyzed what demographic characteristics impact attitudes towards school choice. This paper adds to the literature by exploring the interaction between personal decisions regarding school choice and broader support for school choice programs. Focus groups were conducted in St. Louis and Kansas City with 35 parents of school age children. Participant responses indicate that school choice programs illicit mixed emotions from parents. Most participants personally support school choice and exercise choice themselves by sending their children to magnet, charter, or private schools. At the same …

You Can Often Get What You Want: Assessing The Match Between Parent Preferences And Private Schools Of Choice, Evan Rhinesmith, Patrick J. Wolf

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Providing parents choices in education has become an increasingly popular instrument for reforming education in the United States. While existing research on parent satisfaction in private school choice programs shows that parents are satisfied with the schools they have chosen, there is not much to explain their satisfaction. Previous research using parent surveys asks parents to rate and/or grade their school of choice, while comparing their response to their thoughts on their previous public school. This paper reports new empirical evidence that looks to offer a possible explanation for parents’ satisfaction. Using data from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, we …

A Collective Case Study On Elementary School Administrators’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of A School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention And Supports Framework, H. David Cawthon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this collective case study was to explore and understand administrators’ and teachers’ perceptions on how a school-wide positive behavior intervention and supports (SWPBIS) framework influences school climate at the elementary school level. The theory guiding this study was grounded in B.F. Skinner’s theory of operant behavior and applied behavior analysis, which supports the use of positive reinforcement to increase desired behavior in a real world setting. A rich description of the perceived influence a SWPBIS framework has on school climate was constructed by answering the central research question: “How do administrators and teachers perceive the influence of …

Disparate Use Of Exclusionary Discipline: Evidence On Inequities In School Discipline From A U.S. State, Kaitlin Anderson, Gary W. Ritter

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

There is much discussion in the United States about exclusionary discipline (suspensions and expulsions) in schools. According to a 2014 report from the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, Black students represent 15% of students, but 44% of students suspended more than once, and 36% of expelled students. This analysis uses seven years of individual infraction-level data from public schools in Arkansas. We examine whether disproportionalities exist within schools, or are instead, a function of the type of school attended. We find that marginalized students are more likely to receive exclusionary discipline, even after controlling for the nature …

Teachers’ And Administrators' Perceptions Of The Characteristics Of Effective Leadership For K-12 International Schools, Travis S. Smith

All NMU Master's Theses

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of the characteristics of effective leadership for K-12 international schools. The data produced three themes; these include emotional intelligence, the ability to establish school culture, and administrative mindset. The literature review focused on the survey data points of humor, cultural intelligence, and vision embedded within these themes. The research findings are intended to advance the knowledge of leadership for K-12 international schools.

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Rural Central Office Administrators’ Experiences In Supporting Marginal Special Education Teachers, Lawrence Randolph

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to examine the life experiences of 11 central office administrators from rural school divisions in Virginia, and investigate their shared experiences when assisting and supporting marginal special education teachers. The four theories guiding this study were Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, Collins, Brown and Newman’s cognitive apprenticeship theory, Evans’ path-goal leadership theory, and Burns’ transformational leadership theory. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory discusses the environment of a child impacts their growth and development. Collins, Brown, and Newman’s cognitive apprenticeships theory in context of this study describes how master teachers or administrators must train …

Examining The Decisional Ethic Of Textbook Adoption In Christian Schools: A Collective Case Study, Cecil Phillips

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this collective case study is to examine the decisional ethic Christian school administrators employ when evaluating textbooks for adoption in Christian schools. The study affirms the truism that Christian schools ought to be decidedly Christian and focuses upon textbook adoption practices in Christian schools. A multisite, qualitative research design is employed to examine current practice of textbook adoption among a purposive sample of secondary schools within the Southeast region of the Association of Christian Schools International. The research questions address such administrative leadership factors as organizational values and learning objectives, textbook content criteria and features, and the …

The Influence Of Chronic Absenteeism On Grade 6, Grade 7, And Grade 8 2014 New Jersey Assessment Of Skills And Knowledge, Cheryl A. Dunlap

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This cross-sectional, correlational, explanatory study aimed to explain what influence, if any, chronic absenteeism has on Grade 6, 7, and 8 English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) performance, in the aggregate, when controlling for other influential student and school demographic variables. Student achievement scores on the Grade 6-8 ELA NJ ASK and Mathematics NJ ASK were analyzed separately. Analyses were conducted using simultaneous regression, hierarchical regression, and binary logistic regression models. All student data explored in this study pertained to 220 Grade 6-8 middle schools located in New Jersey during the …

The Participant Effects Of Private School Vouchers Across The Globe: A Meta-Analytic And Systematic Review, M. Danish Shakeel, Kaitlin Anderson, Patrick J. Wolf

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

School voucher programs (a.k.a. opportunity scholarships) are scholarship programs - frequently government funded - that pay for students to attend private schools of their choice. Many private school vouchers programs have been initiated around the world with the goal of increasing the academic performance of students. Voucher programs are often viewed as a way to increase achievement and satisfaction for individual students and families, while at the same time creating competitive pressures that encourage other schools in the area to improve. Countries like Chile and India have developed extensive school voucher programs. While many studies have been conducted on school …

Comparing And Validating Measures Of Character Skills: Findings From A Nationally Representative Sample, Gema Zamarro, Albert Cheng, M. Danish Shakeel, Collin Hitt

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Though researchers now are aware of the potential importance of character skills, such as conscientiousness, grit, self-control, and a growth mindset, researchers struggle to find reliable measures of these skills. In this paper, we use data collected from the Understanding America Study, a nationally representative internet panel to study the validity of innovative measures of character skills based on measures of survey effort. We believe surveys themselves can be seen as a behavioral tasks and that respondents provide meaningful information about their character skills by way of the effort they put forward on surveys. In particular, we compare measures of …

The Effect Of Classroom Walkthroughs On Middle School Teacher Motivation, Karen Dickenson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this pretest-posttest control group experimental study was to see the effect of classroom walkthroughs on middle school teacher motivation. The independent variable was; classroom walkthroughs and the four dependent variables were teachers’ self-concept of the ability to affect student achievement, teachers’ attitude toward the principal, teachers’ beliefs of the principal’s value and expectations for achievement, and teachers’ belief about future utility of efforts. The instrument used in this study was the Teacher Motivation Diagnostic Questionnaire. Sixty-eight language arts and reading participants from the grades 5-8 at 6 middle schools in Southwest Virginia were used. Six diverse public …

Measuring Teacher Conscientiousness And Its Impact On Students: Insight From The Measures Of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database, Albert Cheng, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Although research has been unable to find strong links between observable teacher characteristics and a teacher’s ability to improve student achievement, it has generally not considered the role that teacher non-cognitive skills play in affecting student outcomes. In this article, we validate several novel performance-task measures of teacher conscientiousness based upon the effort that teachers exert completing a survey and use these measures to examine the role that teacher conscientiousness plays in affecting both student test scores and student non-cognitive skills. We conduct our analysis using the Measure of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database where teachers were randomly assigned to their …

The Fiscal Effects Of Eliminating The Louisiana Scholarship Program On State Education Expenditures, Julie R. Trivitt, Corey A. Deangelis

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Eliminating the Louisiana Scholarship Program has been proposed as a way to reduce state education expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year. Drawing upon Louisiana’s education funding formulas, we determine that the overall effect of removing the program will increase state education expenditures. It is true that the state would avoid $41.6 million of spending if the voucher program is eliminated. However, each current voucher student who returns to a public school increases the local district’s necessary education expenditures without increasing the local tax revenue for schools, obligating the state to provide increased funding to the district. While our results depend …

The 80 Percent Pension Funding Target, High Assumed Returns, And Generational Inequity, Robert M. Costrell

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Generational inequity in pension funding is highly sensitive to the lax policies of 80- percent funding targets and high assumed returns to investment. I develop a simple, powerful relationship between steady-state (SS) inequity in contributions – the percent of extra contributions to fund prior cohorts – and the SS unfunded ratio. I then show how the SS unfunded ratio is governed by x-percent funding targets and the gap between assumed and true returns. The SS degree of inequity is over 60 percent under an 80 percent funding target and over 50 percent with a one point gap between assumed and …

The School Choice Voucher: A 'Get Out Of Jail' Card?, Corey A. Deangelis, Patrick J. Wolf

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

In this report we examine crime rates for young adults who experienced Milwaukee's citywide voucher program as high school students and a comparable group of their peers who had been public school students. Using unique data collected as part of a longitudinal evaluation of the program, we consider criminal activity by youth initially exposed to voucher schools and those in public schools at the same time. We also consider subsequent criminal activity by the students that stayed in the voucher program through 12th grade compared to those who were in public schools for the same period. We show that the …

Pre-College Deaf Students’ Understanding Of Fractional Concepts: What We Know And What We Do Not Know, Keith Mousley, Christopher Kurz

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Mathematical knowledge and skills are crucial to success in academics and the workplace. The Common Core State Standards emphasizes fraction teaching and learning in elementary school. This mixed-method study explores fraction concept understanding among 14 deaf and hard of hearing participants between the ages of 8 and 16, as quantitatively measured by their ability to describe the properties of fractional numbers, convert between fractional numbers and their visual representations, and determine the order and equivalence of fractional numbers. Furthermore, the qualitative study was supplemented by interviews with the deaf participants and surveys with their parents and teachers to examine use …

Measures Of Student Non-Cognitive Skills And Political Tolerance After Two Years Of The Louisiana Scholarship Program, Jonathan N. Mills, Albert Cheng, Collin Hitt, Patrick J. Wolf, Jay P. Greene

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This report examines the short-term effects of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) on students’ non-cognitive skills and civic values. While a growing number of studies have evaluated K-12 school voucher programs along academic dimensions, few have focused on the development of non-cognitive skills and civic values. This study aims to address that gap by providing the first analysis of differences in self-reported measures of grit, locus of control, self esteem, and political tolerance associated with the LSP. Using results from a phone survey of applicants to the program, we find little evidence of differences between LSP scholarship recipients and non-recipients. …

The Impact Of The Louisiana Scolarship Program On Racial Segregation In Louisiana Schools, Anna J. Egalite, Jonathan N. Mills, Patrick Wolf

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The question of how school choice programs affect the racial stratification of schools is highly salient in the field of education policy. We use a student-level panel data set to analyze the impacts of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) on racial segregation in public and private schools. This targeted school voucher program provides funding for low-income, mostly minority students in the lowest-graded public schools to enroll in participating private schools. Our analysis indicates that the vast majority (82%) of LSP transfers have reduced racial segregation in the voucher students’ former public schools. LSP transfers have marginally increased segregation in the …

The Competitive Effects Of The Louisiana Scholarship Program On Public School Performance, Anna J. Egalite

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Given the significant growth rate and geographic expansion of private school choice programs over the past two decades, it is important to examine how traditional public schools respond to the sudden injection of competition for students and resources. This article uses 1) a school fixed effects approach, and 2) a regression discontinuity framework to examine the achievement impacts of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP). This targeted school voucher program has provided public funds for low-income students in low-performing public schools to enroll in participating private schools since the 2012-13 school year. The main findings of the competitive effects analysis reveal …

The Effects Of The Louisiana Scholarship Program On Student Achievement After Two Years, Jonathan N. Mills

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) is a statewide initiative offering publicly-funded vouchers to enroll in local private schools to students in low-performing schools with family income no greater than 250 percent of the poverty line. Initially established in 2008 as a pilot program in New Orleans, the LSP was expanded statewide in 2012. This paper examines the experimental effects of using an LSP scholarship to enroll in a private school on student achievement in the first two years following the program’s expansion. Our results indicate that the use of an LSP scholarship has negatively impacted both ELA and math achievement, …

Realizing The Dream: African American Males’ Narratives That Encouraged The Pursuit Of Doctoral Education, Ted N. Ingram

Journal of Research Initiatives

This article used personal narratives to discover factors affecting the decision of African American males to consider doctoral education. This study was based on qualitative interviews with 18 African American male doctoral students enrolled at predominantly white institutions as they reflected on their reasons for pursuing an advanced degree. The following were found to influence their decision: (a) need for faculty encouragement, (b) motivation to pursue a doctorate, and (c) their personal motivations. Recommendations are offered for increasing the numbers of African American male doctoral students.

Fostering An Inclusive Stem Workforce, Cary A. Supalo Dr.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The following keynote address was delivered by Dr. Cary A. Supalo at the 2015 Training Workforce and Development and diversity conference which is one of the divisions that is part of NIH’s general medical sciences. This conference was attended by over 500 program directors from all of the T32 sponsored projects in 2015. This presentation discussed the importance of a full inclusive STEM workforce that includes persons with disabilities

Charter School Governance: An Exploration Of Autonomy And Board Effectiveness, June A. Erskine

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Despite the increased numbers of charter schools each year, we understand very little about their governing boards. According to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation (2004) factors that correlate with charter school success such as accountability, public support, and institutional capacity to progress toward established goals are typically under the management of a charter school governing board. While there is no shortage of governance recommendations for charter schools, there are few empirically validated prescriptions. There are empirically validated characteristics of successful Non-Profit Organization (NPO) governing boards (Herman & Renz, 2008). The methodology for this research was designed to determine if governance …

The Impact Of A Common Approach To Instruction Within A Nebraska Rural School District, Bret Allan Schroder

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

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the instructional understanding and effectiveness of a district wide implementation of a Common Approach to Instruction. This research study provided a greater understanding of the affects that such an implementation had on certified staff regardless of grade level, experience, subject, or gender.

This explanatory, sequential, mixed methods study was conducted during the summer, spring, and fall of 2014-2015. The study initially gathered data using an online survey, based on Marzano’s 41 instructional elements, in a single class-B school district in Nebraska. All certified staff members within this school district were …

Examining Inequities In Teacher Pension Benefits, James V. Shuls

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

From funding to teacher quality, inequities exist between school districts. This paper adds to the literature on inequities by examining the impact of pension plan formulas on pension benefits. Using data from the salary schedules of 464 Missouri school districts, this paper analyzes how various final average salary calculations would impact the benefits of teachers in different districts. All of the schools in this analysis belong to Missouri’s Public Employee Retirement System, which is a defined-benefit pension plan. A teacher’s benefit in this plan is based on her years of experience and her final average salary. The system uses a …

Teacher Well-Being And Virginia Standards Of Learning, Matthew W. Mccarty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) were created by the Virginia Department of Education as a method to assess student learning. The SOLs were implemented in the mid-1990s and were used as end of grade and end of course assessments for grades 3-8 and secondary courses. The SOLs have taken on a foundational role within the Virginia public schools as they now count toward student graduation and teacher evaluation. Virginia now uses a teacher evaluation system that is in large part based upon student performance on the SOL assessments. This evaluation system is in place in all public school divisions …