Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Understanding Ells At Different English Proficiency Levels In Dual Language Programs, Kathryn Lindholm-Leary

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research is to examine the language proficiency and reading achievement of a diverse group of 1045 grade 4-8 ELL students enrolled in a dual language program. These students differed in background factors (parent education, SES), dual language program model (90:10, 50:50), and English language proficiency level (Begin/Early Intermediate, Intermediate, Advanced, reclassified Fluent English Proficient). Results show that there are significant effects due to language proficiency group, parent education, SES, and program model on student outcomes - English language proficiency, Spanish reading, and English reading achievement at program entry, grade 3 and current grade. Results are discussed …

Implementing A Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Phonics Curriculum That Incorporates Music To Meet The Needs Of English Language Learners In The Response To Intervention Process, Danielle Miller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the Sing, Spell, Read, Write (SSRW) phonics curriculum that uses explicit and systematic methods and incorporates music to teach literacy skills implemented as a tier-two reading intervention in the Response to Intervention process to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of English Language Learners. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design will be used to explore the research questions. Using a quantitative quasi-experimental comparison method, the researcher gathered archived data relating to ELLs reading achievement using the reading portion of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests and the STAR Reading assessment. The …

A Logistic Regression Analysis Of Student Experience Factors For The Enhancement Of Developmental Post-Secondary Retention Initiatives, Michael Shenkle

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In response to stagnant undergraduate completion rates and growing demands for post-secondary accountability, institutions are actively pursuing effective, broadly applicable methods for promoting student success. One notable scarcity in existing research is found in the tailoring of broad academic interventions to better meet the specific needs of students from known risk populations. The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate possible predictive relationships among three specific pre-matriculation characteristics (gender, ethnicity and secondary school type) and subsequent academic year retention for residential undergraduate students that completed a developmental education course at a private, liberal arts university. A logistic regression was …

E-Xperience Erasmus: Online Journaling As A Tool To Enhance Students’ Learning Experience Of Their Study Visit Abroad, Odette Gabaudan

Conference Papers

Students on the BA International Business and Languages who spend a full academic year on a study visit abroad experience many new challenges such as a different culture, a new university, different academic practices, a foreign language, etc. The assessment methods for the year include the results of the modules taken in the partner universities, a language examination and the submission of a country notebook. This research is a pilot study that explores how the maintenance of an online journal via a blog/e-portfolio structure can support students in their new learning experiences, alert the home coordinator to any potential difficulty …

Equitable And Fair Assessments Of English Learners In California’S New Assessment System, Norman C. Gold, Ed.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D., Martha Hernández, M.Ed., Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, M.Ed.

Practitioner Journal Articles

This article focuses on the assessment needs that are unique to English learners (ELs) and provides a comprehensive set of recommendations regarding their equitable and fair assessment. Specific recommendations are provided for when to assess ELs, accommodations for ELs, and the budget and infrastructure that necessary to support these accommodations. The authors expect that these recommendations resonate with state leaders and policymakers as the state of California transitions to a new state assessment system.

Indiana, Susan R. Adams

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th state on December 11, 1816. Corydon, Indiana, located in southern Indiana, was the first state capitol until 1825, when the capital was moved to a more central location in Indianapolis. Indiana, located in the midwest, was formerly part of the Indiana Territory, dissolved in 1798. The first governor of the territory was William Henry Harrison, who served from 1800 until 1813. Harrison later became the into president of the United States, in 1840. Two constitutions have been ratified in Indiana: the first in 1816, and the current constitution in 1851. Indiana …

English Proficiency / Fluent English Proficient Students, Susan R. Adams

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

K-12 students whose first language is not English are identified upon enrollment in U.S. schools through a home language survey and are immediately assessed to determine whether English as a second language (ESL) services are required. Students who do not pass this initial screening assessment are classified as English Language Learners (ELLs), or as limited English proficiency (LEP) students, and are identified to receive school-provided English language development (ELD) and accommodations. Students who pass the initial screener or who demonstrate English proficiency two years in a row on state-mandated annual assessments are deemed fluent or fully English proficient (FEP) students …

Increasing The Cultural Competence Of Assessment Professionals Via Online Training, Jennifer L. Schroeder, Maximino Plata, Harry Fullwood, Melanie Price, Jennifer Dyer

Faculty Publications

The preponderance of literature suggests that culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners demonstrate unexpected underachievement in academic areas, mainly due to educators’ inability to differentiate between students’ cultural attributes rather than demonstrable cognitive dysfunction. Thirty assessment practitioners participated in a study to investigate the effectiveness of teaching cultural information and culturally-relevant assessment practices via an online teaching platform. The Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire (MASQUE) and short-answer tests were used to obtain participants’ pre- and post- training attitudes and knowledge regarding cultural diversity. Results indicated that online training improved attitudes toward multicultural issues in education. A number of suggestions for …

Culturally Responsive Methodologies At Work In Education Settings, Mere Berryman, Suzanne Soohoo, Ann Nevin, Te Arani Barrett, Therese Ford, Debora Joy Nodelman, Norma Valenzuela, Anna Wilson

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe culturally responsive methodology as a way to develop researchers. The aim is to illuminate the dimensions of culturally responsive methodology such as cultural and epistemological pluralism, deconstruction of Western colonial traditions of research, and primacy of relationships within culturally responsive dialogic encounters. An overarching question is: “How can we maintain the original integrity of both participants and researchers and their respective cultures and co-construct at the same time something new?”

Design/methodology/approach – Five case study narratives are described in order for readers to understand the range and types of studies …

Strategy Use Of Russian Pre-Service Tefl University Students: Using A Strategy Inventory For Program Effectiveness Evaluation, Alla Zareva, Anna Fomina

English Faculty Publications

The focus of the present study is on identifying categories of learning strategies that are mostly used by Russian university students in an English Linguistics Program with a TEFL concentration. The more specific goal of the study is to offer a model of evaluation of the effectiveness of TEFL-oriented programs in terms of the language learning strategies their students use and recognize as pedagogically applicable to their EFL environment. To this end, two groups of students were compared on their self-reported frequency of strategy use -- 1st year students (n = 23), who had just entered the program, and 4th …

Casa De La Solidaridad: A Pedagogy Of Solidarity, Kevin Yonkers-Talz

Doctoral Dissertations

Casa de la Solidaridad has been recognized as an innovative and effective educational model within Jesuit higher education yet, until now, there have only been verbal presentations of the unique attributes of the Casa de la Solidaridad model. In addition, there has been a lack of information regarding the influence of the Casa experience on the lives of alumni. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to thoroughly describe and document the unique attributes of the Casa de la Solidaridad model, and 2) to provide some insight into how the Casa program has influenced the lives of Casa alumni. …

A Phenomenology Of Academic Support In Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Homes Of At-Risk Students, David Barber

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

I examined the home environment and the amount of academic support non-English speaking parents are able to provide for their English Language Learner (ELL) children in the United States school system. In particular, the focus is on the families of children who struggle academically in the state of Georgia, where non-English speaking children are mainstreamed into regular education classrooms with limited support. Although there has been a great deal of research on how ELLs learn and what type of program can be used to best facilitate mastery of academics as they are learning the English language, the focal point of …

A Study Of The Effects Of Charter Schools On Achievement, Attendance And Selected Mitigating Factors In A Midwestern State’S Small Urban School Districts, Frederick C. Clarke

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether students attending urban charter schools did better, or worse, than students attending traditional public schools, over a five-year time period, in a Midwestern state. Thirty-one urban school districts affiliated with a Midwestern Urban Education Association, and corresponding charter schools, located within these Midwestern school districts, were selected to participate in this study.

This study utilized a quasi-experimental research design and was supported by the earlier research of Dr. Gary Miron and Dr. Jerry Horn from Western Michigan University (Miron & Horn, 2000; Miron & Horn, 2002; Miron, 2005) and Dr. Scott …

An Investigation Of English Learners' Acquisition Of Academic Language To Obtain Reading Comprehension Skills, Mishka Barnes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This collective case study explored how third-grader English learners (ELs) acquire academic language to learn reading comprehension skills in a classroom setting. Many ELs have acquired basic interpersonal communication skills, but have not mastered cognitive academic language proficiency, or academic language. The researcher selected six third-grade ELs who functioned as developing and expanding learners. Although many of these students can read text and use problem-solving strategies to blend words and read fluently, they may experience difficulties understanding academic language. Data was collected through observation, interviews with the ELs two mainstream teachers, document anlysis, and field notes. Using open coding, the …

Osmd: Cultural Competence Tool For Research, Education, And Practice, Rebecca L. Tadlock-Marlo, Danny Applegate

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Results from a mixed methods study provide insight into redefining multicultural counseling competencies specific to school counselors. Foci include new counseling competencies and implications for counselor educators. Attendees will explore aspects of multiculturalism, counseling competencies of school counselors, research implications, and its importance for the field. Also discussed will be applying information to the development of skills, knowledge, and awareness of counselors-in-training through specific pedagogical examples. Participant discussion is vital to this presentation to further discuss content area, explore redefining multiculturalism, and implications this research has for both practicing counselors and counselor educators. Attendees can expect to gain groundbreaking theory …

Enhancing Instruction For English Learners In Response To Intervention Systems: The Pluss Model, Amanda K. Sanford, Julie Esparza Brown, Maranda Turner

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper proposes a model of effective instruction and intervention for English Learners (ELs) within a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. First, we review literature on effective instruction for ELs and how RTI can address the needs of these students. Then, we describe the PLUSS model, which integrates research on effective instruction for ELs, tiered models of support, and teacher practices. The model includes the following elements: Pre-teaching critical vocabulary; Language modeling and opportunities to use academic language; Using visuals and graphic organizers; Systematic and explicit instruction; and Strategic use of native language and teaching for transfer. Finally, we provide …

Not You/Like You, With You: Toward A Praxis Of Love, Learning, And Liberation In Teaching Efl Writing — On Zombies, De-Colonial Feminisms, And Freire In Efl Contact Zones, Jessmaya Morales

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores EFL writing as a critical contact zone in which identity and subjectivity are found, denied, contested, de/constructed and occupied. The author opens with an account of a dream, utilized as a metaphor to examine EFL learning through the analytical lens of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The paper’s first section is a self-reflexive discussion of Freire’s pedagogy and why his unambiguous analyses of power, subjectivity, and the “banking system of education” are vital to the field of ELT. In the second section, the author discusses subjectivity, identity, and intersectionality as rooted in the work of …

Traveling With A Purpose: Stories Of Contradiction And Transformation In International Service-Learning, Rebecca A. Mcnamara

Dissertations

Different conceptualizations of service‐learning are found in higher education, ranging from charity to social justice focused. Little is known about the lasting impact of social justice focused service-learning on undergraduate participants, especially in a global education setting. This study examined the experience and meaning making of participants of critical international service-learning (ISL) over time. Nineteen alumni of five ISL courses at three different higher education institutions were interviewed in this phenomenological study. Participants described contrasting experiences of being both stretched and destabilized, friend and foreigner, and finding the service‐learning both enjoyable and unsettling. The long term impact of ISL course …

English Language Teaching Using The Whole Student Philosophy, Tahira Y. Muhammad

MA TESOL Collection

Education in Kuwait is centered on rote learning methodology. Historically, the Kuwait educational system was created to mimic the Egyptian rote learning systems that date back to Pharaonic times. Furthermore, Kuwaiti educators are convinced that rote learning is the optimal form of education. In this paper, I will attempt to prove that this method is unsuccessful, and that educators, within their classroom and lesson planning, should adapt their teaching strategies to the adoption of the whole language philosophy.

The major limitation of this research is that the observer is also participant. However, the fact that the observer is fully trained …

Perceived Efficacy Of Beginning Teachers To Differentiate Instruction, Michelle K. Casey, Robert K. Gable

Teacher Education

A two-phase, sequential mixed-methods design was used to assess perceptions of teacher efficacy (10 item survey, alpha = .90) to differentiate instruction for N = 36 graduates from one MAT teacher preparation program. Research questions addressed levels of self-efficacy, perceptions of preparedness, teaching tenure, and number of certifications held. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and t-test procedures. A focus group with N = 10 purposively selected 2010 graduates and interviews with N = 2 graduates each from the 2008 and 2009 classes, and N = 2 faculty were conducted. No significant relationships were found for tenure and …

Does An Early Second Language Immersion Experience Impact Student Motivation?, Fang Chen

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The aim of this study was to determine how an early immersion second language (L2)school experience might impact students’ motivation to learn the target language. The study was conducted in a Spanish Immersion Academy in the Columbus City (Ohio)school district. Students were surveyed about their motivation for learning Spanish. Three K-3 classes were observed and students’ engagement in different kinds of instruction was recorded. Teachers were interviewed in an effort to obtain their views on motivating students. The data collected suggest that learning motivation was highly valued by teachers in the school. Teachers generally reported trends in learner motivation that …

Répétez S’Il Vous Plaît !: L’Enseignement De La Compréhension Auditive Dans La Salle De Classe, Jordan M. Bessette

Senior Honors Projects

Foreign language acquisition is a subject of increasing importance in today’s world, acting as the backbone of international relations, trade and communication. In addition, through examination of a foreign culture and language, individuals can come to appreciate philosophies and values other than those pertaining to their own society. However, the difficulty and apparent uselessness of the subject material in the “here and now” dissuades many students from continuing language acquisition after obligatory general education requirements have been fulfilled. Through examining acquisition theories and factors which affect students’ motivation to continue second language acquisition; I developed a strategy in order to …

A Third Grade Bilingual Teacher's Knowledge And Practices For Developing Reading Comprehension, Miriam Guerra

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher knowledge and practices for teaching reading comprehension to English language learners and socio-economically disadvantaged students in a third grade bilingual class. This study uses a conceptual framework of pedagogical content knowledge to investigate how kinds of content knowledge and pedagogical practices interact to create the teacher’s special way of knowing how to teach comprehension to her students. This study uses a case study methodology to investigate what the teacher knows and how her knowledge is enacted in her teaching practices. This case study provided an in-depth perspective of teacher knowledge. Through …

The Academic Achievement Of Latino Students In Boston Public Schools, Faye Karp

Gastón Institute Publications

This report examines the SY2006-SY2009 MCAS ELA and Math achievement of Latino students in Boston Public Schools. The key findings of this report include:

• Latino students now constitute the largest racial/ethnic student group in Boston Public Schools (43.0% in SY2012) and the only racial/ethnic group to grow in numbers from SY2006 to SY2009. In SY2009, Latino students had the highest rates of poverty, mobility, chronic absence, and grade retention in Boston Public Schools.
• Latino students have some of the lowest MCAS ELA and Math pass rates in Boston Public Schools. In SY2009, White students had the highest pass rates on …

A Comparison Of A Gifted Education Program Among Eighth Grade Gifted Students At A Georgia Junior High School, Jerry Clark Harden

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships that may exist among mean scores on the math and reading portions of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) of eighth grade gifted students of different gender, race, and socioeconomic status. Significant changes have been made to Georgia's gifted identification procedures over the last few decades to lessen the underrepresentation of minorities and students of low socioeconomic status. However, issues still exist in the referral process, the identification process, and the performance of gifted students. Although the referral process and identification procedures have been and continue to be researched, …

Analizando La Literatura En Español Para Niños, Tana M. Oviedo

World Languages and Cultures

For my senior project, I have partnered with another MLL major, Rebecka Runyon, to read and analyze children’s books in Spanish at Pacheco Elementary School. Marlie Schmidt, a reading specialist at Pacheco, explained to us that Pacheco has a new manner of teaching how to read. This method has been broken into six different strategies: Making Connections, Asking Questions, Mental Images, Inferring, Evaluating, and Synthesizing. Each of these strategies is a tool that helps readers comprehend what they are reading. As there are many Spanish books in their school library, but very little help provided to analyze them, our job …

Osmd: Cultural Competence Tool For Research, Education, And Practice, Rebecca Tadlock-Marlo, Danny Applegate

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Results from a mixed methods study provide insight into redefining multicultural counseling competencies specific to school counselors. Foci include new counseling competencies and implications for counselor educators. Attendees will explore aspects of multiculturalism, counseling competencies of school counselors, research implications, and its importance for the field. Also discussed will be applying information to the development of skills, knowledge, and awareness of counselors-in-training through specific pedagogical examples. Participant discussion is vital to this presentation to further discuss content area, explore redefining multiculturalism, and implications this research has for both practicing counselors and counselor educators. Attendees can expect to gain groundbreaking theory …

Mapping Writing Development In Young Bilingual Learners, Ana M. Hernández, Ed.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D.

Practitioner Journal Articles

A growing interest in Two-Way Bilingual Immersion (TWBI) programs has led to increased attention to bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism. This article describes the writing development in Spanish and English for 49 kindergarten students in a 50/50 Two-Way Bilingual Immersion program. Over the course of an academic year, the authors collected writing samples to analyze evidence of cross-linguistic resource sharing using a grounded theoretical approach to compare and contrast writing samples to determine patterns of cross-linguistic resource sharing in English and Spanish. The authors identified four patterns: phonological, syntactic, lexical, and metalinguistic awareness. Findings indicated that emergent writers applied similar strategies …

Investigating Vocabulary And Reading Strategies With Middle Grades English Language Learners: A Research Synthesis, Brooke Kandel-Cisco, Yolanda Padrón

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Recent data indicate that many adolescent English language learners (ELLs) comprehend English texts at only a limited literal level. The purpose of this research synthesis was to systematically identify and describe the research related to the English reading comprehension of middle grades ELLs while also making practical connections to instruction. Parameters were established to determine whether the collected research studies met the purpose of the synthesis and the standards for quality research, using the guiding principles for scientific research set forth in the National Research Council’s Scientific Research in Education. Three themes emerged across the 11 identified studies: (a) the …

The Observation Protocol For Academic Literacies: Conceptual Framework And Validation Report, Magaly Lavadenz Ph.D., Elvira G. Armas Ed.D.

Reports

The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL) conceptual framework and validation report describes the development of the OPAL instrument and the results of the validation study that confirms OPAL as a research-based tool to measure classroom practices for ELs.

The OPAL development began in 2006 as a research-based behavioral observation tool that measures teacher practices and classroom interactions from a sociocultural language acquisition perspective. It utilizes a six-point Likert- scale (1-Low – 6-High) to rate instruction across four domains and 18 indicators: 1) Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum, 2) Connections, 3) Comprehensibility, and 4) Interactions. The instrument allows for anecdotal notes …