Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

The Music Bluetooth Controller: An Intersection Between Technology And Music, Lydia Wu

Senior Honors Theses

The modern musician faces a new challenge: how can technology be used to enhance a performance? This thesis documents the development of a Bluetooth remote controller that will aid today’s performing musicians by interacting with a digital display (e.g., an iPad) to flip musical score pages remotely. At its core, while mimicking a Bluetooth pedal (the current industry standard), this device attaches to the musician’s hand. In its pilot stages, the device has been referred to “MBC” (Music Bluetooth Controller).

Nefdc Exhange, Volume 36, Spring 2022, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

President's Message, Annie Soisson

A faculty learning community on assessment and equity

Swimming with students: Organizing effective fishbowl discussions

Designers and deliverers: Undergraduates co-creating a flipped and blended college course

Subverting the dominant paradigm: Holistically fostering transformative learning

Additive assessment

Quick tips for teaching and faculty development

Faculty helping faculty: Ten minute takeaway

NEFDC Board members

Behavioral Health Workforce & Education Training At The University Of Dayton, Susan C. Davies, Elana Bernstein, Angela Kladias, Meredith Montgomery

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

The University of Dayton (UD) developed a Behavioral Health Workforce and Education Training (BHWET) program in response to a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) call for proposals. The university was awarded $1.92 million across four years to provide interprofessional education and practice (IPEP) opportunities to students in four of their graduate programs: school psychology, clinical mental health counseling, school counseling, and clinical psychology. This collaborative training initiative emphasizes interprofessional training and education for students, faculty, staff, and community partners. The BHWET program encompasses three primary goals: 1) increase access to healthcare services for underserved youth populations; 2) address sparsity …

The Role Of Poetry In Cultivating Attentiveness, Curiosity, And Affinity In The Science Classroom, Albert Cheng, Rian Djita

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Poetry is endemic to classical education and often studied for its own sake. However, poetry is also posited to possess a pedagogical power not shared by prose or formal scientific language. Poetry’s distinctive effects on learning outcomes have been well articulated by philosophers since Plato and Aristotle, but their claims have not been subjected to an empirical test. We fill that gap in this study. We collaborated with a local classical grammar school and divided kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classrooms into two groups for a two-week science unit. One group of classrooms integrated poems about the topic of …

Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now? An Analysis Of Pension Structure And Retirement Timing, Dan Goldhaber, Cyrus Grout, Kris Holden, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Over the last two decades, twenty-two states have moved away from traditional defined benefit (DB) pension systems and toward pension plan structures like the defined contribution (DC) plans now prevalent in the private sector. Others are considering such a reform as it is seen as a means of limiting future pension funding risk. It is important to understand the implications of such reforms for end-of-career exit patterns and workforce composition. Empirical evidence on the relationship between pension plan structure and retirement timing is currently limited, primarily because, most state pension reforms are so new that few employees enrolled in those …

The Role Of A School Principal's Practice Of Resource Allocation And Its Relationship With A School’S Culture Of Collaboration, Annette Perez

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This article presents the findings that investigated the relationship between a principal's practice in resource allocation and how it promotes a school’s collaborative culture.

Participants of the study were New York City (NYC) Department of Education (DOE) school principals who scored a four or above on the NYC Survey School Measures of “Effective School Leadership.” The independent variable was principal practice defined as resource allocation. The dependent variable, collaborative school culture, was defined as scoring 90% or above on the “Collaborative Teachers” measure of the NYC School Survey. The study was guided by the question: What is the relationship between …

Covid-19 Impact On Principal Self-Efficacy, Lee Westberry, Tara Hornor

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Recent educational research has focused on the Covid-19 impact on students, both educationally and emotionally. Researchers have even begun studying the impact of the pandemic on teachers with virtual instruction; however, very little research exists on the Covid-19 impact on principals. The purpose of this research is to study the impact of Covid-19 on P-12 principals. Specifically, the focus of the mixed-method study is studying the pandemic’s impact on principal self-efficacy. The study aims to answer the following research questions: 1. What impact has the Covid-19 Pandemic had on principal self-efficacy 2. Are there any unintended consequences from the pandemic …

Leadership Matters: Supporting The Mental Health Needs Of Black And Latina/O Students In A Post Covid-19 World, Larry Walker, Michelle Sullivan, Nicola Stewart-Walker

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Communities throughout the United States were devastated by the COVID-19 virus. For instance, the mortality rates are higher within Black and Latina/o communities compared to the overall United States population. The pandemic represents another problem that will contribute to anxiety disorders and depression among Black and Latina/o students. How we combat these issues is important. During the 2020-2021 school year millions of students returned to schools and some struggled to adjust because of the traumatic experiences associated with COVID-19. Students will need the support of administrators, teachers, and mental health practitioners. For this reason, this review of literature examined the …

Automating Administrative Approvals At Syracuse University With Infoready, Christina Leigh Docteur, Chetna Chianese

Office of Research

When COVID hit, Syracuse University needed a solution to process multi-step approvals – fast. That meant thinking creatively and out of the box because when time, accuracy, and error-free routing are critical, traditional submission systems aren’t ideal. That’s precisely why Syracuse turned to InfoReady. And what the InfoReady platform did so powerfully in streamlining limited submissions also turned out to work well for research travel applications, visiting scholar requests, research identification, and essential research approval.

"I Have Not Been In School For Over Ten Years? Can You Help Me? Understanding And Developing Information Literacy Skills For Non-Traditional Graduate Students, Amy Dye-Reeves

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Studies by the United States Department of Education have shown that non-traditional students steadily grow within college campuses' enrollment rates. The National Center for Education Statistics defines that "most often age, especially over the age of 24 has been the defining characteristic for this population. The direct impact of social class (Bambe & Tett, 1999; Quinn, 2010), gender and age (Merrill, 2014), and ethnicity (Bron et al., 2014) on the individual academic lives of the students. The presenter used Tinto's (1987) interactionist quantitative theory to look at value-added to variables such as socioeconomic background, academic preparation, and achievement level based …

Feedback Preferences Of University Student-Teachers From Supervisors And Their Rationale In Teaching Practicum, Innocent B. Rugambuka, Josta L. Nzilano

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This study examines the feedback preferences of university student-teachers (STs) from supervisors and the rationale for the preferences during teaching practicum (TP). It involved second-year STs (N = 109) of a government-owned university in Tanzania. The study sought to achieve two objectives: (i) explore the type of feedback preferred by STs from their supervisors during TP; and (ii) elicit the reasons for the feedback preferences during TP. Interviews and focused group discussions were used for data collection. The findings indicated that STs mostly prefer written (59%) over oral (38%) and blended (3%) types of feedback. However, the rationale for the …

A Scoping Review To Inform Care Coordination Strategies For Youth With Traumatic Brain Injuries: Care Coordination Personnel, Cara Palusak, Brandy Shook, Susan C. Davies, Jennifer P. Lundine

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

Introduction & Importance: Effective, patient-centered care coordination has been shown to improve outcomes for children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN), who often have complex, long-term involvement with multiple service providers. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in long-term physical, intellectual, social, and emotional disabilities that persist long after acute treatment. Yet, even though it is a chronic condition, TBI remains an area with scarce standardization and research surrounding the complex, long-term care coordination need in this population. The purpose of this scoping review is to summarize current research on outcomes in CSHCN after implementation of care coordinators, whether individual or …

An Analysis Of The Workforce Pipeline In School Psychology, Julie Q. Morrison, Susan C. Davies, Amity Noltemeyer

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

A shortage of school psychologists in the USA jeopardizes the capacity of schools to meet the needs of struggling students. The aim of the study was to evaluate the progression of school psychologists through the professional preparation—to practice pipeline for attracting, preparing, and retaining school psychologists. Descriptive research methods were used to retrospectively track three annual cohorts of graduate students from eight school psychology programs as they progressed through key milestones in their preparation and early professional practice. The results indicate that a large percentage of students completed their graduate program and continued to work in the field 1-, 3-, …

Care Coordination For Children With Special Health Care Needs: A Scoping Review To Inform Strategies For Students With Traumatic Brain Injuries, Susan C. Davies, Jennifer P. Lundine, Ann F. Justice

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Chronic and complex medical issues, including traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), have significant educational implications. The purpose of this study was to identify and summarize the literature on care coordination strategies among health care professionals, educators, and caregivers for children with special health care needs (CSHCN). Clarifying factors that influence care coordination for CSHCN can inform future studies on care coordination for students with TBI. Improved understanding of these factors may lead to better communication, reduction of unmet needs, more efficient service access, and improved long-term outcomes for children.

METHODS A scoping review was conducted, guided by PRISMA-ScR methodology. Five …

Gender Gaps In Math Performance, Perceived Mathematical Ability And College Stem Education: The Role Of Parental Occupation, Lina Anaya, Frank P. Stafford, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Despite the promising future of employment opportunities in occupations related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), women remain underrepresented in some STEM occupational fields. We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to study the role of gender differences in achievement and self-perceived ability in math during childhood, along with parental occupation (science-related versus non-science-related jobs), in the subsequent decision of majoring in science in college. Our findings suggest a loss in STEM enrollment by otherwise qualified young women and highlight the potential importance of parental occupation in STEM in encouraging women's participation in certain STEM fields.

Social Justice Leadership: Coming To Know Another Possibility Through Autoethnography, Jacob D. Skousen

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education Faculty Research

Traditional notions of learning, teaching, schooling, and leading, contribute to the inequity and injustice found in schools. In this study, autoethnography was used as a process and product to explore one leader’s journey opening and leading a new “alternative” school as the school’s principal. These experiences create the backdrop of a larger narrative about public schooling and leadership. The findings, expressed through narrative, demonstrate that schools do not have to beget oppression, and school practices, framed in social justice, can create the needed environment and culture to develop liberatory praxis.

Perceptions Of Employability Skills Of Undergraduate Business Students In A Developing Country: An Exploratory Study, Wise Mainga, Reuben M. Daniel, Luis Alamil

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the relative importance of different employability skills for business graduates seeking initial employment.

Method: Semi-structured survey questionnaires were administered to human resources representatives from industry, business lecturers, and graduating business students to determine gaps in perceptions between the three stakeholder groups.

Results: There was some alignment and moderate discrepancies in perceptions of the relative importance of different employability skills between the three stakeholder groups. There were statistically significant differences in perceived importance of communication, teamwork, and interpersonal skills between graduating students and employers. There is evidence that employers were satisfied with …

Investigating The Relationship Between Negative Selection Into Online Schooling And Achievement Growth, James D. Paul, Jay P. Greene

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Program evaluations that measure the effects of online charter schools on student achievement will be biased if they fail to account for unobserved differences between online students and students in the comparison group. There are theoretical and empirical reasons to believe that students who enroll in online schools disproportionately face challenges that are not accounted for in administrative data. This paper investigates some of the negative factors that motivate parents to enroll in online schools. We combine data from an online charter school survey—that asked why parents decided to enroll in online schooling—with three years of achievement and demographic data. …

Understanding How Covid-19 Has Changed Teachers’ Chances Of Remaining In The Classroom, Gema Zamarro, Andrew Camp, Dillon Fuchsman, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The 2020-2021 academic year was a trying year for teachers. We use a nationally representative sample of teachers from the RAND American Teacher Panel to document that teachers’ stated consideration of leaving the profession increased during the pandemic. We also study factors associated with teachers’ consideration of leaving the profession and high levels of job burnout during the pandemic. Approaching retirement age (being 55 or older), having to change instruction modes, health concerns, and high levels of job burnout all appear to be important predictors of the probability of considering leaving or retiring from teaching. Hybrid teaching increased consideration of …

Utilization Of Library Resources For Academic Activeness Among Undergraduate Students In Nigerian Tertiary Institutions, Mercy Ifunanya Ani Phd, David Onyeamaechi Ekeh Phd, Chuks Marcel Ezemoyih Phd, Catherine Mbana Okpara, Ogochukwu Faith Igu, Chidiebere Cordelia Ojemuyide, Ifeoma Roseline Iketaku Phd, Pauline O. Nebo Phd

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The library is an important aspect of the education system which support education in general. It plays an important role in the teaching and learning process.This study examined the utilization of library resources among for academic actiiveness among undergraduate students in Nigerian tertiary institutions. The population of the study comprises all the undergraduate students in the four departments in the Faculty of Education, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select 30 undergraduate students each from the four departments, making a total of one hundred and twenty (120) undergraduates in all. Four …

The Essential Characteristics Of Coaching That Secondary Principals Perceive Support Effective Leadership At School Sites, Bryanna Norton

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe the essential characteristics of coaching that secondary principals perceive to support effective leadership at school sites. An additional purpose of this study was to determine what strategies secondary principals recommend for improving coaching that supports effective leadership at school sites.

Methodology: This study adopted a phenomenological approach. The researcher analyzed the lived experiences of 11 secondary principals and identified any commonalities that existed among their interviews based on their perceived truths and perceptions of their lived experiences.

Findings: Analysis of interviews, observations, and artifacts from 11 high school …

Exploring Factors Influencing First Generation Undergraduate College Students’ Perceived Social-Self Efficacy (Psse) And Ability To Socially Integrate With Academic Advisors, Kaycee Leigh Gnatowski

All Theses And Dissertations

Academic advisors are an integral part of the undergraduate college student experience. Primarily recognized as one of the first connections to an institution that a college student encounters, academic advisors provide students with guidance, support, resources, and mentorship throughout a student’s academic journey at the institution. Although academic advisors are found to have a profound impact on a college student’s academic and social development, persistence to degree completion, and retention rates at the institution, many undergraduate college students are unable to socially integrate with academic advisors, primarily during a student’s sophomore year of college. A student’s sophomore year of college …

Chronic Absenteeism: Exploring Challenges And Obstacles That Impact Students’ Attendance In Northern Maine Rural Schools, Leland Caron

All Theses And Dissertations

Educational success relies heavily upon consistent school attendance (Rogers & Feller, 2018). In Maine, a student is identified as chronically absent when 10% or more of the days enrolled in school are missed due to excused or unexcused absences (Maine Department of Education, 2019). Chronic absenteeism impacts millions of students across America each year. National data identified that approximately five to seven and a half million school-aged students miss a month or more of school each year (Chang & Davis, 2015). This qualitative interpretative phenological study (IPA) was designed to fill some of the gaps in the literature on chronic …

Teaching During A Pandemic: Novice K-12 Teachers Tackle Existing And Unprecedented Challenges, Sarah French, Caitlin Stewart, Derek Meyers

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This survey-based study explores the ways Covid19 has added to the existing challenges faced by novice teachers by introducing brand new stressors and exacerbating previously identified challenges during the 2020-2021 school year. We have sought to identify what kinds of support were in place for new teachers during Covid-19 and how these were received by beginning educators. What did they find comforting and useful? In what work contexts did teachers feel supported? By whom? What were teachers’ preferences for intervention and support?

Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) 2022 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL from February 11-16, 2022

Quantifying Traditional Public School Opposition To Charter Schools: Double Whammy From School District Staffing And Funding?, Martha Bradley-Dorsey

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Using time series data with several OLS regressions and fixed effects models with suitable controls, I find that higher school district full-time equivalent staff counts (FTEs) are associated with lower charter share in states with Right-to-Work (RTW) laws. I find also that proportional expenditures per pupil are negatively associated with charter share in non-RTW (“union”) states. Charter schools have grown rapidly but not uniformly across states, with 2018 enrollment ranging from 0.0 to 17.1% of traditional public school enrollment. Researchers have generally focused on party, urbanicity, teacher union strength, and racial and ethnic politics to explain variations in charter enrollment. …

Black And White Student Adaptability To College At A Predominately White Historically Black University: A Single Institution Examination Of West Virginia State University, Christopher D. Jackson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

With respect to studies examining Black students at predominately White historically Black colleges or universities (HBCU), very little data exists; therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the specific benefits to Black and White students attending an HBCU (i.e., academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal-emotional adjustment, and attachment to the institution) also accrue to those students whose HBCU is predominantly White. When comparing Black and White students, no research has been conducted on whether the benefits of attending an HBCU, for Black or White students, also accrue if the HBCU’s student population is majority White. …

Advisor Perceptions Of Technology In Academic Advising Practices In West Virginia Educator Preparation Programs, Kandice Kaye Rowe

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to gain, from the academic advisor’s perspective, an understanding of what technologies are being used in advising practices, the effectiveness of these technologies, and advisors’ perceptions of quality advising set forth by the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. A qualitative phenomenological approach was utilized to connect academic advisors’ perceptions of the usage of technology while participating in the advising experiences. Through a combination of purposeful and snowballing sampling techniques, academic advisors from fourteen educator preparation programs in West Virginia were chosen to participate in this study. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were …

Purpose And Autonomous Functioning In College Students, Michelle Steffenhagen

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

This study sought to understand the relationship between a sense of purpose and autonomous functioning in college students. Further, the results were compared with the independent variables of gender, volunteerism, and faith community participation. Participants (n = 356) were undergraduate college students at a small private liberal arts Christian institution located in the Midwest of the United States of America. Measures included the Claremont Purpose Scale and the Index of Autonomous Functioning. Pearson correlations were used to analyze the data, and purpose and autonomous functioning were positively correlated. Women reported higher levels of a sense of purpose and autonomous functioning. …

Early Numeracy Development And Instruction, Karise Mace, Michele White

Education Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Rubrics - Creating Transparency For Effective Teaching And Learning, Seamus Harrington

Other Resources

No abstract provided.