Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

An Evaluation Of The Impact Of The Student-Teacher Relationship On Student Achievement And Behavior, Sarah James

Dissertations

Researchers have documented the importance and value of the teacher-student relationship for over 20 years. The purpose of my study was to determine if teachers who had a positive and highly effective relationship with their students, as documented with informal and formal observations, also had higher student achievement and a lower discipline referral rate when compared to their non-highly effective peers. The context of this inquiry was kindergarten through eighth grade teachers in one public school district. In my study, I demonstrated both quantitative and qualitative data which matched current research to support teachers who are highly effective with building …

An Educational Leader’S E-Mails To The Parents During Covid-19 Pandemic, Bilgen Kiral, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This study was conducted to determine what kinds of e-mails an education leader (school principal) sent to the parents of the students at the beginning, during, and end of the term during the COVID-19 pandemic process. In this study, the expression “educational leader” was used instead of the school principal.

The reason for this is that the school principal fully assumes the role of educational leadership during the pandemic period. The subject of the study is the transformation process in communication due to the pandemic. This transformation is e-mails, one of the digital communication tools that aim to reach everyone …

Welcoming Families With Children To Csusb: Making An Intergenerational Difference, Leslie Leach

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Coming back to school after a gap in your education can be a daunting task. For students with children (SWC), the undertaking has different challenges than their classmates. Providing resources geared towards their success plays a significant role in the student's ability to complete their education. It also allows the SWC to feel a sense of belonging within their institution of higher learning. This project analyzes other California State Universities' family housing programs to advocate a similar program at California State University, San Bernardino. Using the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) and Organizational Identity (OI), I can illustrate how resources …

Examining The Delivery Methods Of Current Content And Curriculum For Recruit Police Officers, Daniel Barrancotta

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative-interpretive, phenomenological analysis study describes the lived experiences of police officers, their training programs and their educational relationships with academy instructors and field training officers. The focus was not on content material, but rather the delivery methods of the curriculum, in an attempt to provide training programs that improve transference of knowledge for increased learning and job preparedness. This research study showed that a lack of knowledge and understanding of andragogy for police academy instructors and field training officers is creating a limited learning environment for recruit police officers. Without the knowledge and ability to use better forms of …

Faculty Perception Of Inclusive Instruction At Three South-Central Community Colleges, Karen R. O'Donohoe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Enrollment rates for student with disabilities in higher education continue to rise, particularly in 2-year colleges, but graduation rates have not kept pace due to barriers not addressed by traditional disability supports (Black et al., 2014; NCES, 2019; Smedema et al., 2015). Inclusive instruction is a low-cost, high-impact solution that can be implemented on any campus (Black et al., 2014; Lombardi et al., 2013; Roberts et al., 2011). This quantitative study utilized a cross-sectional descriptive non-experimental research design that explored faculty self-reported attitudes and actions associated with inclusive instruction at three of the largest degree-granting, two-year institutions in a single …

Teacher And Staff Perception Of School Climate: A Case Study, Michael Shane Hampton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine how different public-school teachers and staff perceive school climate at an achieving public middle school. The research sought to find relationships between teacher sub-groups and other staff members, and how they perceived the school climate, either negatively or positively. The researcher believed that there would be a positive perception of school climate, which coincided with high student achievement. Additionally, it was believed that there would be no relationship between teacher types or demographics, and how the climate would be perceived among the different groups. This paper also presents a review of the …

Massachusetts High School Teachers’ Perceptions Of Transitions In Teaching And Assessment Related To The Next Generation Science Standards, Alyssa Mocharnuk

All Theses And Dissertations

The experiences and perceptions of high school science teachers with the transitions in teaching and assessment related to the adoption of the 2016 Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Framework based on the Next Generation Science Standards were studied in this interpretative phenomenological analysis. The Next Generation Science Standards incorporated both traditional disciplinary content ideas and the new science and engineering practices (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Teachers were required to develop new materials, and difficulty in developing new ways of teaching and assessing science (Friedrichsen and Barnett, 2018; Kawasaki and Sandoval, 2020; Wilde, 2018) was exacerbated by the delay in high-stakes testing …

The Experience Of A White Professor Teaching Diversity Courses In The Midwest, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Facilitators of diversity courses in higher education institutions face multiple challenges because these courses are emotionally charged for students and facilitators alike. To date, there is a limited number of recent papers that focus on the reflections of professors from the dominant culture who teach diversity online and face-to-face graduate courses. The present paper fills this gap by describing the experiences of a White, French assistant professor in the Midwest of the United States. This paper also provides recommendations for practitioners.

Teachers’ Knowledge About And Preparedness For Retirement: Results From A Nationally Representative Teacher Survey, Dillon Fuchsman, Josh B. Mcgee, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Adequately saving for retirement requires both planning and knowledge about available retirement savings options. Teachers participate in a complex set of different plan designs and benefit tiers, and many do not participate in Social Security. While teachers represent a large part of the public workforce, relatively little is known regarding their knowledge about and preparation for retirement. We administered a survey to a nationally representative sample of teachers through RAND’s American Teacher Panel and asked teachers about their retirement planning and their employer-sponsored retirement plans. We find that while most teachers are taking steps to prepare for retirement, many teachers …

Perceptions Of Classroom Management Coaching At District A Independent School District, Ashley L. Brittain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed teacher retention and research-to-practice gaps in the literature related to classroom management coaching and what types of teacher support are the best and why. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of teachers, campus administrators, and campus intervention coaches regarding District A Independent School District’s campus intervention coach model. This study attempted to understand better the perceptions of how the campus intervention coach model influences teachers’ decisions to remain in the profession; how teachers, campus administrators, and campus intervention coaches perceive the campus intervention coach model’s effectiveness in reducing the percentage of …

Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Student Caning: Do Differences In Socio-Demographic Characteristics Really Matter?, Nkuba. Mabula

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Research findings from low-income and high-income countries indicate that teachers’ use of violent discipline is prevalent. However, studies that explore teachers’ attitudes towards violence and its association to their socio-demographic characteristics are lacking. This paper assessed teachers’ attitudes towards student caning and the associated teachers’ socio-demographic characteristics. The data were drawn from four schools in two regions using a case study design. Considering the total number of participants, 72 teachers (53% females; average age: 32.47 years, SD = 6.64, range: 22–59 years) participated in this study. Of the 72 teachers, their qualification ranged from postgraduate degree (2.8%), bachelor’s degree (74%), …

How To Help Kids With ‘Long Covid’ Thrive In School, Susan C. Davies, Julie Walsh-Messinger

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Supporting Students With An Autism Spectrum Disorder In Engineering: K-12 And Beyond, Jennifer L. Kouo, Alexis Hahn, Sarah Morton, Jay Gregorio

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Individuals with disabilities, including individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. With the importance of STEM skills in future employment and other disciplines, effective instructional strategies must be identified to enhance early and sustained access to STEM for students with ASD. However, the literature identifying effective STEM-specific supports and practices for this population of students is sparse and regarding engineering, there are no empirical studies that focus on teaching engineering skills to students with ASD. Therefore, the article aims to provide an overview of the available literature on the perspectives …

Applying Derailment Advice: How Educational Leaders Can Use Job Loss Lessons To Navigate The Covid-19 Crisis, Jeff Strietzel, Ryan W. Erck

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life and work for people around the globe. This upheaval has created new challenges for those serving in or studying at higher education. College administrators have been forced to adapt, and many have used wisdom gained from past crises as proxies for the current crisis. After many months in a pandemic, however, many leaders are still searching for effective frameworks and mental models to guide their efforts. In this article, we offer the concept of derailment as a proxy for leaders in challenging times. We examined interview data from a recent in-depth study of 25 …

The Need For More Educational Leadership Pedagogical Knowledge In Early Elementary, Megan Hallissey

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This exploratory, qualitative multiple-site case study examined how principals’ knowledge of early childhood learning, pedagogy, and practices (or lack of) influences their leadership decisions and assessment of teachers. Data collection included four different elementary school configurations and consisted of multiple data sources including the use of a video simulation. The twelve guidelines of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) and the Professional Standards of Educational Leaders (PSEL) provided a framework for thematic analysis. The results of this study show principals have a limited understanding of early childhood pedagogy which influences their hiring decisions when filling teacher vacancies. Additionally, results indicate principals’ assessments …

The Role Of The School District In High-Performance Title One Schools In South Texas, George Padilla, Roberto Zamora, Federico Guerra Jr.

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

A mixed research study was designed and conducted to identify effective characteristics of high-performing, high-poverty schools. Four South Texas Title 1 schools identified as High Performing Schools by the Texas Education Agency in 2016 were selected for the study. To be selected, these schools were also required to meet or exceed a set of criteria applied by the researchers. An effective school model, comprised of eleven characteristics and school processes, was developed based on a synthesis of effective school research and served as the theoretical framework for the study. The characteristics include Culture, Leadership, Instruction, Improvement, Home and Community Relations, …

The Rising Tide Of Child Poverty, Jane Beese, Melissa Mlakar

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Poverty is not a new struggle for families and students. Urban school districts have been plagued with high poverty rates for years, but now poverty is growing at substantial rates in suburban schools. Chronic absenteeism is one recurring problem that high poverty schools, of every typology, face on a regular basis. The case study presented here highlights the work of one urban principal in combating chronic absenteeism in her school. The purpose of this paper is to explore attendance problems in a high-poverty school. While this case study depicts a principal in a high-poverty school in an urban area, the …

Leadership Performance Of Dale Carnegie, Nelson Mandela And Lee Kwan Yew: Applications For Educators, Jean-Pierre Bongila

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

A biographical comparison or prosopography of three leaders Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) (Bacila, 2013), Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) (Kendall, 2014), and Lee Kwan Yew (1923-2015) (Kwang et al., 2015) might seem postmodern because of the divergence of times and cultures where they lived and the social statuses from which they performed their leadership. While Dale Carnegie was born to a poor farming family in Maryville, Missouri at the end of the 19th century America, Nelson Mandela’s family had aristocratic origins since his great-grand father was a tribal chief in South Africa (Lodge, 2006), and Lee Kwan Yew was a well to do …

James Doti And The 25 Year Transformation Of A West Coast University: A Case Study, Adejoke Kassim, Jim Zabloski

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Research was conducted at Chapman University, Orange County, California, to explore the transformational leadership practices of Dr. James Doti, professor of Economics and president emeritus of Chapman University from 1991-2016, who led its transformation from a sleepy liberal arts college in Southern California to a midsized university of national stature. The theoretical framework for the study was the transformational leadership theory by Burns (1978) and Bass (1985). This study investigated the president’s demonstration of the four components of transformational leadership as identified by Bass: Idealized Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individual Consideration. Data collection was via interviews, document analysis, …

Next-Level Leadership: Preparing Assistant Principals For Campus Leadership, Jerry R. Burkett

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

The workload of campus leaders continues to increase with new expectations for evaluation and supervision, changing legislative mandates, and mounting pressures for improved school accountability. Educational Leadership preparation programs are built on national and state standards related to principal leadership and competency. However, while principal preparation programs have focused intently on instructional leadership development for future principals, most educational leadership candidates do not immediately enter the principalship but rather start their administrative careers as assistant principals. School districts can implement a comprehensive training protocol for their emerging principals using research-based practices to ensure assistant principals have the training, coaching, and …

Understanding First-Generation Hispanic Student Experiences With Community College Campus Resources, Monica Medina

All Theses And Dissertations

Community colleges serve as an essential gateway to higher education for Hispanics. Although first-generation Hispanic (FGHC) students continue to enroll in community colleges, there is limited research to explain their experiences using campus resources. This study’s purpose was to contribute to the existing literature on FGHC students and determine if their use of campus resources helped them succeed. This study used the conceptual framework of academic engagement (Tinto, 1996). Nora’s (2003) and Nora et al’s (2006) student engagement theory as lenses to explain how FGHC students can have pre-college characteristics that can affect their social, academic, and overall goals for …

The Centrality Of Social-Emotional Learning For Educators During Crisis: The Role Of The Principal, Corinne Brion, Alison Bachowski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is crucial to human development because SEL helps us maintain supportive relationships and make responsible and caring decisions. This qualitative

study aimed at understanding how, if at all, public school educators looked after their social- emotional health in times of crisis, during COVID-19. The sample consisted of 24 educators in

three school districts in a Midwestern state of the United States. Findings indicated that participants used several strategies to take care of their emotional health. These strategies included making time for non-school related activities, connecting with colleagues, engaging in small acts of kindness, and providing professional development …

A Phenomenological Study To Understand The Transformation Of The Education System In A Rural Missouri High School In The Wake Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Amanda R. Burdick

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the transformation of the education system in a rural-distant Missouri high school in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven content-area educators participated in the study. Data was collected through interviews and archival documents. The data analysis revealed three themes: transition to virtual learning, the new classroom experience, and emotional impact. Within those themes, participants described specific institutional and curricular changes that were made, and the emotional impact that the COVID-19 teaching experience had on them. Results of the study indicated that teachers felt very alone navigating through all of the …

The Intersection Of School-Based Leadership Practices And School Grades In The State Of Florida, Wendelynn A. Mcpherson

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to examine to what degree 12 self-reported leadership behaviors were associated with and predictive of school grades in the state of Florida. The study participant sample was exclusively comprised of educational leaders from elementary schools located in Florida. In this descriptive study, elementary principals were surveyed to determine the frequency of leadership behaviors (independent variable) and school grades (dependent variable). Two research questions and hypotheses were posed to address the study’s research problem. Research question one utilized a simple linear regression to assess the predictive variable of the overall leadership practices for …

James Doti And The 25 Year Transformation Of A West Coast University: A Case Study, Adejoke Kassim, Jim Zabloski

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research was conducted at Chapman University, Orange County, California, to explore the transformational leadership practices of Dr. James Doti, professor of Economics and president emeritus of Chapman University from 1991-2016, who led its transformation from a sleepy liberal arts college in Southern California to a midsized university of national stature. The theoretical framework for the study was the transformational leadership theory by Burns (1978) and Bass (1985). This study investigated the president’s demonstration of the four components of transformational leadership as identified by Bass: Idealized Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individual Consideration. Data collection was via interviews, document analysis, …

Reinvigorating A Technical Countering Weapons Of Mass Destruction Distance Learning Graduate Certificate Program, James C. Petrosky, Gaiven Varshney, Jeremy Slagley, Sara Shaghaghi

Faculty Publications

Current Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) demands can be divided broadly into policy and science. The science of chemical, biological, and radiological/nuclear weapons informs the limits of development, production, employment, operation, detection, risk characterization, human and material protection, and medical intervention. In short, the science of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) should precede and inform the development of policy. It is to this end that the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) CWMD program was re-established, providing a technical educational option for practitioners to understand the science behind a very technically challenging subject.

Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, Complete Volume 4, 2021

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This is the complete volume 4 of the Journal of Communication Pedagogy.

An Artificial Intelligence Tool For Accessible Science Education, Jacob D. Watters, April Hill Dr., Melissa Weinrich Dr., Cary Supalo, Feng Jiang Dr.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

One of the most important issues in accessible science education is creating a laboratory workspace accessible to blind students or students with visual impairments (VI). Although these students are often provided access to the science lectures, they are usually denied full participation in hands-on laboratory work. Current solutions to this problem focus on providing special accommodations such as asking sighted lab partners to complete the hands-on work. Although the accessibility of laboratory devices in modern science education has been improved in recent years, students with VI often remain passive learners. In this work, we developed a new artificial intelligence tool, …

Making Scientific And Technical Materials Pervasively Accessible, Jason J.G. White

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

In this paper, the question is explored of what policies, standards and practices are desirable to ensure that hardware, software and publications in the sciences and associated disciplines are created from the outset to be accessible to people with disabilities. Insight into this question can be obtained by considering the unique accessibility challenges that these materials pose, including complexities of notation, language, and graphical representation.

Having analyzed what sets this problem apart from broader issues of accessibility, the advantages and limitations of current international standards are reviewed, and contemporary developments in standards and policies are considered from a strategic perspective. …

The Perceptions Of Teachers Of Students With Visual Impairments On Students With Visual Impairments And Graphing: How To Teach, Ashley N. Nashleanas Ph.D.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Many gaps exist in what is known around teaching students with visual impairments (SVI) about how to use graphs (Rosenblum et al., 2018; Rosenblum & Herzberg, 2015; Zebehazy & Wilton, 2014a;2014b;2014c). When teachers first experience a student with a visual impairment, some of the questions that come to mind are: How can I be sure this student understands what I am saying about these graphs I show on the board? Will this student be able to keep up? The study herein, based on findings from Author (2018), serves as a guide for teachers to consider in the case that SVI …