Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Instructional Leadership Practices And School Leaders' Self-Efficacy, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Carter Akins, Antonio P. Gutierrez De Blume, Richard E. Cleveland, Summer Pannell

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate instructional leadership practices and the degree to which these practices predict the leadership self-efficacy of school leaders while controlling for years of experience as a school leader. With educational reform focused on school accountability, principals must attend to tasks that lead to school improvement. Identifying such tasks as instructional leadership practices and gaining a more comprehensive understanding of instructional leadership practices through leadership self-efficacy may contribute to school improvement. The methodology utilized a survey and the participants were 100 principals and assistant principals of public schools in the southeastern United States, …

Doctoral Candidacy Examination Scores And Time To Degree Completion, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Steven Tolman, Katherine E. Fallon

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between doctoral students’ candidacy examination scores and estimated time to degree completion, measured by dissertation progression.

Background

Time to degree completion in doctoral programs continues to be an issue and reasons for high attrition rates for doctoral students are broad and include varied core components of the academic pathway such as challenges with critical thinking during coursework, stress about passing comprehensive examinations, poor academic writing, and lack of knowledge around scholarly practitioner research.

Methodology

An ex post facto, correlational research design utilized quantitative data to determine …

Designing Leadership: Using Design Thinking To Create, Practices, And Implement A Formal Leadership Development Program, Jon Samuel Wedding

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine what happens when design thinking is used to create a leadership development program, increase leadership competencies, and participants perceptions of design thinking. This study uses action research to examine the experiences and design thinking to create a leadership program in a formal hierarchical. This study collected data during a two-cycle action research process. The findings from this study revealed that design thinking can be used to create a formal leadership development program. The ability to use design thinking’s human centered design can also help increase the leadership competencies of trust and collaborations. …

A Correlation Study Of Parental Involvement And Student Outcomes In A Georgia School District, Courtney T. Flournoy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a statistically significant association existed between the responses of parents of middle school students in a Georgia public school district on a parental involvement survey and three variables: eligibility of students to receive free or reduced-price lunch parental marital status, and parental education level.

This study was initiated because of a persistent problem of low academic achievement of the middle school students. There is extensive research related to the importance of parental involvement and the effect of this involvement on student achievement. However, prior to the implementation of this study little …

Females In Stem: Self-Efficacy Within Women Who Pursue Stem Majors, Lori Grata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While many efforts have been made within the United States, women are still underrepresented within STEM. Research within this document shows that women and men score similarly on STEM-related standardized tests. The question remains, why are there still large quantities of men outnumbering women in college majors and career fields of STEM? Looking at female STEM self-efficacy and gender role in culture could provide insight to the problem at hand. A survey was given to investigate self-efficacy and students’ STEM backgrounds of undergraduate female students who are currently in a 4-year STEM-related major within one university.

The Impact Of Retention Efforts On The Collegiate Experience Of Students Of Color At A Predominantly White Institution (Pwi), Jeffrie Mallory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored perceptions of thirteen stakeholders who participated in the Minority Orientation Program, a pre-entry initiative focused on retaining students of color at a private, four-year university located in the northeast region of the United States. Situated in Vincent Tinto’s Theory of Student Integration and Critical Race Theory, the author qualitatively assessed the Minority Orientation Program’s impact on participating students of color and the program’s influence on their enrollment through the completion of their Freshman year. The study’s findings confirmed that the Minority Orientation Program affects the collegiate experience for students of color in several ways. Positive influences in …

Selected Performance Indicators Of University-Model Schools, David Herndon

Dissertations

University-Model® schools seek to blend attributes of homeschooling with traditional schooling by transferring a significant portion of classroom time to a satellite classroom, typically the student’s home. Proponents suggest the model lends itself to better prepared and well-balanced graduates due to the forced ownership required of students in terms of time management, the development of independent study habits, increased balance of family life, and subsequent parental guidance; however, very little research exists to validate these claims. These tenants of the model are in line with recent research and theories suggesting a more holistic approach, beyond academic metrics, to ensure college …

Perceptions And Experiences Of Online Learning And Synchronous Communication, Michelle Fry

Dissertations

Abstract

High-quality and effective online education is essential to the continuous growth of higher education. As online higher education grows in professional programs, it is especially pertinent to investigate learning designs for their effectiveness in supporting the acquisition of professional skills. Drawing upon the Community of Inquiry (CoI) and the Practice-Based Teaching (PBT) frameworks, this research investigated the effectiveness of one online graduate program designed for practicing teachers to learn new skills (i.e., diagnostic assessment and differentiated instruction) in teaching reading to elementary students. The learning design introduced a new component of virtual presence (i.e., synchronous communication) at strategic points …

The Relationship Between Elementary School Administrators' And Teachers' Perceptions Of The Influence Of Male Teachers And Schools' Male Student Achievement Growth In English Language Arts, Kathleen Elizabeth Kaump Truitt

Theses and Dissertations

There is a national achievement gap between male and female students in the United States. A common recommendation to reduce this achievement gap has been to hire more male teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions that elementary administrators and teachers have of male teachers’ influence on male student growth in English Language Arts. In order to measure perceptions, a five-point Likert scale survey was adapted from an existing qualitative questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted, an Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses were performed, and the survey was found valid and reliable to measure four constructs …

Teachers Engaging In Action Research To Increase Learner Agency, Dawn M. Childress

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is designed to explore the perceptions of teachers in a Northwest Arkansas urban elementary school context as they engage in design-based action research to increase learner agency. It is based on the Carnegie Project on Education Doctorate (CPED) framework that includes identifying a problem of practice and engaging in research to address the problem. A problem of practice was identified in this school setting by an incoming school principal following a principal that had been in the school for many years. The new principal, also the researcher in this study, recognized that there was a low level of …

The Implementation Of Online Classroom Management Professional Development For Beginning Teachers, Kaytlynn Milliken

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Effective classroom management practices are well known, yet the most efficient ways to teach them to beginning teachers is not. Online professional development is growing in popularity—though there are few examples of online classroom management training in the literature. The purpose of this qualitative study was to evaluate the experiences and implementation practices of beginning teachers that participated in online classroom management training as part of their new teacher induction program. The results suggest that online classroom management professional development as part of new teacher induction is a practical option. The beginning teachers were observed utilizing the classroom management strategies …

Assessing Christian Learning: Vocation, Practices, And Investment, David Smith, Mia Kurkechian, Beth Green, Albert Cheng

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This paper describes a new initiative co-funded by the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning at Calvin University and Cardus. The initiative builds upon past Cardus work on assessing Christian school outcomes as well as the Kuyers Institute’s work on Christian pedagogical practices. The project has developed a new online assessment tool to help Christian secondary schools assess the Christian formation that they seek to offer their students and review their own educational practices. This tool, the Practicing Faith Survey, will be piloted in an initial cluster of schools in 2020. It asks students to self-report on their investment …

The Assessment Of Faith And Learning, Beth Green, Albert Cheng, David Smith

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The Practicing Faith Survey (PFS) is a new assessment tool designed to measure the extent to which schoolchildren connect their faith to learning. This paper reviews the landscape of educational assessment and argues that assessment remains a critical element in the design of Christian teaching and learning. It suggests that unease around the concept of educational measurement leads to limited attempts to assess faith formation in the context of learning. The paper discusses PFS as a way to reframe the design process consistent with distinctively Christian practices of teaching and learning.

The Development And Validation Of The Practicing Faith Survey, Albert Cheng, Beth Green, David Smith

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The Practicing Faith Survey (PFS) is a new assessment tool designed to measure the extent to which schoolchildren connect their faith to learning. PFS measures student engagement with five domains of Christian practice in connection with learning: intellectual, relational, introspective, benevolence, and formational practices. We describe the item-development process and then present evidence for the validity and reliability of the PFS based on a sample of 1,300 fifth- through twelfth-grade students who participated in a pilot of the instrument.

How Schools Create Healthy Testing Cultures And How Principals Use Standardized Test Data To Become Leaders Of Learning, Holly A. Gurule

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Standardized tests are not new to the field of education. The problem with them seems to lie in the ways these tests are now being used as criteria for various high-stakes decisions such as teachers’ evaluations, school grades, school sanctions, and even graduation from high school with a diploma. With so many different uses for standardized tests, it is easy to see how our perception of them has become skewed.

This bounded case study of a small elementary school in a large urban district centered on shifting the focus away from looking at standardized tests as a negative, as mere …

Assessing Clinical Judgment Utilizing Embedded Patients In A Baccalaureate Nursing Program’S Simulation Laboratory, David K. Wells

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if clinical judgment could be assessed in baccalaureate nursing students during a 15 to 20-minute embedded (live patient) simulation scenario using role play. Graduate nurses are expected to apply critical reasoning and be clinically competent when caring for patients when they enter the nursing profession. The use of simulation scenarios is an approved and effective supplement to the clinical experience of nursing students. This study was conducted due to the sparsity of evidence referencing clinical judgment in live patient simulation scenarios. This study used a convenience sample (n=22) of baccalaureate nursing students …

Cultural Proficiency: The Missing Link To Student Learning, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This case illustrates why school leaders must be culturally proficient to serve all students and lead effectively. I discuss one case in Ohio that is representative of many other American schools. In particular, I examine the cultural challenges educational leaders must commonly face. This case encourages administrators to participate in meaningful conversations with stakeholders to solve complex issues. The hope is to better understand how school leaders in diverse contexts can lead and embrace different cultures, beliefs, and norms. I also pose questions designed to prepare educational leaders for similar situations where they must address issues of culture.

Their Story: College Persistence Of Hispanic/Latino Students At Predominantly White Institutions, Zwisel M. Gandía

All Theses And Dissertations

This phenomenological qualitative study examined the Hispanic/Latino students’ college experiences at Predominantly White, 4-year institutions in an effort to better understand what these students perceived as contributing factors to their sense of belonging and persistence through their first year. Participants included individuals classified as first-year or second-year college students. Data was collected through individual interviews where personal stories were examined by using the student integration model and theory of mattering and marginality to identify reoccurring themes. Identifying these factors was the key motivating factor in determining success and persistence through their first year. From this study, four emergent themes shed …

Professional Competency Development Utilizing Emotional Intelligence In Medical Programs, Christopher Carlin

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the perceptions of physician assistant faculty about emotional intelligence. The study sought to determine PA educators’ familiarity with EI as a construct and to elicit perceived barriers in implementing EI within PA educational programs. The data were collected from a both a focus group of physician assistant faculty was convened from a university in New England and an online cross-sectional survey of randomized physician assistant faculty throughout the United States. The quantitative portion of the research investigated the perceptions faculty held about emotional intelligence. Additionally, the survey asked participants to …

Nurse Educators’ Experiences With Integrated Learning Intervention Practice Systems And Learning Outcomes, Nikolaos S. Moraros

All Theses And Dissertations

Traditional learning interventions or remediation processes provided to underperforming students are often reactionary and offered too late in a course or program to be effective. These students’ knowledge gaps or learning deficiencies are not adequately addressed to effectively change his or her academic performance or learning outcomes in a timely manner. This descriptive qualitative phenomenological research study explored the lived experiences of a nursing school administrator and nurse educators who used a fully-integrated learning intervention practice system that includes proactive strategic remediation approaches at all levels in a pre-licensure vocational educational nursing program.

Purposeful sampling was used to select six …

Successful Instructional Reading Practices For African American Male Third-Grade Students, Kimberly D. Whaley, Steve Wells, Nancy Williams

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

African American male third graders in U.S Title I schools frequently fail to read on grade level. However, in three Title I schools in East Texas, this demographic demonstrated exceptionally high reading ability. This explanatory case study investigated the instructional strategies and practices linked to high reading achievement for these students. The study is grounded in Ladson-Billings’s theory of culturally relevant pedagogy and supported by Vygotsky’s theory of social and cognitive constructivism. The research questions were used to examine the instructional strategies and practices used on each campus that may have resulted in such high reading achievement. This study engenders …

Supervisor Facilitation Of Action Research: Fostering Teacher Inquiry, Rachel Solis, Stephen P. Gordon

Journal of Practitioner Research

This study was conducted at a Central Texas private school that offers a full curriculum exclusively for students with dyslexia. A supervisor facilitated fifty members of the school’s teaching faculty as they engaged in voluntary, long-term action research at the individual and team levels to address authentic problems of practice. The study examined the types of inquiry undertaken by the teachers as well as their perceptions of the supervisory support for, impact of, and ways to improve action research at their school. The authors conclude that the supervisor facilitating action research needs to provide ongoing support to teachers engaged in …

Superintendent Recruitment: Effects Of Superintendent Job Status, School Councils (Principal Selection Models), District Wealth, And Signing Bonus On Applicant Rating Of The Job, Mark Jeffery Martin

Dissertations

This nearly perfect replicated study (Millay, 2003) was a superintendent recruitment simulation with the purpose of investigating factors that influence recruiting qualified individuals to serve as district superintendents of public schools. The study was a factorial experiment involving a four-way 2 x 2 x 2 x (3 x S) fixed-factor betweenwithin analysis of variance (ANOVA) which yielded 24 cells. The participants in the study were Kentucky Superintendents (N = 72) and individuals in Kentucky certified to be a school superintendent (N = 72) but employed in another position.

The between-groups variables were superintendent job status (superintendent, certified), district wealth (high, …

Cross-Cultural Considerations: Raising Language Teachers Awareness About The Importance Of Multiculturalism, Abir El Shaban

Journal of Research Initiatives

Abstract

With the worldwide use of English as a second language (ESL) and globalization, teachers are expected to understand, acknowledge and interact with culturally and linguistically diverse students and integrate their linguistic and multicultural backgrounds in classroom settings. Teachers need to be multicultural to be able to successfully impact their students to be multicultural. This paper provides English language teachers with valuable recommendations based on cross-cultural studies and my experience, as an ESL teacher, on how to be responsive to students from different cultures to empower and enhance their language proficiency skills.

The Story Of Growth: A Case Study Of New Jersey Underperforming Underprivileged High School, Michelle L. Shelton

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Socioeconomics has been a factor that exposes the disparities in student achievement across communities within the state of New Jersey, and as a result of the disparities, in 1985, the Education Law Center filed the first ruling of Abbot v. Burke; this case ruled that significant funding be provided in an effort to ensure that underprivileged students within these underperforming districts receive public education in accordance with the state constitution. However, despite the funding efforts, since 1985, (87%) of the 31 school districts identified as Abbott not only remain underprivileged, but they also remain underperforming. Therefore, to remedy the underperformance …

Evaluation Competencies, Instruction, And Academic Leadership, Daniela C. Schroeter

Academic Leadership Academy

Background and Context

My primary research interests center on evaluation theory, methodology, practice, and capacity building. In particular, my current research focuses on evaluation competencies among public and nonprofit sector employees. In light of the 2018-2019 Academic Leadership Academy and Instructional Development grant, this poster revisits findings from a federal evaluator survey and examines: What evaluation and leadership competencies should be emphasized in the developments of public administrators?

Book Review Of Debunking The Myth Of Job Fit In Higher Education And Student Affairs , Jamie Workman, Daniel W. Calhoun, Steve Tolman

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

Book review of Debunking the Myth of Job Fit in Higher Education and Student Affairs by Jamie L. Workman, Daniel W. Calhoun, and Steven Tolman.

Pedagogical Approach To Developing The Hiring Practices Of Higher Education Administrators, Steve Tolman, Daniel Calhoun

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

Most student affairs professionals will serve in a managerial and/or supervisory role at some point in their careers, but only a limited number of higher education graduate preparatory programs have required coursework focusing on this competency area. This situation is disconcerting, as there seems to be an assumption within the student affairs field that new professionals have the formal training and experiences needed to immediately be placed into these managerial and/or supervisory roles. In an effort to address this discrepancy, and in particular staffing practices, one higher education graduate preparatory program developed a course on staffing practices, using an innovative …

Happiness And Healthiness: A Replication Study, Kobena Osam, Brad Shuck, Jason Immekus

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Research coalescing around psychological climate, engagement, and well-being has been receiving considerable attention in management and human resource development (HRD) literature. However, research associated with these variables has generally been limited to for-profit businesses and organizations with little attention within the context of institutions of higher education. In response, this cross-sectional replication study examined the extent to which psychological climate, engagement, and well-being were associated with each other in higher educational institutions. Study data included a sample of 259 individuals employed by institutions of higher education in the United States. Using mediation analyses, the study found that psychological climate, engagement, …

Teachers' Perceptions Regarding Reaching Struggling Learners In An Elementary School Mathematics Classroom, Colleen Kelleher

All Theses And Dissertations

Elementary school is a critical educational period during which students develop early mathematics skills and build a foundation for future academic success. The purpose of this study was to document the instructional practices and interventions teachers use to identify and meet the needs of struggling learners in a K-3 mathematics classroom. Specific areas of focus included how K-3 teachers identify areas of need and plan for interventions, the resources they rely on in that process, and their own self-efficacy regarding addressing students’ specific needs. Results from online surveys and semi-structured, one-on-one interviews indicated that teachers identify a range of student …