Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Maker Fridays: Engaging Rural And Underrepresented High School Students In Pre-Engineering Design And Creativity, Michelle Howell-Smith, Kirstie Bash

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

The engineering field struggles to develop sufficient interest and sustained participation across underrepresented demographic groups including women and individuals from rural, Hispanic, or Native American origin. It is critical to foster interest in engineering during formative years when students are deciding career paths. Northeast Community College (Northeast) addressed the shortage of diverse students entering into engineering fields by developing a course to engage rural and underrepresented high school students in maker design and creativity and to determine best practices that attract and retain these students. The Maker Fridays pre-engineering course was part of the Fridays@Northeast program that targets high school …

A Bifactor Approach To Dimensionality Assessment, David Michael Dueber

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Bifactor confirmatory factor analysis models and statistical indices computed from them have previously been used to provide evidence for the appropriateness of utilizing a unidimensional interpretation of multidimensional data. However, the ability of bifactor indices to aid in the assessment of subscore strength has not been investigated.

A simulation study was conducted to relate bifactor indices to the strength of subscores corresponding to specific factors. The bifactor indices OmegaHS and ECV_SS were found to be strongly predictive of subscore strength conditional upon OmegaS. The number of factors was also found to play a minor role in this relationship. Cutoffs …

Stability Of The Learning Behaviors Scale, Nikki Davidson

Masters Theses

Learning behaviors are observable actions, habits, and manifestations of attitudes that facilitate learning, such as persevering at difficult tasks, showing interest in academic subjects, demonstrating care and concern about classwork, and graciously accepting feedback (Buchanan, McDermott, & Schaefer, 1998). Assessment of these learning behaviors is an essential first step to effective intervention. It is important to know which learning behaviors to target and the degree of deficit in order to remediate learning problems. The present study examined the medium length (two-month) stability of scores obtained from the Learning Behaviors Scale (McDermott, Green, Francis, & Stott, 1999). Fifty K-8 teacher rater …

Moving Beyond Executive Functions: Challenge Preference As A Predictor Of Academic Achievement In Elementary School, Michael J. Sulik, Jenna E. Finch, Jelena Obradović

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Intrinsic motivation and executive functions (EFs) have been independently studied as predictors of academic achievement in elementary school. The goal of this investigation was to understand how students’ challenge preference (CP), an aspect of intrinsic motivation, is related to academic achievement while accounting for EFs as a confounding variable. Using data from a longitudinal study of 569 third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders (50% female), we tested students’ self-reported CP as a predictor of mathematics and English language arts (ELA) achievement in multilevel models that controlled for school fixed effects and student demographic characteristics. CP was positively associated with mathematics and ELA …

School Librarians Making Global Connections: Conjecture Mapping And Researcher Practitioner Partnerships, Barbara Schultz-Jones, Marcia Mardis, Sue Kimmel

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Dr. Barbara Schultz-Jones (University of North Texas), Dr Marcia Mardis (Florida State University) and Dr Sue Kimmel (Old Dominion University, Virginia) share their research on a way to support evidence building of causal relationships between the school library and a teacher librarian’s contribution to student outcomes.

Assessing The Performance Of Two Procedures For Detecting Differential Item Functioning Within The Multilevel Partial Credit Model, Carol Hanley

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This is a simulation study that evaluates the performances of two models for the detection of uniform differential item functioning (DIF). Simulated data are generated by a multilevel partial credit model (MLPCM). The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of two DIF detection procedures, hierarchical ordinal logistic regression (HOLR) for multilevel data and multilevel generalized Mantel-Haenszel (MGMH: French & Finch, 2013; French, Finch, & Imekus, 2019). Conditions manipulated were the number of participants per cluster (20, 40), number of clusters (50, 100, 200), DIF magnitude (0, .4, .8), and magnitude of intraclass correlation coefficient (.05, .25, .45). …

Can Less Be More? Study Load And Its Effect On Science Achievement Among Chinese Eighth-Grade Students, Xian Wu

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

The present study addressed a core research question of “Can less be more?” concerning study load, which has become increasingly worrisome and controversial around the world. This idea reflects the philosophy of pursuing efficiency and effectiveness on learning, namely that a lighter study load may result in more successful academic achievement. The study adopted the IPO (input-process-output) model to address five interrelated research questions: 1) What are the structural characteristics of study load? 2) Is there any individual difference in study load? 3) What are the characteristics of teachers and schools under which students tend to have a heavier study …

Growth Vs. Fixed Mindsets In College Mathematics Education, Bryan Yaeger, Lynne Pachnowski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between college mathematics professors and whether they have a growth or fixed mindset towards the students in their classrooms. This paper will share the results from a survey that was constructed with 38 participants - all of which are college mathematics professors in the state of Ohio. This survey focused on asking questions that would relate the professors to either having growth or fixed mindset traits. The survey also asked for the demographics of the participants, which helped classify similarities between those with growth or fixed mindset ideals. After analyzing …

Improving Classroom Management And Teacher Retention: A Needs Assessment, Jill Stefaniak, Jilian L. Reynolds, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This case explores how a needs assessment was conducted at a middle school experiencing high rates of teacher turnover. Pamela Frost, an experienced instructional designer, was assigned to assess the situation and identify opportunities to improve professional development opportunities for the teachers. As a part of a needs assessment, Pamela gathered data to address needs pertaining to classroom management challenges, teacher attrition rates, and establishing relations with the local community. This case explores how Pamela gathered data and triangulated her findings to determine what interventions were needed.

Construct Validity Of The Behavior Assessment System For Children-Third Edition Teacher Rating Scales (Basc-3 Trs): Comparisons With The Adjustment Scales For Children And Adolescents (Asca), Shannon Burback

Masters Theses

The Behavior Assessment Scale for Children-Third Edition Teacher Rating Scale Child Form (BASC-3 TRS-C) and the Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents (ASCA) are both teacher rating scales which may be used by school psychologist to assess youth behavior problems. The BASC, BASC-2, and BASC-3 have limited replicated research of the studies reported in their respective manuals. Therefore, it was important to empirically compare the BASC-3 TRS-C with the ASCA to examine construct validity (convergent, discriminant, and divergent) as there were, at present, no published studies replicating BASC-3 Manual research. The present study analyzed BASC-3 TRS-C and ACSA ratings which …

Effects Of Aromatherapy On Academic Success, Perceived Stress, And Coping Skills Of Graduate Students, Lakisha S. Witter

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This quasi-experimental study will explore whether the use of aromatherapy increases students’ academic success and coping skills and decreases the level of perceived stress in graduate college students.

Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, Complete Volume, 2020

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Student's Perceptions Of Smartphone Use At Home And At A High School Regarding A New Smartphone Policy: A Case Study, Ana Zurita

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The new generation raised in the digital era continues to present unresolved challenges for both parents and teachers. The purpose of this case study is to analyze students' usage of their smartphones in their lives, and understand the success of a new school policy on smartphone use at an arts school in the U.S. For this qualitative research, I interviewed ten participants from the high school. The literary review informs us that smartphones are potentially addictive, with negative effects for healthy mental, emotional and social child development, as well as a source of misleading information. As a consequence, smartphones in …

The Effects Of Background, Classroom Assessment Competence, Self-Efficacy, And Self-Perceived Assessment Skills On Classroom Assessment Practices Of Teachers In India, Manognya Murukutla

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teacher-conducted assessments are necessary to gather important information to facilitate student learning and academic success. Unfortunately, there is an inconsistency in teacher knowledge of assessment and assessment practices. While previous research identified a gap in teacher competence and teacher perceptions of their competence, and this affects classroom assessment practices that then impact student learning, the research is limited, outdated, and not grounded in any theoretical framework. This study addresses gaps in literature and establishes self-efficacy as a theoretical framework in which classroom assessment can be studied. Data were collected in India, and a path analysis and a Kruskal Wallis non-parametric …

Research Methods For Education With Technology: Four Concerns, Examples, And Recommendations, Daniel B. Wright

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education Faculty Research

The success of education with technology research is in part because the field draws upon theories and methods from multiple disciplines. However, drawing upon multiple disciplines has drawbacks because sometimes the methodological expertise of each discipline is not applied when researchers conduct studies outside of their research training. The focus here is on research using methods drawn largely from psychology, for example, evaluating the impact of different systems on how students perform. The methodological concerns discussed are: low power; not using multilevel modeling; dichotomization; and inaccurate reporting of the numeric statistics. Examples are drawn from a recent set of proceedings. …

Understanding Second Grader’S Computational Thinking Skills In Robotics Through Their Individual Traits, Youngkyun Baek, Dazhi Yang, Yibo Fan

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigated the relationship between the personal traits and computational thinking skills of second graders within the context of robotics activities. The hypothesized model showed that learning preference, intrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy were the main predictors of coding achievement and computational thinking skills, while no direct relationship was found between learning preference, intrinsic, or extrinsic motivation. The final path analysis revealed that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation predict self-efficacy, self-efficacy predicts coding achievement, and coding achievement predicts computational thinking skills. Another important finding was the strong impact of self-efficacy on coding achievement as well as computational thinking skills. Results are …

School Readiness Profiles And Growth In Academic Achievement, Qianqian Pan, Kim T. Trang, Hailey R. Love, Jonathan Templin

Educational & Clinical Studies Faculty Research

The purpose of this research was to identify the presence of different school readiness profiles and to determine whether profiles could differentially predict academic growth. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: 2010-11 (ECLS-K: 2011) public data set was used, and participants were 14,954 first-time kindergarteners. The age of entering kindergarten ranged from 44.81 to 87.98 months with a mean of 76.13 months. In Study 1, a six-dimensional construct of school readiness was used: health, self-regulation, social and emotional development, language development, cognitive development, and approaches to learning. Results revealed 41 profiles with the top six school readiness profiles covering 85% of …

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.

Improving Measurement And Expanding Meta-Analytic Knowledge: Social And Emotional Learning In Elementary And Early Childhood, Dana M. Murano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last several decades, the development of student social and emotional skills in educational contexts has received much attention, both domestically and internationally. Whereas previous school-based educational practices had primarily focused on the teaching and testing of cognitive skills, we now recognize that there are constituents of academic success beyond the cognitive skills that are traditionally taught and tested, and the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) has emerged as a result. This two-study dissertation attempted to fill existing gaps in the development of SEL practices by exploring new horizons in both intervention and measurement with preschool and …

Faculty Interactions With Black Male Students At Hbcus And Community Colleges As Predictors Of Academic Achievement In Stem, Antoine Gates

Dissertations

A myriad of studies in STEM education aim to identify the underlying reasons behind poor achievement of Black males in higher education. Research studies have indicated that HBCUs make significant advances in various desired outcomes such as graduation rates for Blacks, especially males. However, Black males at community colleges do not always fare similarly to their counterparts at HBCUs. There are limited studies on faculty interactions with Black males in STEM at community colleges. Therefore, the goal of this study was to identify whether significant differences existed in the interactions STEM faculty formed with Black males at community colleges and …

Effects Of Creativity Instruction In Science On Creative Thinking And Science Achievement In Chinese Students, Yun Peng

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated the effectiveness of the 3eT instructional model designed by Hong (Hong, 2012a; Hong, O'Neil, Drobick, & Beisel, 2013) that focused on increasing students' creative-thinking ability. 120 seventh-graders in China participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental or the control group. They learned a segment of a science curriculum unit with instructional materials developed based on the 3eT model which aimed to encourage students to use creative thinking techniques.

Patterns of students' perceptions of a creative person were compared between the experimental group and the control group. Content analyses of students' narrative responses elicited …

The Effect Of Method Of Estimating Scores And Type Of Item Response Model On Accuracy Of Estimating Persons And Items Parameters For Multiple True And False Test, Mohamed Mahmoud Abdelwahab

International Journal for Research in Education

Due to existence of several ways of estimating scores on multiple true and false (MTF) items, and because there was a difference between researchers in determining the suitable Item Response Model (IRM) for calibrating these items, The current research aimed to finding out the effect of methods of estimating scores on MTF items, the type of IRM (Partial Credit Model (PCM) and Graded Response Model (GRM)) and the interaction between them on accuracy of estimating items and persons parameters. In order to achieve this aim, an achievement test was constructed in the Educational Psychology course for students of Faculty of …

Testing The Psychometric Properties Of The Modeling Self-Efficacy Scale, Anu Sharma, Stephen J. Pape, Jonathan Templin

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The Modeling Self-Efficacy Scale was developed to measure middle and high school students’ confidence in understanding and solving modeling tasks. The scale was administered to 225 eighth- and ninth-grade students. Participants read modeling tasks adapted from Programme for International Student Assessment’s 2003 problem-solving assessment and rated their confidence on a 100-point self-efficacy scale. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that modeling self-efficacy is a unidimensional construct, best elicited by a repeated-measures-style survey design in which participants responded to the same self-efficacy items across multiple modeling problems. The omega reliability coefficient for the scale was .88. The findings suggest that the Modeling Self-Efficacy …

Parent Perspectives On Youth Sport Concussion Management, Corinne M. Daprano, Susan C. Davies, Elana R. Bernstein

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

Concussions are one of the most discussed health concerns at all levels of sport. While much of this discussion focuses on football and the National Football League (NFL), there is growing awareness in the sport community that the risks of concussions extend to head injuries in all sports. Much remains unknown about youth concussions, particularly in terms of how parents feel about concussions and youth sport safety regulations. The purpose of this study was to examine parents’ perceptions and attitudes toward youth sport concussions. Results indicated that despite increased awareness and education there remain gaps in parental knowledge of concussions …

School-Wide Implementation Of Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports In An Alternative School Setting: A Case Study, Amy-Jane Griffiths, Elena Lilles Diamond, James Alsip, Michael Furlong, Gale M. Morrison, Bich Do

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Aims

The purpose of this 1‐year case study was to identify how School‐Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SW‐PBIS) can be adapted to meet the needs of students in alternative schools and to evaluate the early impact of SW‐PBIS on discipline outcomes.

Methods

Suggestions for adaptations are provided at each stage of the intervention process with a focus on buy‐in, training, data collection, and resource allocation.

Results

Data from this case study included information about key components of the implementation process as well as initial outcomes. Process data revealed the importance of stakeholder buy‐in, training opportunities, and potential adaptations to …

Empowered Learning Systems In Student Success, Craig C. Laupheimer

Education | Master's Theses

Abstract/Description

Although various support systems are attempted by public schools to cause changes in student motivation and academic performance, students continue to consistently under perform and doubt their academic potential. A literature review revealed a growing body of research outlining a direct relationship between internal beliefs and performance outcomes. Yet little has been done to understand student thought patterns from their perspective, or to what extent they are able to recognize and address the internal systems of language, belief, and emotion that interact with learning. By analyzing a wide range of student perspectives, this study examines what tools and strategies …

A Qualitative Examination Of College Disability Services For Students With Traumatic Brain Injuries, Susan C. Davies, Michael R. Crenshaw, Elana R. Bernstein

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

Adolescents and young adults are at relatively high risk for sustaining traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). These injuries can result in persistent disabilities, including a range of cognitive, physical, and social-emotional deficits that can be particularly challenging for college age students. This qualitative study explored disability services for college students with TBIs through interviews with directors of 18 college Offices of Disability Services (ODS). Respondents provided general information regarding their service model, the most common disabilities served, as well as the number of students with TBI served, and more specific information pertaining to services for students with TBI. Results indicated ODS …

Traffic Offences Among Adolescents , And Its Relationship With Leisure Variables, And Attitudes Toward High Risk Sports, Homoud Mohammed Alanazi

International Journal for Research in Education

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the common traffic offences among adolescents. In addition, to examine the relationship between traffic offences and (leisure boredom, sensation seeking, and attitudes towards participation in high-risk Sport). Participants (N = 289) were recruited via stratified random sampling from grade (1st, 2nd, 3rd) of secondary schools (males) in Turaif city. According to the results, The common traffic offences observed among adolescents were, driving a car without wearing a seat belt, driving a car over speed limit, use a mobile phone while driving, engaging in Altaheet, engaged in car racing with others. Using …

Writing Underachievement: How To Support Students With Learning Disabilities And/Or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Through Self-Regulation Strategy Development, Katie Ludin

Education | Master's Theses

Writing underachievement is a national dilemma, especially among students with LDs and/or ADHD. Difficulties with written expression create negative social and emotional consequences for students since writing is critical to academic and professional success. Despite this, few studies have explored the impact of writing underachievement. The purpose of this research was to better understand the experiences of struggling writers within the elementary school setting, especially students who receive special education services. Part of this research included an intervention group. Self-Regulation Strategy Development was taught to a group of students with LDs and/or ADHD. This research was conducted in an effort …

How Internalized And Externalized Behaviors In Adolescents Impact Academic Achievement In Faith-Based Institutions, Subira Brown, Chioma Tait, Jade Callahan, Deyana Cox

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

The purpose of this literature review is to address how internalized and externalized behaviors in adolescents impact academic achievement in faith-based institutions. This research intends to bring awareness to the prevalence of mental health concerns faced by adolescents, as well as the need for mental health services in the education system. This research will also identify the relationship between internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and academic achievement. Based on the findings, the next steps will be to evaluate the deficits within the Adventist school system and begin developing programs and resources necessary to support the mental health needs of children and …