Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

People Orientation And Thing Orientation In Business Majors: Implications For Assessing The Impacts Of Cross-Functional Business Program Curricula, Todd J. Hostager, David A. Christopher, Kristy J. Lauver, Christopher Knowles

International Journal for Business Education

Background/Introduction/Purpose:  Prior research documented significant differences in people orientation and thing orientation (PTO) based on type of major and sex.  This study examines a set of measures for helping business programs to assess whether they are producing graduates equipped to consider both people and things when making decisions, regardless of their major or sex.

Methods/Design:  Students in a strategic management capstone course spent a single 75-minute session responding to a brief new venture pitch by identifying what types of additional information they would need to decide whether to invest in the business.  Three Likert-scaled options gauged the extent to participant …

The Role Of Generative Ai In Secondary School Business Education: Insights From Teachers’ Perceptions, Leonard Busuttil, Emanuel Mizzi

International Journal for Business Education

Background/Introduction/Purpose: Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has entered classrooms more quickly than the evidence base needed to guide its use, and that evidence base remains concentrated in higher education. Comparatively little is known about secondary school business education, a curricular area that brings together accounting, business studies, economics, financial literacy, marketing, and retail, and in which teachers move between subjects whose epistemological and procedural demands differ considerably. Existing studies also tend to treat business education as a single homogeneous domain, or to examine one of its subjects in isolation. This study addresses that gap by examining how secondary school business education …

Illinois Model Programs Of Study: Overview Guide (Draft For Public Comment), Education Systems Center

Practitioner Toolkits and Resources

This draft is available for public comment through September 30, 2026. Share your public comment at:

https://forms.gle/VDKeCdf5HycEerMr7

Illinois Model Programs Of Study Guide: Digital Technology (Draft For Public Comment), Education Systems Center

Practitioner Toolkits and Resources

This draft is available for public comment through September 30, 2026. Share your public comment at:

https://forms.gle/VDKeCdf5HycEerMr7

Illinois Model Programs Of Study Guide: Education (Draft For Public Comment), Education Systems Center

Practitioner Toolkits and Resources

This draft is available for public comment through September 30, 2026. Share your public comment at:

https://forms.gle/VDKeCdf5HycEerMr7

Illinois Model Programs Of Study Guide: Physical Health (Draft For Public Comment), Education Systems Center

Practitioner Toolkits and Resources

This draft is available for public comment through September 30, 2026. Share your public comment at:

https://forms.gle/VDKeCdf5HycEerMr7

Solving For X: Centering Black Girls’ Experiences In Mathematics Education, Natasha A. Fortes

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Black girls can grow up, attend school, and move through their math classes without ever feeling seen as capable mathematical thinkers. Their teachers may not affirm their brilliance. Their voices may even go unheard. Math classes may not be a space where they can imagine themselves belonging. These experiences do not reflect ability. Instead, they reflect on the conditions in which they are expected to learn. This study centers the voices of Black girls and asks what they deserve from their mathematics education and instructors to develop a mathematics identity. The study is grounded in Black feminist traditions and draws …

What Makes Implicit Bias Training Effective? An Examination Of Training Program Interventions And K-12 Educator Experiences, Kyleigh K. Mcaloon

McNair Summer Research Program

Differences in disciplinary referrals based on race have led many to argue that bias may influence disciplinary decisions. Implicit bias (IB) training is designed to address such disparities by raising awareness of biases that may impact assessment of behavior and disciplinary decisions. In recent years, many have questioned the validity of IB as a construct and also the potential impact of training. Some scholars argue that these programs fail to produce meaningful behavioral change and may unintentionally reinforce or increase bias. The aim of the present study was to investigate how individuals receive and respond to such training. Sixteen K-12 …

Comparative Analysis Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Implications For Active Learning And Assessment At Various Curricular Levels Of Stem And Health Sciences In Developed Versus Underprivileged Countries, Vinay Munlapudi, Santanu De

FDLA Journal

Today’s all-pervasive emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) necessitates a comprehensive evaluation of its role in education, especially for occupational disciplines in health sciences and STEM. AI has reshaped student learning and instructors’ navigation of the evolving, post coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) global academic landscape. This study aimed at encapsulating evidence-based AI implications for student-centered, active learning and assessment at various curricular levels of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and health sciences education in developed versus underprivileged or less developed countries. An extensive, scoping review of 65 recent, scholarly publications was conducted over six months through diverse search engines (PubMed, Google …

Using Assessments Intentionally With Consideration For English Language Learners, Elizabeth Ropp

Masters Projects

Assessment systems in the United States are failing English Language Learners (ELLs), and it has become apparent that action must be taken to try and right this injustice. There is a wide achievement gap between native English speakers and non-native English speakers when it comes to performance on state, local, and classroom assessments. Unfortunately, many teachers report that they do not feel adequately prepared to support ELLs both on classroom assessments and on mandatory state or local tests. With an ever-growing increase in ELL enrollment in American schools, it is imperative that teachers are given tools to help them better …

Measuring Administrative Hiring Confidence Of Music Teachers In The Context Of Shallow Hiring Pools, Aaron M. Strum

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify and measure the confidence of K-12 administrators in hiring music faculty. This study also aimed to analyze administrators’ perspectives and confidence in key stages of the hiring process, including defining job expectations, posting, advertising, interviewing, and selecting highly specialized music teachers in K-12 settings. Confidence of K-12 administrators can be gauged through their understanding of how well an applicant aligns with the specific needs of the school’s program. Three research questions guided this investigation: (1a) How confident are K-12 administrators in their understanding of music teaching pedagogy when interviewing music teacher candidates …

Disruption, Recovery, And Divergence: How Prepandemic Achievement Levels Shaped Learning Loss, Recovery, And Spending Efficiency In Tennessee Public High Schools, Wilson Boyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant and uneven learning loss in Tennessee public high schools. The statewide ACT composite average fell from 20.2 in 2019 to 19.1 in 2021. By 2024-2025, it recovered only to 19.3. During the same period, Tennessee received approximately $3.86 billion in additional federal funds and $1.15 billion in new state funding. This ex post facto quantitative study examined whether prepandemic achievement levels predicted learning loss severity and recovery patterns of a census of 322 Tennessee public high schools from 2018-2019 through 2024-2025.

The study used two theoretical frameworks. Baumol's cost disease theory predicted that structural productivity …

Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Mathematics Achievement And Problem-Solving Ability: Insights From Secondary Schools In India, Laishram Nirtish Singh, Anand Jyoti Sanasam, Jocyline Thokchom, Ningombam Cha Cogent, Laisom Sharmeswar Singh

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted students’ engagement with mathematics. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of the extent of this disrupting by examining differences in mathematics achievement and problem-solving ability between adjacent cohorts who learned Class 8 under different schooling conditions in India: Group A (pandemic-exposed Class 8 cohort) and Group B (post-reopening Class 8 cohort). Using a descriptive design in a natural setting, we selected a stratified sample of 1,200 students from Class 9 and Class 10 across 21 secondary schools in Manipur, India. The sample was stratified by gender, family type, school type, and locality to ensure …

Best Practices For Classroom Seating Arrangements: A Narrative Literature Review, Sophia M. Williams

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Every K-12 classroom has a unique dynamic produced by students and managed by its teachers. The relationships between peers, as well as the relationships between students and their teacher play an integral role in how students work and behave each day. An important aspect of the classroom dynamic that teachers’ control is seating arrangements. Indeed, extant research has debated on the best practice for seating arrangements in classrooms to create optimal learning environments that benefit both pupil and teacher. Some studies suggest that students work better when they are working with people that they have positive relationships with. Contrarily, others …

Preparing Teachers To Read The Data: Strengthening Data Literacy For Early Literacy Decision-Making, Tevia Q. Strand

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

Teachers are increasingly expected to use literacy screening and benchmark data to guide instruction, identify student needs, and participate in multi-tiered systems of support. However, pre-service and early-career teachers may enter the profession without sufficient preparation to interpret assessment data or connect benchmark patterns to instructional action. This white paper examines the gap between teacher preparation and the realities of K-12 data use, with particular attention to early literacy decision-making. Drawing from Bradbury’s discussion of teacher preparation and the changing realities of education, this paper argues that data literacy is an essential part of preparing teachers for equitable classroom practice. …

Attendance And Academic Performance: A Comparison Of 4-Day And 5-Day School Week Schedules In Texas High Schools, Cynthia Miles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative cross-sectional comparable study examined the differences in academic performance and attendance in Texas public high school campuses between those operating on a 4-day instructional week and those operating on a 5-day instructional week. The study used a quantitative, cross-sectional comparable design. The analysis included campus-level data from the Texas Education Agency’s Texas Academic Performance Reports. The independent variable was instructional schedule—either a 4-day or a 5-day instructional week. The dependent variables included campus attendance rates and student performance on the English I and Algebra I End-of-Course (EOC) STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) assessments of ninth-grade …

Influence Of Stormwater Flooding Events On The Mobile County School District Student Population, Kadence Kali Johnston

Honors Theses

Mobile County, Alabama, receives among the highest annual rainfall totals in the United States resulting in frequent stormwater flooding that intersects with existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Within the Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS), 77% of students are economically disadvantaged and over 10% experience homelessness, creating heightened risk for educational disruption during flood events. This study investigates how stormwater flooding influences school attendance, closures, and academic performance across MCPSS, providing insight into how climate-driven hazards exacerbate educational inequities. The research integrates flood frequency, school performance metrics, and GIS flood-zone mapping and teacher perceptions to understand how flooding affects student learning opportunities. …

Voice And Choice: Exploring The Role Of Student Agency In High School Math Course Placement, Anne Patia Carpenter Sterry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how students make sense of the mathematics placement process within a high-rigor independent school. In contexts where placement decisions shape access to advanced coursework, students’ interpretations of these decisions may influence both their academic trajectories and their developing mathematical identities. The purpose of this qualitative bounded case study was to understand the experiences of students who enrolled in mathematics courses that differed from placement recommendations, focusing on their motivations for self-selection, their interpretations of feedback from adults and peers, and how these experiences shaped their mathematical identities.

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 high school …

Unfreezing Language: A Decolonial Reframing Of Translanguaging Pedagogies In English As A New Language & Dual Language Bilingual Education Settings, Cristian R. Solorza

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This qualitative multi-case study examines how elementary teachers in English as a New Language (ENL) and Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) settings conceptualize, implement, and reflect upon translanguaging pedagogies, with particular attention to translanguaging rings as tools for language differentiation. Grounded in a rearticulation of language as a dynamic, socially, politically, and historically constructed subject and object, this study challenges monoglossic ideologies that position named languages as bounded systems at the center of language education. Instead, it centers students’ lived, embodied, and agentive language practices as foundational to language learning and to their participation as knowledge producers in ENL and …

Transformative Teaching And Learning - Practicing Emancipation Through Co-Construction And Dialogue In Workplace Learning, Lisa Roe

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

TRANSFORMATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING: PRACTICING EMANCIPATIONTHROUGH CO-CONSTRUCTION, AND DIALOGUE IN WORKPLACE TEACHING ANDLEARNING

June 2026

Lisa A. Roe, B.A., University of Maine

M.Ed., Suffolk University

Ph.D. University of Massachusetts Boston

Directed by Professor Patricia Krueger-Henney

This dissertation investigates how emancipatory and creative practices can transform vocational high school classrooms into spaces of shared power, dialogue, and mastery-based learning. Using an autoethnographic methodology, I examined my practice as a vocational educator in information technology over the course of an academic year.

Grounded in Wheatley’s fractal organization theory, Kincheloe’s critical constructivism, Lave and Wenger’s situated learning, and dialogic pedagogy, …

Place-Based Education: A Rural Solution For Student Achievement, James A. Chamness

College of Education

Rural secondary students in the United States continue to demonstrate lower academic outcomes on standardized assessments compared to their non-rural peers, highlighting the need for contextually responsive instructional approaches. This concurrent mixed methods study examined the relationship between place-based education (PBE) and academic achievement among rural secondary students and explored rural teachers’ perceptions of PBE. Guided by social cognitive theory, the study investigated differences in ACT composite scores between students exposed to PBE and those receiving traditional instruction, as well as perceived challenges and opportunities associated with PBE implementation. Quantitative data included archived ACT scores, which were analyzed using descriptive …

Developing Clear Guidance For Student Use Of Generative Ai In Academic Programs, Steve Baule

Essays in Education

As generative artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in academic life, institutions need clear, consistent guidance for students and faculty. This paper describes how Winona State University’s College of Education developed complementary AI guidance documents through a collaborative, community-informed process. Following a college-wide symposium and student requests for clearer expectations, faculty leaders drafted documents and gathered feedback from faculty, current students, recent graduates, library faculty, and university committees. The resulting guidance emphasizes transparency, disclosure, privacy, verification of learning, and the distinction between AI as a tool and AI as a source requiring citation. Public dissemination of the documents helped promote consistency, …

Making Data Usable For Schools And Colleges: The Regional Data Collaboratives Approach, Benjamin Boer

Reports, Analyses, and other Publications

This white paper outlines a strategic initiative by the Education Systems Center (EdSystems) to establish regional data collaboratives that improve how schools and colleges use information. Unlike traditional top-down accountability models, these collaboratives focus on longitudinal data sharing to help administrators understand student transitions from ninth grade through postsecondary completion and into the workforce. The framework relies on four core competencies: legal data agreements, secure management, linking analytics, and meaningful presentation of results. By examining factors like dual credit, pathway participation, and 9th-grade performance, these partnerships aim to identify and eliminate educational inequities. Ultimately, the initiative seeks to create a …

Making The Case For Career Academies In Shaping Pre-Collegiate Students For Stem Career Pathways, Felix Quayson

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Career academies are increasingly important in preparing pre-collegiate high school students for STEM pathways by connecting academic learning, technical skill development, career identity, and postsecondary readiness. STEM-focused career academies function as structured bridges between secondary education, higher education, and the labor market. Through small learning communities, interdisciplinary curricula, employer partnerships, work-based learning, and early exposure to college and career expectations, career academies help students understand STEM not only as school subjects but as possible futures. Research suggests that career academies can improve student engagement, support school persistence, and strengthen labor market outcomes when implemented with fidelity. The article concludes that …

Perceptions Of Novice Career And Technical Education Teachers Regarding Teacher Evaluations, Felix Quayson, Chris Zirkle

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

As states expand funding for alternative teacher-licensure pathways, this qualitative descriptive case study examined how 38 novice Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers in a Midwestern research university’s alternative licensure program perceived teacher evaluation during their first years in the profession. Analyses yielded ten major themes with three subthemes each, which were synthesized into the DEEPS conceptual evaluation framework: Development, Evaluation, Engagement, Partnerships, and Skills. We arranged the acronym DEEPS based on data analysis for conceptual coherence rather than order of occurrence. Participants described evaluation as misaligned with the specialized demands of CTE instruction and called for tools that better …

Pa 146: What Is Clear, What Is Fuzzy, And What Should We Do Next?, Jenelle Williams, Nicole Peterson

Michigan Reading Journal

Michigan’s Public Act 146 (PA 146), the state’s K–12 Literacy and Dyslexia Law, establishes new requirements for screening, evidence-based instruction, structured literacy practices, professional learning, and strengthened multi-tiered systems of support to improve reading outcomes. While the law provides detailed and prescriptive guidance for elementary schools—particularly regarding decoding-focused instruction aligned to the science of reading, universal screening, and intervention planning—its implications for grades 4–12 are less clearly defined. This article examines what is explicit in the legislation, what remains open to interpretation in secondary contexts, and how districts can move forward strategically as they prepare for full implementation by 2027–2028. …

Assessing Media Literacy Competence In Secondary Education: Towards A Rubric Based On A Systematic Review, Steijn Jan Van Der Craats, Jason Simon, Romy Andrieu, Bo Sichterman, Stan Van Ginkel

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

Developing media literacy competence is an essential objective in secondary education. However, a validated instrument aimed to encourage the development of media literacy amongst students formatively is lacking hitherto. This review aims to identify relevant studies on media literacy competence or components thereof and their assessment strategies. Further, this study synthesizes these findings into a set of principles for constructing a formative assessment instrument fostering media literacy competence. Seventeen publications from the last 15 years were selected through a systematic search in scientific databases. All studies were categorized concerning crucial characteristics of assessment instruments. Furthermore, the synthesis of this study …

Success By Design? A Combined Outcome And Process Program Evaluation Of California’S Early And Middle College High Schools, Brooke N. Martin-Gill

Education Dissertations

Early and Middle College High Schools (EMCHS) expand college access for

underrepresented students by integrating high school and college coursework within

community college settings. Despite strong reported outcomes, some EMCHS face

substantial student attrition. Limited research examines how EMCHS organizational

structures influence student persistence. This mixed methods outcome and process

evaluation seeks to address this research gap. Quantitative analysis (paired samples-t-

tests) examined statewide enrollment data (2017-2025) to determine whether significant

differences exist between Year 1 and Year 4 cohort enrollment. Qualitative analysis was

conducted through a deductive discourse analysis of Western Association of Schools and

Colleges (WASC) Self-Study reports …

Understanding How Teachers Define And Employ Civics Education In Non-Elective Social Studies Classrooms, Joseph Kyle

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study explored the perceptions of civics and civic education held by secondary school teachers of non-elective social studies classes in four schools within the same school district. Using a qualitative approach, this study examined how veteran teachers understood and defined civics, the ways in which they employed civics education in their teaching methodology and daily lessons, and the challenges or obstacles they perceived, if any, incorporating lessons reflecting a progressive experimentalist methodology. The study was undertaken in response to popular and governmental rhetoric reflecting a lack of civil discourse and alleging a lack of civics in public education, as …

What We Want The Decision Makers To Know About First-Generation College Student Success: Insights From Students’ Perspectives, Monique N. Legendre

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

One-third of all undergraduates in the U.S. are first-generation college students (FGCS) (Center for First-Generation Student Success, 2020). Due to barriers such as inequitable access to rigorous college preparatory programs and coursework, limited resources and access to college and career counseling, financial constraints, and a lack of college knowledge such as the expectations, norms, and language of higher education, FGCS often arrive less prepared for college than continuing-generation students, impacting first-generation student success and persistence in post-secondary education (Broadhurst et al., 2023; Campoverdi, 2023; Cataldi et al., 2018; Hamilton et al., 2016; Katrevich & Aruguete, 2017; Osborne, 2023; Pratt et …