Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Reliability And Validity Analyses Of The Community Service Attitudes Scale, Brian Perry

Online Theses and Dissertations

A study of the reliability and validity of the Community Service Attitudes Scale which was developed by Shiarella, McCarthy, and Tucker (2000) and based on Schwartz's (1977) model of helping behaviors was conducted. Scores on each of the subscales of the Community Service Attitudes Scale showed strong reliability with coefficient alpha scores ranging from .80 to .93. The factor analysis confirmed the findings of the original authors with eight factors having eigenvales greater than one indentified. Validity analyses confirmed that the measure can distinguish between groups expected to differ. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

Threads In A Tapestry: An Ethnographic Evaluation Of Milken Community High School’S Tiferet Fellowship Program, Roger Jason Fuller

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored an essential question, "What does the lived experience of students in the Tiferet program mean for them and others?" By exploring the background, implementation, and lived-experiences of two academic-year sophomore cohorts from Milken Community High School in Los Angeles as they lived and participated in a semester study abroad program at the Alexander Muss Institute of Israel Education in Hod HaSharon, Israel, the study shows the impact-of that experience on the students in the program and the school culture at large. The study engaged in a description of the program’s development and evaluation of the lived-experiences as …

Transforming Academic Practice: Human Resources Challenges, Ellen Hazelkorn, Amanda Moynihan

Books/Book chapters

No abstract provided.

Weedsin The Flower Garden: An Exploration Of Plagiarism In Graduate Students' Research Proposalsand Its Connection To Enculturation, Esl, And Contextual Factors, Joanna Gilmore, Denise Strickland, Briana Timmerman, Michelle Maher, David F. Feldon

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Existing literature provides insight into the nature and extent of plagiarism amongst undergraduate students (e.g., Ellery, 2008; Parameswaran & Devi, 2006; Selwyn, 2008). Plagiarism amongst graduate students is relatively unstudied, however, and the existing data are largely based on self-reports. This study investigated the rates and potential causes of plagiarism amongst graduate students in master’s and doctoral programmes in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and science or mathematics education by examining actual research proposals written by graduate students. Results indicate that plagiarism is a prevalent issue at each of the three university sites sampled and across all of the investigated disciplines. …

Adaptations And Continuities In The Use And Design Of Visual Representations In Us Middle School Science Textbooks, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Visual representations are ubiquitous in modern‐day science textbooks and have in recent years become an object of criticism and scrutiny. This article examines the extent to which changes in representations in textbooks published in the USA over the past six decades have invited those critiques. Drawing from a correlational analysis of a corpus of 34 US middle school physical science textbooks, continuities are established with respect to the purposes that most textbook images serve and the numbers of schematic representations that are used. Changes are observed in the overall total number of representations in textbooks and in the proportion of …

The Impact Of The Mckinney-Vento Program On The End-Of-Grade Test Scores Of Homeless Grade 6 Students, George Hendricks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Congressional concern about homeless students resulted in the McKinney-Vento Act (MCKV) in 2001, which provides funds to local educational agencies (LEAs). MCKV is almost a decade old, yet no evaluations of its academic effectiveness have been reported. Using a systems theory framework, this study answered research questions (RQs) involving whether normally housed students in Grade 6 scored higher than homeless students in Grade 6 in reading (RQ 1) and math (RQ 2) on end-of-grade (EOG) test scores and whether homeless students in Grade 6 from LEAs that received MCKV funding scored better in reading (RQ 3) and math (RQ 4) …

Making Sense Of Exit Exam Policies: A Phenomenological Study Of English Language Development Teachers, Scott N. Forrest

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a lack of understanding regarding how sensemaking could be incorporated into a professional development program to improve teacher quality and student achievement. The lived experiences of high school English language development teachers as they interpret English language development and one state's high school exit exam instructional policies were explored in this phenomenological study. The conceptual framework that supported this study is based on the theory of sensemaking, the processes by which educators interpret and implement policies. The participants were English language development teachers of English learners who have not yet passed the exit exam. Data were collected through …

Predicting Mastery On The Westest 2 : A Comparison Of Map And Westest 2 Data, Miranda Noelle Haught

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Curriculum based measures are conducted in order to observe a student’s progress and gauge the development in the school’s curriculum. Schools are in need of gathering data to discover if students are progressing towards achieving proficiency on state standardized tests. This research determines what score or corresponding percentile needs to be reached on the MAP test in order to achieve mastery on WESTEST 2. Data was compared from students in a rural county in West Virginia who were tested in Mathematics and Reading on the MAP test and WESTEST 2. A Pearson product correlation between both the MAP test and …

Comparison Of The Reading Subtests Of The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test - Third Edition And The Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised/Normative Update, Lauren M. Ott

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study compared the reading subtests of the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Third Edition and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised/Normative Update. Scores were compared on these two tests in a group of 28 students ages 7 through 12 who were referred or reevaluated for suspected learning problems. The data were collected through a deidentified data set provided by a school building staff member or administrator and included such information as gender, age, and grade level as well as WIAT-III and PIAT-R/NU reading subtest scores. A t test of significance and the Pearson r Correlations were computed to see how the …

The Relationship Between The Wisc-Iv Gai And The Kabc-Ii, Nancy R. Oliver

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This present study compared the WISC-IV GAI and the global scores of KABC-II. The tests were administered to referred students in rural schools in Ohio and West Virginia. The study included 30 Caucasian students between the ages of 6 years, 7 months to 16 years, 11 months; 19 females and 11 males with an average age of 9 years, 10 months. Results found a strong correlation between the GAI and the FCI; and the GAI and the MPI. The results of the t-test of significance suggested that these tests given to the same student would yield similar results.

Preschool Education In Australia, Andrew Dowling, Kate O’Malley

Policy Briefs

Early childhood education (ECE) in Australia will soon experience a ‘radical makeover.’ In 2008, all Australian governments made a commitment through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that by 2013, all children in the year before formal schooling will have access to high quality early childhood education programs delivered by degreequalified early childhood teachers, for 15 hours per week, 40 weeks of the year, in public, private and community-based preschools and child care. The purpose of this policy brief is to summarise the current structure of preschool in Australia in contemplation of this major policy shift. This paper describes the …

Usability As A Method For Assessing Discovery, Thomas A. Ipri, Michael A. Yunkin, Jeanne M. Brown

Library Faculty Research

The University of Nevada Las Vegas Libraries engaged in three projects that helped identify areas of its website that had inhibited discovery of services and resources. These projects also helped generate staff interest in the Usability Working Group, which led these endeavors. The first project studied student responses to the site. The second focused on a usability test with the Libraries’ peer research coaches and resulted in a presentation of those findings to the Libraries staff. The final project involved a specialized test, the results of which also were presented to staff. All three of these projects led to improvements …

Understanding The Impact Of The Kalamazoo Promise From The Perspectives Of Parents And Community Group Members, Charles Pearson

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to uncover the emerging views of parents and community group stakeholders in regards to The Kalamazoo Promise, and what they believed were the important issues that must be understood by implementers of The Promise in order to provide more effective implementation.

The Kalamazoo Promise is a full-tuition scholarship provided to all eligible graduates of the school district. The qualification criteria are simple, and all graduates attending at least the four years of high school are eligible.

A case study was conducted in one representative school in this midsized, urban district. A multiple-phase approach was …

The Assessment Cyberguide For Learning Goals And Outcomes, Thomas Pusateri, Jane S. Halonen, Bill Hill, Maureen Mccarthy

Faculty Articles

The CyberGuide serves as a companion resource for implementing the APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Major in Psychology. These resources should aid psychology departments and their faculty to design the most appropriate and effective assessment plans. We have organized this Cyberguide into four parts that will assist departments in developing assessment plans: I. Understanding Assessment: Departmental, Institutional, Educational, and Societal Perspectives II. Designing Viable Assessment Plans III. Sustaining an Assessment Culture IV. Applying Assessment Strategies in Psychology

College Admissions Tests And Socioeconomic/Racial Discrimination, Aaron W. Hughey

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

School-Based Services For Traumatized Refugee Children, Dana Doran-Myers, Susan C. Davies

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

In 1991, civil war raged in Somalia and the country’s infrastructure began to disintegrate. Since then, millions have fled the violence and instability. Many Somali refugees have settled in the United States; Ohio now has the second larg- est settlement of Somali refugees in the country. Most of these refugees reside in the Columbus area, where numerous out- reach services have been developed. The Somalis are one of many refugee popula- tions that have enrolled children in Ohio schools. In such cases, there is often little or no warning of the children’s arrival and thus little time to prepare a …

Oep Welcomes New Commissioner: Tom Kimbrell, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The Office for Education Policy is excited to welcome the new Arkansas Education Commissioner – Dr. Tom Kimbrell.

Recognizing The Accomplishments Of Ade Commissioner Ken James, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

This summer, Dr. Ken James announced his resignation as Education Commissioner at the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Dr. James’ last day was June 30, 2009 and Diana Julian stepped in as interim commissioner. Today, Governor Mike Beebe announced Tom Kimbrell as his choice for the next commissioner. As we await the official appointment of the new commissioner, the OEP felt it was appropriate to highlight Dr. James’ contributions to Arkansas education.

Bush’S Brain (No, Not Karl Rove): How Bush’S Psyche Shaped His Decision Making, Robert Maranto, Richard E. Redding

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

We will summarize the most systematic work on George W. Bush's psyche, stressing that leader personality traits should not be judged as good nor bad: Rather traits which match some situations mismatch others. SAT scores and other available measures indicate that Bush has sufficient intelligence to serve as president. Yet the best studies, in which raters evaluate statements without being aware of their source, suggest that Bush lacks integrative complexity and thus views issues without nuance (Thoemmes and Conway 2007). The leading personality theory (the “5-Factor Model”), as measured by the NEO Personality Inventory, suggests that Bush is highly extraverted …

The Analysis Of Measurement Equivalence In International Studies Using The Rasch Model, Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

No abstract provided.

Competing In The Federal Race To The Top, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The federal Race to the Top is a national competition between states intended to support education reform and innovation in classrooms. States at the forefront of school reform are eligible to compete for $4.3 billion in Race to the Top grants. Since this is a competitive grant, it is possible that some states will not receive awards, and President Obama assures that “politics won’t come into play.”

What Is Highly Qualified For Arkansas Teachers?, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In response to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, state departments of education, including the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), established rules to define a “highly qualified” teacher (HQT). While the spirit of this provision is clear and reasonable, the devil is, of course, in the details. That is, what exactly does highly qualified mean? Observers had good reason to be suspicious early on when many states claimed to have 95% or more of teachers being highly qualified. (For instance, according to Education Commission of the States, 100% of North Dakota teachers are considered highly qualified and 14 …

Role Of Mass Media In Quality Assurance Of Higher Education In Pakistan, Sohaib Rabbani Khan

Business Review

Higher education is the ladder to economic prosperity in today’s world. Quality in higher education indeed is the basic requirement for success of higher education institutions. But quality is never an accident, it is always the result of diligent work. During the last decade almost 50 universities / institutes of higher education have been established in the country. But the variations in quality of its graduates are too wide to accept. The objectives of this research were to find out the role of mass media in improving the quality of higher education and how far the same can be improved. …

Massachusetts Adult Basic Education And Esol Distance Learning Programs: How To Assess Student Readiness For Distance Learning?, Berna Kahraman, Amelia Mallona, Donna H. Friedman, Sarah Kuck Jalbert

Center for Social Policy Publications

This report presents the findings from the pilot screening process prepared by the Center for Social Policy (CSP) and implemented during December 2008-March 2009 by the adult basic education (ABE) online learning programs in MA which are funded by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE). The purposes of the pilot process were:

• To determine the effectiveness of screening tools in assessing participant characteristics, such as the skills, demographics, and life circumstances that are associated with success in online learning;
• To identify supports and interventions which students need in order to persist and succeed in online learning.

At the …

Does Sorting Make A Difference In The Sat’S Prediction Of Course Grades And Cumulative Gpa At Macalester College?, Yuen Ting Liu

Economics Honors Projects

This paper estimates the predictive power of the SAT for college success. Most studies use GPA as a proxy for college success, but GPA is subject to differing grading standards across instructors and departments. Using individual course grades of Macalester College students from 1996 to 2005, this paper uses fixed effects to control for students sorting themselves into particular departments and courses. After controlling for sorting by major, a general trend emerges: the Math SAT is more predictive for science and math-related social science majors while the Verbal SAT is more predictive for language majors. After controlling for sorting by …

Curriculum-Based Measures In Writing: A School-Based Evaluation Of Predictive Validity, Christina M. Terenzi

Dissertations

Recent research in the area of Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM) in writing has shown that traditionally used metrics, such as total words written and total words correct, may not be the best tools for measuring writing performance, for both secondary and elementary aged children (e.g., Gansle, Noell, VanDerHeyden, Naquin, & Slider, 2002; Tindal & Parker, 1989a; Watkinson & Lee, 1992). Evidence suggests that more advanced measures, such as production-independent measures (e.g., percentage of correct word sequences) may be stronger predictors of student skill level in the area of writing. The present study replicated portions of a recent seminal study and investigated …

Perceptions About Rollersoccer Youth Programs, June Solomon

Master's Projects and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to investigate the demand for structured

RollerSoccer Youth Programs and to examine the perceptions about this type of

Program. The market for RollerSoccer is untapped and unrepresented in the

world of sports. To date, there are no articles about the development of

RollerSoccer Youth Programs or scholarly work on marketing the emerging sport

of RollerSoccer. The RollerSoccer International Federation (RSIF), the governing

body for this fast‐paced, high scoring hybrid sport aims to expand its reach to

youth in diverse communities by developing this sports initiative.

Three hundred and ten youth participants from selected schools …

A Comparative Study Of High School Academic Paths, Grade Point Averages, And Act Composite Scores As Predictors Of Success At Walters State Community College., Jill C. Reuschel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With an overwhelming number of students attempting to enter college after high school, the competitive nature of college admissions continues to grow. Colleges and universities are attempting to find the appropriate means to adequately predict collegiate success. Common methods of this prediction have come from a variety of sources most of which are the use of high school performance and standardized college admissions testing. Walters State Community College was chosen for this study because of its open door admission policy that allows for variability in high school academic paths as well as grade point averages and ACT scores students earned …

A Quantitative Study Of School Characteristics That Impact Student Achievement On State Assessments And Those Assessments' Associations To Act Scores In Tennessee., Phillip L. Swanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a significant relationship exists between particular home, student, and school characteristics and ACT scores and the relationship these characteristics subsequently have with the TVAAS grades assigned to each high school's ACT scores. These home, student, and school variables were socioeconomic status, percentage of minority, graduation rate, per-pupil expenditure, Gateway English II scores, and Gateway Algebra I scores. By looking at these variables and the influence they hold on the education of students, I sought to ascertain the fairness that is present when schools and districts are given grades through the TVAAS …

An Analysis Of Data Collected From The 2007-2008 Tennessee State Report Card And The Variables Related To Science Test Results., Julia Lorie Lamons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement reading scores, school district per-pupil expenditures, school size, percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced-priced meals, and attendance were related to science TCAP test scores from the 2007-2008 school year. The data were gathered from an analysis of mean standardized test scores in reading and science of 8^th graders in 67 school systems comprising 181 schools located throughout Tennessee. One hundred eighty-one schools configured grades 6 through 8 were used in this study. Only 177 schools had reported attendance available on the Tennessee …