Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

The Effects Of Schema-Based Instruction On Solving Mathematics Word Problems, Scarlet Hughes, Joshua Cuevas Dr.

Georgia Educational Researcher

The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency with which students use math word problem strategies during and after schema-based instruction. It examines the extent to which students increase their ability to correctly solve word problems. It compares students’ attitudes toward mathematics problem solving before and after schema-based instruction. The study was conducted in a resource class with seven second-grade students on individualized education programs (IEPs). A single-subject research design was used. The schema-based instruction was implemented by the special education teacher in a small group setting. Students showed an increase in attempted and correct strategy use during …

The Lived Experiences Of First-Generation College Students Of Color Integrating Into The Institutional Culture Of A Predominantly White Institution, Talisha L. Adams, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

As many colleges and universities continue to increase their enrollment and diversification of their student body, the number of first-generation college students of color will continue to rise. Colleges have been charged with the challenge of not only enrolling this student population but also ensuring that they are connected to the university and persist to graduation. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of first-generation college students of color at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). This study utilized individual in-depth interviews and a focus group to examine how first-generation students of color experienced college …

Read, Write, Rhyme: Increasing Reading Performance With Hip-Hop Texts, Crystal Monique Lavoulle

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation describes the Harlem Renaissance to Hip Hop Movement, a literacy program that uses best practices in literacy instruction to improve reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing. Moving beyond educational hip-hop songs and videos, this presentation offers insight into effective ways to increase Georgia Milestone Assessment scores in both English language arts and social studies using a variety of hip-hop texts.

Building An Ecosystem Of Support: An Evaluation Of North Dakota’S Community School Programs, Mckenzie Haines, Shelby Hubach, Jeanette Joyce, Betty Li Simpson, Lucy K. Fredericks, Lyndsi Engstrom, Nathan C. Anderson

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Community school programs respond to students’ nonacademic needs so that they can focus on their learning. This session highlights a collaboration of organizations across North Dakota as they implement two community school programs. A shared evaluation plan supports the implementation of the two programs and will provide data to improve services provided to students.

Instructional Scaffolding Of The Acrl Framework For Information Literacy For Developmental Learners., Fabio Montella

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Information literacy has become a necessary set of abilities for community college students to possess in this age of digital distribution. The plethora of information that is generated at an almost instantaneous rate has brought about the need for an information-literate student body with the ability to both decipher and utilize viable and valid information. However, the attainment of such abilities requires the comprehension of information literacy core concepts. These concepts, while instrumental, may be difficult to grasp without a foundation of practical familiarity, especially for students in developmental education courses.

In this presentation, Fabio Montella, Assistant Professor of Library …

Developing And Transitioning Faculty To Online Teaching, Barbara Serianni

SoTL Commons Conference

In the midst of decreasing trend in postsecondary enrollment, enrollment in fully online programs continues to trend upward (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Given the persistent growth of online learning in higher education as the result of adding fully online courses to traditional on-campus programs of study and the persistent development of new fully online programs, the question of instructional effectiveness must be asked. Are faculty in traditional 4-year public universities prepared to effectively deliver online instruction and support the needs of online students? If they are, how were they prepared? If they are not, how can they be prepared?

Critical Teaching Behaviors: What Does "Good" Teaching Look Like?, Lauren M. Barbeau, Claudia Cornejo Happel

SoTL Commons Conference

How can faculty and administrators identify and document evidence of “good” teaching? Defining “good” teaching as the implementation of evidence-based practices proven to foster success, we developed a Critical Teaching Behaviors framework consisting of six categories of observable behaviors: alignment, assessment, inclusive learning environment, student engagement, educational technology, and reflective practice. We will present an overview of the meta-analysis conducted to construct the framework, participants will then use the framework to reflect on their teaching practice before providing feedback on its design and usefulness in documenting effective teaching behaviors at their institutions.

The Impact Of An Intensive Blended Learning Reading Intervention On Standardized Assessment Scores, Ashley M. Snyder

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The current study documents the effects of the Language! Live intensive, blended learning reading intervention on the Georgia Milestones Assessment Lexile Scores. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of an intensive blended learning reading intervention on the standardized assessment scores of middle school students who were at least two grade levels behind in reading at a Title I school in Georgia and aimed to establish if students who were significantly below grade level could make growth with the assistance of an intensive blended learning reading intervention. The study included the data of 133 students in two …

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 …

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 …

Aware I Am Alone: Intersections Of Solitude And Mindfulness, Richard Cleveland

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

This paper explores the relationship between solitude and mindfulness. Parallels between the two constructs exist, allowing them to complement each other in furthering the well-being of individuals and communities. Three perspectives through which mindfulness may assist in forming foundational understandings of solitude are presented; these comprise Theoretical, Practice, and Research. The Theoretical lens provides introductory understandings of both solitude and mindfulness. On this basis, integral parallels between the two constructs are outlined. Next, Practice reviews solitude that is fostered through mindfulness practices. Further, additional models for recognizing solitude as a part of mindfulness are proposed. Finally, Research …

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, …

Conference Program 2020, Sotl Commons Conference

SoTL Commons Conference

Conference Program

Strengthening Middle School Students’ Commitment To Social Justice Issues: Building Connections With Teacher Education Candidates, Anne Katz

Curriculum, Foundations & Reading: Faculty Publications

This article was published in Dragon Lode.

Physical Therapists' Perspectives Of School Functioning For Children With Cerebral Palsy (Cp), Vevian Grace A. Lee

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this study was to use a qualitative participatory action research method – Photovoice – to identify perceived barriers and facilitators to school functioning among school-based physical therapists of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Seven physical therapists made up the participants in this study. The researchers followed the nine-step methodology recommended for Photovoice. During the training session, participants were educated on the background of Photovoice and the purpose of the study. They were given 14 days to take photographs after which researchers used a focus group interview structured by the SHOWeD method. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability …

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 …

Reliability Analysis Of Complementary Assessment Tools For Measuring Teacher Candidate Dispositions, Winifred C. Nweke, Tasha P. Perkins, Comfort Y. Afolabi

Georgia Educational Researcher

Assessing the dispositions of teacher candidates remains a challenge for many Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs). This article details the process and results of establishing the reliability of two complementary instruments, the Candidate Beliefs Self-Assessment Survey (SAS) and the Candidate Dispositions Performance Assessment Rubric (CDPA). The instruments are linked through the same dispositional themes that undergird the indicators in the CDPA and belief statements in the SAS. Internal consistency reliability coefficients were determined using Cronbach’s alpha for SAS (0.81) and the CDPA (0.96). In addition, inter-rater reliability coefficient of 0.80 was determined for CDPA using Intraclass correlation (ICC) method based on …

Hopscotch 2.0: An Enhanced Version Of The Model For The Generation Of Research Designs In Social Sciences And Education, Ivan M. Jorrín Abellán

Georgia Educational Researcher

The development of educational research designs might be daunting for novice researchers that have to make choices among the plethora of philosophical frameworks, research traditions, and different methods existing in the field. In this article we describe the process followed to formally evaluate Hopscotch, a model and a web-tool created by the author in 2015 to help novice researchers in the generation of solid and well-informed qualitative research designs. To do so, a responsive evaluation based on case study methods was conducted. The obtained results led us build a new 2.0 version of the Hopscotch's web-tool overcoming the limitations identified …

Educational Leadership Doctoral Faculty Academic Qualifications And Practitioner Experiences In Georgia, Steven Tolman, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Deborah Evans

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose

This study examined doctoral faculty of educational leadership within the state of Georgia in the United States. The aim was to illustrate the academic qualifications and practitioner experiences of the faculty that develop students in educational leadership programs to be scholarly practitioners and future educational leaders.

Background

Faculty of educational leadership programs prepare their students to hold imminent senior leadership roles in P-12 school administration and higher education administration. In this apprenticeship model, doctoral faculty utilize their academic qualifications and/or practitioner experiences to develop students into scholarly practitioners.

Methodology

A descriptive quantitative study utilizing content analysis was conducted to …

An Examination Of K-12 Teachers’ Assessment Beliefs And Practices In Relation To Years Of Teaching Experience., Aslihan Unal, Zafer Unal

Georgia Educational Researcher

This study compared K-12 teachers’ assessment beliefs and practices in relation to their years of teaching experience. The data for this study was collected from 87 public school teachers. The findings suggest that as the teachers’ years of experience increases, the value they place in assessment increases as well.

Literacy-Based Action Research: Strategies For Improving Student Achievement, Anne Katz Ph.D., Deborah Jaudon, Danielle Russell, Jennifer Formby

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

The presentation will highlight literacy-based action research projects by three Reading Specialist M.Ed. graduate students. The topics of enhancing struggling readers’ vocabulary development using technology; effects of technology during summer school on student promotion; as well as infusion of dialogue and metacognitive strategies to promote self-efficacy and early reading success were explored. Tools for attendees to implement the process of action research in their own classroom will be outlined.

A Meta-Assessment Of An Institution's Administrative Assessment Processes, Cynthia Groover

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Many institutions establish assessment teams to assist faculty in developing their knowledge of and confidence in conducting academic program assessment, and some extend these teams to address administrative and student affairs assessment as well. These teams may function as more formal distributed leadership models, as described by Spillane (2006), or they may be less formal groups with little or no leadership roles. Regardless of their level of formality, these teams are often used to implement other resources such as rubrics, peer review, and feedback, but the effectiveness of these resources and processes is not commonly reviewed through an intentionally designed …

A Study On Science Achievement And Motivation Using Computer-Based Simulations Compared To Traditional Hands-On Manipulation, Stacey L. Hannel, Joshua Cuevas

Georgia Educational Researcher

This study was conducted to investigate whether or not computer-based simulations had a greater impact on science achievement compared to traditional hands-on methods for middle school students in an on-level science course. The study also sought to determine if either method had an impact on retention as well as motivation. The participants in the study were 6^th grade students attending a public middle school in suburban metro-Atlanta. A variety of statistical analyses were utilized to measure science achievement, retention, and motivation. Results indicated that there was no significant difference on science achievement between the traditional hands-on method and the …

A Multicultural Education Praxis: Integrating Past And Present, Living Theories, And Practice, Peggy A. Shannon-Baker

Curriculum, Foundations & Reading: Faculty Publications

In our current climate of heightened conservatism and criticism, multicultural education is as important as ever. This article argues for the need to reframe multicultural education as a praxis based on its social justice- oriented principles, values, and practices. Using practitioner action research, I examine my implementation of such a praxis in a college course. I discuss critical reflections on demonstrating the interconnections between current and historical social movements, theory and lived experiences, and the students’ and my learning. I conclude by arguing that reframing multicultural education as a praxis could encourage more coalitions within and beyond schools.

The Importance Of Automaticity Development In Mathematics, Austin T. Baker, Josh Cuevas

Georgia Educational Researcher

This study examined whether students were reaching automaticity with single digit multiplication facts. A fourteen question interview was used to collect data. The first three questions asked the student basic information about themselves and their current math teacher. The next seven questions were math facts. The math facts chosen for the interview were a range of difficulty, starting with a simple problem like 1 x 9 and increasing in difficulty to 6 x 9. The last four questions were open-ended with the intent of gaining insight into whether the students were using strategies to complete the problems or if they …

Women's Education: An International Perspective, Nneka B. Dean

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this study is to dissect a topic that is heavily discussed around the world: women’s education and the many diverse ways in which it is practiced. One of the reasons women’s education is such a highly-debated topic is because there are still many differences in how people believe it should be accomplished while other places do not see the advantage or purpose of educating women. There are many countries with male dominated enrollment because of the women’s traditionally-held gender role of staying at home or because the family’s socioeconomic status. This study compared the experiences of women’s …

Academic Engagement, Motivation, Self-Regulation, And Achievement Of Georgia Southern University Sophomore Students, John O. Lemay Iv

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Research has shown that engagement, motivation, self-regulation, and their individual effects on student achievement are established factors that influence college students’ success. However, what is less clear are these variables’ relationships and their collective influence on achievement. Since students face unique trials as they persist through college, consideration of these relationships and their effect on the achievement of all students is necessary. There is a widening achievement gap between sexes; females have now passed males in enrollment, persistence, and graduation rates. Previous research in this area has been largely centered on undergraduate female students in their freshman year, but the …

Technology And Student Achievement In Stem Subjects: Perspectives From Teachers In Grades 3rd-5th, Kayleigh D. Hunter

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this study is to research teachers’ perspectives of their role and responsibilities of integrating technology in the classroom and the influence of technology on student achievement. The participants involved in the qualitative research process included seven in-service professional public school teachers. The thirty minute to an hour interviews were piloted using researcher created interview question constructed from previous research on teachers’ perceptions of technology. The questions used were created to specifically answer the researcher’s topic of study; some questions are regarding whether teachers believe success is technology driven and what benefits they think technology brings. The teachers …

Reimagining The Stacks: Classroom Technology And Library Collaboration For Writing In The Disciplines, Jossalyn Larson, Daniel C. Reardon

Journal of Student Success in Writing (Archived)

This article details the process by which one university redesigned a first year writing course to better promote discipline-specific and best-practice research techniques. The program offers experiential learning activities through scholarly collaboration, using library staff as mentors, producing an open-access peer-reviewed student journal, and emphasizing face-to-face interaction of peer research communities. It has the potential to establish for students in high school, community colleges and universities that research writing is fundamentally about joining and contributing to a conversation.