Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

The Role Development Of A Community College President’S Spouse, Tracy M. Mcgrady

Dissertations

The role of a community college president’s spouse can be an important one in the life of the college and in the success of the presidency, yet the role itself is often vaguely defined. This can cause frustration for a college president’s spouse because he or she experiences ambiguity by not knowing the expectations college stakeholders hold of the spousal role. This study explored the role uncertainties held by community college presidents’ spouses, the strategies they used to navigate their new role, and the conflicts they experience in the role as presidential spouse. A qualitative, grounded theory design was selected …

An Analysis Of The Academic Library And The Changing Role Of The Academic Librarian In Higher Education: 1975 – 2012, Candance L. Virgil

Dissertations

This document analysis examined the academic library and the changing role of the academic librarian in higher education. A comparison of the trends and issues reported by prominent librarians in the 20th century was made to those reported in the 21st century. Emphasis was placed on the following decades: 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in the 20th century and 2000s (through 2013) in the 21st century. Initial topics from the 20th century were selected from the cornerstone article, “College Libraries and the Teaching/Learning Process: A 25-Year Reflection” by Farber (1999). Farber, who was well known for research regarding bibliographic instruction at …

How About The Real Responders' Perceptions? A Comparative Case Study On School Principals' Perceptions Of School Administration Through Metaphors In Usa And Turkey, Ibrahim H. Karatas, Harun Parpucu

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Expectations of school administration changed dramatically over the course of the 20th century. Today, the roles and responsibilities of school administrators must be re-defined for success in the 21st century. The current research aimed at revealing the perception of school leadership by school administrators who were expected to cope with problems and enable students to succeed in the U.S. and Turkey. Comparative case study design was used to analyze and compare the U.S. and Turkey school administrators’ perceptions of school leadership through metaphors. The study sample consisted of 47 school administrators employed in K-12 schools in Turkey and the U.S. …

The Effect Of Manipulatives On Achievement Scores In The Middle School Mathematics Class, Elaine D. Doias

Dissertations

When applied to mathematics education, manipulatives help students to visualize mathematical concepts and apply them to everyday situations. Interest in mathematics instruction has increased dramatically over the past two decades with the introduction of virtual manipulatives, as opposed to the concrete manipulatives that have been employed for centuries. This quasi-experimental study proposed to explain the relationship between concrete and virtual manipulatives when used in a seventh-grade mathematics classroom. Using students’ mathematics composite scores on standardized and teacher-created assessments, it compared the effectiveness of using concrete manipulatives alone versus using a combination of concrete and virtual manipulatives. The foundational theory of …

Goal-Setting, Self-Monitoring, And Teacher-Student Conferences And The Relationship With Overall School Climate And Student Academic Achievement, Paul Thomas Godwin

Dissertations

Programs and reforms have come and gone in the educational arena with little impact on student performance. The problem at the school of study was the students’ perception of their sense of belonging and the sense of the school as a community and the students’ academic performance did not show adequate growth. The study took place in a mid-western suburban elementary school serving 440 students kindergarten through fifth grade. The significance of the study was to examine the impact of a Goal-Setting Worksheet, along with regular teacher-student conferences, as a strategy to improve the overall school climate and academic achievement …

Federal Education Laws And The Fine Arts, Kim R. Cavener

Dissertations

Due to federal laws requiring standardized testing of only a select few of the core subjects, many students have been divested of fine arts instruction (Chen, 2008; Garcia, 2010; Jacobsen & Rothstein, 2009; Maxwell, 2008; Suzuki, 2009). Moreover, school officials have reduced funding allocated to non-tested content areas as one means of balancing district budgets in a poor economy (Chen, 2008; Garcia, 2010). This mixed method study examined music educators’ and curriculum directors’ perceptions of how federal education laws have affected public school fine arts. Analysis of data from interviews of six music educators and six curriculum directors were conducted …

Ethical Practices Of Educational Administrators: A Nepalese Experience, Prakash C. Bhattarai

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Ethics is an important part of administrative behavior for a head schoolteacher. A school often proceeds in the path of success if it is led by an ethically sound leader. However, professional ethics are largely thought to emerge from the conscience of the administrator. This article is based on a study undertaken with the purpose of identifying how the ethics of educational administrators are practiced in public secondary schools in Nepal. The study was carried out using a humanistic paradigm with a series of in-depth interviews and focus group discussion through a phenomenological approach.

The study found that professional codes …

Engaging Disadvantaged Young People In The Course Of Their Lives: The Importance Of Staff/Student Relationships In Alternative Education, Carmel M. Hobbs, Jennifer Power

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Students who drop out, or disengage, prior to completing secondary education are at an increased risk of a range of poor social and well-being outcomes, and in turn experience reduced opportunities over the course of their lives. Although there is a body of literature identifying strategies within educational settings to counter risk factors for young people dropping out, little is known about perceptions of students in receipt of these strategies. This paper reports on a study conducted within a high school in Melbourne, Australia. Most students attending the school are at high risk of dropping out due to socio-cultural, behavioral, …

Number Of Courses, Content Of Coursework, And Prior Achievement As Related To Ethnic Achievement Gaps In Mathematics, Ernest C. Davenport Jr., Mark L. Davison, Yi-Chen Wu, Se-Kang Kim, Haijiang Kuang, Nohoon Kwak, Chi-Keung Chan, Alicia Ayodele

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This study utilized base-year and second follow-up data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 to investigate the relationship between eighth-grade math achievement, mathematics course-taking in high school, and twelfth-grade math achievement. Results suggested the following: 1) Type of coursework can be quantified. 2) Type of coursework was more predictive of achievement than amount. 3) There were substantial ethnic achievement differences prior to high school. 4) Number of courses, type of courses, and prior achievement were not equally predictive of twelfth-grade mathematics achievement across ethnic groups. 5) Prior achievement did not equally predict course-taking over ethnic groups in amount …

Global Educational Opportunities In The Emerging Information Society, Mikhail Bukhtoyarov, Anna Bukhtoyarova

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This paper addresses the issues of new educational opportunities available through the growing variety of web services. The study’s objective is to explore the perspectives of the global and regional educational projects with regard to the emerging global information society. Summarizing key characteristics of Web 2.0, the researchers raise questions that should be answered by the new pedagogy. Virtual educational communities, open e-learning resources, massive open online courses (MOOCs), and educational online competitions are discussed in terms of their influence on education. Describing global opportunities, the authors cover challenges for traditional educational systems.

Ple-Centered Education: The Next Boundary. Perceptions And Realities Behind Students Personal Learning Environments, Paz Prendes, Linda Castañeda

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

In this paper the authors discuss the results and implications of research regarding the building and perception of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) that they developed in the last four years. In addition, the authors discuss the next step of this research; the public funding project CAPPLE, on which they are currently working.

The Effect Of Pbis On The School Environment And Test Scores, Denise A. Buettner

Dissertations

Since the beginning of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) program in the Study School District there has not been an evaluation of its effectiveness in reducing student discipline referrals and student suspensions and its success in promoting a positive learning environment leading to improved academic achievement. This study determined the effectiveness of the Positive Behavior Interventions System (PBIS) in the Study School District. It focused on determining the fidelity and consistency of implementation of PBIS in the District, the effect of PBIS on reduction of office discipline referrals and student suspensions from school, teacher attitudes toward implementation of …

A Study Of Student Engagement Activities, Discipline Referrals, And Student Achievement In Reading First Schools, Shelly Lynette Fransen

Dissertations

High quality student engagement activities are essential if students are to be successful learners. Over the years, many instructional strategies and models have been devised to encourage teachers to develop student engagement activities that result in high achievement. The Reading First Model initiative was introduced as a part of the No Child Left Behind legislation and was implemented in hundreds of schools across the United States over the last twelve years. Yet, in 2009, federal funding for Reading First was eliminated. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between student achievement on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) …

Guns, Campus And The Courts, Joseph Cernik

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

The Newtown shooting opened up (again) the issue of guns on school grounds, both at the K-12 level and university level, and whether teachers and administrators should be armed. The Newtown shooting also focused attention again on the shootings at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. In that incident, 32 people were killed and 17 wounded on April 2007. The shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, a senior, ended his killing spree by committing suicide. Following Cho’s shooting spree, the National Rifle Association (NRA) created NRA-U, or National Rifle Association University, an organization that reaches out to college students interested …

Teacher Effectiveness Among Female Teachers In Primary And Secondary Schools In Southwestern Nigeria, Ireti Folasade Alao

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This study determined the level of female teachers’ effectiveness in primary and secondary schools and specific factors related to the effectiveness of female teachers in southwestern Nigeria. The teacher effectiveness rating scale was used in gathering data on a sample of 2,400 female teachers in selected Nigerian primary and secondary schools. The analysis of data shows that a high percentage (78.3%) of the teachers were effective. More specifically, 81.4% of the primary school female teachers were effective, while 75.1% of the secondary school female teachers were effective. The difference in effectiveness was found to be statistically significant (t =4.93, p …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Principals' Self Perceptions Of Curricular And Instructional Leadership: Evidence From Ohio, Jeffrey Bucher, W. Kyle Ingle

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

In this study, the researchers sought to determine the relationship between principals’ characteristics, their schools’ characteristics, and the dependent variable—principals’ perceptions of their own curricular and instructional leadership (CIL). The researchers found significant and positive relationships between principal characteristics and CIL, including gender (female) and years of principal experience (p<.01). Principals with prior teaching experience in suburban schools were significantly related to increases in CIL compared to their counterparts with prior teaching experience in charter schools (p<.05). With regard to school-level characteristics, a unit increase in the percentage of African-American students was significantly and positively related to an increase in CIL. However, a unit increase in the percentage of Hispanic students was significantly related to a decrease in CIL.

Closing The Gap? Persistent Underperformance Of Black Minorities In Former Whites-Only Sa Schools, L. M. Dreyer, Sam Singh

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This paper is based on a study that explored the life experiences of Xhosa-speaking learners as a minority in a former whites-only school in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The focus was specifically on the factors that contribute to the continued poor academic performance of this minority group within the school. Identifying and understanding these factors as challenges to academic success can help teachers and schools provide appropriate support structures to maximize the potential of these learners. Research has shown that programs of support will only be effective if they appreciate and cater to the needs of the …

An Exploration Of Educational Leadership In Part C Of Idea: Voices From The Field, Diana J. Larocco

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Given the complexities of providing intervention services and supports to families of infants and toddlers with disabilities birth through 2 years of age, building educational leadership capacity from within the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part C is important. Nevertheless, this area of educational leadership is woefully understudied. This article provides a summary of key themes that emerged from a qualitative survey of 44 identified educational leaders from seven states and various levels of the Part C program. Participants’ understanding of effective leadership clustered into three areas: technical-functional knowledge …

Support For School Leadership: Who Is Feeding The Principal?, Barbara Stacy Rieckhoff

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Neila Connors’ well-known book, If You Don’t Feed the Teachers, They Eat The Students (2000), serves as a favorite read for new and aspiring principals. It contains much sage advice for mentoring teachers and supporting their transition in the profession while offering wisdom to protect them from the ills and evils of the outside world. While the entertaining style gets the point across, the message underscores the fact that supporting teachers is a key role of a school administrator. Since the book was published, tremendous strides have been made to provide teachers, both new and veteran, resources to mentor and …

Will Implementing A Research Based Dese Approved Early Childhood Program Have An Effect On The School Readiness Of Prekindergarten Students, Stephanie Small

Dissertations

The purpose of this comparative study was to examine the connection between the implementation of a quality early childhood program and the kindergarten readiness of prekindergarten students as measured by the Developmental Indicators for Assessment of Learning-DIAL-3. The researcher analyzed historical data obtained from approximately 40 students in the Study Site School District in the prekindergarten programs at Woodbridge Elementary School for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years. The researcher developed two research questions: a) What impact does a MODESE approved, research-based early childhood program have on the kindergarten readiness of prekindergarten students in the Study-Site School District as measured …

Examining The Teacher Perceptions, Implementations, Barriers, And Benefits Associated With The Missouri Reading Initiative, Christie L. Rodgers

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of first-generation college students and learn why they believed they persisted to graduation. First generation students are students whose parents did not attend college. Research literature on the topic reflects a the concern for first-generation students and their decreased likelihood of graduating college but the problem is there is a lack of information exploring why first-generation students believe they persisted to graduation. The research questions were: Who are the first-generation students at Midwestern University (MWU) who have persisted to graduation as measured by those who applied to graduate? When comparing …

Taking The Right Path: A Two-Year Journey Through School Turnaround By Katherine O., Katherine O. Chambers

Dissertations

The researcher conducted a statistical examination of a two-year journey through school turnaround to identify factors that had a direct impact on student performance on state exams. Following 31 students through sixth and seventh grades, the researcher collected data in alignment with five target areas for school improvement defined by the state of Missouri: (1) student performance, (2) highly qualified staff, (3) facilities, support and instructional resources, (4) parent and community involvement, and (5) governance and leadership. Applying ANOVA and z-tests at a 95% confidence interval, the researcher analyzed the data to examine for statistically significant differences in scores on …

Structuring A Teacher Education Program For Faculty Collaboration And Second-Order Change, Tammy V. Abernathy, Shanon S. Taylor

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

The purpose of this paper is to describe the structure and functions of an integrated elementary special education undergraduate teacher program (Integrated Elementary/Special Education Teacher Education Program, ITEP). By abandoning our old “enhancement model” of teacher education, we redesigned our program into a “merged model.” We examine this restructuring from the perspective of first- and second- order change, and we discuss the obstacles we found that prohibit meaningful second-order change. Finally, we briefly discuss how our experiences in designing ITEP and our state’s devastating fiscal crisis have affected our teacher-education programs and nudged us into more authentic second-order changes.

Plcs: Student Outcomes Evaluation In A Midwest High School, Kelly E. Dickinson

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This study was an evaluation of student outcomes following a five-year implementation of PLCs at Midwest High School in the U.S. Three research questions were addressed: (1) Has student achievement increased during the course of implementing PLCs? If so, is there evidence that this is a result of a contribution from PLC implementation from 2006-2011? (2) Have teacher attitudes toward curriculum rigor, public image, quality of education, and post-high school preparedness changed during the implementation of PLCs from 2006-2011? (3) Is the staff, in April 2011, a mature PLC? For research question one, eight hypotheses resulted in the evaluation of …

University Presidents' Perspectives Of The Knowledge And Competencies Needed In 21st Century Higher Education Leadership, Sydney Freeman Jr., Frances K. Kochan

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

The purpose of this study was to identify the core knowledge and competencies needed for executive leadership in higher education administration as perceived by university presidents. Thirteen presidents shared the knowledge and competencies they perceived as being essential for an effective presidency. The respondents identified the important knowledge areas as: foundational; acquisition of cultural knowledge; and complex cognitive. They viewed personal attributes, management, and communications as the essential competency areas. The study found that presidents viewed themselves both as leaders and as managers.

Results of this study should be helpful to organizations seeking to develop and/or implement degree programs to …

Principals' Emotional Intelligence And Its Impact On Adequate Yearly Progress, Evelyn Henry, Warren Hope

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Colleges and universities prepare candidates with theory and leadership scenarios, enabling them to become leaders of successful schools. However, some principals do not lead their schools to success. Cognizant of this reality, it would be beneficial to know why principals with equivalent leadership training often experience different outcomes of school success based upon student academic achievement. The literature claims that emotional intelligence influences leadership in an organization. Indeed, some scholars assert that leaders who possess high levels of emotional intelligence have a greater effect on their organizations than their counterparts who have lower levels of emotional intelligence.

This research sought …

Project Search: Work-Based Transition Program For Young Adults With Disabilities, Teresa D. Green

Dissertations

Historically people with significant disabilities were restricted to places such as adult activity centers, sheltered workshops, nursing homes, and institutions. Studies have shown the high school drop-out rate for this population is higher than those who are non-disabled. Policy makers concluded that these individuals needed to be better prepared for a successful adult life beyond high school. Individuals with developmental disabilities in the state of Missouri are over two times less likely to be employed than the national average. Laws have been passed to provide supports and services for individuals with disabilities to be as independent as possible. This paper …

Comparing The Effectiveness Of Two Models Of College Summit Programs In An Urban School Setting, Wanda Davis

Dissertations

The inclusion of college preparation programs promote and forecast academic success in postsecondary studies among individual at-risk, African American urban high school students. Past research has shown ongoing, college acceptance, performance, and graduation gaps between at-risk, African American urban high school students when compared to affluent, Caucasian suburban high school students. The College Summit program is designed to help close this gap. The study compared two models of the College Summit Program in one urban school setting. The study evaluated the effect that pre-college preparation activities had on these dependent variables: completion of postsecondary planning activities, end-of-year GPA, awards of …

Inter-Agency Coordination: The Key To Successfully Transition Juvenile Offenders Back Into The Educational Mainstream, Robyn Beth Gordon

Dissertations

The focus of this study was to determine the characteristics of successful re-entry programs for youth as they transition back into the educational mainstream. The study was also used to determine the implementation needed for effective inter-agency coordination of social service systems for students to successfully transition into the educational setting. The NCLB accountability measures were reviewed to discover how the measures influenced educators and created a reluctance to accept delinquent youth when they re-enter public school. The three overarching questions addressed in this study were: What inter-agency involvement is necessary in implementing a successful re-entry program? What are the …

A Content Analysis To Investigate The Evidence Of 21st Century Knowledge And Skills Within Elementary Teacher Education Programs In The United States, Mary Margaret Ruettgers

Dissertations

Are graduates of teacher preparation programs adequately prepared with the skills and knowledge to teach in the 21st century classroom? This study consisted of a quantitative content analysis to investigate the presence of 21st century knowledge and skills within a stratified random sample of teacher preparation programs in the United States as measured by the 21st Century Learning Framework. Based on the current literature, the researcher identified 21st century competencies: global awareness; digital competencies; critical thinking; collaboration; cross-cultural; communication; and problem solving. For null hypothesis numbers two through eight, the researcher determined how closely the institution’s mission statements, course descriptions, …