Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Analysis Of Campus Accessibility At The University Of Kentucky, Molly Mathistad

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

The paper reviews the accessibility satisfaction ratings and suggestions provided by University of Kentucky (UK) students who live with disabilities. A detailed survey was distributed to all students registered with the UK Disability Resource Center (DRC), inquiring about individual satisfaction with campus aspects such as the DRC, utilized accommodations, campus environment, student and faculty sensitivity, and the potential benefit of accommodation space(s) around campus. Participants listed dozens of potential solutions to problems which they and others face on campus daily, all of which are detailed in results sections of the paper. The most commonly mentioned issues included faculty sensitivity training, …

Scoring Reliability By Early Childhood Educators On A Curriculum Based Assessment, Brigid S. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate if early childhood educators could reliably score items using a new scoring system for the Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System for Infants and Children (AEPS; Bricker, 2002). The participants were university students completing their certification in Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE) at the University of Kentucky (UK). The six participants completed training on implementing the AEPS and administered the AEPS to measure child outcomes. The results of this study validated the new scoring system for the AEPS by illustrating that the participants could reliably score a curriculum based assessment.

Fuel Or Fizzle: The Role Of Collaboration Network Centrality On Teacher Burnout, Meredith Jane Brewer

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Professional burnout refers to the development of negative emotions, cynical thoughts, and physical and mental exhaustion as a response to stressors associated with one’s career. Within the teaching profession, professional burnout has been associated with an increase in teacher attrition. In an effort to promote a positive school environment where teachers feel supported and committed to the profession, many administrators have implemented structured collaborative opportunities within their buildings.

While personal relationships within the school network can provide a mitigating effect against professional burnout, the possibility exists that teacher leaders can be overcentralized and negatively impacted by the maintained relationships. By …

A Qualitative And Quantitative Study Of Required Internships: The Students’ Perspective, Elizabeth Ann James

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Internships are increasingly popular in higher education (Coco, 2000; Divine et al., 2007). One reason for the increase is the benefits, both perceived and documented, associated with them (Divine et al., 2007). In addition to offering internships as electives, some programs have even begun requiring them of all students (Klein & Weiss, 2011). The policy change from elective to required internships has been evaluated very little, if at all, even though mandatory internships result in a substantial increase in cost and commitment for the departments that implement them (Divine et al., 2007).

This study analyzed survey and interview data from …

Collaboratively - Led Living Learning Programs: An Exploration For How Collaboration Is Facilitated Between Student Affairs Units And Academic Affairs In Llps, Trisha Clement-Montgomery

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

According to Inkelas et al. (2008), Living Learning Programs (LLPs) that are collaboratively led by academic affairs and student affairs units tend to have a significant impact on student learning, when compared to students who participate in LLPs that are operated by one unit (Inkelas et al., 2008). Despite evidence that co-authored LLPs are beneficial to enhancing the LLP student experience, there is little to no research that explores how administrators facilitate collaboration between the units used to co-author the LLP student experience. For this reason, the focus of this study was to explore how administrators facilitate collaboration between academic …

[Review Of] Pedagogues And Protesters: The Harvard College Student Diary Of Stephen Peabody, 1767-1768. Edited By Conrad Edick Wright., John R. Thelin

Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Toward Assessment Leadership: Study Of Assessment Practices Among School And Classroom Leaders, Carrie Elizabeth Eubank Morris

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Traditionally, models of instructional leadership espouse data-informed decision making in response to student assessment outcomes as one of the core school leader behaviors. In recent years, rising expectations from accountability policies and related assessment practices have myriad implications for school districts, specifically in the areas of standards-driven reform, student assessment systems, and professional development models. As a result, demands on schools to collect and use student assessment data to inform curricular and instructional decisions has expanded. While principals are typically held responsible for school improvement efforts, more contemporary models of instructional leadership incorporate teachers as classroom-based leaders of assessment practices …

The Effects Of Overcrowding On Student Academic Performance In Kentucky High Schools, Maura Shirley

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Overcrowding in schools has been a popular topic reported by local newspapers across the state of Kentucky. Concerned parents often write letters to the editor, pleading their case for new school construction to alleviate the overcrowding that their students are facing. Approximately 27 percent of Kentucky high schools have experienced overcrowding for three consecutive years between 2002 and 2015. The National Center for Education Statistics reported in 2005 that only 18 percent of schools reported that they were overcrowded, a decrease from the 1999 study when 22 percent reported overcrowding. Overall, the problem of overcrowding is trending downward, but for …

Assessing Student Performance In Written Communication: An Evaluation Of The University Of Kentucky's Quality Enhancement Plan, Abigail Stockwell

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

University of Kentucky assessment findings reveal that UK undergraduate students are not meeting expectations in the area of written communication. More specifically, compared to other four-year institutions, UK students are not achieving expected levels of value-added from their junior to senior year in analytic writing tasks. In response to these findings, UK launched the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Presentation U – a multimodal communication training initiative. One of the initiative’s core components is the Faculty Fellows Program. Faculty members who choose to participate in the program receive training in oral, written, and visual communication instruction. UK has invested a great …

Assessing Stem Literacy In An Informal Learning Environment, Maureen Ann Lafemina Cavalcanti

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This mixed methods study investigated methods for assessing STEM literacy amongst middle grades students participating in an informal learning environment, specifically, a summer STEM camp. Adopting a situated perspective on STEM literacy, this dissertation employed psychometric techniques and discourse analysis to answer the overarching research question: How can STEM literacy amongst middle school students be assessed in the context of a summer STEM camp? An integrated review of literacy within and across STEM disciplines first offered a new direction for conceptualizing STEM literacy. With this understanding, subsequent research methods applied novel approaches for investigating STEM literacy in the context of …

Quality Measures Of Universities And The Determinants Of Tuition In South Korea, Young Hoon Ko

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

University tuition had increased in highly excess of the inflation rate from 1990s until 2008. Many people are wondering whether the quality of university education is proportional to the tuition level. Thus, this capstone project examines whether the quality measures in higher education can predict the tuition level.

After analyzing eight-year data of 146 private universities in South Korea, I get the result that university tuition is not a function of quality measures in terms of educational costs. However, tuition is a function of quality measures related with attractiveness, accomplishment, and satisfaction. Incoming student recruitment rate, and drop-out rate have …

Campus As Home: An Examination Of The Impact Of Student Housing At The University Of Kentucky In The Progressive Era, James W. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This dissertation explores how student housing impacted the college campus of the University of Kentucky in the Progressive Era. Student housing has long been part of the college ideal but lacked full engagement by many administrators. Through three examinations, housing will be shown to have directly influenced the administrative, social, and staffing elements of the college campus. The role student housing played in the interaction of political, rural, and sociological changes on the campus during the time period allows exploration in detail while addressing the changes within those areas of the state as well. While housing was an afterthought by …

The Departmental Work Lives Of Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty, Pamela Jane Clouse

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This qualitative phenomenological dissertation explored The Departmental Work Lives of Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty (FTNTT) at two public four-year universities located in the Southeastern region of the United States. This study is based on interviews with twelve (FTNTT) faculty members representing departments traditionally associated within the College of Arts and Sciences. This study found FTNTT faculty participants highly credentialed and reasonably satisfied in their positions. This study adds the descriptor heterogeneous to FTNTT faculty members’ job roles, work environments, daily engagements, and work experiences and contradicts existing literature that finds FTNTT faculty positions to be resource deficit and administratively non-supporting. …

Support Networks Of “Educational Pioneers”: A Methodological Approach For Examining The Impact Of A Residential Learning Community On First-Generation Students, Ryan R. Setari

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the use of social network analysis to examine the peer involvement and supportive relationships of students living within an exclusively first-generation RLC. Using network surveys targeted toward a first-generation population, the networks of first-year residents were visualized and measured. The supportive peer relationships that provided students with encouragement, validation, and academic assistance were identified, as well as the networks for friendship and study partnership. The networks identified for this study were examined to find if change occurred between the start and the end of the semester. Multiple regression QAPs were performed to …

The Exploration Of Teacher Efficacy And Influences Of Context At Two Rural Appalachian High Schools, Justin Aaron Blevins

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This study examines teachers’ sense of personal and collective efficacy in two similar schools in Appalachian communities that achieved different results regarding students’ accountability test scores. Prior work in teacher efficacy, which is predominantly quantitative, is extended by the addition of teacher interviews that explore how teachers define the problems they face regarding student performance and how they work individually and collectively on strategies to support students’ success. The findings support that teachers with higher levels of efficacy in their work are associated with higher levels of student success. Further, the study offers insights into how teachers perceive problems and …

Self-Authoring Gender Performance: A Narrative Analysis Of Gay Undergraduate Men, Casey Shadix

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The perspectives of gay men on college and university campuses is informed by a rich gay social history and extensive roots of community politics. The experiences of gay undergraduate men have been illuminated in segmented ways in scholarly literature to date. This narrative inquiry develops and advances those efforts by exploring how gay undergraduate men construct, experience, and make meaning of their gender as a population ascribing to both liberationist and assimilationist viewpoints. Data for this qualitative study were collected at one public, four-year research university in the southeastern United States in the fall 2015 semester using recorded personal interviews …

A Century Of Grading Research: Meaning And Value In The Most Common Educational Measure, Susan M. Brookhart, Thomas R. Guskey, Alex J. Bowers, James H. Mcmillan, Jeffrey K. Smith, Lisa F. Smith, Michael T. Stevens, Megan E. Welsh

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

Grading refers to the symbols assigned to individual pieces of student work or to composite measures of student performance on report cards. This review of over 100 years of research on grading considers five types of studies: (a) early studies of the reliability of grades, (b) quantitative studies of the composition of K–12 report card grades, (c) survey and interview studies of teachers’ perceptions of grades, (d) studies of standards-based grading, and (e) grading in higher education. Early 20th-century studies generally condemned teachers’ grades as unreliable. More recent studies of the relationships of grades to tested achievement and survey studies …

Setting A Standard For Chemistry Education In The Next Generation: A Retrosynthetic Analysis, Gregory T. Rushton, Andrew Dewar, Herman E. Ray, Brett A. Criswell, Lisa Shah

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Faculty Publications

A diverse and highly qualified chemistry teaching workforce is critical for preparing equally diverse, qualified STEM professionals. Here, we analyze National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data to provide a demographic comparison of the U.S. secondary chemistry teaching population in high-needs and non-high-needs public schools as well as private schools during the 2011–2012 academic year. Our analysis reveals that the chemistry teaching workforce is predominantly white and significantly lacks in-field degrees or certification across school types, though high-needs and private schools are most affected by this lack of teacher qualification. Given these results, we attempt …

Has The Elite Foundation Agenda Spread Beyond The Gates? An Organizational Network Analysis Of Nonmajor Philanthropic Giving In K-12 Education, Joseph J. Ferrare, Katherine Reynolds

Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation Faculty Publications

Previous research focusing on major philanthropic foundations suggests that these actors have collectively converged around a set of jurisdictional challengers promoting market-based education reforms. Using correspondence analysis, network analysis, and geographic information science, this article empirically tests whether this convergence has permeated to less prominent foundations and their grantees, or if these foundations are pursuing alternative organizational strategies to shape K–12 outcomes. The analysis draws from a sample of 15 nonmajor foundations and their 1,069 grantees serving some aspect of K–12 education in 2010. We find that nonmajor foundations have adopted some elements of major foundations’ organizational strategies to influence …

Intergenerational Education Mobility Trends By Race And Gender In The United States, Joseph J. Ferrare

Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation Faculty Publications

Researchers have examined racial and gender patterns of intergenerational education mobility, but less attention has been given to the ways that race and gender interact to further shape these relationships. Based on data from the General Social Survey, this study examined the trajectories of education mobility among Blacks and Whites by gender over the past century. Ordinary least squares and logistic regression models revealed three noteworthy patterns. First, Black men and women have closed substantial gaps with their White counterparts in intergenerational education mobility. At relatively low levels of parental education, these gains have been experienced equally among Black men …

Grading: Why You Should Trust Your Judgment, Thomas R. Guskey, Lee Ann Jung

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

Although computerized grading programs have advantages, teachers’ judgment has been shown to be more reliable.

Pre-Assessment: Promises And Cautions, Thomas R. Guskey, Jay Mctighe

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

To ensure that pre-assessment is worth the time and effort, keep these principles in mind.

Do College Rankings Matter? Examining The Influence Of “America’S Best Black Colleges” On Hbcu Undergraduate Admissions, Willis A. Jones

Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation Faculty Publications

College rankings have become a ubiquitous part of American higher education. As the popularity of rankings has increased, so have the number of research studies attempting to better understand the impact rankings have on college/university admissions outcomes. In the past, these studies have focused almost exclusively on elite national universities and liberal arts colleges. This study broadens research in this area by examining how the introduction of U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Black Colleges” section influenced undergraduate admissions among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The findings suggest that college rankings have little correlation with admissions outcomes …

Longitudinal Analysis For Ordinal Data Through Multilevel And Item Response Modeling: Applications To Child Observation Record (Cor), Zijia Li

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The large proportion of children from low SES backgrounds and the increasing achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers are beckoning national attention to investment in early childhood education (Reid, Kagan, Hilton, & Potter, 2015). As evidenced in many research studies (e.g., Heckman & Masterov, 2007), early childhood experiences are critical to the development of children. High-quality early learning is necessary for children, especially disadvantaged children, to narrow the school readiness gap and to build a foundation for more advanced academic, social, and cognitive skills. Importantly, high quality assessment tools (i.e., reliability and validity evidence supporting the …

Change In Perceived Teacher Self-Efficacy Of Agricultural Educators After A Greenhouse Management Workshop, Shari R. Dutton

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Agricultural educators encounter unique teaching challenges as they teach applications of plant production in the greenhouse classroom. The teacher self-efficacy construct has been used broadly to link student learning outcomes to teachers' beliefs in their ability to attain certain instructional goals in the classroom. Few studies have used this construct to examine teacher-efficacy in the greenhouse classroom. This study uses the teacher self-efficacy construct within the agricultural educator domain. It seeks to measure change in agricultural educator self-efficacy beliefs using established self-efficacy scales to determine if a professional development experience in greenhouse operation and management effects educator beliefs in their …

An Internal Evaluation Of A Health Program For Adults With Mild, Moderate, And Severe Intellectual Disabilities, Shelley C. Sellwood-Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Adults with intellectual disabilities are not only more likely to be obese, but they are also more prone to medical complications, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, thyroid disorder and osteoporosis. Therefore, health programs targeting this population are becoming more frequent in nature, and learning what makes such programs effective will be important in serving this population. A health program for adults between the ages of eighteen and forty with mild, moderate, and severe intellectual disabilities was evaluated in order to learn how the individual health program could be improved and in what ways the program itself could serve as a model …

An Evaluation Of The Techniques And Strategies For Recruiting African-Americans By 1862 Land-Grant Universities, Rashawn P. Franklin

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

As post-secondary education becomes more important for the American citizen to generate wealth, universities are struggling to retain and graduate African-Americans, the third-most represented demographic in the country, especially at predominately white colleges and universities. The Colleges of Agriculture at these particular institutions are struggling to even get Black students to apply, let alone graduate. One of the major issues is the disconnect between the African-American community and the idea of post-secondary education in the agricultural field. One way that disconnect can be combatted is new techniques and strategies in recruiting African-Americans. This study identifies three themes based on interviews …

School Characteristics: Impact On A Student's Post-Graduation Decision, Andrew Kidd

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Graduating high school seniors have several choices to make as they begin their transition to adulthood. Some of the most popular and studied choices are to attend college, enter the work force, or join the military. Past research is focused on the effects of demographic, socioeconomic status, or gender characteristics, but little is known about the effect that specific school characteristics have on a student’s post-graduation choice.

The purpose of this analysis is to answer the question “do school characteristics affect a high school student’s post-graduation choice?” In this analysis I use Kentucky school level data and a simple regression …

Guage Impact With Five Levels Of Data, Thomas R. Guskey

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

Effective professional learning evaluation requires consideration of five critical stages or levels of information (Guskey, 2000a, 2002a, 2005). These five levels represent an adaptation of an evaluation model developed by Kirkpatrick (1959, 1998) for judging the value of supervisory training programs in business and industry. The five levels in this model are hierarchically arranged, from simple to more complex. With each succeeding level, the process of gathering evaluation data requires more time and resources. And because each level builds on those that come before, success at one level is usually necessary for success at higher levels.

The Impact Of Bantuan Operasional Sekolah (Bos) Program: School Operational Assistance To The Household Expenditures In Education: A Case Study Of Indonesia, Anton Abdul Fatah

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Bantuan Operasional Sekolah (BOS) Program was launched in 2005 as a grant directly from the government to each school’s bank account based on the number of the students. The main goal of BOS is to cover school tuition in the public schools, lighten operational expenses in the private schools, and to provide free education for poor students, both in public and private schools. Since the BOS Program has been implemented nationally and the funding is granted based on the number of students, this study hypothesizes that the BOS Program will have an impact on the household expenditure in education. …