Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Standards-Based Grading In The Culinary Arts Classroom, Kathryn Bart

All Master's Theses

Student and teacher perceptions of both traditional grading and standards-based grading were studied. One class period of 11 students participated in 3 weeks of traditional grading and 3 weeks of standards—based grading. As the teacher, I documented and categorized my observations of student achievement and independence during the labs. Following the final week of standards—based grading, students provided their perceptions through a questionnaire. Results showed support for the use of standards—based grading from both the student and teacher perspectives.

Teacher Acceptability Of Curriculum Based Measurement As A Universal Screener In Reading, Brooke Adams

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to extend the existing literature concerning teacher perception of acceptability of universal screening, specifically examining the use of Curriculum Based Measurements (CBM) as a universal screening tool in reading. Eighty-three first through fifth grade teachers from Washington State participated in an online survey utilizing the Acceptability Rating Profile – Revised (APR-R), a 6-point Likert scale measuring practitioner acceptability for a tool. The APR-R was revised to reflect the use of CBM measuring Oral Reading Fluency as a universal screener with response options ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). In the present …

Behavioral Skills Training To Train Teachers To Conduct A Brief Functional Analysis, Rachel O'Connor, Rachel E. O'Connor

All Master's Theses

Teachers are required to be a part of behavioral assessments for children in special education classrooms. Most teachers lack the tools needed to specifically address each child’s individual need appropriately. To assist with this, a brief functional analysis was taught to teachers using behavioral skill training. Using written instructions, role-play, modeling and immediate feedback each of the teachers were taught how to conduct a brief functional analysis. While conducting this, the teachers were able to learn how to identify which function of behavior was providing enough reinforcement to maintain the challenging behaviors. Behavioral skills training was conducted with the experimenter …

Piano Music As A Behavioral Intervention At The Ellensburg, Wa Developmental Preschool, Christopher Hull

All Master's Theses

Limited empirical support presently exists for the use of music as a behavioral intervention for students with disabilities. The purpose of this research was to study whether the social behaviors of children enrolled in a developmental preschool classroom changed in response to live piano music. The principal investigator hypothesized an increase in dyadic and/or other group-oriented play in the presence of live piano music, compared to when no piano music played. This eight-week study used a single-subject, A-B-A-B-C withdrawal design and a 30-second partial interval sampling procedure to sequentially observe and analyze the frequency of six operationally defined behaviors among …

Website Accessibility Compliance At Research Institutions, Jonathan D. Mcgough

All Master's Theses

Three websites from 34 research institutions were evaluated on six measures of website accessibility. All but one institution had at least one website fail the accessibility assessment, and the single institution that performed well had recently been investigated by the Department of Justice regarding the accessibility of its website. This study concludes that while disability service offices do perform better than institutional homepages and admissions websites on measures of accessibility, many websites are plagued by perennial accessibility concerns such as images that lack alternate descriptions and content inaccessible to individuals using keyboard navigation or screen reader software.

Intentional Recruiting: Using Business Intelligence, Data Mining, And Predictive Analytics To Identify Characteristics Of Those Students Who Enroll, And Graduate; In Support Of University Enrollment Management, Stephanie L. Harris

All Master's Theses

Using business intelligence (BI) and archival data from a division II, public comprehensive, university in Washington State, the researcher identified specific characteristics of those students who enrolled, persisted and completed to undergraduate degree attainment. These characteristics created an applicant profile to be used in future enrollment management activities for intentional recruiting, while the predictive models for enrollment and completion inform administration to improve tuition revenue planning and budgeting, and to forecast future enrollment yield.

Exploring And Evaluating The Pedagogical Usefulness Of Online Public Language Corpora: A Guide For Esl/Efl Teachers, Karlyn Koughan-Thornburg

All Master's Theses

In recent years, ESL and EFL teachers have experimented with using language corpora as pedagogical tools. Corpora have proved useful for providing examples of authentic language use that help deepen both students' and teachers' understanding of contemporary English. Due to the increasing number of available online corpora, teachers who wish to use corpora as pedagogical tools may find the choices overwhelming. This study compared three online corpora of Contemporary American English in terms of their usability for certain types of searches. The corpora chosen for this study were the Google Books Ngram Corpus, the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English …

Implementation Of Response In Intervention, Samuel T. Johnson

All Master's Theses

Response to Intervention (Rtl) represents an alternative approach to traditional models of assessment and placement of struggling students in the American public education system. While Rtl can be difficult for schools to develop and implement, it offers more sensitive and long-term assessments, as well as, individualized services for all students. Schools may lack the resources and ability to maintain control of educational variables, making high-quality assessment of students and implementation of research ­based interventions a challenge. The purpose of the current study was to survey Washington State school psychologists to investigate, from their perspectives, current practices, beliefs, and demographic characteristics. …

Promoting Children's Writing For Publication, Minnie Mary Mckay Merrill

All Master's Theses

The main emphasis of this project was a description of a writing program "Promoting Children's Writing for Publication" as it evolved at Grass Lake Elementary School, Kent School District, Kent, Washington.

Pre-Academy Placement In The Washington State Patrol: Factors Associated With Academy And Job Performance, Richard Franklin Hamack

All Master's Theses

Washington State Patrol Trooper Cadets serve in a number of positions, a number of locations across the state and for varying lengths of time before they are selected to attend the academy. The purpose of the present research was to determine whether these factors were related to subsequent academy performance and job performance.

To that end, 255 cadets hired between 1979 and 1985 were studied. The results indicated that only pre-academy assignment duration was significantly correlated with academy completion and academy performance. Implications for further research and departmental policy are discussed.

Computers And The School Principal, Paul Henry Nelson

All Master's Theses

The presence of the microcomputer in society and education is on the increase. This study compared the expertise and use of computers by elementary principals, to the availability and attitudes of its implementation by the teaching staff. A questionnaire elicited data from principals and revealed that they indirectly influenced the increase of computer use by teachers by providing inservice opportunities, workshops, and courses, and directly influenced them by providing personal encouragement. Several recommendations were made concerning administrative use of computers.

The Pre-First Transition Room Program, Jeffrey Scott Peck

All Master's Theses

The pre-first transition room program was studied. Characteristics, philosophies, testing procedures, and reading programs were described. Twenty schools in Educational Service District 171 were surveyed to determine attitudes and the type of pre-first programs available in the Educational Service District. Twenty pre-first students were observed throughout the 1986-87 school year to determine social, emotional, and academic growth. Results indicated similar immature characteristics were displayed by developmentally young children. Pre-first programs are similar in philosophy, goals, and curriculum design. Pre-first programs can provide developmental activities which meet individual needs of pre-first children.

The Homeschool Enrichment Center: A Handbook For Implementation, Linda Maude Anderson

All Master's Theses

A handbook was compiled, explaining how to implement an enrichment center for homeschooled children. The author coordinated an educational enrichment center in Bremerton, to meet certain needs of home educated children and their parents in the community. Research was also done on two other home school enrichment centers. The handbook, written to answer many inquiries on how to start up similar enrichment centers in other communities, covered what an enrichment center is, how to organize and begin one, costs, schedules, qualifications, descriptions, questions and answers.

A Measure Of Student Attitude Toward Physical Activity At Central Washington University, Timothy D. Clark

All Master's Theses

The attitudes of students who were involved in service courses offered by the Physical Education Department of Central Washington University during the Winter Quarter of 1984 were given G. S. Kenyon's Attitude Toward Physical Activity inventory. The results showed that attitudes for male and female tested were similar within the six domains of the inventory, even though a wide variation of response was obtained in the individual domains by each sex group.

Silent Reading Before Oral Reading On The Iri: Implication For Diagnosis And Instruction, Catherine P. Benedetti

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of silent pre-reading on the number of oral reading errors a student makes on an IRI. Twenty children read passages silently and then orally read passages without pre-reading. The results supported the null hypothesis that there would be no statistically significant difference on oral reading performances for disabled second and fourth graders. Implications for diagnosis and instruction are discussed.

Selection Procedure Utilized By Second-Class School Districts In Making Appointments To The Principalship In Washington State, Keith W. Morris

All Master's Theses

One hundred fifty-eight (158) superintendents of second-class school districts in Washington State were surveyed to determine the selection procedures utilized in the appointment to the principalship. A survey questionnaire was developed and divided into five steps of the selection procedure. The results of the survey questionnaire indicate that the selection procedure varies tremendously and no consistent procedures were found among the school district superintendents surveyed.

Analysis Of Some Variations In Method Of Performing The Push-Up Among College Women, Clifford T. Mito

All Master's Theses

This study utilized 90 college women from Central Washington University to determine if there are significant differences in strength scores between Rowney Knees-on Push-up Method and three body position variations and cadences. The main outcome of this research reflected two significant differences between Rowney's method and body position and cadences. No significant differences were found between experimental body position variations and cadences. The results of this study confirm the hypothesis that changes in push-up technique may produce significant differences in strength scores.

Adjustment Of South African Education Program Students And South African Higher Education Program Students In America, Ronald T. September

All Master's Theses

The self-perceived adjustment of black South African undergraduate and graduate students in two educational exchange programs in America was investigated by means of a questionnaire administered through the mail during Fall 1985. Sixty-one female and male students at various American institutions participated in the study. The results showed that students perceived themselves to have achieved a high level of personal, social and academic adjustment, and that the undergraduate females, graduate females, undergraduate males and graduate males do not differ significantly in their perceived adjustment. Recommendations for further adjustment strategies are put forward.

Absenteeism Trends In The North Franklin School District From 1974 To 1985, Gail A. Thompson

All Master's Theses

This study is concerned with the question: Is there a trend toward an annual increase in certificated absenteeism in the North Franklin School District, Connell, Washington, and does any such change parallel trends as identified in the literature?

An Analysis Of Parental Rights In The Education Of Their Children, Marylou Brain Mundy

All Master's Theses

This study presents an analysis of the parental rights involved in the selection and direction of the education of their children.

Six kinds of source materials are examined in the study: (1) legal citations, annotations, and digests; (2) constitutions, laws, codes, statutes, rules, regulations, policies, and proceedings; (3) law reports, reviews and analyses; (4) general reading lists, books and periodicals; and (5) related graduate degree dissertations.

There were two major reasons for analysis of parents' rights in the affairs of learning and education of their children. They include (1) that many of the controversies involving parental rights have their roots …

Student Rights: U.S. Supreme Court Cases-- Their Implications For And Implementation In Washington Schools, Angela Dawn Ramsey

All Master's Theses

The relationship between national litigation and state legislation was studied. Seven areas of student rights were used in categorizing Washington State's educational laws and policies, and twenty-three precedent-setting United States Supreme Court cases. The results showed support for the hypothesis that national litigation impacts state legislation in educational policy-making. Implications for and impact that this has upon the future are discussed.

Selected Sources Of Funding For The Third World Educational Projects, Joseph M. Ndisya

All Master's Theses

A hundred philanthropic foundations were surveyed with an aim to find out their attitudes toward the educational growth in the developing countries. This was done in order to have an idea of the percentage that would reply positively that they would consider project proposals seeking funds for continuous educational growth in such countries. Of those that replied to the questionnaires, about 50% replied positively thereby agreeing that they would consider such proposals. Hence those developing countries of Latin America, Asia Minor, and Africa could seek more funds to keep their educational development growing a bit faster.

Acquisition Of Physical Fitness Knowledge By Central Washington University Physical Education Activity Students, Diana Dawne Rector

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine what effect participation in activity classes has on the acquisition of physical fitness knowledge. No significant difference was found between activity and non-activity students. The performance of Central Washington University students did not differ significantly from national percentile norms. Certain topics of physical fitness knowledge were difficult than others. found to be significantly more A renewed effort in the construction and use of standardized knowledge tests in physical education was recommended.

The Effect Of An Intensive Study Skills Approach On Grade Point Average Of Secondary Learning Disabled Students, Jeanne Lancaster Vaughan

All Master's Theses

This study compared an intensive study skills approach with remedial instruction in basic skills for their effects on grade point average of secondary learning disabled students. The experimental group consisted of 12 students, as did the control group. Grade point was tabulated at the onset and conclusion of the study. The statistical analysis consisted of a t-test which showed no significance at the .05 level. The null hypothesis was retained. Discussion follows.

Exercises For Developing Student Leadership For The Middle School, Gene Robert Laes

All Master's Theses

This paper surveyed the training methods used to develop student leadership at Bremerton Junior High School, and presents exercises and activities adapted for use by Middle Schools for providing student leadership training.

Results of the study indicate that training methods at Bremerton Junior High were viewed by parents and teaching staff as providing positive learning experiences for the students. Students reported their experiences to be valuable in several key areas: communication, assertiveness, and gaining a better understanding of the key concept of leadership. Recommendations of the study would include permitting the students to take an active role in important school …

The Cost To And The Public Relation Effects Of Federal Education Dollars To The Local School District, Raymond L. Cooper

All Master's Theses

The costs and public effects of using federal vocational education dollars in the local school district were studied. Twenty-five Washington school districts were randomly selected. Financial data were compiled and a survey distributed to these schools. The results showed increased use of federal vocational monies resulted in increased local administration, as school size decreased use of federal monies decreased, smaller schools spend more money per student, and local advisory committees feel that vocational education needs federal monies.

A Comparison And Contrast Of The Idealized Role Of The Secondary School Principal As Perceived By Superintendents, Principals, And Teachers, Owen J. Kosik

All Master's Theses

The differences and similarities concerning the role of the secondary school principal as perceived by superintendents, principals, and teachers was studied. All superintendents and principals and twenty-five randomly selected teachers at the five traditional high schools in the Tri-Cities provided the input from which the data was drawn and conclusions were reached. A survey questionnaire containing forty statements frequently suggested for the secondary school principal was the tool utilized for this procedure. The results showed that there were similarities of role perceptions for the secondary school principal and there were also dissimilarities of role perceptions as seen by those same …

The Competency-Based Program For Preparation And Certification Of School Principals At Central Washington University: An Analysis Of Costs Incurred In Development, Implementation, And Maintenance Phases--1975-1980, Glenda Sue Shannon

All Master's Theses

Preparation and certification of school principals at Central Washington University have developed according to the requirements of the Washington State Standards. This study determined the real and estimated costs for the development, implementation, and operation of the competency-based, principal preparation program. A questionnaire elicited data from participants and revealed that professional time devoted to the project incurred the greatest costs. The developmental period was determined to be the most expensive phase. An instrument for future data collection was devised and recommended.

Attitude And Opinion Profile Of The High School Vocational Student Versus The Academic Student, Bernard Austin Belstad

All Master's Theses

This paper presents a study of certain attitudes and opinions held by a selected group of High School students. The information thus gained has been used to determine how the students see themselves in their school, home and community environment. From this data, inferences are drawn concerning concepts that influence career or educational choices, The values of High School students are remarkably homogeneous, considering the variety of their backgrounds and their relatively unrestricted opportunities for freedom of thought and personal development, or lack of it.

The Nature Of The Middle School In Washington State - 1980, Edward Allen Barnhart

All Master's Theses

The nature of the middle school in the state of Washington and its conformance to the middle school concept was studied. Eighty-four of the state's ninety-two middle school principals reported on programs and offerings in their schools. The study indicated that Washington middle schools conform favorably to the concept in all major areas except grading practices and athletic programs. The schools recognize a developmental stage of transescence and minister to it through child-child- centered rather than subject-centered programs. Further study is recommended to compare the middle school with the junior high school in the state of Washington.