Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Teacher Preparation: Implementing Theory Into Practice, Loni Rae Miller

All Theses And Dissertations

Teacher preparation programs are mandated to prepare teachers that are ready for the changing landscape of the education profession. New accreditation requirements in preservice assessments and certification requirements for highly qualified teacher status are requiring teacher preparation programs to review their course plans. The purpose of the qualitative study was to examine how the graduates of a traditional teacher preparation program were implementing the PBL project design in their first year of teaching after receiving scaffolded instruction of the educational theory. The researcher explored which factors the graduate perceived allowed them to use PBL in their classroom. Using qualitative interviews, …

An Evaluation Of Lead Turnaround Partners’ Services In Virginia, Tamara A. Sterling

All Theses And Dissertations

School reform in K–12 education has experienced a cycle of changes that requires the implementation of stringent mandates for increased student achievement and sanctions for school divisions not meeting the required benchmarks. The purpose of this study is to identify school-based services that Lead Turnaround Partners (LTPs) provided to priority elementary schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia relative to the improvement, if any, of third through fifth grade students’ Standard of Learning (SOL) reading assessment scores. The study utilized a systematic review approach to data collection that will analyze Lead Turnaround Partners’ Scope of Work, Quarterly Reports, and Standards of …

Examining Student Perspectives On Information Literacy, Kathleen Conklin Brenner

All Theses And Dissertations

The American Library Association released its Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education in response to the changing needs and demographics of today’s digital native students. This study was designed to ascertain first-year undergraduate students’ definitions and perspectives of information literacy to determine how they are aligned to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) six frames of information literacy. The overarching research question was: How is the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy aligned to first-year undergraduate student expectations of information literacy instruction? The following supplemental research questions supported the study:
1. How do …

Middle School Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Integration Of Technology Into Pedagogy, Joe George Gerez

All Theses And Dissertations

The aim of this qualitative exploratory case study was to examine middle school teachers’ perceptions of the integration of technology into pedagogy. Data collection occurred from analyzing middle school teacher’s experiences, observations, and motivation following a technological implementation initiative into pedagogy. The evaluation of the study data included the analysis of surveys and interpretation of in-depth interviews of teachers. A pedagogical focus on teacher integration of technology supported by the self-determination theory as the research study’s theoretical framework examining human motivation was appropriated to the case study. As educational leaders face significant challenges in understanding the impact of teachers’ perceptions …

How Private International School Leaders Meet The National Education Transformation Agenda In Dubai, Marie-Pascale Addison

All Theses And Dissertations

In 2014, Dubai Government adopted the United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Agenda, a strategic plan for Vision 2021, whereas leaders are associated with improving the quality and accessibility to education, which represents a major priority in sustaining economic prosperity and achieving social development goals (Government of the UAE, 2016). Managing this seven-year transformation plan in the educational context has been reported in part by Litz and Scott (2016), in which their study revealed that Emirati school leaders needed to change their leadership practice in order to align with the National Agenda expectations. This study explores critical challenges and opportunities for …

Teachers Respond To Impact Of Intelligent Mathematics Tutorial On Students’ Motivation And Engagement, Francis Xavier Tweedie

All Theses And Dissertations

Secondary school mathematics proficiency continues to be a point of concern, as the current National Report Cards continue to show insufficient change. For middle school students, grades six through eight are formative years, as they begin to shape emotional connections and make a decision about their ability and motivation to do mathematics. These early decisions are paramount to how they approach mathematics learning in later grades. Student motivation is a critical function of students’ affective domain, engagement in the classroom, and their self-belief for learning. Teachers play a significant role in this process by providing supportive and effective learning environments …

Teacher Beliefs On Balanced Literacy And Collective Efficacy In Kindergarten, Dominic Depatsy

All Theses And Dissertations

The research problem of this study was teacher beliefs about early literacy pedagogy. Research over the past 15 years had made significant strides in studying the complex relationships between teacher beliefs and practices (Fang, 2006). Teacher beliefs play an important role in teachers’ work (Biesta, Prestly, and Robinson, 2015). The purpose of the study was to understand how kindergarten teachers’ beliefs about early literacy instruction influenced how they integrated direct instruction and whole language approaches into their teaching and support of language acquisition in the classroom. The subjects were fourteen kindergarten teachers (participants) who currently teach in three different elementary …

The Need For Academic Reform In Vietnamese Higher Education (Vhe) To Align With Employers’ Expectations, Hoang-Yen (Maya) T. Dang

All Theses And Dissertations

The effort to comprehensively reform Vietnamese higher education (VHE) in order to produce an educated workforce better able to contribute to economic development is a major concern not only of educators and the Vietnamese government but also of employers, workers, and the general populace.

Successful implementation of VHE’s “Vision 2020” relies on legal change together with macro-policies to support these educational initiatives. For the purposes of this study, however, the author focused on the current state of VHE in providing employable graduates to meet the needs of Vietnam’s knowledge economy in the 21st century. In particular, through an analysis of …

Blended Learning In Elementary Schools: An Interdependent Enterprise, Carrie J. Pratt

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative case study, bounded by a scope of leadership, was one way to analyze how leaders encouraged teachers to leverage blended learning in the public elementary school. The theoretical framework lending to cognitivism included sociocultural cognition and contingency theory. With the central phenomenon and research question, “What leadership aspects encourage teachers to leverage blended learning in elementary schools?” the researcher sought to understand the power of leadership and teacher perceptions as change occurs in the public elementary school, integrating blended learning. Subquestion 1 was used to pursue information about teacher identified leadership support that teachers perceived to be helpful …

The Potential Of Rethinking The Teacher Observation And Evaluation Model, Cheryl L. Lang

All Theses And Dissertations

Today, across the United States of America, ongoing efforts are underway to transform the teacher evaluation system into a useful and manageable tool for improving teaching and learning in the classrooms. Currently, school districts in Maine are required to implement teacher observation and evaluation systems as a method of improving instructional practices in the classrooms. According to Mezirow’s adult learning theory, adults learn best when the learning fits into their frame of reference that has been long cultivated through maturity into adulthood, and they become invested in what they are learning. School districts have an opportunity to make teacher observations …

Place-Based Learning As An Effective Methodology For Developing Self-Efficacy Skills In Students With Learning Disabilities, Melodee Carter-Guyette

All Theses And Dissertations

Research shows that place-based learning is a proven methodology in supporting students in achievement of their academic and social needs. There are inconsistencies related to documenting its success with learning disabled students, especially in the area of self-efficacy. This study attempted to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the perception of educators regarding self-efficacy of students with learning disabilities who have experienced environmental science place-based programs. Elementary educators were recruited from a broad pool of participants via social media. One hundred seventy surveys were received from educators in the six New England states. Five participants provided in-depth information …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Professional Learning Communities, Violet E. Eyanagho

All Theses And Dissertations

The professional learning community (PLC) is an essential organizational structure in education, intended to cultivate a collaborative culture, improve professional practices, increase student achievement, reform failing schools, and sustain high achieving schools. Because there is little in the literature which examines teachers’ perceptions of the PLC concept and the work accomplished in the PLC process, the problem studied here was teachers’ perceptions of their work in PLCs at a middle school in Texas. The two research questions addressed the roles of the PLC teams and their individual members in improving student learning. A grounded theory approach was used in the …

How Ideology And Pedagogy Impact Technology Adoption In The Classroom, A Causal-Comparative Study, Christopher J. Bernard

All Theses And Dissertations

As the world changes from an industrial driven society to one more focused on services and knowledge, the drive for change within higher education is mounting from both students and employers. With the availability of the vast majority of the world’s knowledge available to an ever-increasing populace via the Internet, students and employers alike are no longer satisfied with the three r’s – reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instead, employers are expecting graduates to be knowledgeable of the three C’s – collaboration, communication, and creative problem solving to negotiate a progressively complex global market.

Through advances in cognitive science, we now …

The Lived Experiences Of Clinical Adjunct Dental Hygiene Faculty, Susan Lori Vogell

All Theses And Dissertations

Clinical education is an integral part of a dental hygiene student’s education. Clinical adjunct dental hygiene faculty primarily teach in the clinical setting. Clinical adjunct dental hygiene faculty are often hired for their clinical expertise and may lack teaching experience. The transition from clinical practice to academia raises concern about the adequacy of support and preparation clinical adjunct faculty receive as they begin their new role as educators. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis was to explore clinical adjunct dental hygiene faculty members’ experiences of preparedness as they transitioned from clinical expert to novice educator. Six clinical adjunct dental …

“We’Re Trying To Have A Childhood”: Parent Notions Of Kindergarten Readiness, Isabel F. Johnson

All Theses And Dissertations

In response to the chronic third-grade achievement-gap, public school kindergartens have abandoned Froëbel’s traditional child-centered pedagogy in favor of an early academic preparation model that promotes the idea of kindergarten readiness. But top-down implementation of readiness curriculum has not led to sustainable gains and may result in poorer student outcomes. The bioecological repercussions of early academic expectations on young children and their families are not well understood, and parent perspectives on the topic are often marginalized. This qualitative case study explored parent notions of kindergarten readiness using word coding analysis of eight kindergarten and preschool parent interviews. Findings from thematic …

Relationship Between Non-Cognitive Skills And Gpa In A Rural Maine Community College, Rebecca A. Martin

All Theses And Dissertations

The 21st century has altered the workscape, emphasizing non-cognitive skills required for success in the workforce. Community colleges that profess workforce readiness in their workreadiness programs use primarily cognitive assessment to ensure content and curricular learning. This quantitative study of rural Maine community college graduates examined non-cognitive workforce skills from this workforce readiness institution, correlating non-cognitive instrument scores to the standard cognitive score, cumulative grade point average (GPA). The Social-Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education (SEHS-HE) and the Review of Personal Experience with Locus of Control (ROPELOC) data were examined in relation to cumulative grade point average (GPA) to assess for the …

Leadership Effectiveness In Curriculum Adoption For A Kindergarten, Bo Peng

All Theses And Dissertations

This study of leadership effectiveness focused on adoption, implementation, and evaluation of kindergarten curriculum. The researcher evaluated leadership effectiveness through the processes and outcomes of the team’s decision-making. Research questions were: How does the kindergarten leadership team make decisions about adoption of kindergarten curriculum? How does the kindergarten leadership team evaluate the quality of kindergarten curriculum? How does the kindergarten leadership team evaluate student learning in the three curriculum areas of Chinese language, English language and science? How does the curriculum they have adopted align with the CKEG national standards for kindergarten curriculum in China? The program evaluation, guided by …

Threads Of Support: Mentoring Of Online Doctoral Students, Debra Lynn Welkley

All Theses And Dissertations

Doctoral students in programs throughout the United States express a need for mentoring as an important element in the completion of their degree (Associate Students of the Graduate Division, 2017; Noonan et al., 2007; University of Michigan, 2006). Although there are several studies that explored types of mentor programs and student perceptions of mentoring (Johnson, 2015; Terry & Ghosh, 2015), a review of the literature indicates an examination of doctoral student mentoring from a faculty mentor’s lens had not been examined. This transcendental phenomenological study investigated the lived experiences of faculty who mentor online Ed.D. students. The findings in the …

Understanding Disinterest: How Online Undergraduate Students Perceive And Respond To Disengaged Faculty Members, Blake Clifford

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretative, qualitative study was to discover reasons students participating in asynchronous online undergraduate courses perceive faculty as disinterested, the significance of this perception, and how students respond to disinterested faculty. Online education continues to evolve and change how students learn and how online undergraduate students perceive and respond to faculty members. With these changes, understanding which elements influence and impact the success of online undergraduate students becomes more complex. The distinctive social context of virtual learning environments often contributes to online students characterizing faculty as disengaged. Online students often have limited opportunities to interact directly with …

The Knowledge And Perceptions Of Generational Cohorts Of K-5 Elementary Educators Who Use Technology For Teaching And Learning, Zachary A. Fodor

All Theses And Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions and knowledge of generational cohorts (Baby Boomer, Generation X, and/or Millennials) of elementary (K-5) educators regarding the use of technology for teaching and learning. The remarkable pace of the transition to digital-age learning environments has made it challenging for schools to build sustainable, program-wide systems for the purposeful use of educational technology during instruction (Stevens & South, 2016). This underscores the need for schools to prepare staff from every generational cohort to be confident, experienced, and ready to lead with technology in their classrooms (Stevens & South, 2016). The first research question was how do …

Examining Online Delivered Orientation To Online Learning Association With Community College Student Success, Kelly White

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to discover if there is an association between student completion of an online delivered orientation (OLO) to online learning and the student success factors of end of course grades and course completion. This study was conducted because course completion rates in online courses are unacceptably low. Educational institution administration, state and federal agencies have all taken an interest in student completion and retention rates. Discovering ways to improve the situation is gaining support. There are many factors which may influence student grades and completion rates. This study focused on the factor of an online …

Impact Of Teacher Perceptions On Instructional Practices In Alternative Public High Schools, Stacy A. Miller

All Theses And Dissertations

Alternative schools are perceived by some as low performing schools with ineffective faculty and delinquent students. This perception affects the perceptions of some alternative school teachers about their students and influences the instructional practices they employ. By being aware of their perceptions and resulting practices, these educators can make a positive impact on the education of at-risk students in alternative settings. The purpose of this study was to understand how alternative school teachers’ perceptions of their students’ abilities influenced their instructional practices and how they perceived those practices support at-risk student academic success in public alternative high schools. To fulfill …

Engaging Generation Z: A Study On Facebook Group Implementation In Language Courses And In Multiple Contexts, Garrett Fisher

All Theses And Dissertations

This dissertation uses a mixed-methods approach with both an analysis of Facebook group data from a 2016 faculty-led trip and a meta-analysis of Facebook group studies from the past five years to examine popular theoretical frameworks, publication bias, themes, and how a Facebook group can be used with Generation Z learners to facilitate engagement with language instruction. The research was supported by a literature review that includes second language acquisition theory, sociocultural theory, and generational theory. The study revealed that a Facebook group can facilitate engagement for Generation Z language learners at the university level by creating an environment that …

Educational Groupings In The Middle School Science Classroom, Erica L. Mcneil

All Theses And Dissertations

Grouping students for learning has historically been debated among educational professionals. Twenty-first century skills encourage students to work together within their classrooms in preparation for future careers. Adopting Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has required educators to encourage collaboration among students for science learning. Understanding the implications of student groupings and differentiated instructional strategies on learning requires an important conversation for educators who strive to support all learners needs sufficiently and prepare them for their future. This qualitative study examines and describes the perceptions of teachers regarding the role of educational student groupings on student learning of science concepts. Ten …

Principal And Instructional Coach Partnerships For Instructional Leadership: A Case Study Of Interactions And Teacher Perceptions, Sharron Helmke

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined conversations and interactions between an intermediate school principal and a team of content specific instructional coaches to investigate the presence of shared instructional leadership and how the interactions and responses of the two actors might support teachers’ professional growth and refinement of instructional practices. An initial interview with the campus principal was used to establish her goals for instructional leadership. Over a six-week period, these goals were tracked through observations and coding of weekly meetings between the principal and coaches and then traced through the coaches’ work with teachers. Findings indicated that the principal was …

Developing Leaders: The Use Of Challenge And Support To Develop Usma Cadets, Robert K. Carl

All Theses And Dissertations

Despite a mission statement containing a clear focus on individual leader development, multiple reports show that recent USMA graduates fell short in their performance as leaders of character. USMA has changed its leader development strategy to an outcomes-based program. Contemporary literature suggests that identity development should be the goal of any leadership program as a leader with a strong leadership identity will act in accordance with such an identity. Using criterion sampling the study utilized individual interviews to explore the experiences of cadet company commanders who served in the fall semester of 2016. This phenomenological qualitative study found first, the …

Public Education Fuels The Debate: Academic Outcomes Of Students Socially Promoted From Eighth Grade To High School, Lisa Janosik

All Theses And Dissertations

Using archival data, this cross-sectional, descriptive study investigated the path of core course enrollment and completion of middle school students socially promoted from eighth grade to high school in a small, urban school district during 2008 to 2012. Supported by research surrounding the development of public education, the debate of retention versus social promotion, and adolescent development, this study delved into social promotion and whether it was an equitable and socially-just educational practice. Though this study quantitatively portrayed a positive outcome for students socially promoted from middle school, the data also showed that a majority of these students continued to …

Occupational Therapy Faculty Perspectives On The Use Of Telehealth As A Delivery Method For Healthcare Services, Holly Wasserman

All Theses And Dissertations

The use of telehealth for healthcare delivery is on the rise and is expected to increase due to the expansion of technological advances and the shortage of healthcare professionals to serve rural and remote communities. The use of telehealth by occupational therapists (OT) is relatively new, and it is unknown whether educational programs are adequately preparing OT students to practice in this context or if OT faculty members are adequately trained to deliver this content to their students. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to examine how faculty members teaching in a master’s level occupational therapy program …

Social Media In A High School English Class: A Collective Case Study, Angela M. Wells

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative collective case study sought to describe the perceptions and experiences of an 11th-grade English teacher and her students when incorporating social media into the classroom. The teacher introduced social media into four classrooms, wherein the students answered questions and interacted with each other on a discussion board. The teacher’s fifth classroom remained a traditionally taught class, wherein the teacher lectured about class material. After six weeks of instruction, the researcher interviewed the teacher and provided anonymous surveys to the students to determine their perceptions and experiences when incorporating social media into the classroom. The researcher analyzed and coded …

Amalgamating Information Technology With Library Services In The School Environment: A Learning Commons Transformative Model, Alexander Tabor Jones

All Theses And Dissertations

At a private New York City school, a library becomes the nucleus for students and faculty engagement with technology and support. This synthesis of modern technology fused with a traditional source for knowledge emerged a hub of creativity, collaborative activity, and participation known as the Learning Commons (LC).

This study was inspired by the need to explore the teachers’ and staff perceptions of the new LC, or implementation of the Learning Commons Transformative Model (LCTM). The researcher sought to evaluate the newly designed space and the influence it had on teachers’ instruction and subsequent student learning outcomes. This model set …