Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

The Relationship Between Birth Order And Standardized Reading Test Scores, Eugenia M. Centa

Theses and Dissertations

The study was undertaken to determine If the only child and the eldest child in a family would score significantly higher on a standardized reading test than siblings occupying other positions in the birth order. Eleventh grade students at a public high school in a southwestern county in Georgia were surveyed as to whether they were the only child, the eldest child, or occupied another position in the familial birth order. From these surveys, the students were randomly assigned to three groups: Group 1 consisted of 30 only children (16 males, 14 females); Group 2 was comprised of 30 eldest …

Using Colored Overlays And Reduced Lighting: A Case Study, Jeanette P. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

This case study of a forty-five year old male sought to improve the reading rate and comprehension of printed reading material and computer reading lessons with the use of a colored transparent overlay. The reading rate increased by fifty percent with the use of the colored overlay and comprehension improved thirty percent for this individual.

Effect Of Journal Writing On Students' Writing Fluency, Helen Rodgers

Theses and Dissertations

his study was an investigation of journal writing and its potential effects on writing fluency among high school students. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant gain in fluency for students who wrote daily in a journal. For the purposes of this study, fluency was defined as the total number of words in a composition. Two classes of ninth grade "at risk" students were used as the subjects of this study. Both groups were assigned an impromptu essay, which provided a baseline measurement of fluency. Subjects in the experimental group were then instructed to maintain a writing journal. …

The Effects Of Vocabulary Instructional Methods On Vocabulary Retention, Janet S. Robertson

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to determine which of three instructional methods for teaching vocabulary (teacherpresented, student-presented, and no direct presentation) commonly used by English teachers was most effective in affecting student achievement. Sixty-two eleventh grade students in a selected county in Georgia served as subjects for the study. Pretest and posttest vocabulary scores were analyzed, and a simple analysis of variance was computed to determine the mean and standard deviation for each of the three groups. The Scheffe Test was then computed to obtain an F-ratio comparison among the groups. The analyses supported neither of the original hypotheses which assumed a …

Visual Perceptual Problems In Adult Disabled Readers, Carol Ragsdale

Theses and Dissertations

This paper attempts to discover If visual perceptual problems contribute to reading difficulties. The reason for inability by a student to interpret the symbols on the printed page is often difficult to diagnose. A study of these problems may lead to more efficient diagnosis and remediation.

Sixty adult disabled readers were tested to try to discover if their reading difficulties were caused by visual perceptual problems. These subjects were selected randomly as to sex, age and severity of reading disablement from students attending the Adult Basic Education classes. They were tested for visual acuity and visual perception. The results were …

A Plan For The Implementation Of An Articulation/Tech Prep Program Between A Rural High School In Central Georgia And A Regional Technical School, Carol E. Peacock

Theses and Dissertations

Students entering the 1990's are being faced with many different decisions as they prepare for successful careers. The workplace of the future is going to be one in which technology plays a major part. Educators are faced with the responsibility of providing students with the educational foundations and opportunities to become successful in the age of changing technologies. All of this is taking place at a time when more and more students are following a general, unfocused curriculum in high school and many are becoming so discouraged that they are dropping out of school altogether.

Research on articulation/technical preparation indicates …

Computers In The Classroom: A Survey Of Elementary Teachers, Jan Luquire

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers from three randomly selected schools in a selected county in Georgia were subjects for a survey of attitudes toward using the microcomputer as an instructional tool. The instrument used in the study was a twelve-part questionnaire which employed the Likert scale technique. The survey revealed that in general there were positive attitudes among the teachers toward using the microcomputer ln the classroom. Negative attitudes, however, were revealed when teachers were asked about certain aspects of computer use, such as planning time, computer availability, and adequate training for teachers. These are some of the problems which must be addressed and …

The Effects Of Early Education On The Receptive Language Development Of Kindergarten Children, Barbara C. Everly

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference in the receptive language of children who had attended an early childhood education center, and those who had not. Subjects were 64 kindergarten students from an elementary school on a military base in the southeast. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test- Revised (PPVT-R) was administered to all subjects. The t test for independent means was computed; no significant differences in mean scores existed between the two groups. Further analyses of the subjects were made to assess if age or gender influenced the results. The only significant difference …

The Relationship Between Reading Attitudes And Verbal Aptitude, Donald W. Ward

Theses and Dissertations

One hundred and five twelfth-grade students randomly selected from two public high schools in a southwestern county In Georgia were selected as subjects for a study of the relationship between reading attitudes and verbal SAT scores. Total reading attitude scores were generated, and verbal SAT scores were obtained from the self report of the subjects. From these surveys, the students were assigned to one of three groups of thirty five each, depending on their reading attitude scores: positive attitudes, neutral attitudes, and negative attitudes. A two-way analysis of variance, which was used to compute the F-ratio for the groups, supported …

A Correlational Study Of Locus Of Control And Reading Achievement Among Gifted Middle School Students, Jerry A. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between reading achievement and internal locus of control among eighth-grade gifted students attending a rural middle school in Georgia. The NowickiStrjckland Locus of Control Scale was used to determine a locus of i control score for each of the eighteen subjects involved. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills Form G was .used to obtain an achievement score for each subject. The study used a correlational research design. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between test scores. Analysis of statistical data revealed a .0985 correlation. This correlation was not significant.

The Relationship Between Professed Student Reading Interest And Student Choice Of Reading Topics, Mary E. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

One hundred seventh- and eighth-grade students in an Inner-city Georgia school served as subjects for surveys of reading interests. The two surveys were designed to gather information from students for the book topics they professed to want to read, and the actual reported topics they read. Trends of Interest by subject and sex were generated. The survey revealed reading Interests of students according to gender. Further, teacher-assigned reading and student reading interests varied to such a substantial degree that a strong case may be made for changing assigned reading to make it more in line with student interest.

Teacher Attitude And Teaching The Black Dialect Student To Write Using Standard English, Julia Holmes-Williams

Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive study examined the relationship between low achievement in writing and teacher attitudes, both positive and negative, toward nonstandard language use. The study also examined teacher attitude toward strategies to improve those skills. Finally, this study compared the methods selected to teach Black-dialect speakers with those selected to teach whites.

Participants in this study were language arts teachers in four rural Southwest Georgia counties. The data gathering Instrument was a Likert-scale questionnaire. Comparisons were made based on participants' years experience and level of training. The results indicated that these teachers were positive concerning the Black-dialect speakers' ability to write …

Success In Written Expression: A Case Study, Susan Flowers Hamby

Theses and Dissertations

In order to receive a high school diploma, a student in any Georgia high school must pass the Georgia Basic Skills Test in three areas: Reading, Mathematics, and Writing. The subject of this case study is an eighteen-year-old male student who after four attempts passed the Writing portion of this test. Because this is a case study, the findings are reported in a nontraditional manner using a narrative style with first person commentary.

Much of the data in this case study were collected through interviews with the subject referred to as Tim, his mother, a school examiner, and several of …

Cinema As Literature: A Semester Course In Language Arts, Greg Westbrook

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to prepare "Cinema as Literature," a curriculum guide for an elective course in high school English for the Muscogee County School System, to be implemented in school year 1992-93. The proposed elective course will utilize cinema material for the application of literary techniques and modes of criticism for a fuller understanding of the relationship between movies and printed matter as mediums of literary and artistic expression.

The project has produced this curriculum guide through a review of relevant current resources, and in cooperation with the local county school authorities, with the eventual aim of …

The Relationship Between Mathematical Self-Concept And Math Performance, Linda M. Arrington

Theses and Dissertations

Two hundred sixty-three ninth grade students in a selected high school of a selected large school district were surveyed for mathematical self-concept. The instrument used was Gourgey's Mathematical Self-Concept Scale. Mathematical Self-Concept was compared to performance as measured by numerical class grades and by achievement test scores. The results were correlated using the Pearson-r formula, and the hypothesis of a positive relationship existing between mathematical self-concept and performance was supported. The findings suggested that improving mathematical self-concept would help to improve math performance, as measured by numerical class grade.

A Survey Of Elementary Students' Attitudes Regarding Computer Assisted Instruction, Gary A. Shouppe

Theses and Dissertations

Three hundred ninety-six students In a selected elementary school In Georgia served as subjects for the survey of attitudes toward Computer Assisted Instruction and the school environment. Total responses were tabulated and compared by grade levels, genders, and ethnic origins. The survey revealed strong positive attitudes toward Computer Assisted Instruction and the learning environment. The positive attitudes of Students At-Risk presented by the surveys indicated the current method of instruction used in this particular school was having a positive effect on the attitudes of the students who attend there. Additional data collected supported existing studies concerning student attitudes toward CAI.

Classroom Modifications For Learning Disabled Adolescents: The Effects Of Inservice And Follow-Up Consultation On Four Regular Classroom Teachers, Lynne Chalmers

Theses and Dissertations

This study asked the question: What are the effects of an inservice on classroom modifications for secondary learning disabled students on the teaching practice of four highly able teachers? A secondary question asked was: To what extent are teachers‘ behavior and attitudes affected by follow-up consultation? The participants were four secondary regular classroom teachers representing four curricula areas (English, social studies, health, and biology). All four had been recognized as having the ability to work well with learning disabled students. The procedure used for the study was a form of naturalistic inquiry, specifically participant observation. All four teachers participated in …

The Relationship Between Secondary Students' Attitude Toward Science And Gender Or Grade Level, Kathleen W. Crawford

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible relationships between students' attitude toward science as a subject in school and their gender or grade level. The subjects for this study were 108 ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students enrolled in summer school. The instrument used, Attitude Toward Science in School Assessment, was a 14-item questionnaire which used the Likert scale to register the extent of agreement or disagreement with each opinion statement. The results, subdivided according to gender and grade level, indicated that there were no significant differences in attitude toward science between male and female students …

The Relationship Between Locus Of Control And Academic Success Of Post-Secondary Students In Electronics Technology, Robert D. Mccollum

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between internal locus of control and academic success in students taking courses in Electronics Technology at a post-secondary technical school. The Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal External Control-Scale was used to determine a locus of control score for each subject, and the students' current GPA scores were used as a measure of success. The study implemented a correlational research design, and the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the locus of control scores and the GPA scores. Results indicated a significant relationship between the internal dimension …

The Pine Mountain Valley Rural Community Project 1934-1946, Nick Marino

Theses and Dissertations

During the Great Depression New Deal planners attributed much of the nation's unemployment problem to automation in the workplace. It was believed that structural economic changes had dislocated millions of city workers permanently. To get these people off relief, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration established about 100 rural industrial communities across America. By providing the opportunity to develop rural communities based upon modern farming and agriculturally-related industries, dislocated workers would be brought back to the land as productive citizens. One of the most unique of these rural industrial communities was established in Pine Mountain Valley, Georgia. Being near President Roosevelt's …

Thomas H. Brewer And The Struggle For Civil Rights, Earnestine Ridenour

Theses and Dissertations

The winter of 1956 was a turbulent period in the deep South. Blacks were demanding their rights and finally obtaining some of their goals at the nationa1 level. The 1954 Supreme Court decision in the Brown Topeka. Kansas Board of Education case was the prime VS stimulus.1 While the blacks in the South were feeling encouragement over this decision that declared school segregation unconstitutional, many white southerners felt anger, fear, and uncertainty about how this court decision would affect their lives.

Their culture based on racial segregation was threatened with destruction. "Separate but equal, " which had stood for sixty …

An Analysis Of The Economic And Social Values Attributed To A Variety Of Occupations As Portrayed In Adolescent Literature, Ethelyn W. Riley

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed twenty-two novels of adolescent literature which portray occupations. The purpose of this study was to determine which category of jobs was treated most often and most favorably. The jobs were placed in one of the following categories: professional work, industrial work, housework, hustling work, and counter-cultural work. Each job was then given a prestige rating of 0 to 100. Fourteen of the twenty-two novels focused on professional work, four on industrial work, three on hustling work, one on counter-cultural work, and none on housework.

Sciençe Denartment Evaluation With Focus On Quality Basic Education And National Science Teachers Association Criteria, David Wayne Donalson

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a descriptive investigation of science instructional programs in three senior high schools, reviewed from four different standpoints. Criteria set forth by the Quality Basic Education Act of Georgia (QBE) and recommendations given by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) were used for the establishment of i Likert-style questionnaire which was distributed among a group of twenty-eight science teachers. Three of the seven high schools located in a southeastern city of approximately 200,000 population were selected at random to participate in this study. These schools ranged in enrollment from 1100 to 1250 students.

Lack of computer training was …

The Relationship Between Student Attitudes Toward Reading And Student Test Scores, Frazier Sollars

Theses and Dissertations

One hundred and thirty-four seventh grade students served as subjects to determine if a correlation existed between reading achievement and attitude toward reading. Of these students, fifty were randomly selected for data presentation. The Intermediate Reading Attitude Index and Georgia Criterion Reference Test were used to obtain data.

The Georgia Criterion Reference Tests were designed to provide teachers with diagnostic information on each student's test performance. The GCRT is comprised of math and reading tests. Only the reading portion of the GCRT was used by this researcher. Values were assigned to the questions on the Intermediate Reading Attitude Index for …

Attitudes Toward Science Among Participants Of A Summer Science Enrichment Program, Jan. White

Theses and Dissertations

Eighteen high school and junior high school participants of a summer science enrichment program at a selected college in Georgia were the subjects of this study which described and measured changes in attitudes towards science as a result of the program. A fifty-item questionnaire, developed on a modified Likert scale of one to four and administered on a pretest-posttest basis, served as the measuring instrument. Differences between pretest and posttest responses indicated changes in attitudes towards science.

Changes occurred in 37.1% of all individual responses. Analysis of responses within the various categories of items revealed the greatest positive change in …

An Analysis Of Agressive Interactions Between Procambarus Spiculifer And Procambarus Versutus In Laboratory-Based Interspecific Contacts, Lyle A. Brasfield

Theses and Dissertations

The study was undertaken to investigate the role of competitive behavior in the distribution of the crayfish Procambarus spicullfer and Procambarus versutus. Forty pairs of animals, one of each species per pair, were matched by size and gender. For each pair, four fifteen minute agonistic encounters were observed under controlled laboratory conditions, and winners were determined using a scoring system developed by the author. P. versutus won 26 of 40 contests. Chi Square analysis revealed that this outcome deviated from an expected 50/50 ratio at the .942 significance level, suggesting support for the hypothesis that no difference exists in competitive …

An Overview Of Registered Family Day Care In Muscogee County, Georgia, Rhoda Boggs

Theses and Dissertations

This research surveyed the characteristics and components of family day care in a southeastern urban area. The subjects consisted of all family day care providers who resided within the county being studied and who were registered with the state's Department of Human Resources. The questionnaire developed by the researcher consists of 20 questions which address the caregivers' personal traits, educational qualifications, and business organization. The responses were compiled, and descriptive statistics were computed in order to provide the composite characteristics and overall range of available family day care in the county. Results show that there are significant differences in the …

An Evaluation Of Language And Articulation Assessment Instruments, Sara Gammage Betbeze

Theses and Dissertations

Seventy-nine articulation and language assessment instruments were reviewed. The following areas were addressed: title, author, publisher, date of publication, price, ages, administration time, • general type, description, scoring, standardization, validity, reliability, and comments. Information was compiled using Mental Measurements Yearbook, Test Critiques, test manuals, and journal articles. A matrix is included as a reference and table of contents. list of publishers and addresses is also included.

An Analysis Of Authors, Characters And Dependency Of Women Protagonists In The Short Stories Of Selected Literary Anthologies, Susan E. Hussey

Theses and Dissertations

This research study evaluated textbooks in terms of frequency of female authors, frequency of female protagonists, and frequency of dependency in female protagonists in selected modern American short stories. The study was limited to selections in Scott, Foresman and Company textbooks used in eleventh grade classrooms nationwide for the past twenty-five years. The samples came from four editions beginning with 1963 and ending with the current 1985 edition. The study revealed that there was no meaningful change in any of the researched categories. The findings of the study were reported in the form of synopses, tallies, charts and tables.

An Original Formula That Produces Polynomial Functions With Integral Critical Points And Zeros. Will The Classroom Teacher Use It?, Roy C. Gregory

Theses and Dissertations

The author of this paper presents an original formula for creating polynomial functions with integral critical points and Integral zeros. This formula provides quickly constructed polynomial functions needed for teaching graphing techniques at the high school level. These functions have the characteristic that both coordinates of each critical point and each zero are integers, which simplifies graphing. A group of one hundred twenty high school mathematics teachers were sent questionnaires to determine if high school teachers would use the formula. Of the fifty-two respondents; twenty-six responded that they would use the formula; twenty-six responded that they may use the formula …