Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

A Response To The Society Of American Law Teachers Statement On The Bar Exam, Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

What Do We Know About The Experiences Of Australian Youth? An Easy Reference Guide To Longitudinal Surveys Of Australian Youth Research Reports, 1996–2003, Robyn Penman

LSAY Research Reports

This reference guide is not simply a summary of each report – rather the findings from 36 reports have been summarised thematically to show what we know about the experiences of Australian youth as they move through education and training into the labour market and adult life. The bracketed notations in the right hand margin indicate the report number and the relevant page(s) on which each piece of information is based and where further information can be found.

Highly Qualified Teachers, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

One of the key features of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 is a requirement that all teachers in core academic areas be “highly qualified” before the 2005-2006 school year. Even more quickly, by the end of the 2002-2003 school year, all newly hired teachers in Title I schools had to be highly qualified. The core academic areas— which must be taught by a “highly qualified” teacher—are English, reading or language arts, math, science, arts and foreign language, economics, geography, civics or government, and history. Teachers of special education and English language learner students are not required …

School Finance Litigation And Adequacy Studies, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The adequacy approach to challenging school funding systems has proven the most successful of the waves of finance litigation, and the approach serves as the foundation for new or ongoing litigation and reform in many states today, including Arkansas. The standards reform movement has provided courts with a way to measure plaintiffs’ claims that school finance systems do not provide for an adequate education, and many courts have found school funding formulae unconstitutional. In this paper, we review the history of school finance litigation across the United States and focus specifically on cases related to educational adequacy. In the final …

No Child Left Behind And Act 35, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The Student Assessment and Educational Accountability Act or Arkansas Act 35 represents an ambitious attempt to develop and articulate a strategic plan for ensuring that all students in Arkansas are meeting grade-level standards in reading and math. The legislation describes the types of testing schools must implement each year, how schools and districts should report data, how data should be used to inform staff development, and the sanctions students and schools will face if they fail to meet state standards.

No Child Left Behind Act Of 2001: An Overview, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, the cornerstone of the Bush Administration’s plan to reform K-12 education, strengthens significantly the federal role in education through sweeping reforms to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The stated legislative intent of the NCLB Act is “to close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind” (PL-107-110 [20 U.S.C. §6301, et seq.], 2001). Key provisions of the measure, for both Title I and non-Title I schools, are as follows: • accountability for education results through annual standardized testing and through additional standards …

Understanding Adequate Yearly Progress, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates that all states develop an accountability system that measures student achievement every year. The method states must use to measure achievement is Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). States must agree to bring all students to proficient academic performance levels in reading and math by 2014 in order to continue receiving Title I funds, a federal funding program that commits $12 billion per year to help lower-income children. In Arkansas, the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing Assessment and Accountability Program (ACTAAP) serves as the basis for determining AYP and incorporates the mandates of NCLB.1 According to a 2004 …

How Will No Child Left Behind Improve Student Achievement? The Necessity Of Classroom-Based Research In Accountability Reform., Stephanie W. Cawthon

Essays in Education

No Child Left Behind (2001) legislation emphasizes the use of large-scale assessments in evaluating student proficiency in core academic areas. Classroom-based measures of proficiency, such as research projects, classroom assessments, and homework assignments, also provide rich data regarding students’ academic progress. This article articulates three areas where classroom-based measures can complement the large-scale assessment data used in NCLB reports of school, district and state progress: 1) Alignment of curriculum to state standards, 2) Assessment of student achievement, and 3) Identifying strategies for teaching in a diverse classroom. Making links between classroom instruction, student work, and large-scale assessment will be critical …

Aligning Paper Tests With Multimedia Instruction, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Although the "click-and-point" virtual classrooms of today hardly resemble the brick-and-mortar classrooms of yesterday, one thing seems to not have changed: the prevalence of paper-based tests. Paper-based tests have been the staple of education for centuries and will most likely persist for many years to come. This article explores some of the issues surrounding the growing chasm between the way students are now taught and how they are still tested from three perspectives: researcher, student, and teacher.

Teaching Our Teachers: Practical Suggestions To Improve The Quality Of Learning In Bemidji State University's Department Of Professional Education, Ann M. Gassert Carstens

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Assessing Clinical Education In Nursing: The Development Of The Clinical Education Inventory, Marcia Ann Miller

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to construct a valid and reliable comprehensive instrument entitled the Clinical Education Inventory (CEI) that measures nursing students' perceptions of clinical nursing education. The comprehensive instrument developed during this study evaluates multiple facets of clinical nursing education and reduces the need to survey the students using several tools each semester. Ill The method for this study was adapted from the work ofDeVellis (1991) for scale development. Item generation was optimized through requesting existing tools from nursing programs across the United States. Thirteen programs contributed 34 tools. After the review by the expert panel for …

Analysis Of A Mathematics Outcomes Assessment Program, Susan Ann Newman-Bourne

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to analyze longitudinal student data collected from the mathematics component of a general education outcomes assessment program from spring semester 1999 through spring semester 2003. The study determined whether or not newly declared Business Administration and Accounting program majors' mathematics placement scores in Numerical Skills and Elementary Algebra on a standardized pre-college assessment instrument predicted their mathematics outcomes assessment examination score on an intermediate algebra course outcomes assessment examination. The study also investigated whether the students' mathematics pre-college assessment scores predicted their mathematics outcomes assessment examination score in the Business Administration and Accounting programs' …

The Importance Of Teaching: Ensuring Better Schooling By Building Teacher Capacities That Maximize The Quality Of Teaching And Learning Provision – Implications Of Findings From The International And Australian Evidence-Based Research, Ken Rowe

Student learning processes

Given the level of consensus regarding the importance of school education as an essential element of micro- and macro economic reform, policy issues surrounding school and teacher effectiveness are of particular importance. However, much of the traditional and prevailing dogmas surrounding ‘factors’ affecting students’ experiences and outcomes of schooling throughout their primary and secondary years, especially socio-cultural and socio-economic factors, are now understood to be products of methodological and statistical artifact, and amount to little more than ‘religious’ adherence to the moribund ideologies of biological and social determinism. Above all, a good deal of this ‘discourse’ is not supported by …

Teachers’ Career Decisions In A Cognitive Framework: Logistical Regression Analysis Of A National Data Set, Tamara H. Rosier

Dissertations

Research was conducted in order to determine if extrinsic, cognitive or situative sets of variables could predict teachers' career decisions using the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). Questions from the survey were divided into three cognitive perspectives: extrinsic, cognitive, and situative. Stepwise logistic regression analyses were used to predict group membership among those who chose to stay in their current position and those who left the profession.

Results for the extrinsic set of variables indicated that while the model was a good fit, the ability of the model to predict was low. Teachers agreeing that student behavior interferes with ability …

Teacher Education Courses In Victoria: Perceptions Of Their Effectiveness And Factors Affecting Their Impact, Lawrence Ingvarson, Adrian Beavis, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Initial Teacher education

Investment in teacher education is a major strategy to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. Agencies, such as the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), with responsibility for the accreditation of teacher education, can use feedback about the effectiveness of different modes of teacher preparation to support providers. It is vital that data for this purpose be valid and reliable. The Future Teachers Project (FTP) was designed to collect such data. It was designed to address two major questions: What are the perceptions of stakeholders (beginning teachers and their employers) about the effectiveness of current teacher education …

A Comparative Study Of Interrater Reliability Coefficients Obtained From Different Statistical Procedures Using Monte Carlo Simulation Techniques, Ebrima Nying

Dissertations

Reliability estimation is a key research component within the global area of educational assessment. The literature reports numerous studies using different statistical techniques for estimating reliability of educational measures. However, few have focused on the estimation of interrater reliability of performance assessment (Abedi, Baker, & Herl, 1995). Specifically, this study compared three different methods for estimating interrater reliability to determine if there are differences among these estimates as a function of: sample size, measurement scale, number of raters and the theoretical population reliability (rho). The three methods of estimation were the Intraclass Correlation (ICC(2, k )) (Shrout & Fleiss, 1979), …

The Effects Of The Use Of Dynamic Geometry Software On Student Achievement And Interest, Heidi B. Hansen

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This study examines the current research that exists on the effects that the use of dynamic geometry software has on student achievement and interest level in mathematics. Additional questions examined are whether using dynamic geometry software has a greater impact on high or low achievers, and what current methods of implementation are suggested by the research. A review of the relevant literature indicates that the use of dynamic geometry software does have a positive effect on student achievement, particularly achievement in areas of high-level thinking. Insufficient research has been done on the effect that the use of dynamic geometry software …

2003-2004 Profile, Morehead State University. Institutional Research & Analysis.

Office of Institutional Research & Analysis Publication Archive

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Cultural Congruity, University Alienation, And Self-Concept Upon Multiracial Students' Adjustment To College, Derrick Adam Paladino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine key factors that relate to the self-perception of cultural congruity, university alienation (powerlessness, meaninglessness, and social estrangement), and self-concept (perceived intellectual ability, perceived scholastic competence, perceived social acceptance, appearance, and global self-worth) in multiracial college students. One goal of this study is to discover if there is a relationship between cultural congruity, alienation, and self-concept among multiracial college students. In addition, this study examined what factors predict cultural congruity, university alienation, and self-concept in multiracial college students. Finally, this study explored the relationship of cultural congruity, university alienation, self-concept, and specific demographic …

Teaching Mathematics In Multilingual Classrooms, Anjum Halai

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Placing Arkansas School Funding Data In The National Context, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In November 2002, the Arkansas Supreme Court found the Arkansas school funding system to be unconstitutional. The decade long court battle, Lake View v Huckabee, concluded when the Supreme Court determined that the state needed to develop a new system to provide a “general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools equally available to all" as called for by the Arkansas Constitution (Article 14, § 1). Arkansas, however, is not alone in being taken to court over the equity and adequacy of its school funding system. Since 1960, over 40 states’ educational funding systems have been legally challenged. Since …

Academic Remediation Of Non-Disability, Middle School Students, Merilee Ann Redberg

All Graduate Projects

Strategies were developed to address perceived teacher practitioner concerns regarding three areas considered to be negatively impacting student academic performance and three skills perceived to be crucial to student academic success. The six categories addressed were identified through the author's development and implementation of a survey used among middle school teachers.

Enrollment Report - Summer 2004, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

Enrollment Reports

The Enrollment Report provides administrative and delivery-site information on enrollment headcount and student credit hours, as well as the demographic characteristics of enrolled students. The purpose of this profile is to provide the undergraduate and graduate enrollments and student credit hour information by college or equivalent academic unit, class, gender and ethnicity.

Creating Time For Research At Marshall University, Deanna Mader, Chong W. Kim

Management Faculty Research

Creating time for research is important, yet difficult. Creating large blocks of dedicated research time is nearly impossible. It is critical, therefore, that the institution encourages all levels to work in a coordinated effort to assist faculty in accessing those precious minutes and smaller blocks of time. At the departmental level the Management and Marketing Division conducts a Research and Teaching (R&T) Forum six to eight times per academic year. The forum allows the division’s 28 faculty members to brainstorm, find areas of similar interests, combine research efforts, and present a “test run” before submission to a journal or conference. …

The Relationship Between The Success Tendencies Indicator And Academic Achievement And Behavioral Adjustment, Ted Bartlett

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between the 50-item Success Tendencies Indicator (STI), composed of the two subscales, the Success Tendencies Scale (STS) and the Positive Impression Scale (PIS), and the academic achievement and behavioral adjustment of high school freshmen. The STI was administered by social studies teachers in a suburban public high school in the Mid-Western United States at the end of the 1999–2000 school year. Data from 338 freshman students were analyzed. Success was indicated by a high weighted Grade Point Average (GPA) and a low Discipline Incidents Number (DIN). Scores on the …

Structural Equation Modeling As A Tool For Multisite Evaluation, Carl Edward Hanssen

Dissertations

Two fundamental purposes exist for program evaluation: to document program results and to improve programs. These purposes are commonly called summative and formative evaluation. The fundamental questions related to these purposes are (1) what occurred in the program? and (2) how can the program be improved? The answer to the second question implies the need to explain why program results occurred.

This dissertation developed an approach to support formative evaluation and answering the question of why program results occur. This approach integratedmultisite evaluation, theory-based evaluation and structural equation modeling. The context for this dissertation was the National Science Foundation's Advanced …

Course Revitalization As A Change Driver Throughout Undergraduate Business Curriculum, Elke M. Leeds, Radwan Ali

Faculty Articles

This paper describes the revitalization of Business Information Systems and Communication, a high enrollment, prerequisite course for all undergraduate business students in the Coles College of Business. An overview of the course components is presented and original structure described. The rationale for change, technologies leveraged and measures of success are presented. The change drivers are identified and their impact on undergraduate curriculum delineated. Lessons learned and future implications are discussed.

Does Rural High School Education Influence College Outcomes? A Longitudinal Study Using A Cohort Of U.S. High School Seniors, Christopher S. Snyder

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Christopher S. Snyder on May 31, 2004.

The Effect Of Direct Instruction Reading Remediation For Fourth Graders, Jonathan Collins

Theses & Honors Papers

This study was to determine if below average readers in a reading remediation class receiving Direct Instruction reading would make larger gains in reading than average to above average readers who received whole language based reading instruction. These were 69 students in the study. Students were assigned to cohorts based on test performance on the Development Reading Assessment (DRA) and administrative recommendations. Instruction was provided for 5 months for the experimental group (n=36) using Scientific Research Associates Corrective Reading (a Direct Instruction reading program). The control group (n=11) received 5 months of reading instruction in a locally designed whole language …

Codebook: The Lsay 1995 Year 9 Sample Wave 9 (2003) Technical Report No. 31, Kylie Hillman

LSAY Technical Reports

In 1995, a nationally representative sample of approximately 13,000 Year 9 students was selected to form the first cohort of the new Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth program. The sample was constructed by randomly selecting two Year 9 classes from a national sample of 300 schools designed to represent state and sector. Reading and numeracy tests were administered to students in their schools to provide information on school achievement for use in later analyses of educational and labour market participation. Students also completed a background questionnaire about their educational and vocational plans and attitudes to school. In 1996, these students …