Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Australasian Student Engagement Survey 2009 Institution Report, Ali Radloff, Hamish Coates

Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE)

No abstract provided.

National Assessment Program : Civics And Citizenship Years 6 And 10 Report 2007, Ministerial Council On Education, Employment, Training And Youth Affairs (Mceetya), Suzanne Mellor

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

The 2007 National Civics and Citizenship Sample Assessment report is the second to be published on Civics and Citizenship in the cycle of three-yearly sample assessments conducted by MCEETYA as part of its National Assessment Program (NAP). The assessment measured students’ civic knowledge and understanding and their citizenship participation skills and dispositions. The assessment was conducted in October 2007 with 7,059 Year 6 students from 349 schools and 5,506 Year 10 students from 269 schools participating. The participating students were from both government and non-government schools. Results of the assessment show that nationally, 54 per cent of Year 6 students …

The Impact Of Teacher Self-Efficacy In Writing On Instruction And Evaluation Of Writing In A School District In Western North Carolina, Deanna Berrier

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the writing strategies and scoring practices of fourth-grade teachers on the North Carolina Fourth Grade Writing Assessment and local, county-wide writing assessments by collecting data from 13 elementary schools located in rural, western North Carolina.

Both qualitative and quantitative means of data collection were implemented. Inter-rater reliability was used to determine reliability of the fourth-grade teachers' scoring using the North Carolina Fourth Grade Writing Assessment Rubric. Qualitative data was collected through the use of two surveys administered to the fourth-grade teachers in the county. Interviews and a focus group were also used to determine …

An Analysis Of The Connection Between A Principal Development Program And Executive Leadership, David (Jay) Jones

Education Dissertations and Projects

America faces the following problems related to the supply of school principals: shortage, poor understanding of the changed role, and inadequate training. In response to problems, the state of North Carolina has implemented the School Executive Standards to evaluate principals and drive the professional development of them. The purpose of this descriptive study was to report on the perceptions of principals and assistant principals regarding the connection between a district level principal development program and preparation to meet the "North Carolina School Executive Standards". A sequential QUAN-QUAL analysis was applied to data collected through a survey and individual interviews. Measures …

Program Evaluation: The Effects Of A District-Led Leadership Preparation Program On Aspiring School Leaders, Tammra Bethune Reel

Education Dissertations and Projects

The researcher of the dissertation evaluated a district-led school leadership preparation program using Stufflebeam's (2003) Context, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) model for program evaluation. The study had a management-oriented approach to program evaluation because it will enable effective decision making regarding the program's design. In addition, the program evaluation took a formative approach as program characteristics were analyzed and collaboration with program participants occurred in order to determine which aspects of the Administrative Mentoring Program (AMP) were most beneficial to those directly involved.

Data for the study were obtained through the processes of a researcher-created participant survey and personal …

Inside Stories: Stories Within, Personal Narrative In The Classroom, Carol Block

MA TESOL Collection

This discussion of a project conducted in 2004 involved two ESOL Middle School Students. The project used personal narrative and autobiographical elements to produce booklets based on these students’ experiences which created a bridge into the academic community, for themselves and their families. This paper discusses the elements that made this project successful and the reasons that personal narrative is so powerful and meaningful for all students and, most especially, second language learners.

Case Study Of Connected Knowing In An Online Learning Environment, Jaya Kannan, John Laurence Miller

CTL Publications

This paper reports a single-subject case study designed to investigate the role of group discussion in student learning. The group discussion took the form of contributions to a series of online discussion boards. And our analysis focuses on the contribution of one group member. We argue that this individual came to serve as a catalyst to learning for many group members because of the concomitant roles that she came to occupy.

It Takes Discipline: Learning In A World Without Boundaries, Stephen Healey

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

As Plato suggested, pedagogy is inextricably related to the polis. The learner and teacher are constituted by social, political, and economic bounds, and yet the twenty-first century polis is increasingly a world without boundaries. This is a perilous and exciting time to teach and learn. As agents of terror have shown, political boundaries are uncomfortably permeable. Economically, culturally, and religiously, globalization has reduced the power of nation-states and threatened erasure of their boundaries. Isolated identities—nationalistic, religious, linguistic, sexual— are under siege. Nothing is immune from alteration by these large-scale forces. Plato’s insight is that the pressures and possibilities, which determine …

Catalogue 2009-2010, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.

Non-Science For Majors: Reforming Courses, Programs, And Pedagogy, Jennifer Frederick

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Scientific advances fill news headlines and find audiences in popular movies, legislative bodies, and courtrooms, suggesting that society is broadly engaged by scientific issues. Science students typically learn concepts and methods that ignore the social and cultural foreground as well as religious and ethical implications of science practice. These excluded factors often reappear in scientific developments such as genetic engineering of herbicide-resistant plants, environmental effects of chemical and biological waste management strategies, and medical and health implications of sequencing the human genome. Though today’s science professors are already burdened by expanded content from introductory to advanced courses, now more than …

Orienting Students To An “Inside-Out Course”: Establishing A Classroom Culture Of Interactive, Cooperative Learning, Karlene Ferrante

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

I have developed a course in communication theories that foregrounds active learning, with structured opportunities for support. The result is an “Inside-Out Course” in which students are required to turn in a “ticket” for entry to class— usually a concept map of the reading. Since the first exposure to material is through homework, class time is used for quick overviews and learning activities designed by student teaching teams. Students are motivated to create good concept maps for tickets, since they are allowed to use those maps for the case study exams, taken with open notes. Assessments require students to select …

A Case Study Of Reform At One Urban High School, Linda Nadene Sorenson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Our schools in America are in crisis. At particular risk are poor and minority students who attend high schools in urban areas. With so many urban high schools failing, reformers have sought ways to improve schools and increase student achievement. Effort toward urban high school reform is occurring across the United States. What happens to a school during the process of reform?

The purpose of this case study was to describe the significant events and changes that characterize one urban high school's reform efforts and analyze stakeholders' perceptions about the reform themes found in the researcher literature on high school …

Content Anlaysis Of Computer Conferencing Transcripts, Roisin Donnelly, John Gardner

Journal Articles

Within the field of higher education, there are situations where the learner is not well served in a classroom setting. Problematic issues such as scheduling, critical mass, time, pace and location have the potential to be counterbalanced by e-learning. Within this, the asynchronous nature of today’s online learning environments and computer conferencing tools have popularly been claimed to offer tremendous benefits for learners who are willing to take responsibility for their own learning, to progress at their own pace, and interact with their online teacher to get immediate feedback on their learning and progress. Indeed, increasingly, educators today are very …

Extraordinary Leaders For Unordinary Times: A Grounded Theory Study, Doris E. Candelarie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Across the United States, school districts are working to turnaround their lowest performing schools in order to meet the requirements of Adequate Yearly Progress mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. These failing schools are facing district, state, and federal sanctions of closure, takeover, or restructuring. A new phenomenon emerging from this dire state in education is the turnaround leader. An educational turnaround leader is one who leads a high poverty, low performing school to dramatic improvement. Limited research exists on educational turnaround leaders, but what is available hypothesizes that turnaround leaders have different characteristics and qualities. …

Bridgewater State College Factbook, 2008-2009, Office Of Institutional Research And Assessment, Bridgewater State College

Factbook

No abstract provided.

Common Data Set, 2009-2010, Office Of Institutional Research And Assessment, Bridgewater State College

Common Data Sets

No abstract provided.

Freshman Academy: Making The High School Transition, Tracy L. Srofe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Numerous freshman transition programs are conducted throughout the nation to address the middle school to high school transition issue. The current study focuses on a high school transition model, the Freshman Academy, to improve ninth-grade attendance, academic achievement, and school engagement for at-risk students. School engagement encompasses three interrelated components: emotion, behavior, and cognition.

The current study used a quasi-experimental pre- and posttest comparison design with no random assignment to measure the impact of the Freshman Academy on attendance, academic achievement, and school engagement. Student interviews were conducted to see what aspects of the Freshman Academy promote school engagement and …

Testing The Effectiveness Of A Quality Assurance System: The Example Of Hong Kong, David Lim

Support & Other Units (THEi)

Operating a quality assurance system in tertiary education is the rule rather than the exception, because of the belief that it will improve quality. However, proving this is not easy. This study examines three ways of providing the evidence: the a priori method, the stepwise backtracking method, and the external evaluation method. The quality assurance system of the Vocational Training Council of Hong Kong is used as a case‐study, but the findings on the advantages and disadvantages of using these methods have relevance for testing the effectiveness of quality assurance systems for other education institutions.

Exploring Best Practices For Identification, Assessment, Course Placement, Support Services, And Academic Monitoring Of First Year Students Whose Act Writing Scores Indicate Needs For Skill Building, Kellian Clink, Amy Mukamuri

Library Services Publications

The authors share some of the research about Generation 1.5 students as well as other students whose academic writing skills may need development. We relate some data from MSU, from state of Minnesota reports, and from federal studies and discuss some of the reading and writing issues for these students. We describe the possible roles of Adult Basic Education (ABE), community colleges, and MSU in developmental writing coursework and explore assessment tools utilized. We describe some models of writing development around the state and the nation, and finally describe some consequences of doing nothing, piloting project(s), and implementing a program …

The Digest Edition 2009/1 : The Use Of Icts In Schools In The Digital Age: What Does The Research Say?, Marion Meiers, Pat Knight, Gerry White

Research Digest

This edition of The Digest is focused on research that has investigated aspects of digital learning. The body of research sometimes described as ‘e-learning research’ encompasses many aspects of ICT in education, at many levels and in many contexts. For the purposes of this digest, the key question is What does research tell us about digital learning in schools? The first section of the digest is focused on the diverse uses of ICT in schools, and evidence about the ICT literacy of Australian students. This is followed by an overview of evidence about the impact of ICT on student learning. …

Analysis Of Factors Influencing West Virginia Secondary Biology And Science Teacher Attrition Rates, Seth Perry

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The high rate of attrition for beginning teachers has been blamed on many factors. Nationally these include low pay, urban versus rural school settings, age, with younger teachers leaving sooner, and other variables making a complex problem with no clear component responsible for the loss of teachers. This study examined the self reported variables that contribute to high school teachers in West Virginia leaving their profession. An electronic survey instrument was distributed to current secondary teachers across the state. Teachers were asked to respond to questions related to professional satisfaction, perceived value from students and parents, administrative support, content versus …

Predictors Of Academic Success For High School Students: The Correlation Between Middle School Missouri Assessment Program Scores And Freshman Year Grade Point Average, Sherrie L. Wisdom

Dissertations

Educators lack an efficient means to predict academic success at the high school level. Analysis of assessment scores may provide prediction patterns to help districts raise the percentage of students who persist to graduation, provide support for students who exhibit characteristics of academic risk or giftedness, and move populations closer to meeting Adequate Yearly Progress. To consider assessment data as potential indicators of academic transition success from middle to high school, this study examined the correlation between middle school Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores and high school Grade Point Average (GPA). MAP Communication Arts and Mathematics were independent variables. The …

Beg, Steal Or Borrow?: The Challenges Faced By Borrowing The Failure Mode And Effects Analysis Method To Elicit The Unintended Consequences Of Implementing Elearning In The Higher Education Context, Frances Boylan

Papers, presentations and other resources

Effective project management, change management and risk management are key to the successful implementation of elearning. Connected to risk is the notion of unintended consequences, and it is with the issues and concerns surrounding the borrowing of the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis method for a research study to elicit the unintended consequences of the processes and policies put in place at one higher education institute in Ireland to facilitate the roll out of elearning there, that this paper is concerned. The Law of Unintended Consequences holds that any action undertaken can result in desirable and undesirable, as well as …

A Narrative Case Study Describing The Support Culture For The Change Process In A Small Parochial, Boarding Secondary School, Stanley M. Rouse

Dissertations

Problem. History acknowledges that change in education is difficult. Literature suggests that the educational system plays a critical role in individual school-change initiatives. Educators need to seek for better understanding of the influence that system issues have on the change process. This study describes a change process experienced by one small boarding school in a parochial school system. It describes the change process as experienced by teachers in the school, administrators at various systemic levels, and parents of students in the school. Their story brings greater understanding of how culture of the system impacts school change.

Method. This research used …

Using The Lesson Study Approach To Plan For Student Learning, Susan J. Lenski, Micki M. Caskey, Vincent A. Anfara Jr.

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Lesson Study approach is a method of professional development that encourages teachers to reflect on their teaching practice through a cyclical process of collaborative lesson planning, lesson observation, and examination of student learning. This results-oriented professional development model is an ideal vehicle for improving instructional practice in middle schools. Characteristically, middle schools are (a) learning communities where teachers and students engage in active learning, (b) places with high expectations for every member of the community, and (c) organizational structures that support meaningful relationships (National Middle School Association, 2003). Middle school teachers have to know their students well—who they are …

Dispositions Related To Successful Co-Teaching Teams At The Secondary Level: A Case-Based Study Of Three Secondary Co-Teaching Teams, Zabrina U. Cannady

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the dispositions of successful co-teachers in the Houston County school district in order to gain insight into the establishment of successful collaborative relationships. Data for this study was collected through multiple observations and follow up/exit interviews with six teachers participating in the co-teaching model in the Houston county school district. Findings indicated the presence of dispositions identified in the literature as essential for successful co-teachers, to include positive attitude, empathy, insight, and the use of pedagogical strategies. In addition to the four observed categories, the participants also identified administrative support, creativity in …

Beyond Volunteerism And Good Will: Examining The Commitment Of Schoolbased Teachers To Distance Education, Michael K. Barbour, Dennis Mulcahy

Education Faculty Publications

Two decades ago Newfoundland and Labrador introduced distance education in the K-12 environment. The program focused upon providing advanced-level courses to rural school students, and worked largely due to the widely known, but rarely documented significant amounts of content-based assistance from school based personnel. In the past seven years the province has moved to a virtual school model of distance education and more rural schools find that they must rely upon this virtual school to offer academic-level courses to students with a wide range of abilities. This has created many new responsibilities for teachers that have also gone undocumented. Studies …

The Effects Of Block Scheduling On Ap Calculus Ab Student Achievement, Larry A. Lightner

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Student achievement on the AP Calculus AB Exam is always a concern for teachers and school districts that offer the exam. A factor of concern that also arises is a school’s schedule. A school’s schedule may have an affect on achievement. This study examines the comparison in achievement of students who take the AP Calculus AB Exam under a block schedule and a traditional schedule system. Block Scheduling is defined as a class period of 80-90 minutes with 4 periods each day, allowing a full year’s curriculum to be offered in one semester. Traditional scheduling is defined as a class …

"I Am Not Afraid To Listen": Prospective Teachers Learning From Students, Alison Cook-Sather

Education Program Faculty Research and Scholarship

This article describes a project that positions high school students as teacher educators within an undergraduate secondary certification program. A brief review of researchers' arguments for listening to students and a description of the project contextualize the perspectives of graduates of the program who teach or have taught in city schools. These teachers emphasize howthe project allows them to reaccess the student experience in school; get clear on what it means to really listen; learn how important it is to take students' experiences and perspectives seriously; recognize how much more engaged in their learning students are when teachers listen and …

Using Blackboard To Create Library Research Skills Assessment, Maura A. Smale, Mariana Regalado

Publications and Research

Like other college and university departments, academic libraries are increasingly expected to assess their services and facilities. This article describes an initial step in the development of a comprehensive assessment program for library instruction in the Brooklyn College Library. A pre- and post-quiz were developed based on the curriculum for a required library session in an introductory English composition course. The quizzes were designed to establish a baseline for student knowledge of information literacy as well as measure the effect of library instruction on student learning. We also sought to evaluate the suitability of the Blackboard learning management system for …