Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

The Impact Of Collective Teacher Efficacy On Student Achievement In High School Science, Mark W. Burcham

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the impact of collective teacher efficacy on high school science achievement by looking at relationships among collective teacher efficacy, its two constructs, group competence and group task analysis, and high school science achievement scores at four rural high schools in Northwestern North Carolina.

The researcher gathered historical test data from the testing coordinator from the school system and then administered the Collective Teacher Efficacy Instrument, developed by Goddard, Hoy, and Woolfolk Hoy (2000), to 24 science teachers from the four high schools. Using this information, the researcher conducted statistical analyses to determine the relationships …

Case Study: The Effect Of The Implementation Of Professional Learning Communities On Teacher Behaviors At Two Elementary Schools, Rachel N. Clarke

Education Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the impact of the implementation of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) model on teacher behaviors in two elementary schools. The research questions underlying and providing a research framework for the study were as follows: How does establishing a PLC change teacher instructional behavior? How does the implementation of a PLC encourage teacher professional growth? How do grade level meetings affect the instructional behavior of classroom teachers?

Written documentation and perceptions of principals and teachers, solicited through interviews and focus groups, were used to provide data for the study, along with survey data and grade level meeting documentation. …

Social Capital: Relationship Between Social Capital And Teacher Job Satisfaction Within A Learning Organization, Timothy Lee Chazon

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to study the relationship between Social Capital and teacher Job Satisfaction for 11 selected North Carolina Middle Schools. This study uses the learning organizational theory and social capital theory as theoretical constructs for studying the complex relationships between school as a Learning Organization (LO), Social Capital (SC), and teacher Job Satisfaction (JS). SC encompasses the interactive-interpersonal relationships and the values that are placed on those relationships whose collaborative efforts provide collective leverage to obtain an agreed-upon task. SC, according to Subramaniam and Youndt (2005), is intrinsically tied to Human Capital (HC), which is the individual knowledge, …

Professional Learning Communities: A Case Study Of The Implementation Of Plcs At An Elementary School Based On Huffman And Hipp's Five Dimensions And Critical Attributes, Shannon Long

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to examine the change in perceptions of instructional staff in regards to five dimensions as it proceeded in establishing a professional learning community. The researcher utilized focused interview sessions, group interview questionnaires, and Huffman and Hipp's Professional Learning Survey to determine how the staff perceived the implementation of professional learning communities. The findings of this study will help the school of study determine the next steps of their journey of implementing professional learning communities.

Engaging Students For Success : Australasian Student Engagement Report, Hamish Bennett Coates

Higher education research

ACER produces AUSSE Institution Reports for participating universities, providing details about the responses from students in their institution and selected benchmark groups. These reports provide a basis for publication and presentation of analyses within higher education communities, at conferences, and in magazines and journals. ACER also produces this Australasian Student Engagement Report (ASER), a series of AUSSE Research Briefings, and a series of AUSSE Enhancement Guides. These public documents are intended to convey general results to wider audiences.

The Digest Edition 2009/2 : Talking To Learn: Dialogue In The Classroom, Catherine Scott, Marion Meiers, Pat Knight

Research Digest

This Digest is focused on research studies about using classroom talk for improving learning, and particularly on the use of teaching methods incorporating classroom dialogue. A selection of websites is listed and a full reference list provided. Links to those references for which full-text online access is freely available are also included. Classrooms are full of talk: some commentators have even suggested that schools are ‘saturated’ with it. There are different types of classroom talk for a range of different purposes. An international research study conducted in primary classrooms in five countries (the ‘Five Nations Study’) has demonstrated the powerful …

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

Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE)

No abstract provided.

Koinonia, Larry Crabb, Jesse Brown, Steven M. Conn, Michael Santarosa, Stephanie Santarosa, Steve Ivester, Kyle Lantz, Nathan Geer, Andrew D. Rowell

Koinonia

Spotlight Features
Sovereign Stumbling: My Life Journey to Date, Larry Crabb

Conversations About Racism, Jessie Brown

Anxiety: A Growing Problem in College Students, Steven M. Conn

Thinking Theologically
Teaching the Truth, Michael and Stephanie Santarosa

Book Reviews
Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power (by J.P. Moreland), reviewed by Steve Ivester

The Soul of a Christian University: A Field Guide for Educators (edited by Stephen T. Beers), reviewed by Kyle Lantz

The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfullness (by Donald Opitz and Derek Melleby), reviewed by Nathan Geer

I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics …

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 Process Of Research In Education: A Festschrift In Honour Of John P Keeves Am, Bobbie Matthews, Tony Gibbons

Shannon Research Press

John Keeves is acknowledged internationally by colleagues, students and friends as a superb teacher and researcher. Now in his eighty-fifth year, a number of these same people have come together to write papers that, in their content, express the foci of his teaching and research activities and, that pay tribute to the considerable effect he has had on the world of educational research and, on the authors themselves. This book is the result. It is no surprise that the authors are international and diverse.

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 …

A Case Study Of A High School Transition Program Into The Ninth Grade, Jamie Douglas Durant

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of a Ninth-Grade Transition Program at a Rural High School in Central North Carolina. The ninth grade is a pivotal year that determines which students will prevail and which students will fail to finish high school (Hertzog, 2003). It is essential that schools put in place components that ease the transition into high school and provide ongoing support.

Investigation measuring instruments used by the researcher included a two-part student survey and focus groups involving students in the ninth grade and those teachers who teach in the ninth grade. The data …

Perceived Leadership Practices Of Female Superintendents In North Carolina, Deardre J. Gibson

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to add to the general existing body of literature which examines women's work lives as North Carolina school superintendents. This study investigated the perceived leadership practices of North Carolina female superintendents during the 2008-2009 school year. According to the literature on female superintendents, women comprise the majority of teaching positions, but are underrepresented in the top leadership position in U.S. public schools. Gender inequality and barriers to the superintendency for women may account for disparities among women in the position. The provision of this study may serve to enlighten women who may aspire to the superintendency, …

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 …

An Analysis Of The Perceived Effects Of The Welsh Inclusion Model On The Academic Growth Of Special Needs Learners In A North Carolina Elementary School, Stephen Ray Pickard

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the implementation of the Welsh Inclusion Model at a Title I elementary school in grades 4 through 5 in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. The researcher visited the Title I school, which was embarking in only its second year in the implementation of the Welsh Inclusion Model. During these visits, the researcher interviewed the principal, the Director of Elementary Education, and two inclusion teams. The entire group participated in a focus group interview. The surveys, interviews, ITTAP, and Co-Teaching rubric provided data that were triangulated to determine how well …

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 …

Evaluating The Impact Of The Beginning Teacher Induction Program On The Retention Rate Of Beginning Teachers, Monica Lynn Shepherd

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the Teacher Induction Program of a rural school system in North Carolina. The effects of mentor assignment, ongoing staff development, master teacher observation opportunities, structured reflection and self-assessment, and other support offered at the system level to beginning teachers on the retention rate of beginning teachers in the school system were analyzed.

The researcher determined 10 themes based on the objectives of the school system's Beginning Teacher Support Program: improving beginning teachers' skills and performance; supporting teacher morale; communications; collegiality; building a sense of professionalism and positive attitude; facilitating a smooth transition into the …

The Effects Of Teacher Stability On Third Grade Student Achievement As Measured By The North Carolina End-Of-Grade Tests In Reading And Mathematics, Juddson W. Starling

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the effects of teacher stability on student achievement as measured by the North Carolina End-of-Grade tests in reading and mathematics for third grade students. The perceptions of third grade teachers and elementary school principals concerning issues with teacher stability were also examined. Accountability for public schools in North Carolina has driven educators to find ways to increase student achievement. Teacher stability is a variable that can be controlled by educators in an attempt to increase student achievement.

The writer gathered test data from a target school district and analyzed test scores by the number …

Using Semantic Ambiguity Instruction To Improve Third Graders' Metalinguistic Awareness And Reading Comprehension: An Experimental Study, Marcy Zipke, Linnea C. Ehri, Helen Smith Cairns

Education Faculty Publications

An experiment examined whether metalinguistic awareness involving the detection of semantic ambiguity can be taught and whether this instruction improves students' reading comprehension. Lower socioeconomic status third graders (M age = 8 years, 7 months) from a variety of cultural backgrounds (N = 46) were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Those receiving metalinguistic ambiguity instruction learned to analyze multiple meanings of words and sentences in isolation, in riddles, and in text taken from the Amelia Bedelia series (Parish, 1979, 988). The control group received a book-reading and discussion treatment to provide special attention and to rule out Hawthorne …

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.

A Peer Assisted Approach To Assessment And Evaluation In A Korean University, John Steere Wendel

MA TESOL Collection

This paper details collaborative professional development with a focus on classroom assessment and evaluation of Korean University students. The observations, opinions, and conclusions reported herein are based on committee work carried out by the author at Dongguk University during the fall semester of 2007. Members of the committee were first asked to define areas of assessment and evaluation of students that either interested them, or that they found problematic. Through methods described in this paper (journaling, committee meetings, materials sharing, observation and feedback), each team member had opportunities to actively reflect on their own practices, to both articulate and challenge …

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.

Anatomy Of A Scientific Explanation, Cassandra Volpe Horii

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

“If I’m going to explain this theory, the question is, are you going to understand it? Will you understand the theory?” - -Richard Feynman, 1979 Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures

In this way, Richard Feynman, recipient of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics and renowned teacher, author, and bongo player, introduced scientific explanation as an interesting problem with understanding as its testable outcome. Making quantum mechanics understandable to an audience of non-specialists is no easy task. Feynman had his audience in stitches, on this occasion, after noting that advanced graduate students in physics often “do not understand it either, and that’s …

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 …

Making Sure That Peer Review Of Teaching Works For You, Nancy Van Note Chism

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Peer review of teaching: A hastily arranged visit to the classroom of a faculty member in desperate need of quick testimony on teaching effectiveness, resulting in a bland letter stating that the class is interesting and students seem engaged.

Given this prevailing practice in peer review of teaching, no wonder most faculty members fail to see its inherent usefulness. To many, this limited view and practice have rendered it a necessary evil, only to be used under duress. This essay seeks to expand both definition and practice. Let’s begin with another definition:

Peer review of teaching: Collegial efforts to understand …

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 …

"How Did I Spend Two Hours Grading This Paper?!" Responding To Student Writing Without Losing Your Life, Eric Lemay

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The specific critical moves and writing conventions of your discipline probably differ from mine, but your discipline certainly has them and when teaching them to students becomes your aim, your responses to their writing will take less time and be more effective. No longer will you have to transform novice papers into expert ideas. Instead, you can focus on the novices themselves. You can use their writing to teach them the next thing they need to know as novice historians, philosophers, or anthropologists. Given that they’re novices and you’re an expert, that thing is almost always obvious to you, although …

Motivation And Perceptions Of Learner-Centered Practices At A Military Service Academy, Joel Leonard Witzel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Considering today's expeditionary warfare, it is essential the United States military service academies produce cadets and midshipmen who are intrinsically academically motivated, intellectually curious, and ready to meet the diversity of "publics and parliaments" they may influence during worldwide deployments (Scheffer, 2007). Research shows teachers' learner-centered practices that focus on students' needs positively influence college students' academic motivation. The purpose of this study was to measure cadets' levels of academic motivation and perceptions of learner-centered practices at the United States Air Force Academy.

This was a quantitative correlational study examining the relationship between cadets' perceptions of five learner-centered domains of …