Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

This Is Not A Fable: Using Storytelling In A College Classroom To Enhance Student Learning, Diann C. Moorman

SoTL Commons Conference

This research endorses storytelling as means to enhance student learning in the college classroom. Indeed, many of our earliest learning experiences may have involved storytelling—from Esoph’s Fables to Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Rare is the American adult who has not heard “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” or “The Ugly Duckling”. Both are childhood stories that provided reflective life messages. As such, storytelling is an enduring form of communication. Although many educators use storytelling in their classrooms, the stories are often presented spontaneously and may not be considered integral to the day’s learning and teaching activities. In fact, in many fields, the …

Turning Vision Into Action, Keturah Mazo

SoTL Commons Conference

"Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion." (Jack Welch)

Vision requires action. The course I teach, Professional Communication for Executives, has a variety of objectives:

• To develop a working knowledge of both theory and skills for effective and ethical public and persuasive communication.
• To develop individual presentation skills.
• To demonstrate awareness and practice of effective leadership skills and professional behavior.
• To create appropriate visual aids to enhance communication.

The following assignment incorporates the students' initiative with their knowledge to demonstrate both visually and orally what plans they are …

2014 Northwest Arkansas Report Card, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary Ritter

Education Report Card

Northwest Arkansas continues to lead the state of Arkansas in K-12 education. This report card presents a regional overview as well as key performance indicators for each district. Northwest Arkansas’ public school enrollment has increased 29 percent in the past decade, and our schools have enjoyed increased racial and ethnic diversity. The 15 districts and 3 charters in Northwest Arkansas are committed to preparing students for success in college and careers. Northwest Arkansas districts continue to pursue the goal of putting their graduates in position to be successful college students, and several of them are now working to establish specialized …

Redefining Value: Alternative Metrics And Research Outputs, Sara Rouhi, William Gunn, Raychelle Burks, Kiyomi D. Deards

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

Slides for a panel presentation on metrics of scholarly communication. Talks included are:

Practical Applications for Altmetric Data: Funding Requests by Sara Rouhi

Measuring Science by William Gunn

Outreach & Engagement (OE) by Raychelle Burks

What's My Impact? by Kiyomi Deards

Cyberbullying Prevention: Intervention Effects On Student Involvement, Sarah Nash Bumpas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Repeated studies show that cyberbullying is pervasive amongst adolescents. Cyberbullying can lead to self-harm, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Educators are called to intervene in educating students about cyberbullying through research and federal legislation. However, there is little research examining whether this education is taking place or having an effect.

This study investigates the relationship between the incidences of cyberbullying victimization and offending over time and the direct cyberbullying instruction and activities facilitated by classroom teachers. The study took place amongst sixth graders in Jefferson County Public Schools, a large urban school district located in northern Kentucky. Students in one school …

Searching Smart With Standards: Using Curriculum Standards To Find Educational Resources In Digital Libraries, Anne R. Diekama, Sheri Haderlie

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effectiveness Of E‐Coaching In Rural Science Classrooms, Gwen Nugent

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

This presentation will present final results of a research project funded by the U.S. Department of Education and conducted by the National Center for Research on Rural Education at UNL. The study is a randomized control trial with 119 rural middle and high school science teachers in Nebraska and Iowa. It examines the impact of professional development on guided scientific inquiry with technologydelivered follow‐up coaching (treatment) versus no professional development (control) on teacher and student inquiry knowledge, skills, self‐efficacy and attitudes. This presentation will provide an overview of the project, focusing on the coaching processes and procedures, and present final …

Survival Analysis: Timelines To English Language Proficiency At The Secondary School Level, Elisha W. Beardsley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The ELL population in the United States continues to increase. Research suggests that the English language proficiency growth rates for numerous ELL students are strongly correlated with their English language proficiency levels (Cook & Zhao, 2011; Conger, 2008). The results of Conger’s 2008 study suggested that just over fifty percent of students gained English language proficiency after three years. According to the same study, the students that did not typically gain English language proficiency were students who entered public schools older and with a lower English language proficiency level. The current study examines the likelihood of high school ELLs in …

Planning A Stronger Teacher Workforce, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

Ongoing improvements in educational performance in Australian schools depend on continual improvements in the quality of classroom teaching.

Evaluating Colleges And Universities: A New Model For Institutional Rankings, Lucien Robert Costley

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Abstract

Most colleges and universities function independently and lack the wherewithal of measuring performance areas of effectiveness, efficiency or quality. The United States Department of Education maintain a number of subsidiary organizations and external sources that provide public statistical data for analysis, yet an institutional performance output measure has not been defined, created, nor developed. At best, university rankings (from sources such as US News and World Report) have been the main source of institutional performance for decades despite researchers’ attempts to address gaps within the higher education field. These sources remain limited within their methodology and may not truly …

Enrollment Report - Spring 2015, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

Enrollment Reports

This Enrollment Statistical Summary provides delivery and administrative-site information on enrollment headcount and student credit hours. Delivery site reporting counts all students, including those in UNL programs delivered at UNO, but excludes UNO programs only (including the CPACS program delivered in Lincoln).

The purpose of this summary is to provide the undergraduate and graduate enrollments and student credit hour information by college of equivalent academic unit, class, gender and ethnicity. A glossary at the end of the report provides a list of definitions for headings and categories found in the report.

The Value Of Iowa School District Community Demographic Data In Explaining School District Itbs/Ited 3rd And 11th Grade Language Arts And Mathematics Scores, Byron E. Darnall

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to determine which combination of 15 community demographic factors account for the most amount of variance and can best predict an Iowa school district’s percentage of students scoring proficient or above on the 2010 Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and Iowa Test of Educational Development (ITED) for 3^rd and 11^th grade Language Arts and Mathematics. This study, along with extant literature and past research, supports the hypothesis that community demographic factors have an impact on state standardized test scores.

This study revealed that 20.4% of the variance in 2010 ITBS 3 …

Creation Of The Achievement School District: House Bill 1733, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

Education leaders throughout the country are working to identify successful strategies for turning persistently low performing schools into successful schools. One strategy undertaken in Louisiana, Michigan, and Tennessee is the creation of a unique school district for the most academically distressed schools. In this brief, we review the programs in other states and examine House Bill 1733, which proposes the creation of such a district in Arkansas for schools or districts in academic distress

The Waivers Sought By Arkansas Charters: Should They Be Extended To All?, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

Should traditional public school districts be allowed to use the same waivers as nearby charter schools? Perhaps the flexibility afforded to charters might be helpful for all schools by allowing them to become nimble, responsive organizations, less governed by inertia and more guided by innovation. House Bill 1377 proposes such an extension of waivers. In this brief, we examine the most common waivers that charter schools request to assess what types of waivers could be available to traditional public schools if House Bill 1377 were signed into law.

Achievenj And Its Effects On Hiring Principals, Gina M. Cinotti

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate New Jersey superintendents’ hiring decisions of principals during the implementation of AchieveNJ, the educator evaluation system. This policy created mandates for school districts, which were nonexistent in the past. The 2013-2014 school year was the inaugural year for AchieveNJ, and it is unknown if this new mandate has influenced superintendents’ hiring decisions of principals and whether superintendents’ own estimations of the new policy will shape their hiring decisions. The study described the influence, if any, AchieveNJ might have on superintendents’ hiring decisions of principals. A substantial amount of literature exists on …

Justice For All? Costs And Consequences Of Standardized Testing Requirements In Teacher Education Reform Policy, Wendy Zagray Warren

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Wendy Zagray Warren on March 5, 2015.

Earth & Environmental Sciences Academic Program Review, 2014, College Of Science And Mathematics, Wright State University

Academic Program Review Reports - All

This 23 page report reviews several programs from Wright State University's Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, specifically looking at the time from Fall 2009 to Fall 2014. Programs Reviewed: Earth & Environmental Sciences (BA, BS, and MS) Environmental Heath Sciences Concentration Earth Science

The Georgia State University Early College Program: A Practice In Student Success Relevance, Tene Davis, Kalisha Woods, Cedrick Dortch, Chloe Jackson

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

The session will present specific programmatic strategies implemented within the Georgia State University Early College program that have successfully produced over 600 attendees and graduates of the program since 2007. The session will demonstrate the effective partnership between secondary and post-secondary educational entities that has resulted in a 99% high school graduation and an 87% college attendance rate.

Educating The Whole Family: Expanding Education Through A Multi-Generational Learning Environment In Socioeconomic Disadvantaged Communities, Hannah E. Adams

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Educators learn to implement a higher level of learning within lower-economic African American communities by creating a multi-generation educational team to support student’s progress through school. Educators use practical application to define learning and support roles within the family including defining school responsibility and expectations, defining an educational support system for the student, as well as aligning community mentors both within the family and within the community to provide the educational guidance necessary for youth to reach educational success.

When All Hope Is Gone, Trust Then Believe: “At Risk” Or “At Potential"?, Erica C. Pooler, Barbara Kirby-Bentley Dr.

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

The Cards of Life, when all hope is gone; trust then believe forces educators to view students differently. The notion that we can’t teach students until we truly begin to know them and they begin to trust us is challenged. The fact that our actions have to align with our words and meaningful conversations and relationships must be established in the classroom. At Risk or At Potential? Every school across the nation have students that struggle, academically, socially or behaviorally. There are a variety of reasons as to why? We can no longer ignore these students and pad the numbers …

What Are The Characteristics Of Sustainability For School Improvement?, Jason Thomas Radford

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Jason Thomas Radford on March 3, 2015.

What You Know Counts: Why We Should Elicit Prior Probabilities From Experts To Improve Quantitative Analysis With Qualitative Knowledge In Special Education Science, Tyler Aaron Hicks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Qualitative knowledge is about types of things, and their excellences. There are many ways we humans produce qualitative knowledge about the world, and much of it is derived from non-quantitative sources (e.g., narratives, clinical experiences, intuitions). The purpose of my dissertation was to investigate the possibility of using Bayesian inferences to improve quantitative analysis in special education research with qualitative knowledge.

It is impossible, however, to fully disentangle philosophy of inquiry, methodology, and methods. My evaluation of Bayesian estimators, thus, addresses each of these areas. Chapter Two offers a philosophical argument to substantiate the thesis that Bayesian inference is usually …

Count Yourself In:Encouraging Students To Take The 180-Day Challenge, Takeysha Ray, Curlandra Lightfoot-Smith

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

In this presentation, participants will focus on the importance of a holistic approach addressing chronic absenteeism in schools. Participants are provided with tools to take to their district and community helping bring awareness to regular, punctual school attendance. We will provide exciting, hands-on, interactive experiences on initiatives and creative strategies addressing truancy.

Explored The Perceptions Of North Laurel High School Seniors And South Laurel High School Seniors On The Factors And Experiences That Impacted Students' Performance In School - Determined The Strengths Of The Relationships Between The Factors, Experiences And Students' Performance In Two Eastern Kentucky High Schools, Christopher N. Amaechi

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Innovative Public Education Or Glorified Homeschooling: Funding Full-Time K-12 Online Learning, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

While there has been some improvement in what is known about supplemental K-12 online learning, there continues to be a lack of evidence to guide the practice of full-time K-12 online learning. This paper examines the literature and research into the funding of full-time K-12 online learning programs. As one of the few areas where a reasonable body of literature exists, and where both progress and neo-liberal groups have reach relative agreement. It concludes that full-time K-12 online learning costs less than traditional brick-and-mortar, and that policymakers should consider the nature of instruction when determining funding for full-time K-12 online …

Results Of A Pilot Analysis Of Actem Listserv Posts As A Tool For Examining Maine Learning Technology Initiative Program Implementation, Components Of The School Funding Formula

Education Technology

As part of its ongoing evaluation efforts of Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) staff examined the ACTEM listserv archives for the 2014 calendar year, which overlaps with two academic years, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. The goal of this examination was to pilot a process for documenting and categorizing the listserv content and to determine the viability of this process in providing useful evidence of implementation of the MLTI program. The present report provides an overview of the quality and quantity of messages exchanged through the listserv and a discussion of this evidence.

Preliminary Examinations Of The Relationships Between The Use Levels Of Maine Learning Technology Initiative Devices And School-Level Poverty, Bernadette Doykos Phd, David L. Silvernail, Amy F. Johnson Phd

Education Technology

As MLTI extends into its second decade of operation, a number of questions have emerged that require increased attention to ensure that the needs of students and teachers are being met. For example: Is there evidence of a second “digital divide”—one of skills and use—across the state of Maine? Does the socioeconomic status of students and schools in Maine influence the level of technology integration? The purpose of the present Brief was to explore these questions. To accomplish this, we examine how students’ use of technology varies by schools’ free and reduced priced lunch (FRPL) by analyzing data from student …

A Mixed Methods Analysis On Creative Leadership And Missouri School Administrators, Tiffany Lynn Jarvis

Dissertations

In this mixed methods study, the researcher investigated whether or not Missouri school administrators were prepared to meet the creative leadership demands of the 21st century by measuring their creative capacity, creative styles, and their current creative leadership practices. A convenience sample of Missouri K-12 public school administrators and teachers completed the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults, the Creativity Styles Questionnaire – Revisited and an original Organizational Creativity Survey; two homogenous small focus groups discussed their experiences regarding creativity and creative leadership within school organizations. Whereas teachers were statistically significantly more creative than the normed adult population, administrators did not …

Singapore Math: A Longitudinal Study Of Singapore Math In One School District From 2007 To 2012, Justin Michael Reynolds

Dissertations

For the last several years, Americans have fallen behind in the area of mathematics when compared to their peers in industrialized countries around the world. Singapore, on the other hand, was at the top of the world rankings in mathematics in the last four Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) assessments taken by fourth and eighth graders every four years. This project focused on the impact of the Singapore Math program on two cohorts of students by utilizing their Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores from the mathematics subtest. The first cohort, A, was comprised of students who were …

Student And Teacher Perceptions Of Standards-Based Grading And Student Performance, Terry W. Winton

Dissertations

Assessing student learning has been part of education since the beginning of formalized schooling. Developments at the national, state, and local level have led to grading reforms over the past quarter century. The purpose of this study was to explore students’ and teachers’ perceptions of standards-based grading to determine if there was a significant difference on standardized tests scores between students graded using standards-based grading and students graded using traditional grading. Teachers and students from one Missouri high school were interviewed to determine their perceptions about standards-based grading. A stratified sample was utilized to select interviewees. Artifacts from the district …