Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

The Takeover Of Standardized Tests, Karlie M. Lieberth

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Diane Ravitch once said, “Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent students do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds”. Standardized testing is a very controversial issue occurring in our school systems today. Standards hold schools and teachers accountable for properly progressing our youth through school. However, is administering the same exact test to every child in every school district the best way to measure growth? There are many factors that makes up a school and student body such as poverty, cultural beliefs etc. These factors are not addressed in the standardized tests that our students …

Developing A Practical Framework For Information Literacy Program Evaluation, Paul Bracke, Clarence Maybee, Sharon Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This presentation was given at the Library Assessment Conference held from October 31–November 2, 2016 in Arlington, VA. The Purdue University Libraries, like many academic libraries, face increased expectations for demonstrating their value and impact. The Libraries launched a project to advance an outcomes-based, mission-centric framework for evaluating its information literacy programing. The methods for developing this framework consist of four steps: 1) focus groups with librarians to gain a more comprehensive understanding of existing assessment practices, 2) analysis of focus group findings, characterizing current assessment practices, 3) a gap analysis, comparing focus group findings to the information literacy mission …

Development Of The Acute Decompensated Heart Failure Risk Model For Emergency Room Resident Training, Zora Cvetkovski-Injic

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to characterize patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure with and without low systolic blood pressure using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Direct and surrogate measurements were measured. The aim was to use EFA for data reduction to elicit a parsimonious set of factors summarizing the relationships between variables by measuring intercorrelations of the clinical variables collected as part of standard care, and abstracted from electronic medical records.

A better understanding of the characteristics and outcomes of the target group could potentially lead to individualized treatment modalities tailored to effectively and economically improve care. Patients …

Self-Directed Learning And The Development Of Self-Efficacy In Basic Writing, Amy Ann Latawiec

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation examines and analyzes the work of two sections of basic writing over the course of one semester. I explore relevant research in Writing Studies, Cognitive Psychology, and Educational Psychology to build a framework within which to discuss pedagogical strategies implemented to support student’s self-directed learning behaviors and to positively affect their efficacy beliefs. Through an analysis of students’ written work, I determined whether and how this pedagogy facilitated students’ articulation of efficacy beliefs as evidence through the language of their reflective writing assignments. Analysis of the data suggests three major arguments: first, that while self-efficacy is a complex …

Meta-Synthesis Of Sampling Methods Using Coding Strategies And Social Media For Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Nursing Students, Timberly Robinson Robinson

Wayne State University Dissertations

In 2010, the birth of an aggressive strategy began to emerge aimed to increase the number of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) individuals in professional healthcare fields. Employers and higher education admission officials desired more research. Data revealed that the field of nursing had a higher percentage of Deaf and Hard of Hearing professionals than other areas. Yet, there is a gap in the literature related to in-depth accounts about the learning experience and clinical training of D/HH nursing students. A phenomenological study was conducted to examine nursing experiences (homogenous sampling) compared to other clinical and non-clinical D/HH majors …

Impact Of Instructional Coaches On Elementary Mathematical Achievement, Kayla Marie Hibbard

Online Theses and Dissertations

Since the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, school leaders have sought to improve student abilities in both math and reading. Although both subjects have made improvements in both delivery and assessment over the years, mathematics still troubles the nation as students continuously fall short of local, state and federal goals (Darling-Hammond, 1998, 2005; Franke et al., 2005; Johnson & Johnson, 2002).

Instructional coaches have become a norm for many districts across the U. S. as districts seek to draw knowledge and leadership from mastery level teachers as they help improve everyday teaching and student learning. …

Effectiveness Of An Emergency Vehicle Operations Course Component, Visual And Perceptual Skills: Analyzing Student Response To Searching, Identifying, Predicting, Deciding, And Executing Skills, Christopher Bradley Millard

Online Theses and Dissertations

As funding for driver education declines according to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA) 2013 Traffic Safety Facts, there were 2,345,719 people injured or killed as a result of vehicle crashes. NHTSA reported that there were a total of 118 people killed in 2013 from accidents involving emergency vehicles. The effectiveness of an Emergency Vehicle Operations Course component of visual and perceptual skills can be measured by administering the Driver Performance Test prior to and after student participation. This study examined the population of the students who participated in the TRS 235: Emergency Vehicle Operations Course at Eastern Kentucky University …

Assessing The Impact Of First-Year Experience Courses On Student Success In Community And Technical Colleges, Luv'tesha L. Robertson

Online Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impact first-year experience courses have on first-year student performance when enrolled in these courses at public community and technical colleges in Kentucky. The target population for this research study was composed of freshman students participating in the course compared to students not participating in the same course in the same public community and technical colleges across the Bluegrass Region. Roughly 2,000 students were selected from the 2014-2015 fall academic year for this quantitative research study.

This study will aim to determine the effect of a first-year experience course on student performance and outcomes of first-year, at-risk …

An Equity Council And The Struggle To Transform A School District, Grace Tara Rodriguez

Online Theses and Dissertations

Significant efforts at the national, state and local levels have focused on closing achievement gaps between student populations in public schools. Some research suggests that parents and community members can help hold schools accountable for meeting academic and other goals. The Equity Council serves in an advisory role to the Wilson County school board in a district in the southeastern part of the United States. The council monitors equity in the district on several measures, including the hiring of minority educators, student achievement and suspension rates. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand and describe the functioning …

An Evaluation Of The College Readiness Of Graduating English Language Learners In Utah Public Schools., Lizette L. Rogers

Online Theses and Dissertations

The linguistic diversity that began with immigration in the early 20th century continues today. The impact of this growing population is directly affecting the economy and workforce in our nation. This dissertation focused on the college readiness of graduating English language learner (ELL) students in one western mountain state. The variables of gender, language proficiency levels, and free or reduced lunch status were studied, seeking to understand if those variables were independent of ELL students being college ready. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the ACT test scores for 668 English language learner graduates. A Chi-Square test for independence was …

The Association Between Achievement On Kentucky’S College Readiness Assessments And The Intervention Delivery Method Provided To Underprepared Twelfth Grade Mathematics Students, Barbara Darlene Spurlock

Online Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this retrospective quantitative study was to determine if there was an association between achievement on Kentucky’s college readiness assessments and intervention delivery methods: (1) face-to-face tutoring only; (2) online/digital tutoring only; or (3) blended learning tutoring provided to underprepared twelfth grade mathematics students. Data used for this study were provided voluntarily from four Kentucky districts representing six high schools. Descriptive statistics and Chi Square statistical significance research methods were used to determine the association between assessments and intervention instructional delivery models. Bivariate correlations were used to determine a weak correlation between Kentucky’s three college readiness assessments (ACT, …

Transitioning An On-Campus Graduate Nursing Program To A Distance Learning Environment: Do Online Students Perform As Well?, Brandi Stocker

Online Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the academic success rates of online graduate nursing students by comparing them to the on-campus cohort of students prior to the program transitioning online. Analysis was conducted by identifying and comparing final course grades in four required MSN courses. Data was extracted from the university’s BANNER system. Results reveal that both cohorts of course delivery modes yield academically successful MSN students. The study also shows that online students are performing almost nearly as well as the on-campus students in the program once did. Each course is different and yielded different results, but it can be concluded that …

The Effect Of Learning Communities On Freshman Student Retention Rates And Gpa At A Public 4-Year Institution Of Higher Education, Ashley Matthews Sweat

Online Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of GSD 101 Learning Communities (a cohort program for freshmen at Eastern Kentucky University) on the retention and first-year grade point average of first-time, full-time freshmen at the university. The study specifically examined students enrolled in GSD 101Z and ENG 101Z (the learning communities sections) in the Fall 2014 semester versus the students enrolled in the regular GSD 101 and ENG 101 classes during the same semester. A large institutional database was used to identify the students in the study and their demographic differences. Results showed that participation in learning communities did not make a …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of Safety Training Provided To Corrections Personnel In Appalachia, Ali K. Al Yammahi

Online Theses and Dissertations

The context of the study was assessment of whether corrections officers in Appalachia are receiving adequate health and safety training who attended health and safety trainings sessions provided by the OSHA Training Institute and Education Center on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University. Participants included in the study were corrections officers who have been working in corrections for a minimum of two years. Participants were required to be working in Appalachian corrections during distribution of the questionnaire. Participants were selected by using convenience and snowball sampling procedures. The questionnaire was sent on 4 separate occasions, 10 of the expected 30 …

The Implications Of The Turnaround Process On A Rural Kentucky High School: Teacher Perspectives, Sonya Edwina Anglin

Online Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a phenomenological study of the effects of the turnaround process on a high school in rural central Kentucky. Data used for this study include interviews with teachers and archival materials such as school reports cards. Across Kentucky some forty-one schools have been identified as "priority schools" or persistently low-performing. As such, each one of them has been required to undergo changes in their daily instructional practices, procedures, and policies. The change process has affected faculty and administration and led to overall school improvement. This study provides a look at how the turnaround process has influenced school improvement …

Variation Within The “New Latino Diaspora”: A Decade Of Changes Across The United States In The Equitable Participation Of Latina/Os In Higher Education, Deryl K. Hatch, Naomi Mardock Uman, Crystal E. Garcia

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This study problematizes the common discourse that rapid and widespread Latina/o demographic growth in the United States is a driving force in realizing higher education equity gains. Using equity indices for students, faculty, and administrative leaders at the state level, we present a portrait of changes in Latina/o participation in higher education over the last decade and propose a classification scheme for understanding variation across states at the intersection of changes in both demographics and equitable participation.

En este estudio se problematiza el discurso común del veloz y extendido crecimiento demográfico latino en los Estados Unidos como promotor de mayor …

The Influence Of Writing Achievement Goals And Writing Self-Regulation On College Students’ Writing Grades, Joseph Tadlock

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined relationships between college students’ writing achievement goal orientations, writing self-regulation, and writing grades. The study was conducted in a postsecondary setting at a large public university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Using multivariate quantitative techniques (confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling), survey and writing sample data were gathered to address the following research questions: Do college students’ writing achievement goals relate to their writing grades; do college students’ writing achievement goals relate to their writing self-regulation; and, does writing self-regulation partially mediate the relationship between writing achievement goals and writing grades in college …

Supporting Teen Leaders: Validation Of The I Drive Smart Survey, Cynthia M. George

Theses and Dissertations

Recent policy change allows states to spend federal dollars directly on teen-led driver safety efforts and requires regular evaluations of effectiveness. There are currently no standardized instruments to measure change in teen driving behavior relevant to teen leaders. This study serves the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Tennessee Highway Safety Office and their network of teen leaders to empirically test and refine the I Drive Smart survey developed by partners and grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The survey is designed to be administered by teen leaders to their peers and produce data relevant for use …

Consistency In Clinical Preceptor Field Training For Sonography Students, Cathy Herring Daniels

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Consistency in clinical preceptor training for sonography students is important in assuring equity in sonography student evaluation. Review of a local community college sonography program revealed a gap between expected roles and responsibilities of clinical preceptorship and what was actually done in the clinical setting. The purpose of this project study was to explore perceptions of graduates and preceptors regarding what constituted best practices in the evaluation of sonography students in the clinical setting. Knowles's theory of active learning provided a framework for understanding the student-preceptor relationship in the evaluation process. Research questions focused on sonography graduates' and clinical preceptors' …

Development Of An Instrument To Measure K-12 Teacher Demoralization In A Test-Based Accountability Context, Heather A. Carlson-Jaquez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure K-12 teacher demoralization. An increasing body of literature has labeled modern education policies as having a demoralizing effect on teachers (Darling-Hammond & Rustique-Forrester, 2002; Noddings, 2004; Ryan & Brown, 2005; Nichols & Berliner, 2007; Santoro, 2011; Hargreaves, Braun, & Gebhardt, 2013). Teacher demoralization has been defined as a teacher’s “inability to access the moral rewards of teaching” (Santoro, 2011, p. 3). Data was collected from a population of K-12 educators through cognitive interviews (n=6) and a large scale data collection analyzed with a principal component analysis …

Development Of The Student Perceptions Of Writing Feedback Scale, Sarah A. Marrs

Theses and Dissertations

Students’ perceptions of feedback can impact other writing constructs, such as motivation, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and achievement (Ekholm, Zumbrunn, & Conklin, 2015; Magno & Amarles, 2011; Zumbrunn, Marrs, & Mewborn, 2016; Zumbrunn, 2013). The goal of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument for measuring students’ perceptions of writing feedback. Evidence for validity and reliability were gathered throughout the development of the Student Perceptions of Writing Feedback (PoWF) Scale, a self-report questionnaire that asks students how they perceive feedback they get on their writing from their teachers. Items on the PoWF reflected the extant literature on students’ feedback …

Idealism, Pragmatism, And Student Motivation: Implementing Grading Systems, Practices, And Policies In Context, Kaleigh Mcroberts

Masters Theses

This thesis argues for the implementation of contextually-appropriate policies and practices that not only clarify the meaning of grades for teachers, parents, and students, but also give students more autonomy and improve their intrinsic motivation to learn. The literature about motivation reveals that the conventional wisdom—the use of contingent rewards—works when students are asked to complete simple, algorithmic tasks such as turning in assignments on time, but not when they're asked to complete complex, heuristic tasks such as those articulated by the Common Core State Standards. The literature about grading and grading systems reveals similarly misleading conventional wisdom: Educators often …

Objective Statistics For The Measurement Of Agreement, Elizabeth Perkin Moen

Wayne State University Dissertations

The prevailing method for biomedical device interchangeability is a scatterplot of means and differences bounded by levels of agreement (Bland-Altman Plot) which results in subjective judgments made in the discernment of differences in data distribution and fit. The purpose of this study was to test four statistics - the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and three fit indices (NFI, GFI, & CFI) in order to identify a more objective statistic for device interchangeability. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test proved incompatible with the data structure. The Normed Fit Index (NFI) proved most sensitive to correlation shifts where the Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) and Comparative Fit …

An Evaluation Of The Predictors Of Placement In Permanent Supportive Housing In The Detroit Metropolitan Communities, Andrea King-Jimenez

Wayne State University Dissertations

This was a quantitative evaluation of the predictors in placement of permanent supportive housing using the Coordinated Assessment Model (CAM) located in the Southwest Solution Agency. The statistical methods used were chi-square, discriminant function analysis and the logistical regression. The dependent variables were housed and not housed and the independent variables were chronic, family, Service Prioritization Decision Assessment Tool, and veteran status. There were 277 cases used for this study, the statistical methods showed there was a difference between the numbers of cases housed verse not housed. The discriminant function analysis and the logistic regression indicated the independent variables family …

Student, Teacher, School, And District Determinants Of Elementary School Accountability Classification In The Detroit Metropolitan Region, Embekka Nakia Thompson

Wayne State University Dissertations

Legislators have implemented an accountability system in an effort to increase school quality for all students. Policymakers assume that rewards and sanctions, based on results from high-stakes testing, can improve student achievement. The accountability system does not consider environmental factors that impact student outcomes. This study examines student, teacher, school and district determinants and their impact on student achievement, school designation, and school ranking. Data was collected from 333 elementary (K-5) schools in 56 public school districts and 18 charter schools in three counties: Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne. Two research questions were developed for this study.The first research question examined …

Teaching Presence And Intellectual Climate In A Structured Online Learning Environment, Janice Marie Orcutt

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Teaching presence and its implications for the intellectual climate of an online classroom cannot be fully understood unless explored from the perspective of the instructors who experience it. Framed in the theoretical perspective of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model, this collective case study investigated the actions, intentions and perceptions of instructors with the intent of developing an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of teaching presence as it was established in a structured online learning environment.

The experiences of selected successful instructors in this specific online context were explored to gain insight on how pedagogical choices influenced the establishment of …

Caseload/Workload Study Of Speech Language Pathologists In Missouri Public Schools, Jinyu Du

Masters Theses

"A survey was distributed to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in Missouri public schools to obtain statewide information regarding caseload number, workload related activities and SLPs' level job satisfaction on various aspects of their job. An online questionnaire was sent to school-based SLPs in Missouri to solicit factual information on average monthly caseload numbers, factors that impact caseload assignments and the percentage of time spent on various professional responsibilities and job satisfaction ratings. Results indicated that 24% of the respondents had caseloads that exceeded the maximum state regulated caseload number for SLPs. Respondents were also largely unaware of the maximum caseload regulation …

An Assessment Of Persistence For Domestic And International Western Kentucky University Edd Students, Christy L. Spurlock, Jia Pei

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

The purpose of the study was to identify the barriers and challenges to EdD completion. Respondents helped identify which retention resources or actions would be most effective in keeping them enrolled and on track to degree completion. The EdD program director, EdD faculty, and WKU will be able to use information from the study to develop retention resources, intervention strategies, and perhaps make even more sweeping changes to confront the obstacles to EdD persistence.

This study utilized qualitative design based on a partial case study with holistic, case-orientated design. Weiss (1998) asserted that, "Qualitative evaluation has a special advantage for …

Keeping The Promise: Factors Affecting Timing To Merit Scholarship Loss, Jacob P.K. Gross, Angela D. Bell, Matthew Berry

Journal of College Access

Despite increased attention paid to the advent and development of state merit scholarship policies (such as Georgia’s Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) and some evidence that suggests differences in scholarship retention by socioeconomic status or other student characteristics, little empirical work has explored factors affecting scholarship retention. Moreover, no work has explored what affects the timing of scholarship loss. This study employs event history modeling to ascertain not only what factors impact students’ retention of the West Virginia PROMISE Scholarship but also when these factors are most influential.

A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Experiences Of High School Students Enrolled In School-Wide College Readiness Programs, Sherlina Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the early 1980s, the United States experienced a high school dropout epidemic, leading school systems to adopt reform efforts. College readiness programs (CRPs) became a tool to address educational disparities in secondary and postsecondary education for over three decades. While decreases occurred in the overall high school dropout rate across racial and ethnic groups, they have been minimal. This study addressed a research gap on the lack of student input and perceptions about their experiences in CRP programs. This phenomenological study used in-depth, semi-structured interviews with criterion-selected former high school students from 3 schools within the ABC County School …