Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Factors Contributing To Student Retention In Online Learning And Recommended Strategies For Improvement: A Systematic Literature Review, Pauline S. Muljana, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose

This systematic literature review investigates the underlying factors that influence the gap between the popularity of online learning and its completion rate. The review scope within this paper includes an observation of possible causal aspects within the non-ideal completion rates in online learning environments and an identification of recommended strategies to increase retention rates.

Background

While online learning is increasingly popular, and the number of online students is steadily growing, student retention rates are significantly lower than those in the traditional environment. Despite the multitude of studies, many institutions are still searching for solutions for this matter.

Methodology

A …

Undergraduate Students' Attitudes About The Collection, Use, And Privacy Of Search Data In Academic Libraries, Laura W. Gariepy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand undergraduate students’ attitudes about search data privacy in academic libraries and their preferences for how librarians should handle information about what students search for, borrow, and download. This is an important area of study due to the increasingly data-driven nature of evaluation, accountability, and improvement in higher education, along with libraries’ professional commitment to privacy, which has historically limited the amount of data collected about student use. Using a qualitative approach through the lens of interpretive description, I used the constant comparative method of data collection and analysis to conduct semi-structured interviews …

Kindergarten Parent Engagement And Student Reading Literacy In Title I Schools: A Systematic Literature Review And Meta-Synthesis, Stacy L. M. Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to systematically review research on the relationship between parent engagement and student reading outcomes in Title I schools at Kindergarten level. The following research questions guided this study:

1. What is the relationship between parent engagement and student reading literacy outcomes in low socioeconomic students in kindergarten? Findings show that parent engagement brings parents together with the school staff working with one another to promote a child’s reading literacy. Parent engagement includes the parent as an active member who shares responsibility for a child’s achievement. A need for teacher professional development for teachers on building …

Implementation Of The Instructional Practices Inventory – Technology Process With Fidelity: The Impact On Technology Use And Student Cognitive Engagement, Mekca Rae Wallace-Spurgin

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to determine if students were using the recently purchased Chromebooks as well as if they were cognitively engaged when using the technology. Data collected using the IPI-T process suggested teachers were typically the users of the technology, students were often disengaged, and teachers were asking students to participate in lower-order surface activities. Missing from the process was the implementation of the faculty collaborative sessions.

The writer scheduled dates to collect data three times during the 2018-19 school year. In addition, faculty collaborative sessions were planned and facilitated within one week of collection data. Participating in …

Discovering Latent Gender Bias In Children's Stem Literature, Christine Herlihy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A mixed method, exploratory, sequential research design was conducted to investigate the presence of latent bias in early childhood STEM literature content, applying a non-biased, sociocultural, STEM identity, theoretical framework. A survey of children's perceptions of gender and a content analysis found unintentional bias. Exploratory findings confirmed 102 children were gendering images. An examination of the relationship between the participants' gender and how the participant gendered AND preferred the images indicated differences existed between boys and girls. Children preferred images perceived as matching their own, with statistical significance. Girls were found to prefer images less than boys AND they were …

The Role Of Administrative Observation, Evaluative Evidence And Procedural Due Process In Illinois, Before And After The Passage Of The Performance Evaluation Reform Act (Pera) And Senate Bill 7 (Sb7)., Christopher J. Adkins

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the impact of the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) and Senate Bill 7 (SB7) on evaluative practices utilized with tenured educators within Illinois. Given the sense of urgency brought to bear on teacher quality from laws such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race To The Top (RTTT), revisions to the law that include streamlined processes, uniform evidence gathering and interpretation, and student growth measures are mainstays of legislation like PERA and SB7. Akin to many states, Illinois schools are working to institutionalize these concepts into everyday practices.

In reviewing the changes made to the Illinois …

Holistic Analysis Of The Social, Emotional, And Academic Development Of At-Risk Students In A Self-Regulated Learning Instructional Environment, Jennifer K. Macek

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The testing an accountability system that plagues the current educational atmosphere has done little to improve outcomes for the general population, rather, it has increased harm to our nation’s most vulnerable populations. As districts grapple with accountability mandates and pressures to improve test scores the number of students excluded from traditional schools and sent to alternative programs continues to grow. Research shows that the majority of programs for at-risk youth are little more than graduation factories that do not adequately prepare students for active participation in democratic society.

This study used a mixed methods design to explore an alternative program …

Is A Picture Worth A Thousand Numbers? An Exploration Of Understanding And Recall Of Data Presentations, Holly L. Roof

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports results of a study with a quasi-randomized experimental component and a protocol analysis, or think aloud, component. The experimental component was designed to determine if people with no statistical training and people with some statistical training differed in their understanding and recollection of statistical information with varying degrees of complexity. Information was presented using data visualization techniques based on cognitive theory and compared to presentations using APA-style numerical tables of statistical output. The focus was on using empirically-supported graphical displays in PowerPoint presentations such as one might see at a research conference. Classroom groups of beginning and …

Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Perceptions Of Opportunities And Challenges, Shelby Eversole

Masters Theses

This study investigates the perspectives of opportunities and challenges of middle school mathematics’ teachers. To gain these perspectives, an ethnographic study was conducted by interviewing four middle school mathematics teachers in central Illinois. The results of this study imply that teachers of different backgrounds and teaching environments have varying perspectives about challenges and opportunities in the classroom. Limitations of this study include but are not limited to, the researcher having one year to conduct the research, only four teachers from two schools being interviewed, interviewees teaching different grade levels, no rural setting involvement, one educator having little teaching experience, teachers’ …

“It’S Making Me A Better Teacher.” Transforming Latinx Teacher Candidates Clinical Field Experiences In A Hispanic Serving Institution, Sandra I. Musanti, Alma D. Rodríguez, Patricia Alvarez Mchatton

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This manuscript explores the outcomes of a university-district partnership that provides Latinx teacher candidates with a yearlong clinical experience as the culmination of their teacher preparation. Qualitative data collected as part of a mixed methods study were analyzed to determine how Latinx teacher candidates and cooperating teachers understand learning to teach, and perceptions of the partnership. Results show an emphasis on mastering routines, learning to teach through observation, and reciprocal growth derived from their mentoring relationship. Salient is the tendency to homogenize Latinx students and a reductionist vision of diversity. The authors explore the positionality of culture and language in …

Advising Assessment Practices Of Advising Professionals At An Accredited United Kingdom Urban Career-Focused Higher Education Institution: A Replicated Quantitative, Descriptive Analysis, Catherine E. Mahrt-Washington

Dissertations

The Problem

As the world has flattened, the globalization and quality education movement surrounding higher education worldwide has led to the accountability of all stakeholders regarding student success in and beyond the classroom. Student mobility continues to impact tertiary enrollments as families and students consider the proliferated traditional and non-traditional enrollment alternatives along with prospective lower tertiary debt options. Although assessment, an accountability tool, in co-curricular areas such as advising has been overlooked by leaders, advising is not impervious to accountability consequences. The problem is that assessment of advising, if performed, is oftentimes implemented informally, without a well-defined framework or …

Big Five Technologies In Aeronautical Engineering Education: Scoping Review, Ruth Martinez-Lopez

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The constant demands that technology creates in aerospace engineering also influence education. The identification of the technologies with practical application in aerospace engineering is of current interest to decision makers in both universities and industry. A social network approach enhances this scoping review of the research literature to identify the main topics using the Big Five technologies in aerospace engineering education. The conceptual structure of the dataset (n=447) was analyzed from different approaches: at macro-level, a comparative of the digital technology identified by cluster analysis with the number of co-words established in 3 and 8 and, a keyword central structure …

Emergent Bilinguals And Academic Language Acquisition Through The Use Of Sentence Frames, Leah Clougherty

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Emergent bilinguals are a growing demographic in the United States, but little research has been completed on certain aspects of language acquisition, such as the commonly known practice of using sentence frames as a means for academic language acquisition in the middle school classroom. In order to learn more about practices being implemented within my own classroom and to add to the body of research on academic language acquisition, I analyzed the effectiveness of student writing with and without use of sentence frames within the existing curriculum in a pilot study utilizing a mixed methods approach.

Writing Across The Curriculum In Secondary Education, Katie L. Moles

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Academic writing is an undervalued practice in secondary education. Many teachers outside of the English Language Arts struggle to implement writing into their curriculum due to their lack of confidence in teaching different writing skills and the amount of time teaching and assessing writing can require. Writing is extremely beneficial to students developing content knowledge and discursive writing skills; however, because not many teaching emphasize the importance of writing, students do not develop necessary writing skills. In California, 49.88 percent of students in grades 3-11 who participated in the California Assessment of Students Performance and Progress (CAASPP) did not meet …

Designing Program Evaluation Outcomes To Mirror Council For Human Services Education (Cshse) Standards At The Baccalaureate Degree Level, Kristy L. Carlisle, Shuntay Z. Tarver, Mark C. Rehfuss

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

The article highlights the designing program evaluation and its maintenance with the Council for Human Services Education (CSHSE) standards at the baccalaureate degree level in universities & colleges. Topics include that CSHSE requires all accredited human services educational programs to articulate strategies for improving their programs and its importance in the accreditation process.

Professional Learning Interventionn In Mathematics: A Case Of Developing Portfolio Assessment, Hem Chand Dayal, Bronwen Cowie

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

: This paper reports findings from a Fijian study that engaged secondary mathematics teachers in a two-day professional development workshop on the use of portfolios as an alternative means of assessing student learning in mathematics. Utilising an action research approach with a view to involve teachers as key stakeholders in mathematics education, the professional development prompted a small group of secondary mathematics teachers to think about the mathematics content and processes which could not be assessed using written tests, and to develop assessments that would reflect higher-order thinking in mathematics. While the majority of the teachers came up with ideas …

Assessment For Learning While Learning To Assess: Assessment In Initial Teacher Education Through The Eyes Of Pre-Service Teachers And Teacher Educators, Nicole Brunker, Ilektra Spandagou, Christine Grice

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Competing demands on assessment pose an ongoing challenge for Higher Education. In Initial Teacher Education (ITE) these demands are problematised further in meeting the roles of assessment for measurement, accountability, learning and curriculum. ITE holds a dual role of teaching through content and practice, whereby Pre-Service Teachers (PST) are assessed for learning while learning to assess, thus positioning assessment as curriculum. This exploratory study sought insight into PST and Teacher Educator’s (TE) perceptions of assessment within a postgraduate ITE program. TEs and PSTs alike recognised and valued the assessment processes in focusing attention on learning while developing understanding of assessment …

Australia’S Literacy And Numeracy Test For Initial Teacher Education Students: Trends In Numeracy For Low- And High-Achieving Students, Jennifer Hall, Simone Zmood

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The numeracy capabilities of pre-service teachers are a recent focus in the Australian educational system. In this article, we discuss findings from an analysis of data from the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students (LANTITE), which is administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research. In our analysis, we considered numeracy test data from 20 students from one Australian university: those who achieved the 10 highest and the 10 lowest overall numeracy scores in 2016 at this university on their first attempt of the test. We found that these groups clearly have particular characteristics that were linked …

The Preparation And Certification Of School Librarians: Using Causal Educational Research About Teacher Characteristics To Probe Facets Of Effectiveness, Sue C. Kimmel, Marcia A. Mardis, Shana Pribesh, Laura A. Pasquini, Barbara Schultz-Jones, Faye R. Jones, Lois D. Wine, Lenese M. Colson

STEMPS Faculty Publications

How do we define a high-quality school librarian? Decades of educational researchers have attempted to link teacher characteristics—such as how teachers are prepared, which credentials they carry, and years of experience—to student outcomes. These researchers have contended that individual educator attributes may have a direct effect on what and how much their students learn. School librarians are also teachers who have direct student contact, and although numerous studies have indicated that school librarian preparation, licensure, and other background characteristics are promising areas for further direct exploration, researchers have yet to examine if, how, and why school librarians’ certification or preparation …

Implementing The U.S. School Library Standards: Data And Dialogue From The Field, Elizabeth Ann Burns

STEMPS Faculty Publications

In this exploratory study, a survey was conducted to learn about school librarian perceptions on the implementation and practice using the US National School Library Standards (NSLS) for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries published by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Participants in the state of Virginia in the United States, reported on their experiences after attending training on the new NSLS and they began their personal plan of implementation. This report documents preliminary findings indicating participants found implementation training largely introductory. After one year many remain at the awareness …

Polanyi, Broudy And Teacher Preparation, Timothy L. Simpson

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

To demonstrate the power and scope of Polanyi’s thought, this paper will establish the importance of Polanyi’s abundant insight for the accreditation of educator preparation programs in higher education. This inquiry will begin with a brief summary of the role and purpose of accreditation of educator preparation programs, highlighting the positivist presuppositions driving the current assessment process. With the aid of Harry Broudy, a close student of Polanyi, the essay will identify the implications of those presuppositions for educator preparation programs. Broudy’s analysis suggests that, despite claims to the contrary, the current assessment process fails to produce a professional teacher. …

Effectiveness Of Interactive Television: Perceptions Of Teacher Candidates, Delar K. Singh

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

At a rural, southeast university, this study examined the effectiveness of interactive television (ITV) as a method of instructional delivery for a teacher preparation course in special education. A total of 22 (N=22) teacher candidates who were enrolled in this class responded to a Likert type questionnaire that had 31 questions. The questionnaire was developed after a thorough review of literature on issues and topics surrounding interactive television instruction. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was calculated with Cronbach Alpha. The Cronbach Alpha for the questionnaire is α=.82. Analysis of data indicate that majority of the students prefer to take …

Educational Rights Of College Students With Disabilities, Delar K. Singh

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

College education has become a prerequisite in today’s globalized, knowledge based, and technology controlled economy. A college education not only benefits the individual, it also has numerous advantages for society. Research shows that college graduates are less likely to be involved with crime, more likely to be home owners, more likely to be healthy, more likely to live longer, and more likely to be financially astute. They tend to be good citizens whose contributions to society are hard to enumerate. Unlike compulsory public school education in the USA, there are no laws that mandate attendance in a college. For high …

Dickens, London Zoo, And "Household Words", Ronald D. Morrison

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

Articles about and references to London Zoo--some written by Dickens and others written by the magazine's regular contributors--abound in Household Words, especially in the early 1850s when popular interest in the institution peaked and the Great Exhibition opened in Hyde Park. This essay argues that a good many of the articles deliberately celebrate British imperial power and scientific advancements although the attitudes toward social class remain considerably more nuanced. Viewed as a whole, many of these articles from Household Words express a relatively uniform position on London Zoo that is packaged for a middle-class audience and expresses concerns about the …

Staying The Course, Mrk T. Blankenbuehler

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The student chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS) at Morehead State University (MSU) has been recognized with awards from the ACS almost every year since 1995. The focus of the club changes from year to year depending on the areas the officers would like to emphasize. While tradition is essential to the long-term health of the club, variation and creativity are highly valued. The organization has been involved with a myriad of activities in the areas of outreach, service, fundraising, professional development, philanthropy, and fun (i.e., social activities). Activities over the years have included giving the president of the …

Influence Of Corn Hybrid, Kernel Traits, Location, And Dry-Rolling Or Steam-Flaking On Digestibility, Flint W. Harrelson

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

Three trials were conducted to evaluate the effect of corn hybrid, kernel traits, growing location, and dry rolling or steam flaking on DM or starch digestibility or both. Trial 1 used 72 commercially available corn hybrids to evaluate the influence of hybrid on kernel characteristics and their effect on digestibility. Kernel characteristics evaluated were test weight, 1,000-kernel weight, and kernel hardness using the Stenvert hardness test. All analyses were conducted on dry, whole corn samples, and DM digestibility was determined for dry-rolled corn samples. Trial 2 used 12 hybrids to evaluate steam flaking or dry rolling on DM and starch …

Revitalizing Elementary Social Studies Using Informational Texts, Kimberlee A. Sharp

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

One component of the United States’ public school curriculum core is social studies. Since the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), elementary social studies has been marginalized, and in some cases, eliminated from the school day in favor of increased time for literacy and mathematics instruction. Kentucky’s adoption of the ELA Common Core standards in 2010 and emphasis on informational texts to teach reading, may turn out to be an opportunity to re-position social studies’ importance in the elementary school day. This study seeks to understand whether the ELA Common Core is the impetus teachers need in order to revitalize …

Evidence For An Emerging Disc Wind And Collimated Outflow During An X-Ray Flare In The Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy Mrk 335, Dirk Grupe

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

A triggered 140 ks XMM-Newton observation of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) Mrk 335 in December 2015 caught the active galaxy at its lowest X-ray flux since 2007. The NLS1 is relatively quiescent for the first 120 ks of the observation before it flares in brightness by a factor of about five in the last 20 ks. Although only part of the flare is captured before the observation is terminated, the data reveal significant differences between the flare and quiescent phases. During the low-flux state, Mrk 335 demonstrates a reflection-dominated spectrum that results from a compact corona around a Kerr …

The First Swift Intensive Agn Accretion Disk Reverberation Mapping Survey, Dirk Grupe

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

Swift intensive accretion disk reverberation mapping of four AGN yielded light curves sampled ∼200–350 times in 0.3–10 keV X-ray and six UV/optical bands. Uniform reduction and cross-correlation analysis of these data sets yields three main results: (1) The X-ray/UV correlations are much weaker than those within the UV/optical, posing severe problems for the lamp-post reprocessing model in which variations in a central X-ray corona drive and power those in the surrounding accretion disk. (2) The UV/optical interband lags are generally consistent with t μ l4 3 as predicted by the centrally illuminated thin accretion disk model. While the average interband …

Selection Of A New Enterprise Resource Planning System In A Small Business: The Hinton Mills Case, Connie S. Grimes, Euijin Kim

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

This paper introduces a case study of a family-owned local business, Hinton Mills, that initiated a project that would replace its outdated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The company was in the agricultural product retailing business, serving mainly local customers (e.g., farmers) since 1918, and had five retail stores located in central and northeastern Kentucky. In 2017, Hinton Mills management decided to evaluate replacing their ERP system. This case study presents the factors that influenced how the small business evaluated ERP system options in replacing an outdated system.