Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Enhancing Quality And Equity? Performance Assessment Validation In Examination Physical Education In Western Australia, Dawn Penney, Eibhlish O'Hara, Rob Lund

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The positioning and format of performance assessment in examination physical education varies between courses across Australia and internationally. This paper centres on developments in performance assessment in the Physical Education Studies (PES) course in Western Australia (WA). In 2021 The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) undertook an assessment validation trial of school-based assessment of students participating in modified format competitive game play in the 10 PES sports. This contrasted to existing centralised examination arrangements. The paper reports on findings from observation of the trial in nine of the 10 sport contexts, and semi-structured interviews with teachers, validators and SCSA …

Intercultural Competence Within Focused Diversity Courses: The Role Of Cultural Identification And Experiential Learning Activities, Preston Osborn, Elizabeth J. Sandell

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

Objectives

Compare development of student subgroups after participation in a dedicated diversity course along with three different additional pedagogical activities:

• service-learning
• cultural partnership
• individualized coaching

Explore potential differential impacts of various pedagogical enhancement activities between students identifying with dominant or non-dominant cultures

Rethinking Standardized Testing From An Access, Equity And Achievement Perspective: Has Anything Changed For African American Students?, Michael Couch Ii, Marquisha Frost, J. Santiago, Adriel Hilton

Journal of Research Initiatives

This study examined standardized testing and its effects on African American students. The authors focused on three perspectives: access, equity, and achievement about students' academic success in their K-12 educational experiences and how the quality of their education and test scores impacted their college acceptance rate, respectively. The three perspectives are specific to the works of Dr. Asa G. Hilliard and Dr. Barbara A. Sizemore, both of whom were passionate about the academic success and progression of students of African descent. Their many works embody a fight against standardized testing for students, especially those of color, and work toward a …

Building Support Systems For High School English Language Learners: A Developmental Program Evaluation, Manuel Ferreras

Dissertations

The graduation rate of English Language Learners (ELL) is lagging behind the general school population graduation rate. The purpose of this study is to address the needs of ELL students for improving the graduation rate of ELL students. The context of this inquiry is a high school with a large ELL population located in one of the state’s largest school districts. My study demonstrates outcomes of a lack of a shared vision and attention by the school administrators on addressing the needs of ELL students, ineffective remediation strategies and tools used to guide ELL students, and the potential impact high-stakes …

Dual Language Effectiveness To Narrow Achievement Gaps: A Quantitative Correlational Study, Belinda Reyes Ed.D.

Journal of English Learner Education

An increase in the English learner (EL) population is evident in public schools throughout the United States. Academic achievement gaps between ELs and non-EL peers persist from early childhood through the post-secondary level (Florida Department of Education, 2019c). The gap in the literature is the lack of studies analyzing the language acquisition of ELs enrolled in dual language programs to narrow the achievement gap of ELs. Transformative Learning Theory and the Dynamic Systems Theory are the foundation of the theoretical framework. Key research questions seek data on the relationship between standardized assessments measuring language acquisition and academic performance of third-grade …

Achieving Equity: An Evaluation Of A Multi-Component, Lower Division Student Success Program, Mary Beth Love, Rama Ali Kased, Savita Kumari Malik, Sherria D. Taylor, Vicki Legion, Celia Graterol, Alycia Shada, Paul Previde, Patricia Wirth

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an academic support program that aims to improve persistence and graduation for lower-division students who are low income, first generation, and/or underrepresented. Students were organized in 10 academies that serve as a “school within a school” and have three main elements: a pathway of two linked general education courses that students follow, cohort-style, over four semesters; wraparound student services integrated into the classroom; and a 45-hour faculty development process. Program participants (n = 2,281) were compared to a matched comparison group (n = 2,276). Multimodal logistic regression analyses showed that …

Educators’ Sensemaking Of Data Within An Mtss Framework: An Exploratory Case Study, Stephanie Marie Green

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how educators working within a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework make sense of data, how they use data for instructional decision-making, and how the data use cultures at the district and school levels influence this data use. The study was designed with a theoretical framework informed by the sensemaking about student outcomes model (Bertrand & Marsh, 2015), the data literacy for teaching framework (Mandinach & Gummer, 2016c), and the data use cultures framework (Firestone & Gonzales, 2007). I explored these issues through a case study methodology, utilizing semi-structured interviews, observations, document …

Building And Maintaining Sanctuary Spaces Through Face To Face Writing Assessment, Jeffrey Austin, Ann Burke, Ellen Foley, Gretchen Rumohr

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Seasoned secondary and college instructors discuss successful face-to-face assessment, especially in virtual settings. F2F assessment frees educators to co-create equitable literacy learning experiences with students, encourages agency, demystifies the grading process, develops the classroom community, and brings meaningful inquiry about writers’ own skills and practices, ultimately disrupting inequities and inequalities of traditional grading and creating “sanctuary spaces” for all writers.

Using Data To Advocate For Preventative Interventions - From Practice To Policy, Mike H. Reynolds, Jerome V. Williams, Brent Shondelmeyer

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Explore the theoretical framework of what could be possible with purposeful and actionable data sharing between Non Profits, Philanthropy, and School Districts can change the scenario in the board room and in the classroom. Enhance resource allocation, real time decision making, return on investment for outside partners and interventions, and summative and formative evaluations of effectiveness.

Completion Grants: A Multi-Method Examination Of Institutional Practice, Sara Goldrick-Rab, Travis York, Clare Cady, Christy Baker-Smith

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Public universities are intent on increasing degree completion for many reasons. A stronger policy focus on completion and interest in removing students’ financial hurdles has led to a rapid proliferation of completion grant programs. This paper reports on a mixed method implementation study of completion grant programs at seven broad- and open-access universities. Drawing on case studies of completion grant programs and student surveys, we examine the work of the administrators and professionals who create and implement these programs. As it can diminish program efficacy and increase inequality, we pay particular attention to administrative burden for staff and students. We …

Analyzing Advanced Placement (Ap): Making The Nation's Most Prominent College Preparatory Program More Equitable, David Naff, Mitchell Parry, Tomika Ferguson, Virginia Palencia, Jenna Lenhardt, Elisa Tedona, Antionette Stroter, Theodore Stripling, Zoey Lu, Elizabeth Baber

MERC Publications

This report from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) explores research related to Advanced Placement (AP) courses through an equity lens. It answers five questions: 1) What are AP classes? 2) Who enrolls and succeeds in AP classes? 3) Why do disparities in AP matter? 4) What factors contribute to disparities in AP participation and performance? 5) What policies and practices help to address disparities in AP access, enrollment, and performance? The report comes from the MERC Equitable Access and Support for Advanced Coursework study.

Inclusive Campus Recreation: Creating A Space Where All Belong, Emelia Bebee

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This thesis examines discrepancies that marginalize students, faculty and staff from utilizing or working in campus recreation facilities. More specifically, Campus Recreation departments lack strategies that ensure inclusion for all abilities, identity backgrounds and genders. This critical action research thesis considers the experiences of stakeholders and will integrate research that has been supported by seasoned scholars. In this thesis, a three-day diversity and inclusion workshop is proposed supplemented by monthly programming for faculty and staff that focuses on inclusion techniques to incorporate into departmental planning. Solid leadership of this programmatic intervention would focus on collaboration and dedication to lifelong learning. …

Exploring Equity Through The Perspective Of White Equity-Trained Suburban Educators And Minoritized Parents, David E. Lawrence

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The intent of this qualitative critical incident study was to explore the interpretation of equity by White equity-trained suburban educators (WETSE) and minoritized parents (MP) in a Midwestern suburban school district to address and change inequitable student outcomes. WETSE and MP participated independently in focus groups. The research design used critical incident technique (CIT) as the methodology; focus groups as the data collection tool; and thematic analysis (TA) as the analytical tool. Zones of Mediation (ZONE) and Transformative Leadership Theory (TLT) were used to distill and categorize the research findings. WETSE and MP established an agreement on four themes thought …

Embracing The New Normal: Infusing Academic Language And Technology To Empower Ells, Scott B. Freiberger

Journal of English Learner Education

This au courant, research-based article offers specific program ideas for teachers during this unprecedented time when supporting our ELLs is especially needed.

Removing The Fence?: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Corequisite Courses, Faculty Validation, And Equity For Men Of Color In Community College English, Daniel Hogan

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The passage of California’s AB 705 in 2017 mandated that community colleges drastically reimagine their English course offerings in an effort to increase student throughput and eliminate equity gaps. This typically meant replacing traditional remedial coursework and placement with corequisite models of remediation, wherein students took transfer-level courses with built-in concurrent remedial support.

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the relationship between these structural changes and non-traditional relational success markers, namely faculty validation, especially for male Black and Latino students in English at a large urban California community college. The quantitative phase was a survey of over …

New Long-Term Education Research Partnership, Jennie Chainey

Discover - Early childhood

ACER and VVOB – education for development have recently committed to a five-year partnership.

Leveraging Local Resources And Contexts For Inclusive Computer Science Classrooms: Reflections From Experienced High School Teachers Implementing Electronic Textiles, Mia S. Shaw, Deborah A. Fields, Yasmin B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Background and context

Promoting open-ended projects presents new opportunities and challenges for inclusive teaching in CS classrooms. While efforts have been made to develop inclusive curricula, little research has focused on ways teachers apply curricula in their classrooms to promote inclusion.

Objective

To understand the challenges faced in facilitating an open-ended unit and the pedagogical strategies enacted to address those challenges, we analyze the self-reported teaching practices that experienced teachers developed in their implementation of a constructionist electronic textiles unit in Exploring Computer Science.

Method

We inductively analyzed and coded 17 experienced teachers’ weekly surveys and post-interviews.

Findings

Teachers …

Equity Issues In Student Financial Literacy, Sue Thomson

Teacher columnist - Sue Thomson

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on national economies has underlined the necessity for strong personal financial literacy. With people suddenly able to draw money from their superannuation or freeze their mortgage repayments in order to meet expenses, it is vital that they have the skills to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with such options. Financial education therefore has a role, in conjunction with consumer protection and regulation policies, in equipping people to attain the appropriate skills and knowledge in financial literacy.

Creative Pedagogy And Praxis With Social Media: Applications In And Out Of The Qualitative Research Classroom, Anna Cohenmiller, Nurlygul Smat, Aisulu Yenikeyeva, Kuralay Yassinova

The Qualitative Report

Research methods courses can provide essential opportunities for graduate students to develop themselves as researchers. This article offers insights into the application of creative pedagogy and praxis for a graduate-level qualitative research methods class. Students learned and applied the innovative research method—gender audit as process and method—to understand the gendered nature of University social media accounts. Applying principles of collaborative learning and hands-on practice, students gained confidence in themselves as researchers while examining a contemporary issue affecting higher education institutions.

The Potential Impact Of Online Learning On Economically Disadvantaged Students, Anthony M. Tartaglia

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Opportunity gaps have consistently been prevalent in the United States’ education system and that continues today. The struggle to provide economically disadvantaged students the equity necessary to ensure opportunities exist, similar to those present for students of economic advantage, remains a pervasive dilemma for which there are few solutions. As technology continually changes the global marketplace, it is doing the same to education. Educators have an enormous impact on the lives of their students, both in and out of the classroom and through their instruction, there are techniques available to ensure that students remain engaged. One such method is by …

The Communicative Pragmatics Of Data-Use For Equity: A Theoretical And Methodological Framework, Mary B. Ziskin

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Calls for higher education institutions to implement improvements guided by “data-driven” processes are prevalent and widespread. Despite the pervasiveness of this turn toward data, research on how data-use works on the ground in postsecondary institutions—that is, how individuals within institutions make sense of education data and use it to inform practice—is still developing.

Drawing on Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action (TCA), critical-race theory, and methodological guidance on critical-qualitative research methods, this paper synthesizes methodological and substantive insights from P–12 data-use research, with an eye to applying these insights to critical questions on postsecondary educational equity. The result of the review …

Being Global Means More Than Traveling Around The Globe … So, What Does It Mean?, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Being global means more than traveling around the globe. Being global means having a culturally proficient mindset. Having a culturally proficient mindset involves celebrating and advocating for diversity and being willing to face our own conscious and unconscious biases while also accepting the fact that some of us are born privileged. I know I was born in and with privileges. I accept that I have biases because of cultural and familial values and beliefs.

This reflection is a product of teaching a course for future school leaders on diversity in schools, my own educational and leadership journey, and my passion …

“There Is Subjectivity, There Is Bias”: Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions Of Equity In Data Literacy For Teaching, Heather Whitesides, Jori S. Beck

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Research on equity in data literacy for teaching has lagged yet is of critical importance to ensuring new teachers are prepared to serve diverse students. Our multiple case study conveyed four elementary teacher candidates’ understandings of this construct and their reaction to instruction in this domain. Data collection included interviews, item analysis, and concept maps. Our participants developed a broader view of data by the end of the course, but often did not recognize inequitable data practices like tracking which conveys a misalignment between beliefs and practices. We explored implications for policy and practice based on our findings.

Investigating Equity Practices And Teaching For Global Readiness In A K-12 School District, Jamie M. Schlais Dr.

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated K-12 educators’ (N=154) teaching for global readiness practices; perceptions of individual global competencies; and supports needed to provide all students an equitable education. A fully mixed, concurrent triangulation, equal status design, combined Vessa’s (2016) Teaching for Global Readiness Scale (TfGRS) and McCain et al.’s (2014) Globally Competent Learning Continuum (GCLC) to examine educators’ perceptions of teaching for global readiness. Perceptions of district equity initiatives were obtained through teacher interviews and central office administrator questionnaires. Survey results for the second semester of the 2018 school year reported teachers engaged in critical literacy and transactional practices from “never” to …

Cultural Diversity Professional Development In Schools Survey, Krystal R. Thomas, Hillary Parkhouse, Jesse Senechal, Zoey Lu, Laura Faulcon, Julie Gorlewski, David B. Naff

MERC Publications

This report presents findings from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) Cultural Diversity Within Schools Survey. This survey was designed for school- based professionals (i.e., teachers, instructional staff, administrators) within the MERC region. Administered in the fall of 2018, the survey collected information about experiences of professional development related to cultural diversity, attitudes toward cultural diversity within schools, perceptions of barriers and opportunities, and perspectives on the need for professional development. Section 1 of the report discusses the context for this survey effort: increased cultural diversity in our schools, increased cultural mismatch between students and teachers, and multicultural education as …

Unpacking "Giftedness": Research And Strategies For Promoting Racial And Socioeconomic Equity, David B. Naff, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Amy Jefferson, Michael Schad, Morgan Saxby, Kathryn Haines, Zoey Lu

MERC Publications

Giftedness as a construct continues to be contested in academia, in the classroom and around kitchen tables. It means different things to different communities and, as a result, acquiring the "gifted" label looks different around the country. Once labeled, student giftedness produces different responses depending on state and district guidelines. A constant among the patchwork of defining, identifying and responding to student giftedness, though, is a serious racial and economic disparity in who is considered gifted and who is not. This report provides key takeaways from research literature on gifted and talented (GT) programs. It is organized according to five …

Effective Charter Schools: An Examination Of Operational, Financial, And Governance Practices As It Relates To The Renewal Of North Carolina Charter Schools, Shaunda Cooper

Doctor of Education Dissertations

North Carolina public charter schools are schools of choice authorized by the State Board of Education. North Carolina has nearly 200 charter schools, which are evaluated for effectiveness annually by a tool called the Performance Framework. However, to date, the evidence collected through the Performance Framework has not been offered to scholars and school leaders as a resource for achieving effective charter schools. Furthermore, research has not been conducted to evaluate a school’s performance in relation to its ability to complete a successful charter agreement renewal, which is the vein of a charter school’s existence. the study examined operational, governance, …

Cultural Proficiency: The Missing Link To Student Learning, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This case illustrates why school leaders must be culturally proficient to serve all students and lead effectively. I discuss one case in Ohio that is representative of many other American schools. In particular, I examine the cultural challenges educational leaders must commonly face. This case encourages administrators to participate in meaningful conversations with stakeholders to solve complex issues. The hope is to better understand how school leaders in diverse contexts can lead and embrace different cultures, beliefs, and norms. I also pose questions designed to prepare educational leaders for similar situations where they must address issues of culture.

The Skills Gap Agenda In Canadian Higher Education Research Summary, Melody Viczko Dr, Jenna Lorusso, Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

Solving the skills gap is a difficult task due to the differing opinions on the subject. Even though these opinions may be different, they are all driven by the same assumptions that students are primarily motivated by economic reasoning in what they choose to study. We think that’s a problem, because there are many reasons that motive students and not all students have equal access to economic resources.

The Influence Of Open Access On Advanced Placement Achievement, Shanna Howell

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Preparing students for higher education is a primary aim of K-12 education. However, some high school graduates do not meet college readiness benchmarks and must take remedial noncredit courses in college (Adams, 2013; Butrymowicz, 2017). One of the strongest predictors of student success in college is rich and rigorous high school curriculum (Adelman, 1999; Adelman, 2006). The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers high school students college-level courses that can earn them college credits from participating institutions (Kolluri, 2018; Rothschild, 1999). College Board research overwhelmingly has indicated that the AP program is beneficial for students (Casserly, 1986; Dodd et al., 2002; …