Secondary Education Commons^™

Factors Influencing Student Enrollment In Career Academy Programs, Whitney Stokes Ketchledge

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Career academies are small learning communities that allow high school students to learn their core content in the context of the career field they may be interested in pursuing. This type of learning environment incorporates business and industry and postsecondary institutions so academy students receive academic curricula that prepares them for higher education and allows students to have experiences in the career field. There is considerable research demonstrating strong benefits of the academy model to students and teachers, but there is little indicating why students enroll in the academy and what methods of recruitment may work best.

The purpose of …

Fostering Leadership In High School: Development And Validation Of Student Leadership Capacity Building Scales, Lindsay Beth Lyons

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study developed a set of scales to measure building student leadership capacity in high schools. Student leadership is defined here as students working collaboratively to affect positive change in their educational environments with support from adults and mechanisms in the school. Fostering student leadership in schools has the potential to improve student development and academic achievement. The three scales are organized into three capacity building dimensions: personal, interpersonal, and organizational. Within each scale, items reflect leadership competencies of critical awareness, inclusivity, and positivity. Eight mechanisms identified from the student voice literature were also embedded in the items: radical collegiality, …

Supporting A Growth Mindset In High School Classroom Teachers, Peter Abboud

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify and describe the strategies that California public high school principals utilized to develop a growth mindset in classroom teachers.

Methodology. This qualitative case study used interviews from 12 high school principals to gain an understanding for how they supported a growth mindset in their classroom teachers. The population for the case study was northern California high school principals, and the sample included high school principals from Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Marin, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties. To participate in the study, principals needed to be serving in at …

School Connectedness As A Moderator Between Racial Microaggressions And Academic Performance For African American High School Students, Courtney Wilson

Dissertations

Racial microaggressions are subtle, often unconscious, words or actions that demean African Americans (Sue et al., 2007). The impact of racial microaggressions may not be seen, and so it is important to study potential long-term consequences such as academic performance. This study addressed an identified gap in the literature on the relationship between racial microaggressions and academic performance among African American high school students. A quantitative design was used to study the relationship between racial microaggressions and academic performance, and school connectedness as a moderating variable of this relationship. There were 417 high school students who completed the surveys. Of …

Wrong Place, Right Time, Rachel Mazor

Occasional Paper Series

Mazor recounts working in the three distinctly different environments during her first year of teaching: sixth-grade math, pre-school social studies, and first-grade reading. Each of these experiences taught her specific skills that she later applied to assignments; additionally, each experience helped her develop her own style as a teacher.

Using Tablet Technologies To Engage And Motivate Urban High School Students, Nicol R. Howard, Keith Howard

Education Faculty Articles and Research

In this two-year study, researchers examined the impact of using tablet technologies across content areas in an urban high school setting. Class observations provided notable examples of how student motivation and learning appeared to be enhanced by use of the iPads in conjunction with opportunities to collaborate and be creative in the context of their learning. Interviews from a set of teachers with a range of classroom teaching experience provided multiple perspectives of the program’s impact. The opportunity for teachers and students to have the flexibility to select the apps they believe achieve curricular and/or learning goals supports the shift …

A Qualitative Study Of The Positive Transformation Of Public High School Cultures As Perceived By Administrators, Teachers, And Classified Staff Members, Amy L. Besler

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to discover the factors which contribute to the positive transformation of a comprehensive public high school’s culture as perceived by the school’s administrators, teachers, and classified staff. An additional purpose of the study is to determine what similarities and differences exist between the perceptions of administrators, teachers, and classified staff.

Methodology: The researcher identified comprehensive public high schools within the state of California where measurable growth in positive perceptions of school culture had been achieved within the preceding two to four years. Of this target population, six schools were identified, through …

Conquering Worrisome Word Problems – Algebra Success, Vicki-Lynn Holmes, Karla Spence, Jane Finn, Shelia Mcgee Ingram, Libbey Horton

Faculty Publications

High school students can struggle with word problems in upper level math classes. Causes for this struggle could include lower reading comprehension, limited mathematic vocabulary, and difficulty changing words to algebraic expressions. This article proposes three techniques to help teachers instruct these struggling students that include (a) organization by difficulty of comprehension and computation (b) scaffolding and (c) utilizing the Explain, Practice and Assess (EPA) strategy.

Gaining Proficiency In French Through Service Learning: An Action Research Project With Secondary French Students In California And Secondary Students In A French School In France, Stephanie R. Richards

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Engaging in service learning at the high school level in a world language classroom is integral to gaining oral proficiency in the target language. Service learning helps students to see the practical application of the language and it increases student motivation. In many high schools, students have limited opportunities to engage in authentic experiences, use the target language outside of the classroom or with native speakers and they cannot envision practical application for the language. Through the implementation and evaluation of this service-learning project this study aims to increase the opportunity to use French in authentic situations and therefore increase …

Rct Testing Bystander Effectiveness To Reduce Violence, Ann L. Coker, Heather M. Bush, Patricia G. Cook-Craig, Sarah A. Degue, Emily R. Clear, Candace J. Brancato, Bonnie S. Fisher, Eileen A. Recktenwald

Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Publications

Introduction: Bystander-based programs have shown promise to reduce interpersonal violence at colleges, yet limited rigorous evaluations have addressed bystander intervention effectiveness in high schools. This study evaluated the Green Dot bystander intervention to reduce sexual violence and related forms of interpersonal violence in 26 high schools over 5 years.

Design: A cluster RCT was conducted.

Setting/participants: Kentucky high schools were randomized to intervention or control (wait list) conditions.

Intervention: Green Dot−trained educators conducted schoolwide presentations and recruited student popular opinion leaders to receive bystander training in intervention schools beginning in Year 1.

Main outcome measures: The primary outcome was sexual …

A Mixed-Method Case Study On The Impact Of Career Academies On Student Dispositions, Self-Efficacy, And Behaviors, Jessica Thompson Perry

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to examine the impact of career academies on student dispositions, behaviors, and self-efficacy at three high schools within the coastal plain region of east central North Carolina. This mixed-method case study used program structures as well as teacher and administrator perceptions to estimate the effects of career academies on student academic dispositions, learning behaviors, and educational self-efficacy with greater accuracy. The researcher developed a Career Academy Questionnaire to assess the perceived impact of the teachers and administrators on the career academies’ impact on student dispositions, behaviors, and self-efficacy. The quantitative data consisted of …

The Hound Of The Baskervilles: Annotated With Reading Strategies, Arthur Conan Doyle, Terence W. Cavanaugh

Secondary Level Resources

Welcome to the reading strategy enhanced version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book, The Hound of the Baskervilles, this book has been redesigned to help you with this famous fictional work.

If you have been having trouble understanding what is going on when you read a book, then it is important to change the way you read a book. This book should help you practice with a number of strategies as you read with purpose and become an active reader. To read with a purpose you will have things to be thinking about as you begin to read a chapter …

The Effects Of Overcrowding On Student Academic Performance In Kentucky High Schools, Maura Shirley

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Overcrowding in schools has been a popular topic reported by local newspapers across the state of Kentucky. Concerned parents often write letters to the editor, pleading their case for new school construction to alleviate the overcrowding that their students are facing. Approximately 27 percent of Kentucky high schools have experienced overcrowding for three consecutive years between 2002 and 2015. The National Center for Education Statistics reported in 2005 that only 18 percent of schools reported that they were overcrowded, a decrease from the 1999 study when 22 percent reported overcrowding. Overall, the problem of overcrowding is trending downward, but for …

Primary Sources & Historical Understanding In High School American History, Kristina Nelson

Education Masters Papers

Learning history in high school is often disconnected from the process used by professional historians to understand the past. This research studies the implementation of primary source analysis in the high school American History classroom as a means to increase historical understanding. Previous research focuses on increasing achievement while this study also includes impact on engagement and attitude. Primary source analysis was the main instructional strategy used in one unit of study in a required ninth grade American History course at a suburban high school in April 2016. Student historical understanding was assessed using student self-reports on a daily basis, …

Learning Style Relationship To Motivation And Success In The Flipped Vs Non-Flipped Classroom, Shannon Seaver

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This research paper will provide a brief overview of what a “flipped classroom” is and the variations of it. It will address whether a flipped classroom is a possible way of addressing students of all learning styles and if all learning styles are motivated in a flipped classroom. The VARK learning style inventory will be given to all students in four College Algebra Prep classes. Two classes will be the flipped “inverted” style of classroom and the other two will be the traditional (control) style of classroom. All students in both formats will also be given a periodic survey to …

Can The Differentiated Math Classroom Be A Reality?, Carl Jeff Morris

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Imagine a math classroom that looked more like a Google workplace where collaboration, teamwork, and innovation are the centerpieces. Instead of just students sitting in rows passively learning about the nature of mathematics, picture a classroom of students in small circle discussing mathematics. This could range from groups working together on a problem solving strategy for a newly learned concept, students helping students using technology as an aid, another small group receiving intervention from the teacher, or individual students making or viewing instructional math videos. All of this according to research focused on classroom differentiation; specifically in middle school and …

How Ipads Can Be Used In The Math Classroom To Improve Student Learning, Katie Ann Garrity Smieja

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This study explores how iPads can be used to enhance student learning in the math classroom. The author reviews current literature to determine how iPads are being used to facilitate communication, formative assessment, and promising practices in math education such as discovery learning and use of spreadsheets, graphing calculators, and manipulatives. Additionally, challenges and drawbacks to using iPads in the classroom are examined. Research supports the use of iPads to provide students access to digital content including online discussion boards and practice activities with instant feedback. iPads can also be used as student response systems to engage students in instruction …

Year-Round Calendars At The High School Level, Matthew Nohner

Mathematics Graduate Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of a year round calendar on math scores at the high school level. Students forget facts, especially math facts, over long extended breaks. Year round calendars aim to address this dilemma by minimizing long breaks from learning. The results of year round calendars have been mixed. Some schools have reported both academic and monetary gains after switching from a traditional calendar, while other schools have seen modest gains in student learning. All studies cited in this paper report that at-risk and low socioeconomic students benefit academically from a year round …

Student Engagement Differences By Ethnicity And Scale For Ninth Grade Students, Melissa Mcfarland Fattor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Differences on three subscales of student engagement were compared across ethnic groups and by subscale. The ninth grade is often considered a vital juncture that indicates success or failure to graduate high school. When a student goes through a transition he or she often experiences some type of change in student engagement levels and may experience adverse effects in the form of academic, social, and psychological challenges. Researchers of the National Research Council (2004) believe that the engagement process (the successful interaction between the individual and the educational context) is considered a means toward alleviating unsuccessful student outcomes. Therefore, this …

Manipulatives In The Secondary Mathematics Classroom Using A Traditional Algebra Text, Christina Mutnansky

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper is a review of the research available on manipulative use in the mathematics classroom. Mathematical manipulatives, objects that are used to aid a student in learning a mathematical concept, provide a way for students to learn abstract mathematical concepts in a non lecture situation through hands-on learning and discovery. It specifically focuses on the use of manipulatives in the secondary Algebra classroom and how they can be integrated into a traditional curriculum. It discusses the different types of manipulatives that are available as well as reasons why instructors do not use manipulatives. Guidelines are given for their proper …

Effect Of High School Completion Of The Agricultural Education Program On The Rate Of Return On Investment For The Commonwealth Of Virginia, Phillip Scott Bevins

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

This research study sought to determine the effect high school completion of the agricultural career and technical education program has on the rate of return on investment by public schools in Virginia. The research questions guiding this study included: (1) Were students able to find employment related to the agricultural career and technical education program they completed, (2) What federal and state funding was allocated for students participating in the agricultural career and technical education programs in the state of Virginia, (3) Was there a significant level of tax revenues generated by incomes from those who participated in the agricultural …

The Effect Of Individual Or Group Guidelines On The Calibration Accuracy Of High School Biology Students, Camilla C. Walck

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The effect of individual or group guidelines on the calibration accuracy of high school biology students was investigated. The study was conducted with 102 International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program biology students in a public school setting. The study was carried out over three testing occasions. Students worked in group or individual settings with and without calibration guidelines. Four intact classes were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: groups calibrating without guidelines; groups calibrating with guidelines; individuals calibrating without guidelines; individuals calibrating with guidelines. The students participated in the calibration activities one block before they actually took each of the …

Cryptography: A History In Mathematics, An Application In The Classroom, Brian Olmanson

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Differentiated Instruction, Tracy E. Winzer

All Graduate Projects

The advantages of differentiated insh·uction compared to traditional direct instruction were contrasted aud compared in this study. The research examined the need for differentiation in public school classrooms with a wide range of student skill aud ability. The focus of the research was to determine whether or not differentiation is a sound and best teaching practice, and to what extent it should be incorporated into national curriculum instruction. The project centered on the creation of a differentiated unit for au eleventh grade U.S. Hist01y class. The unit is designed to accommodate a mixed-ability classroom by using differentiated instruction strategies. The …

Adjustment Experiences And Ethnic Identity Attitudes Among High School Students In Advanced Academic Programs, Tiffany Michelle Hall

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

African American high school students have been historically underrepresented in advanced placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and dual enrollment (DE) programs. The adoption of more equitable admissions practices has helped many school divisions develop a more ethnically diverse AP, IB, and DE student body. Despite increased African American student enrollment, retaining these students remains an ongoing problem. Equally troubling is the persistent achievement gap that exists between African American and White students in AP, IB, and DE programs African American students do not perform as well as Whites on program exit exams nor do they complete these programs at a …

Manipulatives In Mathematics Instruction, Jessica Strom

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper is a review of research pertaining to the use of manipulatives in middle and secondary school mathematics instruction. It covers the research on the rationale for using manipulatives, the psychology behind learning with manipulatives, the common mistakes when teaching with manipulatives, and the suggested process to follow when using manipulatives in the classroom. There is a large amount of research and information on manipulatives in the classroom. One of the most prevalent topics addresses that the concrete characteristics of manipulatives allow students to progress through a natural learning process on their way to an abstract understanding of mathematical …

Teacher Effectiveness In Urban High Schools, Richard Buddin, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This research examines whether teacher licensure test scores and other teacher qualifications affect high school student achievement. The results are based on longitudinal student-level data from Los Angeles. The achievement analysis uses a value-added approach that adjusts for both student and teacher fixed effects. The results show little relationship between traditional measures of teacher quality (e.g., experience and education level) and student achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) or math. Similarly, teacher aptitude and subject-matter knowledge, as measured on state licensure tests, have no significant effects on student achievement. Achievement outcomes differ substantially from teacher to teacher, however, and the …

Cooperative Learning In The Mathematics Classroom, Janine Regnier

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Student interactions are important which provokes the idea that cooperative learning should be incorporated into classrooms. Research states many benefits for incorporating cooperative learning and are included in the literature review. Cooperative groups were introduced and studied by the author, who ultimately concluded that cooperative learning does have a place in Mathematics classrooms and should be used when the lesson lends itself to a cooperative environment. The study results can be found in this paper following the literature review.

Comparing High School Students' And Adults' Perceptions Of Technological Literacy, Henry Ladson Harrison Iii

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

This study compared high school student's perceptions of technology and technological literacy to those perceptions of the general public. Additionally, individual student groups were compared statistically to determine significant differences between the groups. The ITEA/Gallup Poll instrument was used to survey high school student's perceptions of technology in the study. The instrument has been used twice (2001, 2004) in the United States and once (2005) in Hong Kong to survey adult's perceptions of technology. The student population in question consisted of three subgroups: students enrolled in a standards-based technology education courses, students enrolled in a Project Lead the Way® (PLTW®) …

Why Are School Districts Abandoning The Core-Plus Mathematics Curriculum, Amber Rae Richgels

Mathematics Graduate Theses

In this paper, the author establishes that high schools are abandoning the Core-Plus Mathematics curriculum and determines the need for curricular reform and the motivation to develop such standards-based programs. She discovers that although Core- Plus is a nationally recognized, exemplary mathematics curriculum, school districts are deciding to discontinue the curricular option of Core-Plus. The author reviewed literature and interviewed teachers from schools that have recently decided to abandon Core-Plus in attempt to determine factors leading to these decisions. This paper discusses those interviews, provides suggestions for the future adoption of Core-Plus, and concludes with recommendations that further study be …