Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons^™

Relations Between Teachers’ Motivation And Students’ Motivation: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective, Inok Ahn

Open Access Theses

There is little research that examines impact teachers' motivation on students' motivation due to sparse attention to teachers' motivation. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between teachers' motivation and students' motivation using self-determination theory. Participants were 697 5th and 6th students and 35 of their teachers in Seoul, South Korea. Students completed the questionnaires for motivation, basic psychological needs, and perceptions of teacher's instructional styles. Teachers also answered questionnaires about their own motivation. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Teaching experience was controlled for throughout the analysis process due to its significant …

Examining The Perceptions Of Trust Between Principals And Teachers In Elementary Schools With High Student Academic Achievement, Gabriela Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of trust between principals and teachers. The problem identified that few scholars have examined the perceptions of trust of Hispanic Teachers and Administrators to determine if there are similarities or differences, and how this is sustained to improve student achievement. The reviewed literature argues that school administrators need to carefully assess if their interactions include characteristics of building trust because it may be related to student academic achievement. This research study was quantitative and conducted in Brownsville, Texas in Cameron County. The Brownsville ISD is comprised of 37 elementary schools …

The Relationship Between Word Consciousness And Vocabulary Growth And Achievement In Fourth And Fifth Graders, Margaret M. Walsh

Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between word consciousness and vocabulary growth by analyzing the results from a local assessment, the Word Consciousness Assessment (WCA), as well as a standardized assessment, the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests. These data came from portions of a larger study, the Multifaceted Comprehensive Vocabulary Instructional Program for the Upper Elementary Grades, which relied on a formative design with no control group. The 142 fourth and fifth grade participants came from an elementary school located in the Midwest. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to determine whether an increase in word consciousness occurred, a relationship between outcomes on …

Creating A Community Of Support: An Evaluation Of The Healing For Educational Achievement Resource Team, Ann M. Quintrell

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Healing for Educational Achievement Resource Team (H.E.A.R.T.). H.E.A.R.T. is a committee of staff at a middle school in Dorchester. Dorchester is a violence hotspot in Boston, MA, and students in such areas need to heal from traumas while meeting academic requirements. In order to meet their students’ needs and achieve their goals, schools need to practice trauma informed care. H.E.A.R.T. represents a staff-driven effort to meet student needs and establish trauma informed care. H.E.A.R.T.’s effectiveness was evaluated through surveys and interviews of committee members, interviews of the school’s …

The Effect Of Inquiry-Based, Hands-On Labs On Achievement In Middle School Science, Donna Miller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to measure the difference in science achievement between students who had been taught with an inquiry-based, hands-on pedagogical approach and those who had not. Improving student academic achievement and standardized test scores is the major objective of teachers, parents, school administrators, government entities, and students themselves. One major barrier to this academic success in Georgia, and the entire United States, has been the paucity of success in middle level science classes. Many studies have been conducted to determine the learning approaches that will best enable students to not only acquire a deeper understanding …

The Effects Of A Direct-Instruction Math Intervention On Standardized Test Scores Of At-Risk Middle School Students, Charles Moore

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Educators are seeking ways to improve student academic achievement in math and to increase math standardized test scores because of the requirements of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Race to the Top initiative (RTTT). One such intervention in middle school is a direct-instruction math program. This causal-comparative study examined the relationship between a direct-instruction math intervention and math achievement on standardized test scores of at-risk middle school students. This study compared the differences in the mean scale scores for at-risk …

The Relationship Between Professional Learning Communities And School Culture On Student Achievement, Shannon K. Gross

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Shannon K. Gross on June 28, 2014.

Alpha, Beta, Launch: A Newbie's Guide To Educational Video Game Development, Colleen Krahulik, Lori Goszczynski

Journal of Interactive Humanities

This paper details the process we went through to develop an educational video game, which includes: research on implementing video games into the classroom, vendor selection, video game design, and curriculum development. Throughout the video game development process, we faced challenges such as budget, time constraint, and varying areas of expertise. This paper serves as a guideline for similar organizations interested in educational video game development.

Play game on desktop or tablet: www.avma.org/videogame

Play within browser: https://www.avma.org/KB/K12/videogame/index.html

Navigating With Trust: A Proposal For Transforming Public Sector Schools Towards Learning Organizations In Pakistan, Zubeda Bana

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

While working with teachers, teacher educators, educational leaders and principals of schools and teacher education colleges throughout the country, I am informed that the most significant factor for transforming public sector schools is winning the trust of teachers. Teachers, no matter how they are recruited and what their current competencies are, have become part of the work-force in public sector schools. It is observed that the school administrators have exhausted their trust and treat all kinds of teachers including good and committed teachers, with the same administrative approach which places them in odd situations, wherein they start losing their own …

A Method For Assessing And Describing The Informal Inferential Reasoning Of Middle School Students, Joshua Michael Goss

Dissertations

Informal Inferential Reasoning (IIR) has emerged in the last decade in the study of statistics education. Developing students’ IIR ability is seen as a way of preparing students for the important topic of Formal Statistical Inference (FSI); however, research is still needed in order to investigate how students transition between informal and formal statistical reasoning. A primary difficulty is that we do not have a way of assessing and describing students’ IIR ability levels. In order to address this, an Assessment of Informal Inferential Reasoning (AIIR) was developed, along with a Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy (Biggs & …

Elementary Principals’ Perspectives On Newly Graduated General Education Teachers’ Abilities To Teach Students With Disabilities In Inclusion Classrooms, Darla Jane England

Dissertations

Increasing numbers of students with disabilities are being educated in inclusive settings within elementary public schools across the United States. General education teachers are being hired to fill these positions, yet the characteristics principals view as necessary for them to be effective in such classrooms had yet to be explored. This study captured data on the knowledge, skills, and experiences candidates, coming directly out of college, should and do possess in order to be effective inclusion teachers. Principals’ perspectives on inclusion, as well as possible predictors for such perspectives, were also examined.

An online survey was used to collect the …

Latino Emergent Bilingual Students' Experiences With The Middle School Transition, Kerry Pecho

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports the findings of a qualitative study that examined how Latino emergent bilingual students anticipate and experience the transition from a bilingual elementary school program to middle school. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students who were native Spanish-speakers participated in focus group discussions. Overall, participants described positive transition experiences, and much of the content was not unique to these students (e.g., feeling nervous, looking forward to more activities). Other content, though, revealed transition experiences that may be unique to this population (e.g., dramatic shift in ethnic and linguistic backgrounds of peers). Participants' responses suggested that they experience a …

Global Education In New York City High Schools: What We Can Learn, Emily Gifford

Capstone Collection

In an increasingly globalized world, where international issues affect local communities, it is important for students to learn about global topics. International education in colleges is becoming more ubiquitous, but many students do not go to college and need to be introduced earlier. Is global education being taught in high schools? How have educators incorporated international issues into their classrooms? In this study, I spoke to educators in New York City to examine what public high schools are doing to integrate global issues into their curricula.

The study examines what obstacles teachers and schools face, what helps teachers to be …

Tracking In Middle School Mathematics, Alexis Geisler

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper is a review of research pertaining to the issue of tracking in middle and high school mathematics. More focus is given to middle school because this is usually where tracking begins in mathematics. It supports research on the rationale behind detracking our schools and moving towards heterogeneous classrooms. Research behind the psychological effects of tracking is also provided, along with how tracking can segregate our school systems. There is a variety of research on the effect of tracking in mathematics. One of the most prevalent issues is how tracking is detrimental to the low tracked students. It not …

Calculator Usage In Secondary Level Classrooms: The Ongoing Debate, Nicole Plummer

Honors College Theses

With technology becoming more prevalent every day, it is imperative that students gain enough experience with different technological tools in order to be successful in the “real-world”. This thesis will discuss the debate and overall support for an increased usage of calculators as tools in the secondary level classroom. When the idea of calculators in the classroom first came to life, many educators were very apprehensive and quite hesitant of this change. Unfortunately, more than 40 years later, there is still hesitation for their usage; and rightfully so. While there are plenty of advantages of calculator use in the classroom, …

Effect Of Direct Instruction Programs On Teaching Reading Comprehension To Students With Learning Disabilities, Jennifer Parker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quasi experimental research study was to examine the effects of two direct instruction programs, SRA Reading Mastery Signature and SRA Reading Success on reading comprehension skill acquisition of middle school students who qualify as a student with a specific learning disability. Furthermore, the study was used to compare the reading comprehension achievement of students who participated in SRA Reading Mastery Signature and students who participated in SRA Reading Success using the reading portion of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment. The treatment groups were located in a moderate size school district in the Upstate region …

Student Engagement And Action In Classroom And Community: Place-Based Education And Social Action For The High-Achieving Student, Rachel M. Jank

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This paper briefly discusses the work done in a college-preparatory, Senior English class to combat the disengagement present in many educational institutions. This disconnect does not allow for learning retention and, therefore, does not allow for students to apply the moment of learning to life outside of the secondary classroom. The work I do is based off of Jessica Singer Early, Bruce Bigelow, Linda Christensen, and many other master teachers who work with the educational designs of Place Consciousness and Social Action within their respective classrooms. The theories of John Dewey and Paulo Freire suggest that a non-traditional style of …

We Were There Too: Learning From Black Male Teachers In Mississippi About Successful Teaching Of Black Students, Cleveland Hayes, Brenda Juarez, Veronica Escoffery-Runnels

Democracy & Education

Applying culturally relevant and social justice–oriented notions of teaching and learning and a critical race theory (CRT) analysis of teacher preparation in the United States, this study examines the oral life histories of two Black male teachers recognized for their successful teaching of Black students. These histories provide us with a venue for identifying thematic patterns across the two teachers' educational philosophies and pedagogical practices and for analyzing how these teachers' respective personal and professional experiences have influenced their individual and collective approaches to teaching and learning.

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Increasing The Accessibility Of Science For All Students, Samantha Langley - Turnbaugh, Glenn Wilson, Lynn Lovewell

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

This paper evaluates the accessibility of selected field and laboratory high school science activities, and provides suggestions for increasing accessibility for students with disabilities. We focused on GLOBE (Global Learning Observations to Benefit the Environment) protocols, specifically the new Seasons and Biomes investigation currently being developed as part of the GLOBE program. Five university students with disabilities majoring in science or technology were recruited to test the GLOBE protocols, and 10 protocols were evaluated for accessibility. Based on our results, we make several suggestions with regards to instructions, equipment, safety, outcomes and activity significance that will increase the accessibility of …

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Supporting Student Justification In Middle School Mathematics Classrooms: Teachers' Work To Create A Context For Justificaiton, Megan Staples

CRME Publications

Justification is an important disciplinary and learning practice. Despite a growing knowledge base regarding how teachers orchestrate mathematical discussions, few analyses have considered the orchestration of specific disciplinary practices such as justification. Using classroom video data from the JAGUAR project, we analyze two instantiations of extensive student justification in seventh-grade classrooms and document each teacher’s pedagogical approach that supported students’ engagement in this practice. We argue that, although there was overlap in their pedagogical repertoires, the teachers created a context for student justification in two unique ways. We document the similarities and differences in their approaches, including the nature of …

Boston Writing Project, Glenn Mitchell, Peter Golden

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Boston Writing Project focuses on the core mission of improving the teaching of writing and improving the use of writing across the disciplines by offering high-quality professional development programs for educators, at all grade levels, K–16 and across the curriculum.

Wipro Science Education Fellowship Teacher Leadership Program, Center Of Science And Math In Context, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The WIPRO Science Education Fellowship (SEF) is a 2 year science teacher-leadership program funded by the Wipro Ltd. Wipro committed $5.1million to COSMIC, over seven-years, to train three (3) cohorts of 180 school teachers, fostering leadership and teaching excellence in science education among K-12 teachers from Greater Boston, Northern New Jersey and Greater New York. Through engagement and collaboration with teams of teachers from different districts, teachers reflect on their own practice and that of their peers through the use of video; they identify opportunities for themselves to take a leadership role within the district, in their building or with …

Reciprocal Effects Of Student Engagement And Disaffection On Changes In Teacher Support Over The School Year, Cailin Tricia Currie

Dissertations and Theses

Building upon previous research on the importance of students' motivation for their learning and academic success, this study sought to examine how students' motivation in the classroom may impact the way their teachers' treat them. Specifically, data from 423 middle school students and their 21 teachers were used to examine the extent to which student engagement and disaffection (individually and in combination) in the fall predicted changes in teachers' provision of motivational support from fall to spring of the same school year. The study also examined whether these relationships might differ by student grade or gender, and whether the effects …

The Correlation Between Temperament And Technology Preference And Proficiency In Middle School Students, Sabrina Sterling

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to identity the relationship between the temperament of middle school students, their level of interest and proficiency in technology-related activities. This study also aimed to identify the differences in proficiency of the students in the technology programs. Participants were selected from two middle schools in the medium-sized rural school system. State technology test results and a student technology interest survey were analyzed using analysis of variance and descriptive statistical measurements. Correlational studies help educators evaluate existing curricula, differentiate current instruction, and plan for future programs. The results of this study suggested that there is …

Teacher Research At The Middle Level: Strengthening The Essential Attributes Of Education For Young Adolescents, Connie Dilucchio, Heather Leaman, Kathleen Elicker, Denise Mathisen

Early & Middle Grades Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Upper Grade Level Literacy: Instructional Strategies For Struggling Readers, Claire M. Shaw

Honors Theses

Education research has shown that a quarter of eighth-grade students perform below basic reading proficiency. Despite this, reading instruction often ceases after eighth grade while text structure and content area language become more difficult. This research project focuses on studying strategies used for struggling readers in seventh through twelfth grade and includes a case study of a struggling reader in order to identify some of the characteristics and needs of struggling readers. This research synthesizes ideas from previous studies, analyzes teacher interviews for literacy instruction strategies and, in the case study, uses observation, primary source study, and reading assessments.