<p> Many research studies exist regarding high school master schedules. However, not one study could identify which schedule was &ldquo;best&rdquo; for high schools to implement. The researcher reviewed a variety of schedule types&mdash;traditional, drop 1, trimester, 4x4 block, A/B block, and modified block. The researcher also investigated interventions at the high school level. She also researched change and innovation. Lastly, she researched teacher collaboration. This study investigated changes a high-achieving high school made. The focus was on a master schedule change, interventions scheduled during the school day, and teacher collaboration scheduled during the school day. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a schedule change, interventions, and imbedded teacher collaboration created a cultural shift in a high-achieving school, making it a school that successfully supported all learners. This mixed-methods action research study surveyed students and teachers twice throughout the school year. Also, the researcher analyzed secondary data&mdash;tardies, absences, grades, behavior, and Reading Plus data. In this school, approximately 10-15% of students were struggling in various areas but particularly with reading as demonstrated by grades and Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) scores. It was important to explore the cultural shift that occurred because of this change. While some students expressed dissatisfaction with the new schedule, data supported that the change resulted in improved grades and a decrease in behavioral referrals. Making a significant change to the master schedule created an opportunity for teachers to review and revise their lesson delivery. While this was ultimately a benefit, it created increased stress, especially for those who were veteran teachers and accustomed to the previous schedule; however, in reviewing and analyzing the data, it was evident that feedback was overall positive and that the school&rsquo;s culture started to shift to become even more positive.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to elicit the perceptions of high school principals regarding state education standards and whether or not increasing education standards has a positive impact on student achievement. Missouri adopted a new set of standards which placed academic focus on fewer topics per subject and required teachers to create lessons that increased critical thinking within the classroom (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education [MODESE], 2013b). To identify how the new standards might affect student achievement, four research questions were asked as part of this study. As a result of these questions, findings showed perceptions of the Missouri Learning Standards were more favorable than those associated with Common Core. It was believed among participants of this study that school districts have to develop professional development programs which provide information relevant to instruction and are organized around district goals. Data collected exposed student achievement is more likely to increase if new standards cause school districts to focus on specific goals and if teachers fully understand how to teach the new standards. By failing to adequately prepare teachers, school districts will struggle to properly prepare students for life after high school. Through a renewed focus on teacher comprehension of education standards, school districts can increase student achievement deficiencies and increase the number of students who graduate college- and career-ready.</p>

<p> As the country looks to increase the STEM workforce it is important to examine the effect of the programs in place, specifically the effect on the students choices in education. The Mathematics &amp; Science Academy (MSA), is a STEM-themed, public magnet school in Southern California whose mission is to increase the nation&rsquo;s pool of graduates in mathematics and science. It is 1 of the many schools and programs in place to increase the United States (U.S.) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. This study, designed as a qualitative case study investigated how MSA has influenced female, African American students who attended a STEM magnet school in their educational pathways. Data was collected from 9 former African American, female graduates from the MSA class of 1998 primarily through interviews. Additional data was received from a pre-interview questionnaire and artifacts from their high school experience.</p><p> This study yielded 4 conclusions. First, the push to study STEM must be intentional and should be influenced by more factors than the school environment alone. Without mentors and an explicit thrust towards STEM, other factors may lead students away from STEM majors. Second, family and society are especially influential in directing a student&rsquo;s pathway. They along with the navigational and resistant capital gained by a student can divert a student&rsquo;s chosen path. Third, students are influenced by multiple factors (e.g. community, school environment, peers, family) each of which can impel them in a certain direction. Lastly, post-secondary (college) educational experiences are highly influential on choice of major and career pathways. </p><p> Based on the findings of this study, recommendations were made for leaders and administrators of STEM-themed magnet schools to consider, when developing programs that will encourage students to pursue STEM careers.</p>

<p> The purpose of this mixed method case study, on the continued implementation of common assessments developed within Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), was to investigate possible relationships between teacher collaboration, common assessments and End of Course (EOC) assessments. The researcher investigated the perceptions of teachers and administrators in a Midwest secondary setting on common assessment development and utilization on the culture of teaching and data-driven decision making. </p><p> The information from this study will provide the researched school district as well as others with insights into their implementation of PLCs and specifically the development and utilization of common assessments. In order to evaluate student learning in a classroom setting, the state of Missouri piloted SLOs in public schools in the 2016-2017 school year. Common assessments are a staple of the SLO process to foster collaborative use of assessment results and data-informed instruction to address student learning outcomes. Data collection included each of the EOC assessed academic departments, the researcher surveyed teachers and interviewed supervising principals and participating teachers. In order to evaluate common assessments, the researcher collected student achievement data through SLO pre-assessments EOC scores during the 2015-2016 school year. The study utilized the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient to conduct analysis of the two data points to determine the strength of the relationship. </p><p> Through evaluating common assessment utilization, this study intended to address potential modifications needed in common assessment and accompanying practices in the school&rsquo;s PLC setting. By completing quantitative analysis of common assessment scores and qualitative data from surveys and interviews the researcher ascertained: Government and English PLC revealed a relationship between their instruction and corresponding assessments; Algebra had a modest relationship while Biology failed to connect classroom to assessments. Through qualitative data analysis, the researcher determined a need for continual professional development around assessment and data literacy to better support teachers with increased accountability of SLO implementation in future school years. Further, implications of the study could serve to assist schools in the implementation of SLOs and ancillary areas of assessment, teacher collaboration, and data use for school advancement and impacting student outcomes.</p>

This is an analytical study of the administration of trips for athletic competition for boys in selected Texas public high schools.

The purpose of this study was to determine the antecedent conditions that contribute to post-secondary education (PSE) completion for students with disabilities, taking into account institutional experiences associated with social integration. A prospective longitudinal design was used to analyze data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2. The study sample consisted of youth who were currently enrolled in vocational schools, two-year community colleges, and four-year universities six years after high school exit. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationships between pre-entry variables and PSE completion. To test the hypothesis of mediation, the causal step approach (Baron & Kenny, 1986) was used. Findings indicated that self-advocacy, participation in work-study or paid employment, participation in extra-curricular activities, and development of vocational skills as a primary transition goal significantly predicted PSE completion. Students who participated in work-study or paid employment reported higher levels of PSE completion. Students who provided input in IEP meetings were less likely to report completing PSE compared to peers who took leadership roles in IEP meetings. Both participating in extra-curricular activities and developing vocational skills as a primary transition goal were negatively associated with PSE completion. The mediation analysis revealed that it is unlikely that institutional experiences examined in this study mediate the relationships between pre-entry variables and PSE completion. Findings further showed that many of the factors considered in the student integration model (Tinto, 1975, 1987, 1993) are positively related to PSE completion for students with disabilities.

The attempts made under the Endowed Schools Act of 1869 to reorganise the grammar schools of England and Wales along lines suggested by the Taunton Commission have attracted comparatively little notice. Yet they represent not only a serious endeavour, many years before 1902, to construct the basis of a secondary school system, but a very important government lead in the ratter of girls1 education. The Commissioners appointed to administer the Act were strongly committed to the principles behind it and vigorously wielded their considerable powers, including those under Section 12 which required provision to be made for girls out of endowments wherever possible. Though the application of Section 12 was often hindered by shortage of money, competing claims and local reluctance to diminish the resources available to boys, in total more than a quarter of the schools launched by the Endowed Schools Commissioners were girls' schools. In 1874 the Endowed Schools Commission, which had been a child of the Liberal government, was disbanded by the Conservatives and its powers transferred to the Charity Commission which exercised them until 1903. This transfer to a body of administrators with a narrower, quasi-judicial tradition and no particular commitment to the girls' cause, was deplored at the time by the women's movement; as it proved, rightly, for the Charity Commissioners did less well with Section 12 and their entire provision of girls' schools was only 15% of their total. There are certainly signs, towards the end of the century, that initiative in this particular sphere, as in secondary education generally, was already passing to the County Councils? In fact, the problem of providing for girls revealed in an acute form the wider problem of trying to base a secondary school system on endowments.

No description available.

<p> This study is an in-depth look at the role of grades and standardized test scores in predicting future student success in the classroom, focusing on the transition from middle school to high school. It seeks to identify how practicing high school administrators can utilize these two sets of predictor data in the decision of placing students into the high school curriculum at the freshman level. A review of the literature examines research on grades to students, standardized testing practices, success at the freshman level of high school, and the connection between high school and college level placement. </p><p> Middle school grades in a student&rsquo;s core subject area classes (math, English, science and social science) were contrasted with standardized MAP test scores administered in the eighth grade year in their ability to predict ninth grade core subject area classroom performance, in order to identify which is a better predictor of future performance. </p><p> The study takes place in a high school district in Illinois. It looks specifically at the district&rsquo;s Class of 2018 and its 223 students. In the final analysis, the study found a positive correlational relationship between both middle school grades and standardized test scores and ninth grade grades. Further analysis found that, in every research question studied, middle school grades proved to be the stronger predictor of ninth grade grades. In addition, this study found middle school grades to be far stronger of a predictor suggesting that the primary determinate of placement decisions for the ninth grade can be found in the classroom track record of incoming ninth graders and not standardized test scores.</p>

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01