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The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of National Board Certified Teachers on student performance on Mississippi’s Subject Area Testing Program (SATP) English II assessment, an end-of-course exam that assesses 10th grade students in Mississippi school districts. The researcher sought to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between the SATP English II scores of two groups of students (those taught by National Board Certified Teachers and those who were not). If there was a difference, the researcher sought to determine how the difference could be explained based on selected teacher demographic data (sex, race, highest degree received, years of experience, and National Board Certification status) and selected student demographic data (sex; race; previous scores on the Mississippi Curriculum Test, Second Edition; and free- or reduced-lunch status). The results indicated that students who were taught by National Board Certified Teachers were more likely to have higher SATP English II scores than students who were taught by non-National Board Certified Teachers. Though previous researchers have concluded that teachers’ years of experience and highest degree received play a vital role in the difference in student achievement, this study did not confirm those findings. The results of this study, however, indicated that teacher and student demographic data were potentially important predictors of the language arts standardized test scores. Though these data can be used as predictors, the combined effect of teacher gender, teacher race, and years of experience, along with student race, student gender, student lunch status, and prior Mississippi Curriculum Test, Second Edition Language Arts scores were not found to be statistically significant in this study.

An analysis of President George W. Bush's first Secretary of Education Rod Paige's speeches in 2001 explains the way in which the Bush Administration articulated its educational policy agenda. Literature on No Child Left Behind tends to focus on the specifics of whether the law helps children learn better or worse without recognizing or engaging with the broader policy agenda. This study attempts to bridge connections between No Child Left Behind and the broader Bush Administration ideology. A major connection this work highlights is between welfare policy and education, and by doing so utilizing George Lakoff's theory of moral politics examines highlights an overarching philosophy of governance, which shapes educational policy, perhaps even without regard to classroom outcomes. This analysis utilizes an interactive-hermeneutic model to crunch the text of Rod Paige's speeches. By coding and explaining major themes from the speeches, analyzing the language and rhetorical choices against itself and then comparing it to extant research on education policy and welfare rhetoric, this study provides a different way to examine political maneuvering on educational policy, which positions politics and language at the center of educational policy rather than efficacy and policy. This analysis finds by applying Lakoff's theory and work that Rod Paige's rhetoric, on behalf of the George W. Bush administration, is about reducing Federal responsibility for social problems and reducing the government's role overall. This is a "slippery slope policy" aimed at eliminating public responsibility for schools and privatizing education in service to the goal of creating an "ownership society" of privatized services and personal responsibility for success. / Urban Education

In 2003, Mid-County North High School (pseudonym), a large suburban, rather affluent school did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act. The school's special education population was unable to meet the proficiency requirements of the Mid-County's state, and as such received a "failing" label from the state. The irony in this is that North High School (NHS) and the Mid-County District have a documented legacy of excellence -even on the very assessments upon which the "failing" assessments were based. This single-site, qualitative case study, was designed to investigate the real-life dilemmas, ethical, professional, and personal, that the school leaders at NHS and in the Mid-County School District encountered after the school did not make AYP. The perceived internal pressures caused by the possible competition of a school leader's personal and professional values, as well as the necessity for leaders to guide their school toward making AYP, were investigated. In addition to internal pressures, the study attempted to uncover the perceived pressures faced by the leaders within the organizational structure of the school and school district, from the community, media and government. In addition, the study was designed to unveil school leaders' reactions to these perceived pressures. This study used semi-structured interviews with 12 school leaders, including central office and building level leaders, as well as teachers, a parent, and a school board member. In addition to interviews, pertinent documents, and artifacts were analyzed. The interview and document data were then coded using a qualitative analysis program, TAMSAnalyzer. The constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) was used to analyze the data in terms of the study's two theoretical frameworks: Turbulence Theory (Gross, 1998) and Multiple Ethical Paradigms (Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2001). The data revealed three dominant themes: (a) Turbulence Happens: School Leaders Are Forced to Respond to Externally Imposed Accountability in the Era of NCLB and AYP; (b) Flight School: School Leaders' Ethical Codes and Experience Prepare them to Navigate Through Turbulence; (c) Pilot to Co-Pilot: School Leaders Communicate, Collaborate, and Innovate to manage the Turbulence of Not Making AYP. / Educational Administration

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to analyze the impact of the policies of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) on the teaching and learning of 10 Latino English language learners (ELLs) in an urban high school in Virginia. Using ethnographic methodology, the researcher examined the nexus of the policy of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001) with the pedagogy of the English as a Second Language (ESL) and content area teachers, and the practices employed by teachers to enable students to acquire a second language in an academic setting. This enabled the researcher to examine the contextual framework of a large urban school and factors converging to help Latino ELLs learn academic English to succeed in high school. By reviewing the policy, pedagogy, and practices used in this school, I observed the connectedness of an entire school and the relationships fostered by students and faculty to support a learning climate for ELLs. The findings of this study show that the sociocultural environment and the educational experiences play a significant role in the adaptive process of learning a second language for Latino English language learners. Pedagogy that was built on respect for the Latino English language learners' cultural identity, linguistic abilities, and critical thinking skills helped learners become actively engaged, and facilitated learning in the second language that was academically rigorous. The practices of caring teachers enabled them to serve as advocates for ELLs, helped forge relationships of respect and trust, and encouraged Latino ELLs to succeed academically as they navigated the high school environment. / Ph. D.

Theatre is the passport to the creation of a balanced educational system in the United States (US), while standardized testing is the downfall of the ideology behind ‘No Child Left Behind’ (NCLB). As an educator, I was greatly influenced by Howard Gardner, theorist of Multiple Intelligences and Neil Fleming theorist of learning modalities. This work has carried over into my work in theatre as a director. Theatre does not have to didactically serve formal education, which emphasizes mathematics and reading/writing, nor does it have to be merely a spectacle. Theatre can be experimental, artistic, cathartic, foster social and intrapersonal skills and increase intelligences in all areas for children and adults. The adaptation of the children’s book The End by David LaRochelle into a play for children demonstrates the potential that lies within the art of theatre to be more than just entertainment. Furthermore, my work on the adaptation of The End was greatly influenced by my research and participation in the production of Pinocchio with Ohio Valley Summer Theatre in the fall of 2008. From this production, I gained considerable knowledge on the topic of Commedia Del’ Arte which impacted my work on my own production The End.

This study focused on evaluating the impact of a school counselor-led program, Ready for Success (RFS), on the academic achievement of third grade students. The research questions that were investigated in the study were: (a) Does participation in the Ready for Success Program, a counselor-led classroom intervention, increase reading scores among 3rd grade African American, Hispanic, and White students as measured by the FCAT third grade reading test? and (b) Does participation in the Ready for Success Program, a counselor-led classroom intervention, increase reading scores among third grade African American, Hispanic, and White students as measured by the SSSDT reading test? The significance of the study lies in its focus on the need for more outcome research linking school counselor-led interventions to student achievement. The importance of counselor-led research based interventions in positively affecting student achievement addresses a national mandate delineated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which calls for evidence-based interventions in education. The population for this study included male and female, third grade, general education students from diverse backgrounds, from one large school district located in south Florida, herein referred to as Pineapple State School District. A standardized objective statewide assessment instrument, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and the school district generated standardized test, Sunshine State Standards Diagnostics Test (SSSDT), were used to measure academic achievement. Analysis of the results in this study was done using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with Pretest scores on the SSSDT 3rd grade reading (2010-2011) as covariates on the dependent variables to account for differences at pretest. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in pro-social behaviors and reading skills between a treatment group of first grade students who received the Ready to Learn (Brigman, Lane, & Lane, 2008) intervention, delivered by a certified professional school counselor, and a comparison group of first grade students who did not receive this intervention. Counselors in the treatment group were trained in the proper implementation of the manualized Ready to Learn program during a professional development session. They were also trained in other study-related procedures, such as the online check-in tool and the regular site visits by the researcher. The study followed a quasi-experimental design. The Child Behavior Scale (CBS; Ladd, Herald-Brown & Andrews, 2009) was used to measure pro-social behaviors, and Rigby Running Records (Rigby, 2010) was used to assess reading skills. A series of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed to deter mine whether or not there were statistically significant differences between the treatment and comparison group. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using a pretest score as the covariate was performed to test significance in the difference of reading scores. Results indicate a statistically significant increase in pro-social with peers behaviors, as well as statistically significant decreases in hyperactive and distractible behaviors as well as excluded by peers indicators for the treatment group. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection