Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Jana R. Fallin / In the wake of No Child Left Behind Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2006), educational reforms focused on providing students with effective systematic instruction in reading skills have become a nationwide concern. Report findings from the National Reading Panel (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000), indicate the establishment of a high quality comprehensive reading curriculum must include the five key components of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension to improve reading achievement. These essential elements, with emphasis on phonemic awareness and phonics skills beginning in pre-kindergarten, are instrumental in the acquisition of early literacy development. The purpose of this qualitative study was directed toward better understanding first grade general music teachers’ perceptions of the role of music education in the attainment of early literacy. Using a multi-site case study design to examine and present an analysis of nine public elementary school music educators from across a Midwestern state, each of which used one of the three elementary general music series currently published, resulted in this collective case study. Data indicated parallels focused on the five key reading components between music and language literacy development processes, with particular emphasis on aural discrimination skills to phonemic awareness. Further findings described the sequential sound before symbol pedagogical practice of music literacy development from the perspective of the nine general music educators to be similar to early reading skills progressions, as they experienced equivalent learning processes. Implications for the educational community and suggestions for further research were discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Nobel S. Rebello / This dissertation reports on a naturalistic evaluation study of a series of NSF grant projects collectively known as PEPTYC -- Physics Enhancement Project for Two Year College Physics Instructors. The project encompassed seven different cycles of professional development occurring during the 1990's via May Institutes, held at Texas A&M University. Follow-up meetings were held at American Association of Physics Teachers - Texas Section Meetings. The research was conducted post hoc. The research evaluated the characteristics of effective professional development under an evaluation frame work designed by D.L. Kirkpatrick (1959) and adapted by the researcher to address issues that are pertinent to the professional development of faculty. This framework was adapted to be viewed through an educator's eye in an effort to ascertain the long term affects of the program and determine how the program affected the participants' attitudes, pedagogical knowledge, and instructional practices. The PEPTYC program philosophy was based on the premise, supported by research, that professional development programs addressing specific teaching practices are more successful than generic programs. Furthermore, professional development is more effective in helping teachers use alternative approaches when teachers are engaged in active learning experiences rather than passively listening to lectures or presentations. The naturalistic study was based on surveys and semi-structured interviews with 14 individuals who participated in PEPTYC workshops, as well as presenters of the PEPTYC program. The interviews were analyzed to describe how the PEPTYC project influenced the participants long after they had completed their training. This project can inform the development of similar evaluation studies of other professional development programs.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Margaret G. Shroyer / In this study, the professional development for a physics program called Visual Quantum Mechanics (VQM) was observed and analyzed. Four of the participants in a summer institute as Kansas State University (KSU) volunteered to be observed by the researcher as they implemented the program into their classrooms during the next academic year. Observations were used to determine the effectiveness of the instructional strategies that they used. The students’ perception of the laboratory sessions was evaluated and student understanding of the physics concepts also was determined. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses indicated that the professional development as presented and supported by the KSU team provided teachers with the information necessary to use the VQM program successfully with their students. However, only 30% of the teachers implemented the program during the following school year. Instructional strategies advocated by the VQM program included use of the hands-on equipment and computer simulations as well as discussion techniques. Observations revealed that students were more attentive during laboratory activities and less attentive during the discussions. Nevertheless, discussion proved to be a valuable component of this process. The researcher concluded that high quality professional development encouraged teaches to implement VQM in their classrooms. Although teachers did not always follow the instructional strategies advocated by the program, the inquiry-based hands-on activities and computer simulations kept students attentive. As a result, there was significant learning directly attributable to VQM for the students who participated in the study. Students who finished a complete learning cycle within the activities showed more significant learning than students who did not complete a learning cycle. Professional development can be designed to encourage teachers to implement new skills. For Visual Quantum Mechanics, emphasizing the importance of the whole class discussions, presenting the connections between the concepts and the science standards, and focusing on strategies for implementation will provide additional confidence to teachers as they implement the program in their classrooms.

Master of Science / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / F. Todd Goodson / This study analyzes the power of rhetorical forms from a historical perspective. Ronald Reagan's presidency (1981-1989) will serve as the historical time period used for analysis. By looking at President Ronald Reagan‘s ―War on Drugs, this study provides historical research on the legislative initiatives leading up to this war, as well as on the various aspects of Reagan‘s drug policies. In addition, this study also outlines concurrent educational policies respectively. This background information provides a foundation for examining the role of education within the -War on Drugs, as well as how rhetorical similarities between Reagan‘s drug and education policies are indicative of his administration‘s larger aims and beliefs.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Lawrence C. Scharmann / This research examines the impact of the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) Act on elementary science education in the states of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Elementary teachers (n=928 total for all states) responded to an online survey, which included both closed-ended and open-ended questions pertaining to the time spent on science instruction and any changes made in science instruction since the implementation of NCLB. More than half of these teachers indicated they have cut time from science instruction since NCLB became law. Follow-up questions with regard to why changes were made in science instruction were also included in the survey. The need to increase time for math and reading instruction was a belief expressed by many of the respondents with other respondents stating a member of their administration mandated changes. This research also examines results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for each of these states to determine if the changes made in response to NCLB helped meet the goal of closing the achievement gap between the disaggregated subgroups of gender, race, and socioeconomic status (SES). The data from the NAEP shows only a few significant changes occurred; however, some included a significant increase in the achievement gap.

Architectural Engineering / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / David R. Fritchen / Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been touted by industry leaders, professional societies and trade articles as the next ‘big’ industry trend shaping the delivery of commercial construction by architects, engineers and construction managers. BIM delivery has been presently utilized by over half of polled industry partners. And, withstanding a separate technological programming breakthrough, BIM will likely sustain high levels of growth in implementation in industry with the rise of the next generation of design and construction professionals and building owners in the next 50 years, making BIM delivery the primary means of commercial construction document and project delivery. Due to this growth and publicity, universities around the USA have been highly encouraged to implement BIM into their educational curricula fabric of course work, placing an ever increasing emphasis on a BIM skill set for their graduates. Taken together, surveys of Architectural Engineering programs current and planned implementation of BIM, potential employers’ emphasis on recruiting graduates with BIM skills, reading and referencing of trade articles relating BIM to industry delivery trends, research on initial and sustained requirements and associated costs of hardware and software for universities - specifically Architectural Engineering Programs to include BIM in their curriculum, this collation of research and information will trend towards suggestions and conclusions related to BIM’s importance in Architectural Engineering curriculum of the present and future.

Doctor of Education / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Lawrence C. Scharmann / BeEtta L. Stoney / Increasing diversity in schools in the United States over the last few decades, combined with an emphasis on high-stakes testing, has heightened concerns about the academic performance of students of color, in particular African American students. There are concerns about the appropriateness of a Eurocentric curriculum taught by White teachers, which often limits the use of a multicultural curriculum—one that values the culture and lifestyles of diverse students. This study focused on elements within teaching practices that improved achievement among students of color. An enhanced application of the Multiple Meanings of Multicultural Teacher Education Framework (MTEF), along with assessments of teacher training instruments (Gay, 1994; Love, 2001; Ladson-Billings, 1994), helped to create the Model for Modified Multicultural Teacher Education Framework on Teacher Perception of Student Achievement that served as a guide for the investigation. The overall findings confirmed the utility of the model and the enhancements made to the multicultural assessment instruments. Depending upon what elements were chosen, between 18% and 23% of the variance explained in teacher’s beliefs, attitudes and perceptions could be explained by their training, their community involvement, awareness of self, knowledge of subject and a positive approach to the institutional culture. The findings support the existing literature and adds to it a new dimension by directly focusing on teacher’s perceptions, attitudes and beliefs that promote or constrain teaching and learning about urban African American students in the urban classroom.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Andrew G. Bennett / On-line homework is becoming a larger part of mathematics classrooms each year. Thus, ways to maximize the effectiveness of on-line homework for both students and teachers must be investigated. This study sought to provide one possible answer to this aim, by requiring students to achieve at least 50% for any on-line homework assignment in order to receive credit. Research shows that students respond well to reasonably set high expectations, and coupling this with one of the primary advantages of on-line homework, the ability to rework assignments, provided the basis for this study. Data for this experimental study was collected from the spring semester of 2008 until the fall semester of 2009, and included student exam scores, the number of on-line assignments above and below the 50% threshold, and the number of times students accessed help features of the on-line homework system when given the ability to do so. Analysis at both the whole-class and cluster levels attempted to discern the effectiveness of the intervention. Results indicated that significantly fewer students settled for on-line homework scores less than 50% in the experimental semesters where the 50% requirement was in place than in the control semesters in which the requirement was absent. Certain clusters of students seemed to benefit even more than others from this higher expectation, leading to the possibility of differentiated instruction or differentiated interventions in the future. In addition to fewer sub-par on-line homework scores, students also demonstrated other positive traits, such as accessing the on-line help links more within the experimental semesters.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Tweed R. Ross / The purpose of this research and development study was to design and develop an affordable, computer-based, pre-service teacher assessment and reporting system to allow teacher education institutions and supervising teachers to efficiently enter evaluation criteria, record pre-service teacher evaluations, and generate evaluation reports. The system design supports pre-service teacher evaluators and the data collection, evaluation, and reporting needs of pre-service teacher training institutions. The researcher used a literature review and a needs assessment to determine the need for the system and to define the system prototype’s functional requirements. The researcher used a modified ten-phase development approach (Borg & Gall, 1989) to develop the system. Three separate evaluator groups reviewed the system during development. Teacher licensing officers from private colleges and the Regents Universities in Kansas participated in the needs assessment phase of the study. Past and present National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) evaluation team members served as expert evaluators who provided feedback regarding the validity and functionality of the system prototype. Supervising professors from Regents University colleges of education and from private universities represented the target users and provided feedback regarding the validity, user friendliness, and usefulness of the system. Prior to sending the system prototype to evaluator groups, the prototype was reviewed by a select group of educators and information technology professionals to make sure the prototype was functioning properly and that it could be easily installed by evaluators. The overall results of the needs assessment indicated that the computer-based, pre-service teacher evaluation system that was developed would add value to and improve the evaluation process for teacher training institutions that use spreadsheet and paper-based systems. Survey respondents determined that the system prototype could meet important data collection, analysis, and reporting needs and could increase reporting and data retrieval efficiency for teacher evaluators and teacher training institutions. Target user evaluations found the system to be useable, functionally adequate, and a useful assessment tool.

The issue of special education in the United States has been a contentious issue, at best, for the past 40 years. In Ontario, to a lesser extent, there have been issues of equal access to education for minoritized and racialized students. Special education in the Toronto area has not been without its issues surrounding parental advocacy, the use of assessments, and disproportionate number of English Language Learners in special education. This project examines how racialized and minoritized families understand special education practices and policies, specifically within the Toronto, York, Peel, and Halton Regions. The investigation is informed by nine interviews with students in grades 7 to 12, their respective mothers, and five special education administrators and educators. Students and parents identified themselves as Black, Latino/a, and South Asian. Within these categories, parents identified themselves as Somali, Trinidadian, Jamaican, and Punjabi-Sikh. Students were identified with a range of disabilities including learning, behavioural, and/or intellectual. This research focuses on ways to interrogate and examine the experiences of minoritized students and their parents by bringing forward otherwise silenced voices and understanding what it means to “speak out” against the process of identification and placement in special education. The findings of this investigation suggest a disconnect how policies and practices are implemented, and how, parents’ rights are understood. In particular, policies are inconsistently applied and are subject to the interpretation of educators and administrators, especially in relation to parental involvement and how much information should be released to families. The issue of language acquisition being read as a disability was also a noted concern. This investigation points to implications for teacher education programs, gaps in parental advocacy and notions of parental participation within schools, and re-examining special education assessments, practices, and policies.