Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-124).

D.Ed. / The child constitutes his world by experiencing the content of life in a particular society. This content is included in the school curriculum as learning content after careful selection on the basis of its intrinsic value for education. Owing to the fact that the child attains adulthood by internalizing content, it is of the utmost importance that the pupil be motivated in such a manner by the content of the teaching-learning situation, that he learns because he wants to learn. When the selected content is presented to the child as a factual statement and not as a problem which concerns him, it may be experienced as an answer to a question which was never put. \~hen the child does not experience the content which is presented to him as a real life problem with which he can identify, the result is often meaningless learning by rote in order to avoid punishment, to pass a test, or to win the favour of a teacher. The interdependent nature of teaching and learning has made it possible for the researcher to show empirically how teacher strategies, focusing on the learning content as an object of wonder, relate to a willingness on the part of the pupil to learn in a meaningful way. It was also shown that the absence of teacher behaviour, concentrating on the learning content as an object of wonder, is associated with the absence of an inquiring attitude in pupils. In categories 2, 4 and 6 below, the contingency of the learning content is accentuated, whereas...

M.Ed. et Phil. / Poor academic performance and high drop out rates are of particular concern in South African higher education in general, and also at the institution where this investigation was conducted. The challenges facing South African higher education include a highly diverse student population, with many under-prepared students, who find coping with the academic and social demands of higher education a difficult task to accomplish. From an institutional perspective, it is important to be able to identify students who are at greater risk of not achieving academic success, since these students will often not seek help themselves. An institutional reaction to the situation described above should include a comprehensive predictive model, aimed at accurately identifying at-risk students as early as possible. This will enable the institution to provide them with early targeted assistance. One part of such a model should focus on the initial transitions students make upon their arrival at higher education institutions. The pre-entry attributes with which a student arrives at the institution have been found to be good predictors of student success and retention during the initial phases of their transition into higher education. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the predictive value of a variety of pre-entry attributes in terms of predicting the academic success and retention behaviour of students entering the university for the first time. The pre-entry attributes that proved to be good predictors were used to create student profiles that would allow the institution and the different faculties to identify potential at-risk students at an early stage.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree PhD Psychology in the Department of Psychology, at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2011. / The present study investigated the impact of motivation on academic success by using the impostor phenomenon to understand the experiences of a selected group in a Black Higher Education institution. The researcher used a questionnaire, interviewed and observed research participants. Questionnaires were sent out in the first week of term to ascertain maximum number of participants as well as receive demographical information. The Impostor Phenomenon questionnaire [IP; 6]: which is a 20- item scale developed by Clarence (1985), was used to assess impostor feelings, that is, feelings of not being deserving of one’s success with an associated fear of being found out as a “fake” . The interview was used to obtain narrative information that would have been difficult to gather through the questionnaire. Recordings from the interviews and observations during interviews were captured, forming data for the final analysis. The study revealed that a positive student –teacher relationship enhanced positive self- concepts in students. This support from teachers was found to engender goal motivations despite situational conditions. I have argued in this study that the social, gender based disparities expressed as culture in South African society, impact negatively on the maintenance of intrinsic motivation. The study also supports the impression that psycho-social development of students needs to be integrated into student’s academic lives for a holistic understanding and possibly enhance their academic performance. Findings in this study were found to correspond with other studies of resiliency, especially among traditional African women.

Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School Administration The state of Louisiana has spent a large amount of money over the past years to ensure highly qualified teachers for every student. This study aimed to discover whether or not there was a statistically significant association between teachers who attain National Board Certification and student gains in achievement on standardized tests specifically the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) in an urban Louisiana school district. The research was to determine if students taught by Nationally Board Certified teachers (NBCTs) outperformed students of comparable backgrounds taught by Non-Nationally Board Certified Teachers (Non-NBCTs). To accomplish this, the research examined English Language Arts and Mathematics test scores of fourth and eighth grade students taught by NBCTs and compared them with those of students taught by Non-NBCTs to determine if the gains made by the group taught by NBCTs were statistically significantly different from those taught by Non-NBCTs. The results of the data analysis indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the score differences of fourth grade English Language Arts students and eighth grade English Language Arts students taught by NBCTs when compared to those taught by Non-NBCTs. The fourth and eighth grade score differences of students taught by NBCTs were statistically significantly higher. However, the analysis of the data also revealed there was not a statistically significant difference between the score differences of 4th grade math students taught by NBCTs when compared to those taught by Non-NBCTs. There were no NBCTs for 8th grade Mathematics students. One recommendation for further research should be to focus on more than one district to determine if results would be similar. Another recommendation, the Louisiana Department of Education should study all areas of high-stakes testing within the state to determine if teacher certification, especially NBCTs, have an impact on student achievement. The Louisiana Department of Education’s should use its extensive data base for a study determine whether National Board Certification contributes to increases in student achievement across all grade levels.

Studies suggest a relationship exists between school climate and student achievement (Hoy & Woolfolk, 1993; Smith, 2005; Warren, 2007). This study investigated the relationship between school climate and student achievement in elementary schools located in a school division in Virginia. School climate is defined operationally as the perceptions of stakeholders, students, parents and educators in regard to instructional programming, interpersonal relationships, communication/collaboration, safety/discipline, and physical environment. The factors that shape school climate and the perceptions of students, parents, and educators in regard to school climate were also investigated. The population for this study was 55 elementary schools in the selected school division. The study used hierarchical clustering to cluster the schools into four clusters. The clusters were analyzed to determine if a relationship existed between school climate and student achievement. Regression analysis was completed on school climate and student achievement data from each school. The purpose of this analysis was to investigate the relationship between the factors of school climate and student achievement. Of additional interest was the relationship between student achievement and the perspective of stakeholders in regard to school climate. This study used data from the 2007-2008 fifth grade Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) tests in reading and math to measure student achievement. Data collected from the school division's 2008 Annual School Climate Survey was used to measured school climate In the content areas of reading and math lower pass percentages on the Virginia SOL tests related to lower agree percentages in response to the School Climate Survey. Conversely, in the content areas of reading and math higher pass percentages on the Virginia SOL tests related to higher agree percentages in response to the School Climate Survey. Based on these findings schools that have a negative school climate as perceived by its stakeholders can expect to have lower student achievement scores, whereas, schools with a positive school climate as perceived by its stakeholders can expect to have higher student achievement scores. The analysis of data representative of school climate and student achievement found a relationship exists between school climate and student achievement. / Ph. D.

Typescript, etc. / Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries

The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of personality as a predictor of academic success for MBA students using a sample of 94 first year MBA students. The test battery consisted of a Mathematical proficiency test, a Computer proficiency test, a Case Study and a personality questionnaire, the Occupational Personality Questionnaire 32n. The criteria measured were an overall performance score as well as four first year first semester subjects. With the aid of correlations and regression calculations, it was determined that the proficiency tests explained the greatest proportion of the variance of success in overall performance as well as in each of the subjects. It was, however, also determined that personality added value to the selection process. Consequently, it was concluded that, in support of the hypothesis posed, certain aspects of personality make an important contribution to academic performance, particularly when it can be theoretically linked to behaviour. / M. Admin (Industrial Psychology)

The sexual content of media aimed at pre- and early adolescents (including magazines, movies, TV shows, and websites) has increased dramatically in recent years. Psychologists have expressed concern that exposure to such material leads to “internalized sexualization.” A recent APA Task Force (2007) called on researchers to study sexualization among pre- and early adolescent girls to understand its effect on development. In this master’s thesis, I developed the first known measure of internalized sexualization. The scale was demonstrated to be internally reliable and valid. The scale was also used to examine the relation between internalized sexualization and academic achievement. A strong negative relation was found between the two constructs; girls with higher levels of internalized sexualization have poorer academic achievement than girls with lower levels of internalized sexualization. The implications of the findings are discussed and future directions for research are suggested. / text

The relationship between positive and negative perfectionism, and academic achievement, motivation and well-being in tertiary students was investigated. It was hypothesized that higher levels of positive perfectionism would be associated with higher academic achievement, higher achievement motivation, lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress, the use of more adaptive coping strategies, and positive personality variables, compared with negative perfectionists. Additionally, it was hypothesized that higher levels of negative perfectionism would be associated with lower levels of academic achievement, lower achievement motivation, higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress, the use of more maladaptive coping strategies, and negative personality variables. 99 first year tertiary students participated, 71 from the University of Canterbury, and 28 from the Christchurch College of Education. The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) was used to measure positive, negative and total levels of perfectionism. The short-form of the Ray Achievement Orientation Scale (Ray AO) was used to measure the level of achievement motivation. The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI) was used to measure the "Big Five" personality variables (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience). The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) was used to measure levels of positive and negative affect. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) was used to measure levels of depression, anxiety and stress. The COPE was used to measure the use of functional and dysfunctional coping strategies. Demographic and academic information were obtained from student's academic files. The results indicated that, generally, the hypotheses were correct. Positive perfectionism showed associations with higher academic achievement, higher achievement motivation, positive personality factors, and more use of functional forms of coping, while negative perfectionism showed associations with negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, negative personality factors, and more use of dysfunctional coping strategies. It is therefore concluded that positive perfectionism can have a positive association with academic achievement, achievement motivation and general well-being, while negative perfectionism can have a negative association with these factors. Many individuals are concerned with meeting high standards for performance. Consequently, the concept of perfectionism has been studied increasingly in the last few decades. The concept has evolved to now being formally defined, theoretically integrated and empirically measured (Flett & Hewitt, 2002a; Flett & Hewitt, 2002b; Rheaume, Freeston, Dugas, Letarte & Ladouceur, 1995).