The topic of ability level grouping of students for instructional purposes is one of the most studied areas of research in educational literature. However, because of the inconclusive findings in the literature, no clear answer to the question of whether homogeneous or heterogeneous grouping is in the best educational interest of students has been established. Middle level administrators play a particularly important role in the debate concerning the use of ability grouping in individual schools because the pattern for future educational tracks of students is established at the middle level. An exploration of the factors that affect the decision making processes of middle school principals concerning whether to implement homogeneous versus heterogeneous grouping was deemed to be important in lending understanding to practitioners in the field faced with the responsibility of implementation of middle school programming. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the factors that influence middle level principals in the east Tennessee region when deciding to implement homogeneous or heterogeneous grouping of students in their schools. Data were collected through a series of audio taped interviews and transcribed for inductive analysis. Themes that emerged from the data analysis of the open-ended interviews were deducted into findings presented within the context of reviewed literature. The impact of student achievement, standardized test accountability, social factors that affect students, the perceptions of teachers and parents, programming for special education and gifted students, the impact of educational research, and the personal philosophies of the research participants concerning homogeneous versus heterogeneous instruction emerged as influential themes that affected principals' decisions to implement ability level grouping. Specific recommendations for educational practice included the implementation of ability grouping at the middle level exclusively in the areas of mathematics, language, and reading, flexible scheduling that allows for movement of students between groups, and changing the yearly assignment of teachers to a specific ability group for instruction. The need for additional quantitative and qualitative research was also suggested.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-03-07T20:15:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 danielleviveirosguedes.pdf: 1660212 bytes, checksum: 505d73642f5a23e9ff927df2d661232e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-03-10T12:57:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 danielleviveirosguedes.pdf: 1660212 bytes, checksum: 505d73642f5a23e9ff927df2d661232e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-10T12:57:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 danielleviveirosguedes.pdf: 1660212 bytes, checksum: 505d73642f5a23e9ff927df2d661232e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-21 / FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / Este estudo objetivou associar a qualidade de vida de idosos com declínio cognitivo a variáveis demográficas e educacionais, sintomatologia depressiva, presença de doenças, suporte social e capacidade funcional. Investigou-se uma amostra de 65 idosos, residentes na comunidade ou em ILPIs, e seus cuidadores. Foram utilizados questionários, investigando dados demográficos, de saúde e história educacional, a GDS, itens da ISEL e as escalas de Katz e Pfeffer, além das versões de autorrelato, relato do cuidador e a correção composta da QdV-DA. O autorrelato e a correção composta se associaram fortemente com sintomas de depressão e, de forma menos incisiva, com o suporte social. A avaliação dos cuidadores se associou à capacidade funcional, especialmente às ABVDs. Na amostra geral, não houve diferença entre os relatos de idosos e cuidadores. Ao estratificá-la segundo os sintomas depressivos, a equivalência dos relatos se manteve entre os idosos com pontuação superior ao ponto de corte na GDS, porém, entre os com pontuação abaixo do ponto de corte, a avaliação dos cuidadores foi inferior à autoavaliação. É possível que os sintomas depressivos tenham rebaixado a avaliação dos idosos, equiparando-a ao relato dos cuidadores. Ressalta-se que a percepção da qualidade de vida se dá através da relação entre variáveis objetivas e subjetivas e que mecanismos de autorregulação do self exercem importante papel nessa avaliação / This study aims at associating quality of life of elderly patients with cognitive impairment to educational and demographic variables, depressive symptoms, morbidity, social support and ability level. Sixty five elderly, living in the community or in long term care facilities, and their caregivers were inquired. A questionnaire, investigating demographic, health and educational background data, GDS, items from the ISEL, Katz and Pfeffer scales, beyond the self-reported, caregiver's report and compound correction versions of QdV-DA were used. Self-report and compound correction were strongly associated with symptoms of depression and, less incisive, with social support. The caregivers‟ ratings were associated with ability level, especially the ADL's. In the overall sample, there was no difference between elderly and caregivers reports. Stratifying the sample according to depressive symptoms, the equivalence in reports remained among older people with scores above the cutoff point in GDS, however, among those with scores below the cutoff point, caregivers‟ report was lower than self-report. It is possible that depressive symptoms have lowered the self-report, equating it to caregivers' report. Quality of life perception is made through relationship between objective and subjective variables, and self-regulation mechanisms of the self play an important role in the evaluation.

Although peer review, in which students evaluate each others' papers, has been shown to be beneficial in many writing classrooms, the benefits of peer review to the reviewer, or the student giving the feedback, has not been thoroughly investigated in the field of second language (L2) writing. The purpose of this study is to determine which is more beneficial to improving student writing: receiving or giving peer feedback. The study was conducted at the English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University (BYU). Ninety-one students in nine writing classes at two different proficiency levels, high beginning and high intermediate, participated in the study. The treatment groups reviewed anonymous papers, but received no peer feedback over the course of the semester, while the control groups received feedback, but did not review other students' papers. Writing samples collected at the beginning and end of the semester were used to evaluate which of the two methods most helped student writers. In addition, a short survey was conducted to investigate the correlation between student attitudes and demographic information and these results. Results of a series of t-tests indicated that the treatment groups, which focused solely on reviewing peers' writing, made more significant gains in their writing over the course of the semester than the control groups. These results were also more significant at the lower than the higher proficiency level. Students? level of comfort with the writing process and desire to learn how to use feedback were found to be significant predictors of these results.

No description available.