This qualitative case study examined how middle school science teachers conducted collaborative inquiry and reflection about students’ conceptual understanding, and how individual teachers in the middle school science group acted and made reflections in response to their collaborative inquiry. It also examined external influences that affected the teachers’ ability to engage in collaborative inquiry. Observational, written, and interview data were collected from observations of teachers’ face-to-face meetings and reflections, individual interviews, a focus group interview, and online reflections. The results of this study revealed that collaborative inquiry is a form of professional development that includes answering curricular questions through observation, communication, action, and reflection. This approach was developed and implemented by middle school science teachers. The premise of an inquiry is based on a need with students. Middle school science teachers came to consensus about actions to affect students’ conceptual understanding, took action as stated, and shared their reflections of the actions taken with consideration to current and upcoming school activities. Activities involved teachers brainstorming and sharing with one another, talking about how the variables were merged into their curriculum, and how they impacted students’ conceptual understanding. Teachers valued talking with one another about science content and pedagogy, but did find the inquiry portion of the approach to require more development. The greatest challenge to conducting collaborative inquiry and reflection was embedding teacher inquiry within a prescribed inquiry that was already being conducted by the Sundown School District. Collaborative inquiry should be structured so that it meets the needs of teachers in order to attend to the needs of students. A conducive atmosphere for collaborative inquiry and reflection is one in which administrators make the process mandatory and facilitate the process by removing an existing inquiry. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

The focus of this study is to add to the outcome research on effective school counseling interventions and to specifically evaluate the effectiveness of the Student Success Skills (SSS) small group intervention with students identified as having drop out potential in the 9th grade. This study analyzed two years of pre-existing, non-identifiable student data (N = 167) collected by school counselors at one high school in South Florida. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine differences in academic grades, standardized test scores, and absences between the students who did participate in the SSS small group intervention when compared to those students who did not participate. Statistically significant differences were found between groups in all three dropout potential factors (GPA, test scores, and absences) supporting the use of SSS small group school counseling intervention with students at risk for dropping out. Effect size estimates were reported for each of the measures. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

President Obama’s 2014 “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative responds to the continuing educational disparities that the No Child Left Behind Act was intended to have addressed. The preoccupation with standardized testing and accountability over the past decade has revealed evidence of disparities in achievement between Black male students and their White counterparts. Critical Race Theorists have framed these persistent disparities as evidence of the opportunity gap and have advocated culturally responsive pedagogy that would facilitate students’ academic success. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This study compared data related to National Board Certification (NBC) of mathematics teachers in a South Florida school district. Data included 1,162 student scores on the 2014 AP Calculus AB exam, student gender, student grade level, and eligibility for free or reduced price lunch (FRL) status. Teachers completed the Standards' Beliefs Instrument (SBI) (Zollman & Mason, 1992) to determine alignment of their beliefs with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards. Interviews were conducted with five NBC mathematics teachers to understand how they incorporate best mathematics teaching practices in their daily instruction. A t-test analysis revealed that students taught by NBC teachers scored significantly higher (M = 3.70) on the AP Calculus AB Exam than those taught by non-NBCTs (M = 2.74); Cohen's d (.6429) indicated a moderately large effect size. No causation is to be implied; various confounding factors may also contribute to the variance in student scores. Three factorial ANOVA tests were performed to test interaction effects. Two significant interaction effects were detected: (1) NBCT status and student grade level; and (2) NBCT status and student FRL (free and reduced price lunch) status. No significant interaction was found between NBCT status and student gender. With a reliability estimate using Cronbach's alpha, a second t-test was conducted. A statistically significant difference was found regarding the mean scores of NBCTs and non-NBCTs regarding their beliefs according to the vision of the NCTM. NBCTs generally have practices that align more with the NCTM mathematics teaching standards. Interviews with five NBC teachers of AP Calculus provided rich qualitative descriptions of their teaching philosophies, approaches, and best practices contributing to student success. The results of this study reinforce evidence from previous research that the process of obtaining the NBC contributes to a teacher's professional expertise and is related to student success; however, since there may be other confounding factors related to teachers, students, and their schools, the NBC cannot be considered the sole factor contributing to student success in AP coursework and exams. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Spanish cultural translation of the Student Success Skills (SCT-SSS) classroom program as a school counselor intervention for increasing Hispanic student academic achievement scores as measured by standardized mathematics and reading tests. The research question evaluated in this study was: "What is the effect of student participation in the SCT-SSS on student achievement of high school Hispanic students in reading and mathematics as measured by Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT)"? The sample for this study included 352 Hispanic students in Grades 9 and 10 from two public high schools in south Florida. The treatment group included 166 students and the comparison group included 186 students. In order to be eligible for participation in this study, students had to meet three different criteria: (a) they identified themselves as Hispanic on their school registration form; (b) they were enrolled in a Spanish for Native Speakers foreign language elective course: and (c) they had Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) pretest scores on the reading and math tests. A series of preliminary univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to determine if differences existed between participants on the FCAT reading and mathematics pretests Developmental Scale Scores (DSS). To control for grade level and English language learner (ELL) differences between study participants on pretest reading scores, a univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted using the FCAT reading pretest DSS as the covariate. An overall effect size of the current study was +0.50 with a variance of 0.0060 (95% CI [0.35, 0.65]). / The results for the overall math effect size was +0.32 with a variance of 0.0115 (95% CI [0.10, .53]), and the results for the overall reading effect sizewas +0.70 with a variance of 0.0127 (95% CI [.48, .93]). These effect sizes were statistically significificant at the.05 level. The results from this study demonstrated that the SCT-SSS classroom program is an effective intervention for increasing student achievement for high school Hispanic students. Students who received the SCT-SSS classroom program achieved greater gains when compared to students who did not receive the intervention. / by Ivett Urbina. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the Haitian Hybrid Student Success Skills (HHSSS) program on the academic achievement of 4th and 5th grade Haitian students. This intervention included both the Student Success Skills (SSS) classroom program in English (Brigman & Webb, 2004), followed by the Haitian SSS small group translation Teknik Pou Ede Eláev Reyisi (Brigman, Campbell, & Webb 2004, 2009). School counselors in the treatment schools implemented the HHSSS program in grades 4 and 5 after receiving training from the study researcher. A series of ANOVA and ANCOVA analyses then were conducted to determine whether there were significant differences between the treatment group, the comparison group 1, and the comparison group 2 in reading and math using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) as a benchmark. Statistically significant differences were found between: (a) the treatment group and comparison group 1 in reading, (b) the treatment group and vii comparison group 2 in reading, and (c) between both comparison group 1 and comparison group 2 in reading. This study provides empirical support showing that students who are taught key cognitive and self management skills in their native language can begin to close the academic gap regardless of their language background. Furthermore, it supports the positive impact school counselors can have on student success by implementing an evidence-based program. / by Velouse Jean-Pierre Jean-Jacques. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The primary purpose of this study was to capture Natural Science teachers’ perceptions of the national standardised achievement tests (SATs), with a view to illuminating whether or not they were able to interpret and use the SATs reports to inform their practice and for improvement purposes as envisaged in the standardised tests’ objectives. It further sought to investigate how the grade 7 Natural Science teachers were teaching the subject matter, with a view to understanding the performance of learners as illustrated in the 2010 SATs results. The study mainly used qualitative methods such as observations, interviews and document analysis. These were complemented by quantitative methods through the use of the questionnaires, which were used to capture the general perceptions and experiences of Natural Science teachers. Thirty-five questionnaires were sent out and ten responses were received. Quantitative data from the questionnaires were analysed by tabulation to ascertain the frequencies of responses regarding teachers’ perceptions and experiences of SATs, as indicated in different scales per indicator. Furthermore, data generated through video-taped lessons, analysis of learners’ written notes, interviews and open-ended questions from the questionnaires were inductively analyzed. The findings of the study revealed that teachers had positive perceptions towards the ideals of SATs. However, their use of the SATs reports in their teaching was inconclusive. The study also revealed that there were no policy imperatives on SATs, in particular, to guide their use in schools. It was also found that teachers were not teaching the syllabus competencies fully and their Natural Science content knowledge was inadequate. The principal recommendation is that teachers need to acquaint themselves sufficiently with the SATs reports to enable them to use the reports for their intended purposes. Furthermore, teachers need to engage in continuous professional development programmes to improve their Natural Science content knowledge, especially with regard to making information in the textbooks accessible to learners in terms of addressing competencies in the syllabus. Finally, there is a need for policy intervention from the Ministry of Education in Namibia so that the existing tensions between policy formulation and implementation are addressed.

This thesis explores the implications of cultural resources for educational attainment and socioeconomic progression among Caribbeans in Britain - one of Britain's most disadvantaged [social] ethnic groups - since the 1940s. More specifically, it offers, first, a review of Caribbeans’ experiences in education and socioeconomic domains in Britain, as have been researched throughout the decades since the World Wars, and explores, second, how cultural resources through which Caribbeans understand their social world and mediate their experiences therein impact upon their educational attainment and socioeconomic progression. Cultural resources, as implied in studies undertaken by DeGraaf (1986; 1989; 2000) in the Netherlands, are acquired in settings such as the family and schools in which individuals are socialised, i.e., learn their culture and how to live in their social world. These settings are held to be influenced by cultural and societal factors that are interrelated and are, in effect, sociocultural (Wertsch, 1994; 1995). Such settings are posited in this thesis as vital to understanding Caribbeans’ educational and socioeconomic outcomes. This is demonstrated through adopting a sociocultural approach from which analyses was undertaken into the experiences of ten families of three generations and ten individuals - all of Caribbean descent - who participated in a quasi-ethnographic inquiry that formed the empirical part of the study. The participants had a range of educational, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, which characterised a purposive sample that they formed. Their accounts of their experiences, which were the source from which inferences about their educational attainment, socioeconomic progression, and cultural resources are made, were elicited through ethnographic interviews, participant observations, and researcher’s diaries, and are presented in this thesis as family case study analyses and sociocultural settings analyses. The inquiry revealed that the participants across the whole sample were socialised in a key set of sociocultural settings that were identified in their accounts of their experiences as family, community, religion, education, and occupation. In-depth interrogation of patterns in their lived experiences in these settings revealed that their socialisation processes were diverse and, consequently, reflected in diversity in their acquisition and usage of a common set of cultural resources that were discovered and, through analyses, reified as familial influence, community orientation, religiosity, familiarity with formal education processes, and occupational aspiration. Diversity in their acquisition and usage of these resources in the various settings reflected in diverse patterns of educational and socioeconomic outcomes across the three generations. However, two distinct patterns are herein defined and discussed as a ‘trajectory of advancement’ and a ‘trajectory of urgency’. The former characterises the outcomes of participants who had attained educationally and progressed in socioeconomic terms across generations in their family, and the latter characterises the outcomes of participants who had not attained educationally and remained disadvantaged in socioeconomic terms across generations in their family. These findings are tentative, but they suggest, nonetheless, that cultural resources are salient in shaping Caribbeans’ educational and socioeconomic outcomes. Such findings are significant in that they interrupt the ways that Caribbeans’ experiences and outcomes in education and socioeconomic domains have been understood historically and, at the same time, offer the sociocultural approach as another way from which to understand these experiences and outcomes. In addition, the sociocultural approach from which these finding are derived and the concept of cultural resources are introduced, in this thesis, in an understanding of patterns of educational and socioeconomic outcomes that persist across generations. This understanding, it is herein suggested, is crucial to any debate surrounding persistently low achievement in education and socioeconomic domains among social groups - particularly among groups such as Caribbeans that are disadvantaged in education and socioeconomic domains.