Online learning has revolutionized higher education in the United States. In 2007, there were 3.9 million students taking at least 1 online course. Assessment in online instruction is a new experience for teachers because of the recent advent of online course delivery. Current research on online learning does not address instructor experiences with learning assessments. This gap may contribute to online instructors being inadequately prepared to teach online. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore online instructors' experiences with assessments in their undergraduate social science courses. The study was guided by constructivism as well as theories associated with assessment for the college classroom. The main and secondary research questions focused on the participants' experiences with assessment in the online learning environment and the challenges and benefits of assessment in that learning environment. Data were collected with in-depth, semistructured interviews and analyzed via Moustakas's modification of van Kaam's method. The main themes are: (a) instructors use a combination of assessment practices, (b) changes to assessments are based on student feedback, and (c) academic honesty. The present study promotes positive social change by providing members of the online learning community with a better understanding of instructors' assessment processes, as well as the challenges and benefits those instructors face in assessing learning in online classes, all of which may contribute to improved instruction for online students.

Although all of the schools in the target school system adhere to a school improvement process, achievement scores remain mediocre or stagnant within the overseas school in Italy that serves children of United States armed service members. To address this problem, this study explored the target school's improvement process to discover how different stakeholder groups viewed that process. The aim of these investigations was to determine if different stakeholder groups' competing values hindered the school's improvement efforts. The conceptual framework of this study was Schein's organizational culture theory along with recent findings by Creemers and Kyriakides that show that school culture must be addressed in order for a school to improve. The research design was a single case study. Four different stakeholder groups were interviewed, two school improvement committee meetings were observed, and seven school-improvement related documents were examined. ATLASti qualitative analysis software was used following Hatch's typological analysis method. Two major themes, Teachers versus Technocrats and Pre-Fourth Way, revealed the importance of school culture. The recommended project, a Networked Learning Community (NLC), was designed to build a positive culture by promoting collective responsibility, empowering innovation, and building capacity. This study will promote positive social change by demonstrating how school improvement occurs and by providing a research-based plan for a NLC that can help shift the trajectory of the static moderate achievement levels in the case study school and the target school system.

Research on students' voices and perspectives regarding homework is absent from the literature. This qualitative case study explored the perspectives of 5th and 6th grade students and ten teachers' perceptions regarding homework completion. The literature review revealed 3 trends in homework, including support homework, support against homework, and homework reform. However, most of this research considers the adults' perspective. The researcher administered 46 questionnaires and conducted 12 in depth interviews using a stratified purposive sample and extreme case sampling. The questionnaires and interviews educed the participants' perceptions and practices regarding homework. The students represented 4 distinct groups: English language learners, general education, gifted and talented, and special education. The teachers instruct 5th and 6th grade. The researcher analyzed the data using critical pedagogy framework, constant comparison method and a transcript based analysis. The findings of this study revealed that students do not complete their homework because they find it too hard, boring, or they do not understand it. The participants expressed liking research projects because they afford flexibility and creativity. The results also suggest no substantial difference in the students' responses from various groups. The teachers' responses revealed that 90% of the participants assign incomplete classwork as homework, disclosing a lack of training in designing homework. This study contributes to the existing literature and enhances social change initiatives by taking the students' perception into consideration and echoing their voice in the literature. Teachers and administrators can use the results of this study to develop homework practices that would increase homework completion and student learning.

With the demands of the No Child Left Behind legislation to utilize research-based instructional practices and teach all children to read by the end of third grade, teachers find themselves going beyond teachers' editions and curriculum guides to the research on best reading practices. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental cross-sectional correlational study was to examine the strength and direction of the relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics for third-grade elementary students (N=112). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to quantitatively analyze archival data to assess the relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics. Motivation to read, which was reported as MRP scores, includes the dimensions of self-concept as a reader and value of reading, and was measured using the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) Reading Survey. Oral reading fluency, which was reported as Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) rates, was measured using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Results showed a significant relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics for all three dimensions of motivation. Findings from the study may contribute to social change by influencing educators' uses of oral reading fluency data and interventions that employ improving motivation to read in an attempt to improve reading achievement for third-grade elementary students. Suggestions for further research include examining the relationship between motivation to read and oral reading fluency.

Teachers in a school district in a southeastern state are being challenged to meet the needs of students who have learning disabilities (LDs) and who require an individualized education program with a mathematics goal. The students are in danger of not passing state, district, and classroom mathematics tests, and not all the schools are meeting adequate yearly progress (AYP). Funding from the federal government is denied if a school does not achieve AYP; the school personnel must then complete a school improvement plan. The purpose of this study was to explore which differentiation instructional (DI) practices inclusion teachers were using to promote math academic achievement for underperforming students with LDs in inclusion math classrooms. A grounded theory approach was used to explore inclusion teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of DI with students with LDs in inclusion math classes. Survey and interview protocols were developed and administered to collect data. Data were open, axial, and selectively coded, and were synthesized into categories and subcategories following emerging themes and patterns. Triangulation, member-checking, and an audit trail were used to validate the findings. A theory of effective instructional practice is presented from the teachers' viewpoint. This study may impact positive social change by identifying instructional practices that allow better access to mathematics for students and thereby has the potential to impact student achievement.

The standards-based, teach-and-test methods that have come to proliferate secondary education since the inception of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) fail to adequately prepare students for higher education and employment. This system lacks opportunities for developing 21st century skills such as higher-level thinking, problem solving, and group dynamics, as well as opportunities for fostering spiritual growth and personal development. This problem impacts graduates of U.S. high schools because they are unprepared for higher education and the 21st century workplace. Using qualitative multiple case study methodology, this study examined five U.S. Montessori high schools through the lens of cultural-historical activity theory. Interview and blog-based focus group responses and document data were coded line-by-line using predetermined categories and codes as well as open coding. The coded data were analyzed by individual case and then collectively. Findings revealed that education in these settings addressed all areas of development and fostered 21st century skills. Some characteristics that typify Montessori education at lower levels, such as multi-age classes and the prepared environment, played less significant or different roles in the high school programs. Characteristics that were prominent across the cases included use of place-based, experiential learning; building of caring, family-like staff/student relationships; and emphasis on social development. Implications for social change within the Montessori community include informing practice at existing schools and development of teacher education programs. In the broader education community, the consistency in program emphasis, despite diverse school circumstances, suggests a Montessori approach may facilitate social change by inspiring a fresh approach to school reform in high schools.

Current literature suggests the institution of higher education is exploring its identity and role in society, much like the emerging adults who enroll in their programs as traditional aged undergraduates. Literature also reveals that society is asking undergraduate institutions to meet the diverse needs of its students and prepare them for adulthood and life long learning. However, research also highlights the need for students to be educated for participation within an interconnected and complex global society able to facilitate positive social change. Using a developmental lens, this interpretive case study addressed these current needs through interpreting perceptions of undergraduates and recent graduates about their learning within a student organization focused on global social justice. Data were gathered through 15 survey responses, 8 individual interviews, and a focus group of recent graduates as well as a reflexive journal by the researcher, a former faculty advisor of the student organization. All data were coded for emergent themes and evidence of developmental tasks of emerging adulthood and transformative learning. Findings indicated participants of this study experienced sustained transformative learning as undergraduates as a result of engagement in global social justice activism within a student organization. These findings draw attention to the role played by developmental tasks of identity exploration and commitment in undergraduate learning, the potent contributions of a student organization to academic learning, and the transformative power of undergraduate engagement in global social justice awareness and activism for positive social change.

Of the 6.6 million children in the United States who were deemed in 2008 to have a disability that required special instruction, over 39% were classified as specific learning disabled (SLD). This figure translates into a high number of people who are parenting a child identified as having a SLD. Bronfenbrenner's theory of the ecology of human development indicated the importance of interconnections between school, home, and community settings. Collaboration between teachers and families may be strengthened by utilizing knowledge gained from parents' lived experiences of parenting an adolescent identified as having a SLD. The primary research question guiding this phenomenological study involved understanding the experiences of parents with adolescents identified as having a SLD. Data from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 parents were collected and analyzed by employing the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method. The analysis revealed that the recognition and the acceptance of a child's otherness permeated the parent experience of SLD while four other interconnected contexts emerged concerning parents' lived experiences with: (a) their identified child, (b) other family members, (c) teachers and staff, and (d) other members of an individual education planning team. The study found that parents adopted roles such as caretaker, cheerleader, legal analyst, and child advocate in order to obtain the educational services they deemed appropriate for their child. This study gave voice to parents of adolescents who struggle academically. The findings promote social change by informing and encouraging educators to support and promote collaboration with parents of adolescents identified as having a SLD, potentially enabling those students to receive better educational services.

Nursing schools struggle to prepare enough nurses to meet the health care needs of a diverse and aging population in the United States. Many students do not complete their degrees, contributing to the problem. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe how successful Latina students experience and respond to the academic challenges of prerequisite nursing courses. The nursing shortage; healthcare needs of Hispanic patients; student outcomes; self-efficacy, achievement goal orientation, and academic help-seeking; and Hispanic cultural values framed the study. Using semistructured private interviews, the researcher explored the lived experiences of 6 successful Latina students when they encountered challenges in prerequisite nursing courses. Seven superordinate themes emerged following interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data: (a) facing academic challenges, (b) recognizing emotional response, (c) seeking help, (d) transcending academic challenges, (e) owning knowledge, (f) persevering, and (g) living out values and beliefs. The hermeneutic approach allowed participants to describe the transition from avoiding to reaching out for help. Conclusions and recommendations include the need for faculty to recognize and respond to the importance of family, relationships, values, and beliefs to academic success in Latina students. Implications for social change include enhanced faculty ability to support the academic endeavors of this population. Improved graduation rates in Latina nursing students will help to address the nursing shortage and the need for a health care workforce that mirrors the population of the United States.

This study was an investigation of mathematics instruction and professional development at a rural elementary school. The Department of Education in a southern U.S. state implemented a new curriculum in 2007 that required major changes in mathematics instruction. The problems were that teachers engaged in different levels of training and many students experienced a decline in mathematics scores on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The historical learning theories of Piaget and Vygotsky framed the study. The guiding questions focused on how to improve mathematics instruction through professional development for teachers. Nine elementary school educators served as purposefully selected participants. The research design was a case study that included triangulation of data from teacher interviews, a research journal, and documents such as lesson plans. Open coding and selective analysis generated 9 themes and 9 subthemes to answer the guiding questions. Findings showed that participants believed content and pedagogy should be addressed through professional development led by teachers themselves. Additional findings were that teachers valued collaboration, literature and research, observation, vertical alignment, engagement, relevance, and support. Results were used to guide the design of a mathematics professional development program (MPDP), a collection of relevant tasks, literature, and online resources geared toward improving teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge. The MPDP is immediately applicable in an elementary school setting. The implications for positive social change include better mathematics instruction that will prepare U.S. students to compete in the modern economy and world of mathematical and scientific advances.