Thesis (M.Ed.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 95-99.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 97-104.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

For a practice that has influenced the development of most of the musical techniques and compositional forms of Western music (Ferand, 1965, p.5), 'improvisation' is challenging to define. Recently, the graded music examinations offered by the two largest UK-based music examination boards, the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and Trinity College London (TCL), have added options to assess improvisation within their instrumental curricula without clearly defining what they mean by 'improvisation' or how they assess it. This thesis argues that the lack of consistent definitions by the two leading examination boards results in a lack validity and meaning since it is unclear to examination stakeholders (music teachers, students, examiners and syllabus authors) exactly what is being assessed and how. This thesis investigates how 'improvisation' is defined, practiced, assessed and perceived within instrumental graded musical examinations. Evidence addressing the perspectives of the teaching-and-learning stakeholders is drawn from case-study observations and interviews of instrumental music lessons while candidates prepared for and completed an examination requiring improvisation. The perspectives of the examination board stakeholders are investigated through document analysis of the syllabuses, curricula and institutional websites of the examination boards in addition to interviews with examination board executives. The findings provide an initial investigation into an unexplored intersection of music education, improvisation and the business of graded examination boards. A clearer understanding emerges of the cultural and social practices of improvisation both inside and outside of the hegemony of graded examinations and the teaching-and- learning communities that support them. The findings of this thesis challenge the examination boards and bring more clarity to their assessment practices. and can help guide music teachers and students through the currently unclear landscape of improvisation in the ABRSM and TCL examinations.

Mexico introduced in 2013 a historic reform amending the entry, performance assessment, promotion, incentive programs, and retention of teachers, with the aim of advancing teachers’ careers and eliminating discretional practices by the teachers union. This study analyzed Mexico’s teacher selection process following this reform and focused on the state of Puebla. It offers evidence on whether standards-based teacher evaluations, specifically the written teacher entry examinations, were a valid method for selecting competent teachers. The core component was a predictive validity study of the teacher selection method, assessing whether the teacher entry examination results predicted teacher performance evaluation results after 2 years. This was supplemented with semistructured interviews of 31 teachers and analysis of administrative documents, contextualizing the quantitative findings and offering evidence on the content of the teacher entry examination. From the current perspective on validity, this study provides evidence on the relationship between the teacher entry examination scores and external measures collected at a later point in teachers’ careers, used as criterion validity for interpretation of the soundness of the teacher entry examination. The evidence showed that the entry examination was able to predict teacher performance, with correlation coefficients ranging from .23 to .28 between the subject-matter test and the global performance evaluation score (the other two tests were not correlated or inadequately correlated). However, this finding must be explained carefully, since the convergent evidence between the subject-matter test and the exam instrument of evaluation are possibly due to the similarity in content and method of the two measures. In this regard, the lesson plan instrument offered better evidence of an adequate correlation (.22 to .29) with the teacher entry examination (the portfolio instrument of evaluation showed no significant correlation). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions showed that the teacher entry examination was one of the factors that best explained the variability in the global performance evaluation score, with 1% increase associated with a 3.8% increase in the global performance evaluation score (equivalent to 30 points). Grades were also found to be an explanatory factor, but half the size of the teacher entry examination effect. Previous teaching experience in public schools was associated with a negative effect of the same size as the entry examination effect, as well as staying in the same school during the first two years with an increase of 27 points. An adverse socioeconomic context was not necessarily unfavorable, as shown by the positive effect of the marginalization index on the performance evaluation, but teaching in lowly dense communities it was, with -42 to -92 points less. Finally, an innovative strategy estimated the teacher selection error rates, using as validity criteria success and failure measures of predicted teacher performance. The error and severe error rates may not be exact, but the best prediction models showed an underselection error rate of 7% for the global performance evaluation score, 8% for the lesson plan score, and 14% for the portfolio score, reflecting the probability of leaving out of the teaching career promising teachers. They also showed that the overselection error rate was 12% for the global performance evaluation score, 13% for the lesson plan score, and 14% for the portfolio score, describing the probability of selecting underperforming teachers, which was the worst of outcomes. In light of this evidence, the sample studied shows that results in Mexico’s teacher entry examination were associated with the subsequent performance evaluation. However, conceptually, a test can hardly predict teaching quality, since a test captures individuals’ knowledge, while teaching quality is a much richer concept, approximated by the concept of effective teaching and teacher effectiveness, and including observable and unobservable characteristics, and contributions to education outcomes other than learning outcomes. This means that the performance evaluation in Mexico was not necessarily a measure of effective teaching nor of effective teachers, but showed teachers’ pedagogical and subject-matter knowledge, abilities to build a lesson plan, and skills to assess and select student work from different achievement levels. The most obvious information missing was teachers’ practices, as captured through classroom observations. Despite the difficulty of a test to measure teaching quality, and the difficulties in implementing a nation-wide education reform, the study conducted produced rigorous, scientific, and objective evidence that demonstrates that Mexico’s teacher entry examination is a robust method to select teachers, providing useful information on teacher performance when making a hiring decision. The most important implication is that it may guarantee the selection of quality teachers, if some corrections are made, in order to avoid selecting underperforming teachers and leaving promising candidates out of the teaching career.

Postpartum depression (PPD) refers to the onset of depressive symptoms anytime within first year following the birth of a child. PPD affects approximately 10-20% of new mothers and often goes underdiagnosed and untreated. Left untreated, PPD can predispose women to more severe and frequent future depressive episodes. Literature suggests depression in mothers may have long-term negative effects on infants’ and children’s psychosocial development. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has identified pediatric primary care as the ideal location to screen and refer mothers possibly suffering from depression. Routinely assessing PPD in mothers during well-child checks is not only recommended, it is increasingly being considered a best practice standard. The AAP calls for further research to improve the feasibility of assessing and treating PPD in mothers in pediatric primary care. This paper is part of a larger study that will be evaluating the effectiveness of screening new mothers for PPD in pediatric primary care settings and providing a brief same day interventions. The current aims of this portion of the study will be to evaluate 1) referral results, and 2) mothers’ level of satisfaction with the protocol. Research assistants (RA) will approach mothers of infants, birth to 6 months of age in the waiting rooms of ETSU Pediatrics in Johnson City, TN. Mothers will be given a brief description of PPD, the study and will be asked to participate by signing a voluntary informed consent document. As part of the visit, nurses will distribute and score the Edinburg Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS). Mothers scoring 9 or above will receive a brief educational brochure about PPD, a brief intervention and a one week follow-up phone call with an onsite behavioral health consultant (BCH) or social worker (SW). At mothers’ discretion, an appropriate outside referral to preferred provider will be made, if necessary. Approximately two weeks postintervention, a satisfaction survey by phone will be administered by RAs. The survey will examine referral results (e.g., of high scores, what recommendations were made, did mothers follow through, treatments received, was there improvement in EPDS score) and the mothers’ level of satisfaction with the protocol (e.g., satisfaction with how protocol was handled by staff and how well mothers felt their needs were addressed). Satisfaction will be noted on a likert-scale ranging from 0 (no satisfaction) to 10 (very satisfied). Data is pending and collection will start during the first week of March showing EDPS uptake, referral results and mother satisfaction. Data is expected for approximately 60-100 new mothers.

Intensive college-level ESL programs typically focus on building students' academic skills in English. Yet many ESL students leave the intensive programs only to find that they cannot sufficiently comprehend conversations with native English-speaking classmates or understand freshman-level lectures. While the students frequently perceive the problem as relating to the rapid speech tempo used by native speakers, an integral part of the comprehension problem is the pervasive use of modified forms of English, commonly called reductions, contractions, and assimilations. The present research investigates whether comprehension of certain modified forms of spoken informal English can be used to measure students' level of proficiency. The research, based on an integrative approach to learning, hypothesizes that successful identification of informal forms may be as reliable and valid as standardized tests currently used to measure students' proficiency in grammar and listening comprehension. The instrument for conducting the research is a contextualized taped dialogue presented as a cloze exercise which depends on redundancy features of English in addition to knowledge of grammatical structures to help the subject reconstruct missing grammatical elements of the dialogue. Research data were not statistically significant to support the original hypothesis because of small sample size, but some general conclusions can be drawn. Conclusions and recommendations are discussed with attention to current trends toward content-based classes.

No description available.

Project (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Statistics, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-52).

Eighty-one patients in Planned Parenthood at East Central Indiana participated in the study. All patients were given a short quiz concerning female anatomy at their intake evaluation. All patients participated in the routine patient education session and intake history. The experimental group (N=41) was given a mirror through which to watch the pelvic examination. The control group (N=40) was given the same sort of examination without the mirror. The quiz was then repeated.Pre-test results were identical in the two groups. Both groups improved significantly on the post-test compared to the pre-test, showing the patient education session to be an effective tool. The experimental group improved more than the control group, however, and the difference was significant at the P=0.06 level.It is concluded that pelvic examinations which routinely include a hand-held mirror through which the patient may visualize her own genitalia are of significant benefit as a patient educational tool.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306