Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 131 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-143).

<p> The Study Island computer program is one of many highly used instructional programs in school districts nationwide; however, there is little independent research available that provides information about its impact on student achievement performance. This study used a descriptive comparative research design to compare the mean gain scores of the semester that students received math instruction with Study Island to mean gain scores of the semester that students did not receive math instruction with the program to determine if a significant difference exists between the two semesters. The test scores from a sample of 124 ninth-grade math students from an economically disadvantaged suburban school district in a southeastern state were used. The results concluded that the mean gain scores from pretest to posttest of the semester that students used the Study Island program were significantly higher than that of the semester that students did not use the program.</p>

<p> This dissertation reports on a study of two widely used eleventh grade ELA textbooks for the opportunities they provide students to construct knowledge through writing. Data included every writing task in both textbooks (158 tasks) as well as the corresponding texts. Data analysis focused on (a) how cognitive demand, textual grist, and elaborated communication contribute to the rigor of a writing task, (b) how authentic the tasks are to the discipline of ELA, and (c) how writing tasks position students as intellectual authorities. This study contributes a new approach to determine the quality of ELA writing tasks and a detailed assessment of the writing tasks in the most widely used ELA textbooks. The findings from this study showed differences in the quality of ELA writing tasks types (text-based, non text-based, and creative writing), with text-based tasks ranking the highest quality for cognitively demanding work. Findings also showed that textual grist and opportunities for elaboration in addition to cognitive demand are essential factors when determining the overall rigor of text-based writing tasks (i.e., analyzing text-based ELA writing tasks for cognitive demand alone may inflate the rigor of the task). Further findings on writing task quality describe the level of disciplinary authenticity and intellectual authority contained in ELA textbook writing tasks and why these features are important in determining the quality of ELA writing tasks. The findings from this study suggest the importance of using a disciplinary-specific theory of task quality, including a three-part model of rigor, disciplinary authenticity, and intellectual authority, to assess the quality of ELA writing tasks. Additionally, this study provides suggestions for practitioners including how teachers might revise and supplement ELA textbook writing tasks in order to support student writing.</p>

<p> Writing instruction in schools is taking on increasingly narrow focuses, which reflects reliance on high-stakes standardized tests and standards movements that privilege some forms of writing over others. Researchers in writing have called for studies that connect macro forces influencing the educational environment to the instruction occurring at the classroom level. This study does so by exploring how a teacher sponsors multiple writing literacies across time and how and why students take up those writing practices for their intended uses and in ways that serve their own purposes. I examine the writing instruction of one skilled English Language Arts teacher through the lens of Deborah Brandt&rsquo;s theory of <i>sponsors of literacy</i> (1998; 2009) and through sociocultural theories of writing (Prior, 2004, 2006; Englert, Mariage, &amp; Dunsmore, 2006) and identity (Davies &amp; Harr&eacute;, 1999; Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, &amp; Cain, 1998; Lave &amp; Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). Data drew from a) five months of observations in the classroom across multiple units of instruction marked by multiple writing practices; b) interviews with the teacher before and after the observation period; and c) interviews with five focal students at the end of the observation period. Findings suggest that the teacher&rsquo;s instruction reflected a variety of sponsors across multiple writing practices. The teacher&rsquo;s instruction highlighted the skills, values, and purposes associated with sponsored writing practices. Students appropriated some writing practices more than others, and some more faithfully to the intentions of sponsors than others. Students imagined a range of possible uses for the writing practices in which they were sponsored, reflective of their individual literate identities.</p>

<p>The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore salient nonacademic factors related to social, economic, and cultural aspects together with traditional academic factors that influenced college retention. The study design employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory method design, collecting quantitative data for correlation and regression analyses with qualitative data for content analysis. The sample included students with various SES backgrounds who graduated from North Philadelphia secondary schools since 2009. A predictor equation explained 60% of the variance college retention using 13 predictors: household income, college preparatory curriculum, competency based instruction, academic self-confidence and commitment, academic skills, academic integration, social integration, parents&rsquo; educational attainment, parents&rsquo; occupation, high school GPA, undergraduate GPA, and SAT scores. The predictors were found to be independently associated with college retention and interrelated with low SES variables, which may reduce the chances of earning a college degree. The qualitative findings indicated lack of skills, levels of academic engagement, and time allocation as major themes. Future research should explore underlying psychological processes driving the college retention relationship, using a cohort research method. A recommendation for practice was to identify students with skill deficiencies at the ninth and tenth grade levels to provide remediation of requisite skills to ensure college readiness and retention. Despite limitations, this study offered reasons low SES variables may influence college retention. </p>

<p>Despite Minnesota&rsquo;s investment in professional development in content area literacy, secondary students are not showing expected literacy gains. A lack of literacy proficiency limits future options for students. The purpose of this study was to examine content-area literacy strategy inclusion and its relationship to professional development in the context of complexity theory, efficacy theory, transformational learning theory, structured teaching, and constructivism. A cross-section correlation survey research study was conducted to investigate the relationship of time spent in systematic professional development, type of professional development, rate of strategy inclusion, and confidence in literacy strategy inclusion in lesson design. Convenience sampling was employed to secure secondary teachers (<i>N</i> = 65) in public schools in Minnesota. The Spearman Rho Coefficient calculation was used to analyze these 4 variables; relationships were determined at (<i> p</i> &lt; .05) and (<i>p</i> &lt; .01) confidence levels. According to the results of the study, self-selected professional development is related to the frequency of literacy strategy use and confidence in literacy strategy use. Time in professional development is a critical issue in confidence of literacy strategy use. Recommendations for local districts include providing a menu of self-selected literacy professional development options. This study may impact social change through providing educators improved literacy instruction, resulting in more competent adult readers and informed decision-makers. </p>

<p> The Framework for K-12 Science Education, the foundation for the Next Generation Science Standards, identifies scientific explanation as one of the eight practices "essential for learning science." In order to design professional development to help teachers implement these new standards, we need to assess students' current skill level in explanation construction, characterize current teacher practice surrounding it, and identify best practices for supporting students in explanation construction. This multiple-case study investigated teacher practice in eight high school science inquiry units in the Portland metro area and the scientific explanations the students produced in their work samples. T</p><p> eacher Instructional Portfolios (TIPs) were analyzed with a TIP rubric based on best practices in teaching science inquiry and a qualitative coding scheme. Written scientific explanations were analyzed with an explanation rubric and qualitative codes. Relationships between instructional practices and explanation quality were examined. </p><p> The study found that students struggle to produce high quality explanations. They have the most difficulty including adequate reasoning with science content. Also, teachers need to be familiar with the components of explanation and use a variety of pedagogical techniques to support students' explanation construction. Finally, the topic of the science inquiry activity should be strongly connected to the content in the unit, and students need a firm grasp of the scientific theory or model on which their research questions are based to adequately explain their inquiry results.</p>

<p> The local school district in the current study was struggling to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets in reading because secondary students were scoring below the basic level in reading and their content area teachers had little or no training in reading deficiencies. What had been speculated, yet never tested, was the utility of teacher training in research-based reading programs and interventions on increasing reading achievement scores. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine issues hampering RTI implementation. This case study focused on analyzing the perceptions of secondary RTI teachers within an urban school district in Texas. The theoretical framework was based on cognitive and social constructivist theory. The research question investigated the best approach to improve teachers' knowledge and implementation of the RTI framework to increase students' reading achievement. Interview data were collected from 3 RTI teachers who had more than 3 years of teaching experience. Data were analyzed through lean coding by using provisional codes to reduce codes to 3 major themes. Reports from the 3 teachers suggested that they all encountered many challenges in implementing RTI; additionally they all conveyed that they needed more support from administrators, access to prescribed resources, and consistent guidelines in program implementation. A white paper was developed to inform the local district on RTI implementation challenges and provide recommendations for improvement. This study impacts social change by providing administrators and educators with information that could improve implementation practices and result in better understanding of RTI.</p>

<p> Recent curriculum recommendation call for mathematical argumentation to play a significantly greater role in U. S. mathematics instruction at all grade levels, including the elementary grades. To better understand how preservice elementary teachers (PTs) enrolled in a one-semester course emphasizing mathematical argumentation might become better prepared to implement this change, I interviewed five such PTs at two points in time, near the beginning of the course and shortly after they completed it. Both interviews focused on a problem set in which nine fictional elementary school students present arguments for their solutions to mathematical problems. Interviewees compared the arguments, decided which were convincing and which were not, and gave reasons for their choices. Using an interpretative, phenomenological approach, I analyzed their responses and found that they initially preferred arguments in which they perceived the arguer as knowing what to do, getting the correct answer, using a quick way to get it, showing how with numbers, and having the right attitude. In contrast, after they had completed the course, they focused on understanding the problem, finding answers that made sense, and explaining why with diagrams. They also viewed the arguer&rsquo;s attitude as a more complex issue than they had at the beginning of the course. These and other findings suggest that current research on PTs&rsquo; approaches to mathematical justification may: (a) overemphasize the formal aspects of mathematical arguments and undervalue their substance, (b) overemphasize the role of verification and undervalue explanation, (c) be too far removed from PTs&rsquo; perspectives, and therefore (d) fail to accurately reflect significant progress in PTs&rsquo; understandings.</p>