This dissertation presents an overview of the accountability measures that shape kindergarten teachers’ definition and perceptions of effective teaching in racially diverse classrooms. The impact of school reforms such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has presented outcomes where teachers’ instructional practices and school administrators’ leadership styles have become the focal point. In addition to the scrutiny that teachers and school leaders face, racially diverse students are facing great disparities in terms of their academic performance. These disparities are also known as the “achievement gap.” In Florida standardized test data from grades 3-10 show disparities in the achievement of racially diverse students. Research contends that the achievement gap is now evident as early as kindergarten. With scholarship suggesting the achievement gap starts in kindergarten, there was a need to understand the perceptions of kindergarten teachers as they implemented instructional practices in racially diverse kindergarten classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative case study was (1) to understand the teachers’ definition and perceptions of effective teaching in racially diverse kindergarten classrooms in a North Florida School District; (2) understand how accountability measures shaped their definition and perceptions of effective teaching in their racially diverse classrooms. The main finding of this study was that the teachers’ definition and perceptions of effective teaching was indeed shaped by the school’s accountability paradigm. Although their definition and perceptions were shaped by the same core values outlined in the schools’ accountability paradigm, they each implemented instructional strategies through high expectations differently. This final chapter of this dissertation includes how the findings interact with the conceptual framework of this study and recommendations for stakeholders and future research are listed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education. / Spring Semester 2018. / March 20, 2018. / Accountability, Instructional Strategies, Racially Diverse Classrooms, Teacher Perceptions / Includes bibliographical references. / Ayesha Khurshid, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephen McDowell, University Representative; Kristal M. Clemons, Committee Member; Stephanie Zuilkowski, Committee Member; Robert Schwartz, Committee Member.

R 65,T 5The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of intensity training on the ability of preservice elementary education majors to teach music with accurate, efficient presentation of subject matter and with an effective delivery style. Of additional interest were the impact of poor singing on high intensity teaching and the amount of lesson time devoted to active music-making. / Preservice elementary education majors enrolled in a music methods course for nonmajors served as subjects. All subjects completed five teaching presentations which were videotaped for subsequent analysis. During the first three presentations, subjects taught children's songs by rote to peers. The fourth and fifth presentations served as transfer tasks; including, respectively, a music concept lesson taught to peers and a preschool field teaching lesson. Experimental subjects (n = 26) received four training sessions in teacher intensity which alternated with the five presentations. Control subjects (n = 26) engaged in similar activities on treatment days but received no instruction in intensity. / All videotaped sessions were observed and teacher behavior was recorded as high intensity or low intensity. Low intensity was further separated into poor information and/or ineffective delivery. / Analysis of the three rote songs indicated that treatment had no effect on increasing high intensity teaching or on improving delivery. There was, however, a significant interaction between teaching task and treatment on accuracy and efficiency of instruction. During the music concept lesson the experimental group increased the instances of low intensity/instruction. During preschool field teaching, both groups significantly improved in the delivery aspect of teaching, and control subjects significantly increased the percentage of intervals of high intensity teaching. / Since subjects were nonmusic majors it was theorized that poor singing ability might interfere with teaching effectiveness. Analysis of the impact of poor singing on high intensity revealed that poor singing by itself contributed relatively little to instructional problems. Further analyses indicated that experimental subjects learned to incorporate more interactive music activities into teaching presentations than control subjects. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-08, Section: A, page: 2140. / Major Professor: Clifford Madsen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

The purpose of this research was to conceptualize an art criticism format appropriate for extracting aesthetic meanings from works of art. Two tasks required doing: (a) the determination of an adequate framework for understanding the development of visual art concepts in an educative context; and (b) the determination of an appropriate art criticism format to structure that development. / The theoretical underpinnings of the research draw from (a) the phenomenological aesthetics of Eugene Kaelin (1968, 1986); (b) John Dewey's (1933) model of reflective thinking; (c) Lev Vygotsky's (1962) cultural-historical theory of conceptual development; and (d) an understanding of artistic symbols and aesthetic meanings deriving primarily from the writing of Philip Phenix (1966), Benedetto Croce (1909), Marylou Kuhn (1980, 1984), Harold Osborne (1966, 1982), and Philip Smith (1966a, 1966b). / It was established that we comprehend a language of art forms through the expressiveness of art symbols. Further, it was established that aesthetic meanings are found in works of art through a type of semiotic analysis; in instances of visual art such analyses seek to point out the isomorphic structural similarity between paintings, say, and their 'meanings'. As such, isomorphisms may be considered to result at intersections of analytic and analogic modes of knowing. / A format for visual art criticism, titled Critical Art Reflection, was devised to parallel Dewey's model of reflective thinking and to incorporate Kaelin's aesthetics. The criticism format evolved in classroom use, as a dialectic of theory instructed by practice. The model includes instructional aspects that attend to the development of students' language about aesthetic qualities. Methodology includes format as approach, questioning strategies on three levels, and selected art criticism activities intended to parallel visual and verbal expression. / The theoretical portion of the research is informed by and illustrated with material from a piloted demonstration of its working. Using reproductions of works of art in classroom art criticism, transcribed excerpts of classroom dialogue are presented to exemplify the aspects and components of Critical Art Reflection. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-01, Section: A, page: 0056. / Major Professor: Marylou Kuhn. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of oral, silent, and listening repetitive reading of expository text on the fluency and comprehension of learning disabled students at the intermediate level. The effects of these methods were assessed on two measures of fluency (words per minute and errors per minute) and two measures of comprehension (comprehension questions and passage retell). / Sixty subjects were ranked on reading achievement test score, blocked into groups of three, and randomly assigned to treatment groups. One 498 word expository text passage was divided into two parts. Subjects in the oral repeated reading condition read the first 242 words of that passage orally, twice, before reading it a third time orally. In silent repeated reading, subjects read the passage twice, silently, before reading it orally a third time. In the listening repeated reading condition, subjects listened to the passage twice before reading it aloud. Comprehension measures were then administered followed by the oral reading of passage two to assess within passage transfer. Comprehension measures were again administered. / Results of a 3 (group) x 2 (passage) MANOVA revealed no differences between the three treatments on measures of fluency and comprehension. In the analysis of within passage transfer on each of the dependent measures, repeated measures ANOVAs revealed significant decreases in rate and accuracy from passage one to passage two. A significant increase was found in passage recall. Analysis of oral repeated readings of passage one revealed a significant increase in reading rate from the first to the third reading. Implications of this study indicate that the type of repeated practice is inconsequential, but overall, repeated readings of expository text can significantly increase reading performance of learning disabled students. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 3919. / Major Professor: Andrew Oseroff. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential of computer assisted instruction for teaching problem solving skills. It was conducted in three phases. During the first phase, two pieces of problem solving software, The King's Rule and Safari Search, were identified and analyzed in light of the research and theoretical literature in the fields of problem solving and computer assisted instruction. During the second phase, two groups of six fourth grade students were each observed using one piece of software for seven 30-minute sessions. Think-aloud protocols were collected at the beginning and end of the observational period. Pretests and posttests were administered to assess problem solving ability and transfer. In the third phase, these data were first analyzed separately by software, then the results were compared. While the students used limited versions of the strategies the software claimed to teach, students were also found to have developed several strategies that allowed them to succeed in the program without using the desired strategies. No transfer of the problem solving strategies was observed. This study provides specific examples of how problem solving software affects the acquisition of problem solving strategies, student learning behaviors, and transfer. Fifteen factors that should affect the acquisition of problem solving ability with computers are also provided. This study has provided a detailed picture of how students interact with problem solving software and how the nature of that interaction may vary from what was intended. This type of research will provide valuable clues for the design of effective problem solving software. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 3925. / Major Professor: Robert Allan Reiser. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

This was a correlational study of students' perceptions and attitudes toward parent involvement in students' academic homework and its relationship to students' academic achievement in school. / The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship, if any, between parent involvement in their children's academic achievement in school as measured by performance on the Student Homework Survey (SHS) questionnaire, and the following tests: The Comprehensive Assessment Test (CAT) for grades three and five; and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) for grade eight. / The major question of the study was: Do students' perceptions and attitudes toward parent involvement in academic homework play a significant role in academic achievement among students? Four sub-questions were used to ascertain students' perceptions and attitudes toward (1) academic homework, (2) parent-teacher communication, (3) parent involvement and student academic achievement, and (4) students' attitudes toward parent involvement. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to rate the students' responses in the four categories assessed. / The findings of this study, based on inclusive results, do not show that students' perceptions and attitudes toward parent involvement in academic homework and academic achievement are significantly correlated. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4018. / Major Professor: David Leslie. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Media literacy skills are important for students of today and citizens of tomorrow. Americans get much of their information from television and other visual technologies. The new information skills involved in media literacy such as critical viewing, knowledge of production techniques, and an understanding of the economic bottomline of media productions, need to be taught in our schools. One valuable method for students to learn media literacy skills is through their own media productions. In Florida, a statewide competition for students in kindergarten through college is provided by the Jim Harbin Award Student Media Festival. / This dissertation reports on an investigation that was conducted, using case study research, at four schools which represented the four level divisions of the Harbin competition, K-3rd, 4th-6th, 7th-9th, and 10th-12th. The research was based on documents, questionnaires, fifty hours of observation, nearly forty interviews with principals, school library media specialists, teachers, and students. / This researcher, using the qualitative method, synthesized the results of the investigation into eight broad concepts from which practical and theoretical frameworks for building a media literacy program might be developed. (1) Schools must have sources for funding other than the regular state budget. (2) Schools must have positive leadership for media literacy programs at the district level. (3) Schools must have administrators who believe in the media literacy program and make it part of the curriculum. (4) The SLMS must be committed to the importance of media literacy skills and convinced of the benefits for the students. (5) The SLMS must have assistance from a second SLMS, aides, or volunteers to help with the work of the library media center. (6) Schools must have teachers who have an interest in media and are flexible. (7) A means for presentation and recognition of the media productions must be provided at the school level as well as at the state level. (8) Students must be given the opportunity to select their topic and time to work on it as individuals, in pairs, or as small groups. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-07, Section: A, page: 2464. / Major Professor: Thomas Hart. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This interpretive study focuses on issues relevant to teacher-learning and enhancement of science education at a developing Professional Practice School (PPS) site (Holmes, 1990; Levine, 1992). In a previous study undertaken at the same school, (Dana, 1991/1992), action research resulted in the emergence of teacher-voice. Teachers desiring to continue their professional development collaborated with the researcher to develop the Southside PPS. / The researcher met with a group of 9 teachers in the first year, 1991-1992, and thereafter began working with various other teachers until May, 1994. The study is based on use of qualitative data sources including: transcripts of afterschool meetings, school documents, interviews, field notes, and the researcher's personal journal. Narratives provide a context (Connelly & Clandinin, 1994) for holistic representation of the research experience and have been deconstructed to render six thematic findings. / The six themes relate issues relevant to the sociocultural context of teaching at the school, conditions for teacher-learning, and teachers' personal and social practices of science. Teachers' dialogue about teaching and learning revealed a strong orientation for feminine epistemology (Harding, 1987). A situation which could have served as a science experience involving inquiry about educational practices (e.g. evaluation) denied teachers' ways of sense-making. In terms of school-wide science practice, events such as the annual Science Fair and teaching science from kits were perpetuating teachers' senses of disenfranchisement from science. Current perspectives of science are, for the most part, grounded in traditional views of Western science and may exclude those with other epistemological and ethical orientations in science learning. / One implication of the study calls for science educators to be aware of their own lenses for framing science as they endeavor to enhance science education. Secondly, consideration for how teachers construct themselves as knowers and co-learners may be a critical beginning point from which educators can begin to negotiate their science practices and construction new visions for science teaching. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0153. / Major Professor: Kenneth G. Tobin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Throughout the nation, many political and industrial leaders are urging a technological transformation of America's educational system. Various current publications and articles have identified this transformation of our schools as necessary for continuation of our status as a world leader. A key element in the transformation of schools is the implementation of an intervention and the continued attention to the user's needs regarding the intervention's implementation. / The purpose of this study was to describe the stages of concern of involved teachers in the implementation of a new instructional model, as well as the concerns of other members of the school's organizational community. The technology of this pilot program, Project CHILD, was the utilization of computer assisted instruction in conjunction with other teaching/learning aids, appropriate software and teaching strategies that include: (1) active learning, (2) shared responsibility, (3) cooperation and high expectations, and (4) a balanced curriculum, activities, and materials. / The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) is the framework that was used for this study. It emphasizes the personal component in change. Two assumptions underlie the model: (1) change is a process and not an event, and (2) in institutional change, the point of view of the individual is paramount. Using CBAM's Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) as the instrument for gathering the stages of concern, the degree of implementation of the intervention by each group in the organization was measured three times during the implementation process. The data gathering times were at the end of the first year of implementation, at the beginning of the second year of implementation and during the late fall of the second year of implementation. The analytic method utilized was a comparative analysis of differences with a comparison to norm groups. Additionally, a frequency distribution approach was employed. The null hypotheses were tested at the.05 level of significance using the Mann-Whitney U Test. Means, standard deviations and ranges were presented where appropriate. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-07, Section: A, page: 2221. / Major Professor: Richard H. Kraft. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This study compares the relationships between the independent variable, school organizational climate, and the dependent variable, student achievement. Rensis Likert's "Profile of a School" (POS) instruments measure climate with responding groups of parents, teachers, principals, and students completing appropriate POS questionnaires which are: Form 1--grade 5 students; Form 2--grades 7 and 9 students; Staff Form--teachers and principals; and Form 9--parents. More specifically, the POS measures the causal area of climate and leadership; intervening area of communication, influence, self-motivation, and subordinates' trust of their leaders; and end results area variables which include school attitude, student goal acceptance, and frustration. The California Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), Form U, Levels G, H, and J measuring student achievement consists of 1984-1988 subtests of mathematics and reading scale scores for fifth, seventh, and ninth grade students in ten of twenty-three county schools in a north Florida district. The ten school sample of paired groups consisting of the two highest and two lowest ranking schools for each grade was determined by totaling each school's independently ranked CTBS subtests of math and reading scale scores. / Using individual POS questionnaire items, indices, and primary areas, descriptive statistics analyzed HIGH/LOW groups by individual grades, combined grades (7,9), and total (5,7,9) grades. Group means allowed comparison within, between, and among grade levels, responding groups, paired groups, and district-wide. / To test the null hypothesis, that the two means are equal, a two sample t-test statistic and multivariate analysis including Hotelling's T$\sp2$, Mahalanobis D$\sp2$, and an F- statistic were used. / Significant difference was found between a HIGH/LOW group causing rejection of the first (null) hypothesis of no significant relationship between any school climate variable as measured by Rensis Likert's "Profile of a School" (POS) instruments and student achievement as measured by the California Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). The second hypothesis that there are significant relationships between school climate variables and student achievement was accepted. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 3977. / Major Professor: John H. Hansen. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.