This dissertation is a video ethnography of the enculturation and learning patterns among children on three school playgrounds in the Central Region of Ghana, West Africa. It includes a) a discussion of colonialism on the redefinition of Ghanaian cultural identity in relation to play culture and the school curriculum b) performance-based case studies of six singing games, which comprise a description of sound and structural features and an explanation of cultural forms evident in singing games and c) a discussion on the role multimedia technologies (video, audio, and computer technologies) played in configuring my explanations and the explanations of all participants: children, teachers, and community members. Goldman-Segall' s "configurational validity" is the conceptual basis of this ethnography of Ghanaian children's music cultures. Configurational validity is a collaborative theory for analyzing video documents that expands on the premise that research is enriched by multiple points of view. Performance stylistic features of singing games emerge that reflected the marriage of two music cultures, indigenous Ghanaian and European. These include: speech tones, onomatopoeia, repetition and elaboration of recurring melodic cliches, portamentos or cadential drops, syncopations, triplets, melisma, polyrhythms, vocables, anacrusis, strophic, circle, lines, and partner formations. During play, the children were cultural interlocutors and recipients of adult cultural interlocution as they learned about accepted and shared social behavioural patterns, recreated their culture, and demonstrated the changing Ghanaian culture. The culture forms that emerged include community solidarity, inclusion, ways of exploring and expressing emotions, coordination, cooperation, gender relations, and linguistic code switching. For children in Ghana, knowledge is uninhibited shared constructions; knowledge grows when every one is involved; and knowledge is like "midwifery." I recommended a teaching style that encouraged the expression of children's wide ranging knowledge by a) offering opportunities for cooperative learning through group work, b) encouraging continuous assessment, c) establishing stronger ties with the adult community, and d) recognizing that the ability of children to hear, interpret, and compensate for dialectic differences in closely related languages can be used to enrich the language arts curriculum and also e) recognizing that the cultural studies curriculum can be enriched by the ability of children to re-create hybrid performing arts cultures.

<p> This qualitative, action-research study used themes from appreciative interviews of Texas elementary teachers to recommend a framework for a school-wide assessment model for a Texas elementary school. The specific problem was that the Texas accountability system used a yearly measurement that failed to track progress over time and failed to accurately provide elementary classroom teachers with information about student performance in ways to guide instructional decision making. Appreciative interviews of 22 participants were analyzed using open coding and thematic analysis. Findings revealed teachers valued teacher-made assessments, consistency and alignment, multiple assessment measures, multiple assessment formats, student-centered assessment, and data-centered assessment for classroom use. Themes were triangulated with literature and public testimony of Texas teachers. Recommendations were made for educational leaders and global leadership. The research method used in this study was an Appreciative Inquiry generative research approach within a larger continuous improvement change management cycle. This is significant for global leadership as a method for implementing a process of change in an organization.</p>

<p> The United States currently lags behind globally in the areas of math and science. In order to compete and meet the skills necessary for the future workforce, it has become necessary to seek out instructional strategies that will increase student achievement in those academic areas. With the wide variety of diversity occurring in public schools today, there is a need to identify how to best meet and challenge our students academically in order to close the achievement gap between different genders, ethnicities, socioeconomic status (SES), and ability levels. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of accelerated mathematics instruction on the student achievement of heterogeneous groups of sixth graders as measured on standardized assessments. In addition, this study looked at individual effects on subpopulations including special education, gifted, ethnicities, genders, and low Socio- Economic Status (SES). </p><p> The research design methodology used was quasi experimental non-equivalent groups. The study took place in a suburban school district located in the Southwestern United States comprised of over 32,000 students. Control and experimental groups were compared utilizing quantitative data collected from the mathematics subsection on the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). The study compared heterogeneously grouped sixth grade students at six schools using quantitative data collected for three years, from 2010-2012. The control group presented on-grade level mathematics curriculum to their sixth grade students. The experimental group accelerated the mathematics instruction of their students by one year or equivalent of seventh grade level. </p><p> The findings indicated there was a statistically significant difference between the control and experimental groups for the areas of SES, special education, gifted, gender and ethnicity. These data suggest that students taught a year ahead of their grade level, benefitted from this treatment rather than receiving the standard sixth grade mathematics instruction. </p><p> As a result of this study, teachers may be able to determine whether to include more students of varying ability in higher level mathematics courses rather than isolating advanced instruction to high ability students only. The study findings will also assist in identifying whether the acceleration method of instruction has any effect in order to be considered an option to the traditional method of remediation for low achieving students.</p>

<p> Puerto Rican English teachers are included in a difficult recruitment category because a shortage amount of them reached a university degree in this area every year. The primary purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore how Elementary English teachers perceived their first experience as professional versus the knowledge they acquired in their bachelor's degree. Likewise, this study tried to identify those college courses that made easier their first experience of teaching at the Department of Education of Puerto Rico and how the universities reduce the dilemma of transition between the theory and practice in these professionals. Five new English teachers recruited in Puerto Rico's public schools with an experience of less than three years in this area participated in this research. Data were collected through two independent semi structured interviews, a review of documents related to school and universities, and the investigator field notes. Analysis of the data suggested that both, Puerto Rico's universities and the Department of Education need to keep up the most effective communication in order to bring these professionals the skills and knowledge they need to master as Elementary English teachers in public schools in Puerto Rico as well as they feel reliable during their transition between formal studies and job experience, and decide to keep their profession.</p>

<p>Media outlets have propagated news about teen suicides resulting from bullying and harassment because of perceived or identified sexual orientation and gender identity. However, the issues of bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity are rarely addressed at the elementary school level because of limited resources, little training, and low incidences of such reported events. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and knowledge of elementary school principals in one Southern California school district regarding LGBTQ-related issues and to identify the requirements principals deem necessary in order to create a safe learning environment for LGBTQ students. The study relied on two sources of data, including a survey and individual interviews. After data was gathered, it was analyzed to determine common themes among participants. </p><p> Three major themes emerged from the qualitative study that connected principals' experiences and attitudes regarding the integration of LGBTQ topics in the school curriculum and LGBTQ bullying at the elementary school level. The themes included a) affirmative views that personal backgrounds influenced attitudes regarding LGBTQ issues, (b) adequate or sufficient education not provided for principals at the school district level, and (c) elementary school environments were not safe learning environments for students who identify as or are perceived to be LGBTQ. </p><p> Based on the findings of this qualitative study, three recommendations were made to assist principals in their efforts to create safe learning environments for LGBTQ elementary school students and to integrate LGBTQ topics into the classroom. These recommendations included, (a) provide elementary school principals with professional development opportunities on LGBTQ topics, (b) educate parents on LGBTQ issues, and (c) include information on LGBTQ bullying and harassment in school discipline policies and safe schools plans. </p><p> Elementary school principals are not provided with sufficient professional development and resources to address the issues of bullying of LGBTQ students or the integration of LGBTQ topics into the instructional program. This study contributed to the extant body of literature that exists to support school leaders in providing LGBTQ students with safe learning environments and information on the integration of LGBTQ related topics into the school curriculum. </p>

This research analyzes the use of evaluative features in English language oral narrative re-tellings among a multi-lingual population of ninety-eight 2nd and 4th grade students. The results of the analyses strengthen our understanding of the use of evaluation by child narrators, suggesting that younger narrators reconstruct stories through re-creating the characters, while older children focus more on (precisely) reconstructing the text itself. Parallels with particular approaches to cognitive/psychological development are outlined, as are preliminary ramifications for educational methodology. In the initial rounds of both qualitative and quantitative analyses, it was revealed that the employment of seven evaluative forms cited in earlier research (e.g., Peterson and McCabe 1983, Bamberg 1991, Reilly 1992) as among the most commonly used by the present age group (i.e., causals, compulsion words, emphatic pronunciation, gratuitous terms, hedges, lengthening, and negatives) was unable to account for differences in perceived narrative skill within the sample. The manipulation of these seven features was extremely homogenous across skill, age, and language groups. As a result, a second round of analyses was undertaken. Both qualitative and quantitative findings concurred that the use of two particular evaluative features (i.e., references to mental activity, and character speech ), in addition to the utilization of certain textual devices (i.e., the presentation of mental activity within causal constructions, deference to a third person "other" as the source of the narrative information, careful monitoring and marking of errors), were capable of distinguishing both skill and age groupings within the sample. The manner in which the data from this research reflects the Vygotskian perspective on cognitive/psychological development is discussed. The educational implications of these findings---from assessment paradigms, to the planning of curriculum and instruction---are addressed. One of the major discoveries was that, counter to expectations, the multilingual subjects in this sample did not demonstrate divergent narrative forms based on their differing linguistic/cultural schemas. In fact, the perceived skill scores among the Limited English Proficient subjects appeased to be related to issues of fluency rather than differences in narrative form. These findings indicate that given a rich context in which information is repeatedly co-constructed, most language minority students are highly capable of both interpreting and reproducing information in a culturally/contextually prescribed manner.

Special classes for gifted students began in North America in the late 19th century. Since that time, educators have directed much attention towards the special needs of students with gifts and talents. Nevertheless, compared the education of children with disabilities, programs for the education of the gifted have been sprinkled throughout our country on a small scale at best. Funding has always been tenuous and gifted education has been, and is, considered margianl to mainstream education. / vii, 111 leaves ; 29 cm.

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<p> The purpose of this study is to determine the reading and math outcomes of randomly selected majority culture students participating in an elective, parent choice, full academic content area Spanish Immersion Program kindergarten through fifth-grade compared to randomly selected same school control majority culture students participating in a traditional academic content area English only program kindergarten through fifth-grade. Study results indicate that posttest ending third-grade NWEA MAP-Reading Test Scores <i> M</i> = 196.02 (<i>SD</i> = 46.18) compared to post-posttest ending fifth-grade NWEA MAP-Reading Test Scores <i>M</i> = 227.07 (<i>SD</i> = 9.58) following kindergarten through fifth-grade participation in an elective, parent choice, full academic content area Spanish Immersion Program was statistically significantly different rejecting the null hypothesis in the direction of improved NWEA MAP-Reading Test Scores where dependent <i> t</i>(39) = 4.05, <i>p</i> &lt; .001 (two-tailed), <i> ES</i> = 1.11. Furthermore, posttest ending third-grade NWEA MAP-Math Test Scores <i>M</i> = 197.42 (<i>SD</i> = 46.22) compared to post-posttest ending fifth-grade NWEA MAP-Math Test Scores <i>M</i> = 238.72 (<i>SD</i> = 14.70) following kindergarten through fifth-grade participation in an elective, parent choice, full academic content area Spanish Immersion Program was statistically significantly different rejecting the null hypothesis in the direction of improved NWEA MAP-Math Test Scores where dependent <i>t</i>(39) = 4.99, <i>p</i> &lt; .0001 (two-tailed), <i> ES</i> = 1.35. Students who participated in a traditional standard of care academic content area English only program serving as a control group also made statistically significant reading and math gains over time. Between group post-posttest ending fifth-grade NWEA MAP-Reading Test Scores for students in an elective, parent choice, full academic content area Spanish Immersion Program compared to post-posttest ending fifth-grade NWEA MAP-Reading Test Scores for students in a traditional standard of care academic content area English only program were statistically significantly different rejecting the null hypothesis in the direction of greater post-posttest NWEA MAP-Reading Test Scores for students in an elective, parent choice, full academic content area Spanish Immersion Program where independent <i>t</i>(78) = 3.22, <i>p</i> &lt; .01 (two-tailed), <i>ES</i> = 0.73. However, the null hypothesis was not rejected for the between group post-posttest NWEA MAP-Math Test Scores comparison indicating statistical equipoise where independent <i>t</i>(78) = 1.63, <i>p</i> = .107 (two-tailed), <i> ES</i> = 0.40. It is clear from the study results that students participating in the programs of this research are making significant academic progress as measured by norm-referenced reading and math test results over time, third-grade to fifth-grade. It is also remarkable that students who are learning basic skills at the elementary level in a second language, Spanish, are doing so at an observed above grade level pace suggesting that they will be ready for middle school English and math coursework with an advanced promise of success in future second language, Spanish, coursework as well.</p>