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.

This project responds to a call for research in the field of second language (L2) composition. Specifically, it concerns teacher response. One way for teachers to verify if they are reaching their objectives in a writing course is to make the connection between their attitudes toward writing and their comments on student papers. / The present study presents the results of a national survey of 107 ESL composition teachers. Participants were asked to do the following: (1) to respond to The Emig-King Attitude Scale for Teachers (instrument #1), which measures attitudes of preference, perception and process of writing, (2) to respond to a first draft of a sample ESL composition (instrument #2), and (3) to explain their comments and describe how they would proceed in subsequent drafts. / The survey was analyzed to see to what degree teachers actually respond to those aspects of writing that they believe to be most important. Teachers' comments were classified into the following categories: content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics. / Results indicate that respondents' preference, perception and process of writing did not correlate with the number of responses to the above five categories. That is, teachers' response styles varied even though they had similar attitudes toward writing. However, many teachers did respond to the student writing based on their own definitions of good writing; therefore, the conclusion drawn from this study is that teacher training in ESL composition will help teachers practice annotation styles which guide the student through the entire writing process and effectively communicate the goals of the assignment. / My belief is that if teachers become aware of their preference for writing, perception of good writing, and process in writing, they will be better prepared to communicate the goals of the assignment at each stage during the drafting process. However, more research which includes the context of the classroom and multiple drafts of one student essay is needed to make such an assumption. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-12, Section: A, page: 3725. / Major Professor: Frederick L. Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of analogies and graphic organizers on the acquisition of verbal information. These schema activators were tested in relation to the learner's pre-existing knowledge or schemata about a science-related topic. Schema Theory is the theoretical foundation upon which this research was undertaken. Its conceptual framework corresponds to Kulhavy, Schwartz, and Peterson's (1986) model of encoding and retention. / Subjects were 162 eleventh and twelfth graders from the Florida State University Developmental Research School. A 3 x 2 factorial design with schema activators (three levels: analogy, graphic organizer, control) and prior knowledge (two levels: high and low) as independent variables was used. Processing activities, as measured by Reading Comprehension scores, were considered as a covariate. Effects of schema activators for different levels of prior knowledge were tested as well as the Kulhavy, Schwartz, and Peterson's model. / An analogy, a graphic organizer, and stimulus material were developed and formatively evaluated before application. / Data analyses included the use of Analysis of Covariance and Multiple Regression Analysis. Results indicate that schema activator groups performed significantly better than the control group on a posttest of verbal information learning. Prior knowledge was significantly related to students' performance, accounting for the greatest amount of variance. The interaction between the two factors was not significant. / The Kulhavy, Schwartz, and Peterson's model of encoding and retention, accounted for a significant but small amount of variance. The model, however, seems to be susceptible to increasing its explanation of variance by the addition of new variables and redefinition of some of the variables originally used in the model. Prior knowledge was the most important variable included in the model. / Results are analyzed in accordance with what theory suggests and what empirical studies have shown. The implication of the findings and future research areas are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-04, Section: A, page: 1101. / Major Professor: Robert M. Morgan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This study sought to determine the effects of a systematic application of motivational principles to the design of printed instruction on the motivation and achievement of rural high school students. Procedures were developed to operationalize a systematic approach to motivational design. / This study took place in three phases: analysis, development of materials, and implementation. During the analysis phase (1) a lesson was selected and analyzed; (2) nine teachers were interviewed concerning motivation strategies that would be effective with those students; and (3) a student motivational profile was derived. During the development phase, a criterion-referenced test and a redesigned lesson were developed. / During the implementation phase, the students were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. All students read the assigned lesson, completed a motivation survey, and took the criterion-referenced achievement test. / The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance. The students who received the redesigned, motivationally enhanced version of the lesson achieved more and were more motivated than students who received the original lesson. / The results obtained were not conclusive, but they suggest that the systematic application of motivational principles to the design of printed instruction can improve student achievement and motivation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: A, page: 2366. / Major Professor: John Keller. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

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.

The purpose of this study was to develop a profile of the student who is most likely to fail one or more CLAST communication subtests two or more times. The study was limited in scope to an examination of the Chipola Junior College students who, through March of 1989, had failed one or more of the CLAST communication subtests two or more times, a total of eighteen students. / Information gathered included (1) demographics of the Chipola Junior College district; (2) the name, sex, race, high school, and high school graduation date for each student who failed one or more CLAST communication subtests two or more times; (3) high school transcript information on each of these students; (4) whether the student was in a writing enhancement program, college preparatory class, or Teacher Advisement Program; and (5) the college transcript information on each student. / The results of the study indicate that the Chipola Junior College student who is most likely to fail one or more CLAST communication subtests two or more times is a white male from a small town or rural high school within the five-county Chipola Junior College district. He took more terminal track than college track courses in high school, was not in a writing enhancement program in high school, did not take college preparatory courses in high school, did not participate in a Teacher Advisement Program in high school, had an overall high school GPA of 2.62, had a high school English GPA of 1.91, had an ACT English Usage Standard Score of 9.63 and had an ACT Composite Standard Score of 9.3. / At Chipola Junior College he took college preparatory writing, but not college preparatory reading. He made a C in English 1101 and a D in English 1102, but he did not take any additional writing courses. His overall Chipola GPA was 2.26, and he failed the reading and essay subtests the first time he took the CLAST. He passed the reading subtest on his second attempt, but not the essay. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-07, Section: A, page: 2253. / Major Professor: Dwight L. Burton. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of type of control over instructional strategy, student ability, and locus of control on performance and the motivational outcomes of confidence and satisfaction. In order to conduct the study, a factorial ATI design was utilized. Seventy-five seventh grade students worked through a computer-assisted instructional lesson to learn defined concepts in advertising. Half of the students were given learner control over the instructional strategy of the lesson, while the other half used a lesson with program control over the instructional strategy. Student ability and locus of control were considered as aptitude variables. Upon completion of the lesson, students in both treatments completed a survey designed to measure their confidence and satisfaction, and took a posttest to determine if they could identify the advertising concepts presented in the lesson. / A regression analysis of results indicated that both ability and locus of control were positively and significantly related to performance, while a relationship between type of instructional control and performance was not found. As predicted, ability had the greatest relationship with performance scores regardless of whether or not students had control over the instructional strategy. Results also indicated that ability was the only variable that significantly related to confidence and that none of the independent variables were significantly related to satisfaction. While an interaction between type of control, ability, and locus was predicted, no interaction was found. Results suggest that control over instructional strategy may not be adequate to provide students with the perception of control. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-09, Section: A, page: 2590. / Major Professor: John Keller. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This study investigated the effects of learner response confidence and feedback timing on long term retention of verbal information in college students. Two levels of learner response confidence (high, low) and four levels of feedback timing (immediate item-by-item feedback, immediate end-of-session feedback, 24-hour delayed end of session feedback, and absence of feedback) were studied. / One hundred forty-one undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups and completed a 50-item initial test. Subjects rated their degree of confidence in the accuracy of their responses to each item upon its completion. KCR feedback was provided either upon completing the confidence rating for each item, at the end of the session, 24-hours after the end of the session, or not at all. All subjects completed a delayed retention test following a seven day retention interval. / Analysis of variance indicated that 24-hour delayed end-of-session feedback did not result in significantly higher retention test performance. Secondly, error correction was not found to be significantly greater for the group receiving immediate end-of-session feedback compared to the group receiving immediate item-by-item feedback. Finally, error correction was not found to be significantly higher for 24-hour delayed feedback subjects making high confidence errors on the initial test than for members of any other treatment group making high confidence errors on the initial test. / Future research should maintain the distinction between the programmed instruction and test content acquisition research traditions, maintain more precise operational definitions of experimental events, and automate whenever possible the delivery of content and measurement of performance. Additionally, the role of response confidence, especially low response confidence, in acquisition and retention should be studied further and integrated into a more comprehensive and prescriptive feedback model. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-07, Section: A, page: 1917. / Major Professor: Walter William Wager. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether training in analogical reasoning strategic knowledge would benefit problem solving in elementary physics, and how strategic knowledge would interact with different levels of individual competencies in domain knowledge. To develop a training model for this study, three different theories of analogical reasoning were integrated in a unified training model. First, based on componential theory, the overall framework of analogical reasoning was explained. Then, structure-mapping theory and schema-based analogical transfer approach were used for specific strategies for the solution process. / Forty-six ninth grade students who were enrolled in physical science classes participated in two groups: strategic training group and control group. Strategic training group received the strategic training and instruction in analogical reasoning, and control group received instruction without training. Then, in each group, students were blocked on the basis of their competency in physics demonstrated on a physics domain knowledge test. During the treatment session, strategic training was delivered for two consecutive days to the strategic training group. The training was composed of 20 pages of individualized printed learning material and designed for three lesson hours to complete. A week following the training, all students received a posttest of 50 minutes duration. The problem solving test was designed to measure student's ability to solve problems using analogical reasoning. It was composed of five pairs of problem solving situations in physics domains, and it had two aspects: students' performance on the domain knowledge problem solving posttest as product, and the process of problem solving on the posttest. / Results indicated that the control group outperformed the training group. The interaction of domain knowledge with problem solving was significant for the process but not for the performance. Lower competency students performed better under the control condition than their counterparts under the training condition. Training was overall more effective for the higher competency students than the lower competency students. It was also found that reading competency was a major influence on process. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-04, Section: A, page: 1177. / Major Professor: Marcy P. Driscoll. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This was an investigation of the State Compensatory Education Programs offered by school districts in Florida. The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine if compensatory education programs have been effective in decreasing the failure rate on Florida's SSAT II; (2) to identify the characteristics of compensatory education programs and teachers; (3) to determine the most effective remedial methods; (4) to identify teachers' attitudes toward compensatory education programs and students; and (5) to identify compensatory teachers' recommendations for program improvement. / The population for this study consisted of all compensatory education teachers in public high schools in Northwest Florida. The sample was obtained from 45 high schools representing 90 percent of the target population. The student sample for this study consisted of tenth-grade, eleventh-grade and twelfth-grade students who had failed one or both parts of the SSAT II on previous administrations. / Two instruments were used to address the research questions posed in this study: (1) a Survey Questionnaire developed by the researcher, and (2) the State Student Assessment Test, Part II. / The major findings in this study revealed that: (1) Better data bases are needed. It is impossible to establish that compensatory education programs are or are not effective using present program data. (2) The majority of compensatory teachers have not participated in either preservice and/or in-service training programs and activities to prepare them to teach low-achieving students. (3) As a whole, the teachers had a generally positive attitude toward the compensatory education program and students. Teachers who were assigned to teach had less favorable attitudes than those who volunteered. (4) No one remedial method or combination of methods was superior in enhancing student's performance on the SSAT II. (5) Teachers recommended reducing class size in compensatory classes, providing more individualized instruction and ensuring an adequate quantity of instructional materials to improve compensatory education programs. There was overwhelming support for broadening compensatory education guidelines to include in-service training. / These findings lead to several recommendations, which included: (1) the Department of Education assuming a greater role in providing technical assistance and resources to school districts; (2) teachers participating in professional development activities specifically geared to compensatory education; and (3) DOE implementing legislative mandates, which require uniform policies and procedures that will make compensatory education evaluations consistent and reliable within and across districts. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: A, page: 2311. / Major Professor: Robert L. Lathrop. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.