<p> Studies have shown that when students are engaged, learning increases. This research paper examines the perceptions of a Midwest university faculty's perceptions about student engagement in the classroom. Using qualitative methodology, interviews were conducted with faculty who are currently college classroom teachers, providing rich data to further examine the concept of student engagement. The following questions were asked with responses from the perspective of the college professor: what is student engagement, how does personal experience influence the way teachers perceive student engagement, and how do traditional classrooms influence engagement? The theory of symbolic interactionism and dramaturgy were used to gain perspective into professors' perceptions of student engagement, demonstrating how the traditional education received by present-day teachers has influenced their perceptions of student engagement in their classrooms (Sterling 2001; Bain 2004; Barkley 2010; Kuh et al. 2010; Thoms 2010).</p>

This study assessed the similarities and dissimilarities between Honors and NonHonors student offenders in the disciplinary process and identified characteristics of Honors students who violate university policy. Prior research indicates that students who tend to violate university policy have low grade point averages (GPA). The distinguishing feature of the Honors student, however, is high academic achievement. The data consist of 296 disciplinary cases across two distinct academic years involving Honors and NonHonors students. The groups were compared on the following variables: (a) age, (b) gender, (c) ethnicity, (d) resident status, (e) class standing, (f) type of violation, (g) college enrollment, (h) Honors status, and (i) grade point average. Significant differences between Honors and NonHonors student offenders existed in (a) gender, (b) ethnicity, (c) resident status, (d) type of violation, (e) grade point average, and (f) college enrollment. Significant differences also were associated with class standing, gender, and active versus inactive Honors status. In both the Honors and NonHonors groups, males and Caucasians dominated. The NonHonors offenders tend to be nonresident students, violate alcohol and false information policies, obtain 2.0-2.99 GPAs, and most likely enrolled in the College of Business and Public Administration. In contrast, Honors offenders tend to be resident students, violate alcohol, theft and false information policies, obtain 3.0-3.99 GPAs, and enrolled in the College of Sciences. Active Honors students held the highest GPA followed by inactive Honors students and NonHonors students. Higher GPA was associated with alcohol policy violations, followed by theft and false information violations. These violations are the same top three violations perpetrated by Honors students. Resident status also was associated with GPA. Resident NonHonors students achieved higher GPAs than nonresident NonHonors students. In contrast, nonresident Honors students have higher GPAs than resident Honors students. Gender analyses reveal female offenders have higher GPAs than male offenders. In addition, among the female offenders more females were Honors students than NonHonors students. Finally, freshman GPA is significantly lower than sophomore and junior GPA.

The effectiveness of a method using scaled scores and a correction for regression to the mean (RTM) designed to measure academic growth attributable to schools was compared to several alternative methods all incorporating simple (unadjusted) growth. Problems with scaled scores and the correction for RTM were discussed. Three alternative methods using normal curve equivalent (NCE), percentile rank (PR), and stanine scores were presented and compared to the scaled score method. A variation of the scaled score method without the correction for RTM was proposed to examine the effects of the correction. Two variations of the NCE and PR score methods were constructed with adjusted passing criteria to examine the effect of accounting for measurement error. Matched-student (1998--1999) Stanford 9 Achievement Test scores from the State of Arizona were used to compute a dichotomous one year's growth indicator (OYG) and a five-point within-state rank-ordered growth indicator (the Star Rating) for each school/grade unit using each of the proposed methods. Results showed that the methods using NCE or PR scores were more likely than the method using scaled scores to assign the same OYG decision to each school/grade unit. The correction for RTM resulted in school/grade units with low initial status having to (inappropriately) make more than one year's worth of growth to achieve a passing OYG decision. The results tended to confirm correlations between initial status and the simple growth indicators in the alternative methods, but for a majority, the magnitudes of the correlations were not large enough to warrant dismissing simple growth. Recommendations from the study were: (1) Scaled scores and the correction for RTM should not be used in any of the methods; (2) Methods that account for error should be used to allow for control over the possibility of misidentification of failing schools as well as the proportion of schools that are identified as needing assistance; (3) The current minimum unit size criterion of eight students should remain, because increasing the number would result in too many units not included in analyses.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences between 5th to 8th grade youth who stayed enrolled and those youth who dropped out of the Pima County Extension 4-H Youth Development Program. Youth who dropped out were surveyed with the National 4-H Impact Assessment Survey. The survey examined eight critical elements of positive youth development and asked the additional question why they dropped out. The research questions sought to find if there was a difference between 5 th to 8th grade youth who stayed enrolled and those who dropped out of the Pima County 4-H Youth Development Program. What perceptual differences were there between the genders and between the groups, stayed enrolled and dropped out? Were there differences amongst the grade levels of this study? The theoretical foundation for this research study centered on Erikson's psychosocial stage theory and crises, Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development, and Gilligan's theory on gender development. It was found that there were differences between grade level, gender, and group (those who stayed enrolled versus those who dropped out). Amongst female respondents, significant factors were "Feelings about 4-H", "Learning in 4-H", "Helping Others", "Planning and Decision-Making in 4-H", and "Belonging in 4-H". For male respondents, there were no conclusive patterns for the factors between the two groups. Significant factors for grade level were: "Adults in 4-H", "Learning in 4-H", "Helping Others", and "Planning and Decision Making in 4-H". The significant factors for grade level were "Belonging in 4-H" nor "Feelings About 4-H".

First, this study investigated whether the modality in which stories are presented to children affects their reasoning ability. Secondly, it inquired if children process spatial, causal, or consequential stories differently. It compared children's verbatim memory with their ability to draw inferences for three types of stories. Each child was presented with the stories either in pictures, in words, or in a combination of pictures and words. The results show that supporting a verbal presentation with images significantly increases understanding of causal and consequential stories. But, for all types of stories, all children drew significantly more correct inferences when the narrative sequences were presented to them verbally than when they were presented in pictures. Also, the results show that children perform differently on spatial stories than they do linear stories.

<p> The focus of this research is in the area of Response to Intervention (RTI) and its effect on academic achievement in elementary schools in rural Missouri. In light of the regulations within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 and its accountability requirements for schools, this study is important and timely in order to provide valuable examples of effective RTI processes. The research approach adopted in this dissertation was a quantitative approach; therefore, quantitative analysis was utilized during a statistical comparison of elementary schools in Missouri and a review of information from a survey distributed to elementary principals in Missouri. The findings from this research were statistically significant in relation to improved academic achievement after the implementation of RTI processes. The goal of school administrators and teachers is to implement strategies to meet the educational needs of students. The RTI processes may serve as a viable strategy for this goal to be achieved.</p>

<p> In recent years students' academic engagement has gained increasing favor as a necessary component of authentic learning experiences. However, less research has focused on what students do when they run into everyday problems in school that allows them to return (or not) to a state of ongoing engagement. Expanding on these ideas, this project explores students' <i>motivational resilience</i> in school, that is, the dynamic interactions among their ongoing engagement, emotional reactivity, academic coping, and re-engagement after encounters with difficulties and setbacks in school. Grounded in an established motivational model based on Deci &amp; Ryan's (1985) self-determination theory, and building on earlier studies suggesting that these components of motivational resilience form self-reinforcing internal dynamics (Skinner, Pitzer, &amp; Steele, 2015), this project comprises two free-standing manuscripts that examined key components of this process. </p><p> Study 1 explored the external dynamics of motivational resilience within a single school year to identify the extent to which outside forces (e.g., students' experiences of teacher support and self-system processes) can shape students' motivational systems which tend to be self-sustaining. The study used data from 1020 3^rd through 6^th grade students to examine feedforward and feedback effects between students' composite motivational resilience and a set of hypothesized antecedents and consequences, and also investigated whether teacher support can shift established motivational patterns. </p><p> Study 2 looked more closely at motivational resilience and its antecedents and consequences as students made the transition from elementary to middle school. Data following 281 students as they moved from fifth to sixth grade were used to test a structural model examining the extent to which students' ongoing engagement and teacher support act as resources that encourage adaptive coping and re-engagement, which then lead to continued engagement and subsequent achievement. Students' coping was explored as a particularly important mediator between students' resources at the beginning of fifth grade and their subsequent motivational actions and achievement. The study also examined differences in patterns of motivation across the transition for students who had high levels of teacher support and adaptive coping profiles as compared with students who had fewer of such resources. </p><p> This project provides a deeper understanding of students' experiences in dealing with everyday challenges and struggles in school, especially during the transition to middle school. Discussion focuses on the utility and potential drawbacks of examining the individual components of students' motivational resilience through this conceptual lens, with suggestions for next steps for future research. Implications of this model for improving students' academic development highlight the important role teachers can play in supporting or undermining students' ability to bounce back after encounters with setbacks. </p>

Piagetian scholars argue that the effect of problem content, e.g., empirical knowledge, should decrease with age. Indeed, they believe that the empirical knowledge cannot affect human problem-solving after individuals approach the formal operation stage. In arguing this point, this study uses an A-AR model to address how empirical knowledge affects the problem-solving process among Taiwanese secondary students. The A-AR model is borrowed from mathematics and the symbols, A, A, and R, represent Assumption, Answering, and Reasoning, respectively. Similar to solving mathematics problems, the A-AR model problems require participants to use the given assumptions by logical reasoning in order to respond to the problems. In this situation, the effect of empirical knowledge on problem-solving is easy to detect. There are three results about human problem-solving found in this study. First, the empirical knowledge still affects human problem-solving at the formal operation stage. Not like the Piagetian scholars' assumption: the effect of empirical knowledge is decreasing with age, this study finds that the effect of empirical knowledge is S-shape. The S-shape is a result of academic training. Second, the academic training, major, shapes human problem-solving strategies. For instance, the 12th grade science students' problem-solving strategy is based on logical reasoning ability by the given assumptions and the same grade social science students' strategy is according of their empirical knowledge. Third, the interference of logical reasoning ability and empirical knowledge is a predictor of the empirical knowledge effect on human problem-solving. The relation between the empirical knowledge and interference can be characterized as: the more negative interference the participants have, the more of the empirical knowledge effect they will have in the next year. This study does not agree with the Piagetian theory about human problem-solving: the effect of empirical knowledge should decrease with age. Indeed, this study argues that the problem content still affects human problem-solving after individuals move into the formal operation stage. The different kinds of academic training---science and social science major---shape human problem-solving strategies into either a logical reasoning base or an empirical knowledge stand, respectively.

Teachers' affective domain applications in the junior high schools in Turkey were explored in this dissertation. Teachers' attitudes toward, awareness levels of, importance placed on, and planning and classroom applications of affective objectives were investigated. One hundred thirty-one junior high school teachers participated in the study. They were selected randomly from 13 schools in central Ankara. They answered a 57-item questionnaire. Ten of the teachers were interviewed based on the questionnaire items used for the study. Differences among teachers were studied according to subjects taught, amount of training received, gender, and years of teaching experience. Group differences were evaluated by performing t tests and analyses of variance statistical methods. Results showed that teachers' awareness, attitudes, applications, and planning levels were at moderate levels. Physical education and art teachers had the lowest mean scores for planning processes. The implications of the findings are discussed.

In order to curb school violence and increase academic achievement, many parents and politicians are calling for stricter disciplining in public schools. Before policy changes are made, however, it is important to better understand the relationship between school disorder, discipline, student behavior, and student achievement. Drawing on the school effects research tradition, deterrence theory, social psychological concepts of procedural justice and Emile Durkheim's formulation of moral authority, this dissertation: (1) examines the behavioral and academic consequences for students who attend school with disorderly climates; (2) empirically tests whether stricter school rules and punishment improve or worsen student misbehavior and academic achievement; (3) investigates how normative processes such as moral authority and procedural justice mediate this relationship; and (4) explores whether strict discipline differentially affects "at-risk" students. For the project, I employ multilevel analyses on data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (1988), a nationally representative, longitudinal survey compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics. As expected, students in disorderly schools tend to have higher misbehavior and lower achievement. Contextual effects are found for frequent disruptions and oppositional attitudes toward authority. For school discipline, the results indicate that effects are dependent on several factors including the particular outcome variable, the amount of disorder in the school, the perceived fairness and legitimacy of the system and the at-risk status of the student. The study provides evidence that stringent discipline can have some beneficial effects when it is perceived as moderate, meant to improve minor misbehavior, and directed towards mainstream students who generally believe in the legitimacy of the school system. Under others circumstances, such as if discipline is perceived as overly strict or applied to oppositional and at-risk students, discipline may actually be harmful. Particularly disconcerting is the lower likelihood of graduation found for at-risk students in high schools with stringent discipline. The goal is to construct rules and regulations that are seen as moderately strict but fair and which produce a school environment that is safe, orderly and generally conducive to learning. Suggested policy directions include refocusing on socialization, strengthening teacher authority and implementing procedures that bolster perceptions of fairness.