<p> The purpose of this descriptive survey study was to (a) investigate the impact of ELL Shadowing on teachers' awareness of the academic language abilities and needs of Long-Term English Language Learners; (b) assess teacher-perceived proficiency in implementing Frayer Model and Think-Pair-Share Charting instructional strategies with English learners following specially designed professional development; (c) assess teacher self-efficacy to effectively address the academic language needs of English learners following specially designed professional development; and (d) investigate the academic language performance of Long-Term English Language Learners as a result of the Frayer Model and Think-Pair-Share Charting strategy implementation. </p><p> This study used an original survey created by the researcher consisting of 13 structured and 2 semi-structured questions that was administered after professional development on ELL Shadowing, the Frayer Model, and Think-Pair-Share Charting. The survey's 15 questions examined teacher self-efficacy in using the 2 instructional strategies to meet the needs of Long-Term English Language Learners, how ELL Shadowing impacted teachers' perspectives of English learners, and the impact of the 2 instructional strategies on English learners' performance following professional development. </p><p> The findings from this study indicated that: (a) the majority of teacher participants saw the benefit in ELL Shadowing increasing awareness of the academic needs of Long-Term English Language Learners and that these students often remain passively silent in the classroom; (b) teachers are slightly more comfortable using the Frayer Model than Think-Pair-Share Charting; (c) the majority of teacher participants saw the benefit in using the Frayer Model and Think-Pair-Share Charting to increase student talk, accountability, and Academic Language Development; and (d) in addition to professional development workshops, some teachers need ongoing support and coaching for full implementation of instructional strategies. </p><p> It was concluded that: (a) ELL Shadowing increases awareness of Long-Term English Language Learners; (b) English learner professional development can increase teacher efficacy for supporting English learners; (c) The Frayer Model and Think-Pair-Share Charting, when used in conjunction, increase academic language development for English learners; and (d) Effective professional development requires a systems approach in order to build teacher capacity and sustainability.</p>

<p> This study explored the relation between two elementary school principals' behaviors and the professional development provided to educators in two schools undergoing pedagogical and cultural changes designed to increase student achievement. The researcher observed the schools' dynamics regarding professional development and any other professional and pedagogical discourse done for the purpose of collaborating and developing a structure in which data analysis, lesson planning and design, and other types of professional development are practiced. A qualitative method was used for this study and was based on a simple descriptive study using a multisite case study. Daniels (2009) conducted a research study on three schools in one school district. This study was an attempt to embody a similar study in two elementary schools (a K&ndash;3 school and a 4&ndash;8 school) in one district, though a different district from Daniels's study. The population in this study consisted of educators from two school sites located in a small, rural, and agricultural community that serve students in Grades K&ndash;8. The data collection demonstrated it is crucial to have a strong and competent principal who promotes and supports the change process in an effective and systematic manner. Additional results indicated that the use of strategic professional development fosters collegial teamwork whereby educators share their knowledge and guarantee continuous structural improvement that leads to increased student achievement.</p>

<p> This hermeneutic phenomenological study explores what students experience and how students experience the phenomenon of high-stakes testing (HST) education. The research aimed to add to current research the missing voices of students and to explore the need to include the social&ndash;emotional impact of education in the narrative of HST education. The study's intent was to help educators comprehend the full spectrum of the impact HST education has on students and the role that educators and other stakeholders play in creating that experience. </p><p> The study includes a comprehensive understanding of how students of today consider passing a test and learning are one and the same by examining how students position themselves as consumers of education over creators of their education. Moreover, the research examines how values and beliefs of the school affect students' outlook on education. Finally, a critical review of how HST phenomenon denies low-performing students real opportunity. This research validates the idea that standardizing learning and its results are fundamentally flawed if the intent is to create real opportunity for all students. The study concludes with practical recommendations to help reestablish school ideals and real opportunities for all students.</p>

<p> Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs) have been used successfully with standardized tests. However, CATs are rarely practical for assessment in instructional contexts, because large numbers of examinees are required a priori to calibrate items using item response theory (IRT). Computerized Classification Tests (CCTs) provide a practical alternative to IRT-based CATs. CCTs show promise for instructional contexts, since many fewer examinees are required for item parameter estimation. However, there is a paucity of clear guidelines indicating when items are sufficiently calibrated in CCTs. </p><p> Is there an efficient and accurate CCT algorithm which can estimate item parameters adaptively? Automatic Racing Calibration Heuristics (ARCH) was invented as a new CCT method and was empirically evaluated in two studies. </p><p> Monte Carlo simulations were run on previous administrations of a computer literacy test, consisting of 85 items answered by 104 examinees. Simulations resulted in determination of thresholds needed by the ARCH method for parameter estimates. These thresholds were subsequently used in 50 sets of computer simulations in order to compare accuracy and efficiency of ARCH with the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) and with an enhanced method called EXSPRT. In the second study, 5,729 examinees took an online plagiarism test, where ARCH was implemented in parallel with SPRT and EXSPRT for comparison. </p><p> Results indicated that new statistics were needed by ARCH to establish thresholds and to determine when ARCH could begin. The ARCH method resulted in test lengths significantly shorter than SPRT, and slightly longer than EXSPRT without sacrificing accuracy of classification of examinees as masters and nonmasters. </p><p> This research was the first of its kind in evaluating the ARCH method. ARCH appears to be a viable CCT method, which could be particularly useful in massively open online courses (MOOCs). Additional studies with different test content and contexts are needed.</p>

<p> Students in developmental education face three types of barriers: institutional, situational, and affective. Current interventions focus on addressing institutional barriers; however, continuing low success and retention rates indicate a need for additional measures. Bandura's theory of academic self-efficacy provides a way to address the affective barriers faced by this student population. This study examines the impact of a series of three five-minute student success videos, based on the social modeling aspect of self-efficacy theory and developed using the Dick and Carey instructional design model, on the academic self-efficacy, retention, and success of developmental education students. A quasi-experimental research design was used to examine the effectiveness of the social modeling intervention. </p><p> Results from this study indicate that an intervention designed using academic self-efficacy as an underlying theory and the Dick and Carey model of instructional design as a creation and implementation guide did not have a significant impact on the academic self-efficacy of students enrolled in developmental education courses. Moreover, the intervention did not have an impact on success and retention rates. Additional analysis indicates that academic self-efficacy was not a significant predictor of either student success or retention. Further research regarding the link between academic self-efficacy and student success and retention at the developmental level is necessary. </p>

<p> Following the 1994 uprising of the Zapatistas, an indigenous army in southern Mexico, a small community arts and education center was developed in East Los Angeles that believed another world was possible. This research seeks to examine the alternative nature and learning of the EastSide Caf&eacute;. Guided by Zapatismo, Chicana Feminism, and decolonial theory, seven EastSide Caf&eacute; members were asked to offer the details of <i>how</i> the EastSide Caf&eacute; promotes alternative learning. The findings present a simple culture of horizontality, but more importantly, a praxis of a liberated learning zone that shifts the consciousness of participants by showing that another world, another way, is possible.</p>

<p> <b>Background.</b> Nurse educators are challenged with a new generation of students referred to as the Millennial generation. These millennial students, who have different learning style preferences, are testing the traditional pedagogical methods of nurse educators such as lecture. The social nature of millennial students coincides with the social constructivism theory that students learn in groups. </p><p> <b>Purpose.</b> The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine if there was an improved retention of knowledge in millennial students who were taught by collaborative learning strategies rather than the traditional lecture method in an associate degree nursing program. Additionally, the study examined if learning by the students' preferred learning style resulted in a higher level of achievement on a comprehensive standardized examination versus learning by a nonpreferred style. </p><p> <b>Theoretical Framework.</b> The theoretical framework for this study was founded on the social constructivism theory suggesting students build knowledge through social group interactions. </p><p> <b>Methods.</b> The quasi-experimental study was conducted at an associate degree program in the Midwest. The nonprobability purposive sampling was utilized to examine the means of a comprehensive standardized examination and a learning styles preference assessment. </p><p> <b>Results.</b> The statistical analysis utilizing the analysis of covariance did not produce statistically significant findings in the differences in the comprehensive standardized examination score means between the students taught by the lecture method and students taught by the collaborative method when controlled for the cumulative grade point average. Additionally, the study did not find statistically significant differences in mean comprehensive standardized examination scores when taught by the students' preferred learning style versus being taught by their nonpreferred style. </p><p> <b>Conclusions.</b> Although not significant, the study did find students who were taught by the collaborative method had higher scores than those who were taught by the lecture method. In addition, learning styles preferences were not significant in determining academic success. The implications of the study are significant to nursing education by highlighting the importance of using collaborative activities and multiple teaching modalities.</p>

<p> The prevalence of mobile technology, particularly the mobile phone, is changing the manner in which individuals communicate, access information, conduct business, teach, learn, and cultivate relationships. These technologies have charged stakeholders in both the business and the educational arena with the challenge of embracing mobile phone use and leveraging it as a learning tool. Researchers and educators are exploring the concept of integrating mobile phones into classroom instruction to enhance academic experiences for students, engage them in the learning process, and find new ways of extending learning beyond the school walls. Although this topic of research is in the infancy stage, emerging evidence supports the utilization of mobile phone technology, indicates it can successfully be leveraged in the academic setting and is rapidly becoming the technology of choice. This study contributes to the developing research in the field of integrating mobile phones into the classroom setting as high school teachers and students express their perceptions regarding how mobile phones are currently being utilized in the classroom to support instruction and whether future practices should support integration. </p><p> Data gathered from this study indicate the teacher and student participants support mobile phone access and utilization both in and out of the classroom and value the devices as an instructional resource. Further, in this study participants offer solutions to the perceived challenges that may occur as mobile devices are implemented in the school setting in order to ensure meaningful and successful mobile phone usage. Collectively, teacher and student participants encourage a shift in current educational pedagogy which will support 21st century learning through the use of mobile phones in the educational arena.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to determine the perceived technology capabilities of different levels of undergraduate students of Kent State University in the College of Education, Health, and Human Services teacher education programs; to determine if the perceived technology capabilities of students beginning the teacher education program differ from those nearing completion of the program; and, if the perceived technology capabilities of students change from the start to the end of the Educational Technology course. Examining student perceptions may provide insight on whether preservice teachers think they can prepare students for the 21^st century once they become inservice teachers. To determine whether preservice teachers perceive that they are being prepared to teach 21^st century skills by integrating technology into teaching and learning, three groups of students were surveyed: incoming students, junior-level students at the beginning and end of the Educational Technology course, and students nearing graduation. The TPACK survey for preservice teachers (Schmidt, Baran, Thompson, Mishra, Koehler &amp; Shin, 2009) was used to examine preservice teachers' perceptions of their technology capabilities as related to teaching.</p><p> Teachers comprise an integral factor in the effective incorporation of technology into classroom activities, yet many current teachers remain unable or unwilling to employ technology fully or effectively. The findings from this study led to several conclusions, including that the students perceived themselves to have better technological abilities after completing the Educational Technology course and as seniors near the end of the teacher education program, and the results of this study should challenge teacher education faculty to consider how their beliefs, attitudes, and use of technology in teaching and learning are transmitted to their students.</p>

<p> The purpose of the study was to compare 2D and 3D visual presentation styles, both still frame and animation, on subjects' brain activity measured by the amplitude of EEG alpha wave and on their recall to see if alpha power and recall differ significantly by depth and movement of visual presentation style and by spatial intelligence. In addition, the study sought to determine whether there is any significant interaction between spatial intelligence and visual presentation style on alpha power and recall, and to determine whether any relationship exists between alpha power and recall. </p><p> The subjects in the present study were one hundred and twenty three undergraduate students at a university in the Midwest. After taking Vandenberg &amp; Kuse's Mental Rotations Test, subjects were divided into low and high spatial intelligence groups, and subjects in each spatial intelligence group were evenly assigned to four different types of visual presentation style (2D still frame, 2D animation, 3D still frame, and 3D animation), receiving an instruction on LASIK eye surgical procedure in its respective visual presentation style. During the one-minute visual instruction, subjects' brain activity was measured and recorded using a wireless EEG headset. Upon completion of the instruction, subjects were given a 10-item multiple-choice test to measure their recall of the material presented during the instruction. </p><p> Two 2 (spatial intelligence) x 2 (depth) x 2 (movement) factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were conducted, one with alpha power as a dependent variable and the other with recall as a dependent variable, to determine whether there is a significant difference in alpha power and recall by spatial intelligence and visual presentation style, as well as whether there is an interaction between these variables that affects alpha power and recall. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient was calculated to examine relationship between alpha power and recall. </p><p> The present study found (a) EEG alpha power did not differ by the difference in depth and movement, (b) 2D and animation were found to be more effective on recall, (c) alpha power did not differ by spatial intelligence, (d) recall did not differ by spatial intelligence, (e) there was a significant interaction between spatial intelligence and movement that affected alpha power; still frame resulted in higher alpha power for low spatial learners, and animation resulted in higher alpha power for high spatial learners, (f) there was a significant interaction between spatial intelligence, depth and movement on recall; for low spatial learners, 2D animation resulted in significantly higher recall than both 2D still frame and 3D animation, and for high spatial learners, 3D animation resulted in significantly higher recall than 3D still frame, and both 2D still frame and 2D animation resulted in close to significantly higher recall than 3D still frame, and (g) there was a mildly inverse relationship between alpha power and recall, brought on by a strong inverse relationship in 2D still frame revealing a 'higher alpha power-lower recall connection' for low spatial learners and a 'lower alpha power-higher recall connection' for high spatial learners.</p>