This dissertation investigates the quality teaching practices of three third grade teachers within the context of high-stakes testing. Chapter 1 introduces my research question and important terms, such as quality teaching, standardized testing and success. Chapter 2 synthesizes relevant literature in the area of quality teaching and standards based accountability. The literature review seeks to highlight the significant attention paid to outcomes based education and, the lack of emphasis given to quality teaching in such contexts. Chapter 3 forwards the specific conceptual framework for this study while detailing the methodology that guided this investigation including data gathering and analysis. Chapters 4 and 5 present the findings from this research. Chapter 4 examines the quality teaching practices demonstrated by these teachers and found in the literature and chapter 5 presents notions of success and the unique ways that each teacher enacted quality teaching practices in his/her classroom. I highlight the specific way each teacher facilitated students' success and discuss the various ways that each teacher conceived of success, both within and outside the context of standardized testing. Chapter 6 draws comparison between the three teachers involved in the study highlighting overarching themes present in the ways they defined and created successful learning environments for students. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of implication for teachers, teacher educators and other stakeholders and, suggestions for future research. / text

<p> English Language Learners (ELLs) are no longer a part of specific areas of America. They have crossed all classroom boundaries of the United States. This means as ELLs have integrated into the classrooms, educators are becoming versed in methods and strategies to help ELLs learn and achieve proficiency on standardized assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine if ELLs learned enough to be proficient in English to do well on a standardized test as their non-ELL peers. The Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) and the Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State (ACCESS) were the two exams used to compare proficiency results. The MAP is the standardized test given to Missouri students beginning at Grade 3. The ACCESS is a language achievement test developed by the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium to track levels of English in students beginning in Kindergarten. Students in Grades 3 through 8 were the focus for this study. The exam results of ELLs who took both the MAP and ACCESS were analyzed and compared to their non-ELL peers. The results showed that ELLs who meet academic proficiency on their ACCESS test also have as much English comprehension to do as well on the MAP as the non-ELLs. All groups of students, Grades 3 through 8, showed that if ELLs have reached a level of bridging, or Level 5, they are capable of working with grade level material in English.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to contribute to available literature by ascertaining student perceptions of benefits of student access to technology as correlated to students&rsquo; standardized test scores. Students and teachers were surveyed for perceptions of technology benefits. Survey results were analyzed and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were calculated comparing student perceptions to standardized Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) grade-level assessment results. As described in specific detail in this paper, it was found student standardized MAP testing data were positively correlated to the introduction of technology-integrated instruction in the classroom setting. Student perceptions indicated a more positive linear association to the support of technology in the content area of mathematics than communication arts. Teacher perceptions of technology integration into the classroom indicated the influx of technology into classroom instruction benefitted lesson preparation and availability of supporting materials.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to engage in ethnographic research involving Jack E. Singley High School (JESA), which was part of the Irving Independent School District in Irving, Texas and recognized throughout the state as one of its most successful high schools. Singley High School had a population of 1600, with 88% minority students, who continued to exhibit academic achievement. The researcher evidenced specific interest in the performance of African-American male students at Singley, since this academic performance consistently received national recognition. This sub-population had been described as experiencing an &lsquo;achievement gap&rsquo;. However at Singley, African-American males were succeeding. The researcher explored how this high school was effective in preparing its African American male students for academic success through interviews of individual students who demonstrated the ability to succeed in the academic arena under challenging personal and cultural circumstances. </p><p> The results of the study highlighted the importance of collaborative learning in self-efficacy and illustrated the power of student &lsquo;buy in&rsquo;, when the students could directly relate their academic work to tangible career goals. Increasing, the relevancy of academics and preparing students for life beyond high school afforded clear-cut goals and added value to education, increasing student motivation and student academic success. One of the most surprising insights from this research, for the researcher, had nothing to do with academics, though its positive connection to success was clear. The insight was the gratitude that students vocalized for being accepted as a part of a professional institution and learning the tenets of professionalism, which allowed them to view themselves in a more positive way.</p>

<p> The researcher conducted a statistical examination of a two-year journey through school turnaround to identify factors that had a direct impact on student performance on state exams. Following 31 students through sixth and seventh grades, the researcher collected data in alignment with five target areas for school improvement defined by the state of Missouri: (1) student performance, (2) highly qualified staff, (3) facilities, support and instructional resources, (4) parent and community involvement, and (5) governance and leadership. </p><p> Applying ANOVA and z-tests at a 95% confidence interval, the researcher analyzed the data to examine for statistically significant differences in scores o the Communication Arts and Mathematics MAP exams, levels of reading proficiency, attendance rates, and discipline, year to year. The researcher found significant increases in students&rsquo; Mathematics MAP scores, students&rsquo; reading on grade level, and referrals. </p><p> Using a multiple regression analysis the researcher also analyzed data for relationships between multiple independent variables and students&rsquo; scores on the MAP exams. An examination of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient provided information as to which variables had significant relationships with the students&rsquo; MAP scores and the coefficient of determination gave indication as to possible percentages of contribution each variable had in the resulting MAP test scores. This study confirmed that student&rsquo;s grade point averages were the only variables that maintained consistent significant relationships to the students&rsquo; scores on both Communication Arts and Mathematics MAP exams during both years of the study. In addition to the consistent contribution of the students GPA to their MAP results, the study also found that in 2012, students&rsquo; enrollment in a reading class significantly contributed to their Communication Arts MAP scores and attendance had a significant relationship to their Mathematics MAP scores. </p><p> The concluding reflections in the study were a result of a detailed examination of the statistical analyses in alignment with current turnaround research. While there is a need for further research in the area of school turnaround, this study contributed to a growing field of literature on effective and ineffective school turnaround practices.</p>

<p> Through empirical research, this dissertation examined whether a substance abuse intervention program implemented at a Midwest university could prove beneficial in addressing the problem of substance abuse on college campuses. Drawing on multiple resources, including Department of Education, psychologists, scholars, and other professional sources, this dissertation provides information on the importance of intervention and behavioral adjustment. This study covered statistical data over a two-year period on an intervention program including measurements such as: grade point average, attendance, number of months in the program, and degree persistence. A second area of research was directed at determining the effect of the intervention program regarding retention. The methodology used in this study was mixed and included examination of program implementation, through use of qualitative and statistical data. It concluded, based on research and final statistics, that participating in a substance abuse intervention program not only increased the potential for student success and behavioral change, but slightly improved the percentage of retention and graduation persistence. It also identified the need for further study based on availability of resources needed to maintain and sustain a viable program. </p><p> Implementation of the intervention program took place during the study. Therefore, adjustments in procedures were made based on feedback received and data gathered. The process for collection of samples was changed to provide secure handling of the sample and subsequent valid test results. Also, as a result of researching discipline measures for substance abuse at universities within the same sports conference, consequences for NCAA athletes changed from suspension from competition for a year to removal from competition until a clean drug screen was provided. </p><p> Studies in the future should include following students who left school prior to graduating to determine the mortality rate of persistence to degree among program participants. Conducting a survey with the fall semester incoming freshmen class would improve study design and provide a better picture of the extent of substance abuse, rather than surveying the spring semester after many freshmen have lived on campus for half of the academic year.</p>

Access to the textual world of academia requires that learners are familiar with the critical open-ended questioning stance demanded by textuality. Questioning is one of the most important learning-teaching tools available to both learner and educator. Due to the crucial role questioning plays in knowledge construction in the university, this study focuses on questioning strategies used by tutors and learners during tutorial interactions. This focus on questioning aims to: 1) Identify common learner question and response strategies across tutorials, ascertaining what kinds of questions learners ask in help-sessions and what kind of responses tutors' questions elicit from learners, 2) identify common question and response strategies employed by tutors, ascertaining which strategies facilitate active learning, with a particular focus on the kinds of questions used to provoke (open) or inhibit (close) learning and 3) compare the questioning strategies of tutors and learners, uncovering different epistemic bases informing their engagement with text. This study adopts a developmental-process approach to research. Two basic premises informing this research follow from this particular developmental approach: 1) an awareness of learning as a process of change and 2) an appreciation of the socio-historical and discursively constructed nature of cognitive processes. It was found that learners and tutors appear to ask the same types of questions regarding the content of the course with both groups primarily asking closed questions. Qualitative analysis, however, indicated that tutors and learners use these types of questions in very different ways. While tutors' ask open questions in order to provoke enquiry, indicating their reliance on a critical questioning epistemology, learners' borrow open questions from various sources, indicating only that they can imitate the kinds of questions that characterise academia, without evidencing a questioning stance to knowledge construction. Similarly, while tutors' ask closed questions in order to initiate a narrative line of enquiry, learners' asked closed questions in order to elicit a closed response. Further, learners' made no use of process type questions and responses, such as metacognitive and group cohesion questions and responses. Consequently, one may conclude that tutors' use of these types of questions and responses indicated that they control the tutorial process. Further this finding indicated that learners need this kind of structured guidance. The study concludes that tutors and learners use ostensibly similar questioning strategies in very different ways, indicating different epistemic bases informing their engagement with the textual task of academic study. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

Research reveals that policy intentions seldom define classroom practice. This research study uses continuous assessment as the 'case' to explore the policy-practice relationship. The research approach adopted involved a critical review of policy documents on continuous assessment; interviews with Department officials; a survey questionnaire on continuous assessment distributed to teachers in ten secondary schools; and a detailed exploration of continuous assessment practice in three institutional settings. The findings show that continuous assessment is rarely implemented as policy intended; teachers at the classroom level have transformed the aims of policy-makers to the extent that implementation proceeds at some distance from the original policy intentions; and teachers are experiencing numerous problems in attempting to implement continuous assessment. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1997.

The Department of Education has introduced a policy of Continuous Assessment (CASS) in grades 11 and 12. This, however, does not mean that the current policies such as senior certificate examinations will immediately change. It appears that the old and the new practices will co-exist. This implementation of CASS took place in some environments characterised by enormous infra-structural backlogs, resource limitations, inadequate supply of quality learning support materials and absence of common national standards for learning and assessments. Consequently, the purpose of this interpretive research is to investigate how CASS has been implemented in grades 11 and 12 Physical Science classrooms in three disadvantaged secondary schools. This research study is a qualitative case study of three secondary schools in a school circuit. The three secondary schools were chosen on the basis of their varying socio-economic backgrounds and history related to quality of work and innovation. The research study examines the contexts and processes that took place during the implementation of CASS in these schools. The principal theories underpinning this study are those supporting educational change and curriculum innovation. The argument is that different understandings of the nature of the curriculum have important implications for the implementation of curriculum change. The literature was reviewed to expand the argument that curriculum change has different meanings and is dependent on the context. In this research study, curriculum changes in South Africa, the meaning of curriculum changes, CASS and CASS policy are discussed. The research methods used to gather data are semi-structured interviews, document analysis and questionnaires. The participants in this study were grade 11 and 12 Physical Science teachers, the Science Head of Departments (HOD) and grade 11 and 12 Physical Science learners from each school. The three schools were visited in the second half of 2002. This research study considered the roles and importance of learners, teachers, school management team, community and external inputs for the successful implementation of CASS. The feedback from teachers, HOD's, and learners were analysed and discussed. The schools were found to have profiles and strategies that were unique, but also some principles, practices and characteristics were common. The overall findings show that CASS has been implemented in these classrooms, but the strategies that are mostly used are those which were used in a content-based curriculum. For example, tests, classwork and homework were common in these schools. This study therefore suggests that more thorough and different support and developmental programmes be put in place so as to equip teachers with the skills necessary to implement CASS. This study also suggests that further research in schools be conducted, so that the best procedures are used to ensure the effective implementation of curriculum innovation in South Africa. / Theses (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

This study investigated the suitability of adopting a learning outcomes approach as a strategy for educational reform in British Columbia's colleges and university colleges. It focused on the views of institutional and department administrators during the initial implementation phase through a questionnaire (n=313), interviews (n=58) and the analysis of provincial documents. Study participants had varied reactions to a learning outcomes approach ranging from strong support to overt resistance. Proponents viewed it as a philosophical shift from teaching to learning involving themes such as transparency, integrated curricula, holistic curricula, and a learner-centered focus. However, many viewed learning outcomes as being similar to their current approach. Opponents viewed the approach as being too simplistic, too limiting and unsupported by evidence. Its central position in the reform agenda was questioned. The barriers to its implementation included competing priorities, lack of resources, faculty workload, organizational culture, pedagogical issues, concerns about the vocationalization of postsecondary education and its perceived relationship to the provincial government's accountability movement. Approximately one third of respondents who had made changes identified them as valuable to their programs and courses. However, respondents from academic areas had less involvement, less interest in integration and perceived it as less valuable than respondents from applied areas. The value of the approach resonated at the theoretical level, but often disappeared in the practice context particularly at the course level. It was viewed as being particularly valuable in applied areas, but was most often described as a refinement. The learning outcomes approach was too abstract to provide a vision for reform. While there have been changes in specific courses and programs, the policy did not have a provincial impact from a pedagogical or accountability perspective. The term has been integrated into many organizational documents, but it is unclear if these changes translated into more relevant learning experiences or more valid assessment approaches. The discussions generated about best practices have been the greatest impact of the policy. It forced faculty members to challenge and defend their educational practices. This may be the ultimate legacy of the learning outcomes policy in British Columbia.