<p> This historical content analysis study examined portable responsive instructional materials used by United States teachers and students in primary, secondary, and higher education instructional settings for the period of 1957 through 1982&mdash;the beginning of the space race with the stimulus of educational funding from the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) to the introduction of classroom computers into the mainstream education population. During this period, a plethora of instructional materials was implemented in classrooms, which supported the audiovisual movement to improve performance and knowledge. This study focused on the pedagogical and functional uses of instructional materials from the specified period of history.</p><p> Instructional materials included in this qualitative study provided a response from or feedback to the participant through some form of communication&mdash;a screen, display, or other mode of communication. The physical nature of the studied instructional materials was small, lightweight, and portable, and each was used collaboratively or individually for instructional purposes in an educational environment. With this definition in mind, certain materials that were important to the audiovisual movement, such as movie projectors and cameras, were not included in this study. Instructional materials from corporate training were not included in this study with the exception of materials that crossed over from the corporate arena to the educational environment. </p><p> Pedagogical and functional frameworks of identified instructional materials from 1957 to 1982 provided a foundation from which to compare contemporary instructional materials and devices to those of the past, to predict pedagogical purposes, and to support current integration of instructional materials such as handheld devices into the classroom based on historical information gathered in this study.</p><p> Analysis of the instructional materials was based on audiovisual codes found in the literature of the time. To further analyze the data gathered, a failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) method was adapted and applied to determine the success or failure of specified functionality of the identified instructional materials.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between six factors of student satisfaction and intent to continue with online education in a sample of older adult learners. Participants were chosen using a stratified random sampling of students enrolled at Mercer University and South University online programs to ensure a proportional mix of qualifying learners. The randomly selected qualifying online students received an email inviting them to participate in the study. An online survey adapted from the technology acceptance model (TAM), the Student e-learning Satisfaction Instrument (SESI), along with demographic questions were used to gather the data. The data were analyzed using logistic regression. This study involved the investigation of the relationships between the perceived satisfaction of older adults with online technologies in an educational setting, as measured by the SESI instrument with the criterion variable of intent to continue online learning. Overall, mean scores for the six predictor variables were somewhat stable across the variables, ranging from the lowest for Personalization (<i>M</i>=3.65, <i>SD</i>=0.61) to the highest for Learner Interface (<i>M</i>=3.81, <i>SD</i>=0.77). Results of binomial logistic regression analysis indicated that the variable of e-learning satisfaction is a statistically significant predictor of the odds that older adult learners intend to continue online learning (&beta;=1.205, <i> p</i>=0.006). None of the perceived satisfaction scores averaged below 3, indicating that a majority of the participants affirmed that they were satisfied with technology. The practical recommendations suggest that to ensure the success of older adult learners in the online environment, learners must be able to adopt new techniques for effective teaching and learning in an online environment. The online teaching instructor should also design the programs based on the needs of the leaners. Future research recommendations include a qualitative analysis of the research problem could produce results that substantiate the findings of the current study.</p>

<p> The objective of this exploratory quantitative study was to investigate the relationships between grit, self-control, and the first academic semester of college students, and determine if the relationships differed by gender. Two research questions were examined; (1) <i>What are the relationships between the individual factors of grit, self-control, and first-semester college GPA? And do they differ by gender?</i> and (2) <i>What combinations of factors (grit, self-control, high school GPA, and SAT scores) best predicts first-semester college GPA? And do they differ by gender?</i></p><p> This study investigated 88 first-time, first-year college students and their academic success during their first college semester using three instruments: the 12-Item Grit Scale, the Self-Control Scale, and the Short-Form C of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Correlation analysis and stepwise regression methods were used to examine relationships.</p><p> Findings from this study reinforce that high school GPA and SAT scores are predictors of college academic performance. However, the relationships between high school GPA, SAT scores, and fall GPA in this study were not as strong as indicated in previous studies. Results indicated that grit and academic performance had no relationship, while a small yet significant relationship was found between self-control and academic performance. Additionally, male and female students had somewhat different results in terms of grit, self-control, and academic performance. Predictors of academic performance for male students were high school GPA, self-control, and SAT scores. Female students&rsquo; predictors were high school GPA and SAT scores. During an exploration process in this study, self-control was the only predictor of students&rsquo; fall GPA when it was less than 2.67. Gender did not play a role in that particular finding, and the best and only predictor of all students&rsquo; fall GPA &lt; 2.67 was self-control. That indicated that levels of earned GPA may be related to levels of self-control. The overall findings of this study contribute to further understanding factors related to college success, graduation, and better options for both life and career.</p>

<p> This study investigated the effectiveness of a new dropout prevention program, Project WALK, which was launched at a low-income high school in Missouri during the 2012-2013 school year. After examining alarming dropout statistics, Washington High School chose 40 students to participate in a new program, Project WALK, which was designed to use graduation coaches to improve at-risk students' performance. The program's six graduation coaches formed relationships with at-risk students, monitored student progress, and consistently communicated with parents, teachers, and school administrators about the at-risk students. The researcher, an administrator at the school, gathered quantitative data to measure the effects of the intervention and qualitative data to measure the perceptions of the students who participated. The quantitative data collected for this study enabled the researcher to assess whether the graduation coach had an effect on each student's attendance, discipline, and number of credits earned during the time of the intervention compared to other years the student was in high school. The researcher considered secondary data in order to compare students' performances before and after the intervention and thus to test for a correlation between a student's being paired with a graduation coach and student outcomes such as attendance, discipline, and number of credits earned. </p><p> In addition to quantitative methods, the use of qualitative methods enabled the researcher to describe and analyze student perceptions of their experiences. Little is known about the perceived experiences of individual students who are considered to be at risk of dropping out of high school. Because qualitative data on this subject have been lacking, the qualitative component of the present study could lend greater insight into the effectiveness of interventions in students' lives. This study looked at 30 males, 10 females, 20 general education students, and 20 special education students. The results of this study indicated that the graduation coaches were beneficial in preventing dropouts, which suggests that the strategy of using graduation coaches is a promising one for serving at-risk students. These findings inform the work of educational specialists, practitioners, and school systems personnel who design interventions to help reduce the dropout rates in schools.</p>

<p> Dance education is the only arts discipline without a national entry-level teacher readiness examination, which serves as a proxy for subject matter competency demanded by the Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) requirement of the <i> No Child Left Behind Act.</i> Consequently, the absence of a qualifying examination has been a barrier to K-12 dance licensure in several states. Additionally, lack of commonly held expectations for what entry-level dance teachers should know and be able to do have led to great disparity in teacher preparation programs nationwide. In response, the National Dance Education Organization engaged dance education experts from thirteen states to create the Dance Entry Level Teachers Examination (DELTA) as an indicator of Pedagogic Content Knowledge (PCK) deemed crucial for K-12 entry-level public school dance teachers by an expert group.</p><p> This dissertation chronicles the development of DELTA and focuses on the psychometric analysis of field-test results of two <i>draft</i> forms of DELTA, administered to approximately half of the nation&rsquo;s graduates hailing from 19 of the 58 Colleges and Universities that conferred dance education degrees in School Year 2013-14. The objectives of this study are to ascertain how well the test items discriminated among examinees; to assure the items are free from inherent bias and sensitivity issues; and discern the psychometric validity of DELTA as a measure of teacher readiness in dance. The quantitative analysis of DELTA field tested items relies heavily on the tools of Item Response Theory, and more specifically on a subclass of the logistic model, the one-parameter logistic (Rasch) model and other related models from Classical Test Theory to measure PCK as a result of exposure to dance pedagogy in a codified teacher education program. Additionally, survey instruments were employed to gauge the level of consensus among university pre-service dance education program coordinators regarding the importance of and relative degree of current alignment to ten PCK Skills Clusters embedded within three Domains of Knowledge comprising the DELTA Conceptual Framework. Given the lack of cohesion among pre-service dance education programs, DELTA represents a first step toward reaching national consensus on crucial baseline PCK and skills for beginning dance teachers. </p>

No description available.

<p>Reading is essential for personal growth and social and economic success. Smith (2002) proposed that reading was the most important subject in American early schools, and explained that reading continues to be the most significant subject in schools throughout the United States. Educators need to consider ways to strengthen our educational system beginning with teacher preparation. Researchers have outlined the close interconnectivity between teacher preparation and reading preparation; however, relatively few researchers have asked questions about the involvement of reading preparation courses, reading-related demographics, and past reading experiences in relation to reading habits and knowledge, specifically of children?s literature. This quantitative study analyzed 12 specific demographic and reading-related variables in the prediction of preservice teachers? knowledge and current reading habits of children?s literature in a teacher preparation program at a public, four-year, Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in South Texas. The correlational study employed bivariate and multivariate analyses on data collected from 168 undergraduate students enrolled in at least one reading course during the fall 2014 semester. Results of correlational analysis indicated that there were statistically significant associations for current reading habits of children?s literature on the basis of READ 3310?Principles and Practices of Early Reading Instruction, READ 3320?Principles and Practices of Reading Instruction, and READ 4380?Children?s and Adolescents? Literature, and daily contact with children outside of school. There were statistically significant associations for knowledge of children?s literature based on READ 3320, READ 4380, and past reading experiences. Results of the regression analysis indicated daily contact with children outside of school, READ 4380, READ 3310, and READ 3320 were significantly correlated with current reading habits. READ 4380, READ 3320, and past reading experiences were the variables used in the prediction of knowledge of children?s literature. The results of the study have implications for teacher preparation programs, literacy scholars, in-service educators, preservice educators, and parents. Some recommendations for future research include: complete a comparison study with in-service teachers, replicate the study to include a larger number of participants, update the Children?s Literature Title Recognition Test to reflect in-class and out of class fiction and non-fiction titles, and add a qualitative aspect.

<p> This qualitative research study is a phenomenological exploration of teachers' understanding of and perceptions about the teacher evaluation process in North Carolina and the use of the North Carolina Educator Evaluation System (NCEES). Twenty-three teachers with varying years of experience and from six schools of varying demographics were interviewed about their knowledge and perceptions of each evaluation standard and were asked to provide examples of how they have used feedback from the evaluation process to inform their professional practices. Overall, participants had a limited understanding of the standards-based portion of the NCEES and of the value-added data component of the NCEES. Teachers received limited feedback from the evaluation process and were generally unable to provide examples of how they have been able to use feedback from the evaluation process to inform their professional practices. Teachers provided insight about the strengths and weaknesses of the NCEES and suggestions for improvement in the evaluation process and in the NCEES. As a result of the findings, implications for future teacher evaluation in North Carolina are discussed.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-118).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-118).