This study was designed to address the issue of low retention in online K–12 courses. The goal of this research was to explore educator and student perceptions of factors impacting retention. This qualitative exploratory case study design collected and analyzed data at Southeastern Virtual School (SVS/pseudonym), a state-wide online public high school in the southeastern United States. The phenomenon analyzed for this study was factors impacting retention in English 1 at SVS. Data collection tools included a focus group interview (n=7) and student surveys (n=774). Thematic analysis was conducted on both data sets. The research results of this study provided Southeastern Virtual School with recommendations that the organization could implement to increase student retention and offer early intervention for those the study found to be most at risk for withdrawal. The study demonstrated that major factors impacting retention in K–12 online courses included the following: (a) student-teacher interactions, (b) student support, (c) instructional design, (d) course policies, (e) parental involvement, (f) external complications, (g) previous academic performance, and (h) student age. Implications for practice and future research were discussed. Recommendations for improvement of student retention determined by the study findings included: (a) teacher professional development, (b) continued support for online students, (c) professional learning communities focused on student retention, and (d) continued opportunities for student surveys. The study's findings offered implications for teachers and educational leadership to inform their pedogeological and organizational practices and policies on retention. The findings of this study also provided strategies for K–12 leaders and policy makers to address retention.

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature and to policy and practice in the educational field on how individual student diagnostic scores was affected in the area of reading. This study specifically examined full or partial fidelity of implementation of the iReady reading instructional and computerized program was applied in seven middle schools in a school district in Central Florida for all students in intensive reading courses. Additionally, this study contributed to how individual student diagnostic scores was affected in the area of reading for students on free or reduced lunch. Data were analyzed from the second and third diagnostic assessments from i-Ready. The second diagnostic assessment was administered in January of 2021 after students returned from Winter Break and 1,774 students completed that assessment. The third diagnostic assessment was administered in March of 2021 after students returned from Spring Break and 1,687 students completed that assessment. Overall, 3,461 students completed the assessments. Analyses showed that students in schools who used the i-Ready reading program to full fidelity had slightly higher scores than students in schools that used the i-Ready reading program only to partial fidelity, yet the data was not statistically significant. Further analyses found that students who were on free or reduced lunch performed far worse than students who were not considered on free or reduced lunch, there was a statistically significant difference, and that implementing the i-Ready reading program to complete fidelity actually had a significant negative effect for students on free or reduced lunch.

The study investigated the impact that children experienced after the inclusion of educational devices and non-contact virtual learning during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. An investigation was needed see how the primary use of educational devices and how the effects of non-contact virtual learning impacted the social-emotional development of children during this time. Five educators and five parents participated in this study including their observations and perspectives. Open-ended interviews and a survey had been conducted to gather the qualitative data. I examined the data in a thematic analysis using evaluation and emotion coding to quantify the results. 37% of the parents felt their child had been negatively impacted by the use of educational devices and non-contact virtual learning by the virtual modifications created for children who were originally in brick-and-mortar schools during the pandemic. The majority of the educators (64%) believed the use of educational devices and non-contact learning methods negatively impacted their students' social-emotional development. Educators disclosed the difficulty to incorporate group activities on the educational devices, as the time only allotted for individual module work. When non-contact virtual learning was incorporated, the educators discussed the regulation control skills students lacked. There were concerns by the participants of the limited exposure to social experiences children need for development. It was important to see if this study showed any areas of concern if educational devices and virtual learning practices had impacted children during COVID-19. Results could be used to inform educational practices toward social-emotional development for future distance education needs.

This study compares achievement of students with borderline intellectual functioning by investigating differences in Florida Standards Assessment results for those who received special education services and those who did not receive services. A review of the literature finds research focused on this population is limited with few effective strategies identified to help these students keep pace with the increasing demand of today's classrooms. This post-hoc causal-comparative study uses an analysis of variance to determine if there are statistically significant achievement differences in Florida Standards Assessment results in English Language Arts and Mathematics for students when examining the effect of the independent variables of IQ scores and whether students received exceptional student education services. The results of this study indicated there were no significant differences in reading or mathematics achievement for students with borderline intellectual functioning who received ESE services when compared with those who did not receive services. There was, however, a statistically significant difference was found in mathematics achievement between students with borderline intellectual functioning at the lower end of the IQ range and those at the higher end of the IQ range. This study adds to the limited research on students with borderline intellectual functioning and demonstrates the continued need to dive deeper into what supports best meet the learning needs of this unique population of students.

Single subject studies analyze individual behavior identifying how interventions change behavior. Critical to this analysis are repeated baseline measures to identify behavior function and evaluate intervention effects. 40 studies treating child behavior problems between 1997 and 2015 were analyzed. Average student age was 8 years. Most studies used simple frequency counts (47%) of behavior. Baseline observation averaged 42 minutes and 7.4 observations. Most studies (81%) reported no systematic analysis of baseline stability, making it difficult to establish evidence-based effective interventions

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of transformative learning within the context of instructional beliefs and practices among collegiate math and science faculty. Participants included nine full-time instructional faculty teaching within a biological science, mathematics, or physical science department at a public, two-year degree-granting state college. The study employed a qualitative research methodology, engaging participants in semi-structured interviews through a descriptive phenomenological design. Qualitative coding and thematic analysis were conducted, consistent with Colaizzi's (1978) Method for phenomenological research. Data analysis resulted in the emergence of four themes related to transformative learning experiences and four themes related to the participants' resultant instructional practice. The four themes addressing transformative learning experiences were: misaligned expectations, heuristic nature of learning to teach, developing authenticity and mastery, and evolving perspectives. The four themes pertaining to the influence of faculty beliefs on instructional practices were: perceptions of student challenges, confronting barriers, adaptive course design, and establishing classroom culture. The findings of this study indicate that collegiate faculty experience several dimensions of transformative learning, promoting a transition towards increased faculty authenticity in their instructional practices. Further, the findings of this study revealed that faculty, as a result of the transformative learning process, transitioned away from a content-delivery focus and towards a student-centric perspective that resulted in the adoption of an adaptive course design. The findings of this study may lead to enhanced practices and program development related to faculty induction and socialization protocols. Further, the findings of this study provide a needed context for informing faculty evaluation and development procedures.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a summer intervention program for middle school Algebra 1 Honors students. The intervention program, Pre-Algebra 1 Mini-Camp, was offered for rising seventh grade students at a middle school prior to them entering Algebra 1 in the Fall semester. The literature review and analysis of data from school districts in Central Florida showed that the increase in middle grade students enrollment in Algebra 1 has coincided with a decrease in the passing rate among those students on the Florida Algebra 1 End of Course exam and the course. The intervention program and this study were premised on the assumption that the decreased pass rate was the result of these students missing critical mathematics skills and concepts from the seventh grade curriculum. This study describes a design framework and other details of the intervention program. The evaluation study used a quasi-experimental design, comparing the 18 students who took part in the intervention with a comparison group composed of 21 other seventh grade students taking Algebra 1 Honors from the same school district. The matching sample was created using case-control matching based on student demographic data and sixth grade standardized test scores. Dependent variables were school district-administered, standardized test scores and grades collected during the first and second quarters of the school year. The main effect was tested using a within-between repeated measures MANOVA. Data analysis revealed that participants in the intervention group had slightly better performance on both standardized tests and grades versus the comparison sample (partial η2 = .06). The intervention groups also showed marginally better performance over time (partial η2 = .02). However, neither the between-group difference (F(2,32) = 1.04, p = .06) nor the greater improvement of the intervention group over time (F(2, 32) = 80.28, p = .83) were statistically significant. These findings of statistically non-significant differences must be interpreted cautiously due to the low power of the research design (Power = .22, between groups; Power = .10, between groups x time). A larger sample would be needed to achieve sufficient power in the research design. This study added to a small pool of research on seventh grade students enrolled in algebra courses. It briefly described some of the gaps in mathematical concepts and skills that likely led to students struggling for success in algebra. Implications of this study include revisiting policies supporting the enrollment of middle grade students in Algebra 1 Honors. This study also presents the design of a summer intervention program that may support student success in an algebra course and suggestions for creating a longer program which would provide more opportunity to support to the students' pre-algebra concepts, skills and practices.

The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent, if any, organizational structures for instruction, non-departmentalized or departmentalized, had on student achievement for students in Grades 3 through 5. Three elementary schools were selected for this study based on organizational structures for instruction. One elementary school was non-departmentalized for the 2017-2018 school year and departmentalized for the 2018-2019 school year. Additionally, two elementary schools, one non-departmentalized and one departmentalized, were selected based on demographically- and achievement-matched variables. In this study, overall mean scale scores were analyzed from the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics using independent samples t-tests. Analyses were also conducted by student subgroups, including English learners, economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and gender. Of the 67 independent samples t-tests conducted for this study, 54 were non-significant. Findings from the 13 significant results indicated that departmentalization as an organizational structure for instruction produced statistically significant results in Grade 4 for FSA ELA and Mathematics as well as for various student subgroups in Grade 4 including students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and gender with small to moderate effect sizes. Moreover, significant results were also found for the Grade 3 English learner subgroup for both FSA ELA and Mathematics. Results for the English learner subgroup were mixed, however, demonstrating statistically significant results for departmentalization for FSA ELA and statistically significant results for non-departmentalization for FSA Mathematics with large effect sizes for both. The findings from this study contributed to the body of knowledge surrounding organizational structures for instruction and student achievement for Grades 3 through 5. The results of this study can used to help school district leaders and school-based leaders make decisions and create guidelines regarding organizational structure approaches in elementary school.

This qualitative study was conducted to investigate teacher decision-making while grading samples of 10th grade student writing in English language arts. Extensive research spanning 100 years has shown that inter-rater agreement of student work is weak at best (Ashbaugh, 1921; Brimi, 2011; Starch & Elliot, 1912). A cognitive laboratory interview method was chosen to focus on real-time teacher decision-making due to a discrepancy between teacher beliefs and teacher practices (Phipps & Borg, 2009). Qualitative data were gathered from 21 cognitive laboratory interviews in which the participants graded two samples of student writing while verbalizing their thoughts. The grading data revealed discrepant scores with a range of 40 points and 25 points for each student essay. The findings revealed that participants interrupted their reading of student work to consider the conventions of standard English, the thesis, or to ask themselves or the imaginary student questions about the writing. The differences were that participants' interruptions focused on the conventions or the thesis, but not both, and participants either made binary or quality decisions regarding the thesis and conventions. Furthermore, participants exhibited an evaluation focus either on the thesis or the conventions of standard English, but not both. A substantive grounded theory emerged from the qualitative data: The Theory of Disparate Purposes of Writing Assessment. This emergent theory states that teachers' grading practices indicate the purpose of student writing is for the student either to demonstrate the five-paragraph essay or for the student to express something important in their writing. The theory offers an explanation for the differential application of rubrics and for the lack of rater agreement in student writing. These findings may inform teachers, school district leaders, and teacher preparation programs in ways to improve writing assessment practices and instruction.