<p> As a local education agency, school districts play an important role in providing instructional support for teachers and school leaders, making instructional goals, and allocating financial and human capital resources in a rational way to promote overall students&rsquo; learning outcomes. Studies on school districts that look to find reasons or characteristics related to school district success are known as <i>district effectiveness research </i> (DER). Previous quantitative research in DER using longitudinal dataset has assumed that all school district effectiveness (SDE) changes in a common pattern through a traditional ordinary linear regression or a hierarchal linear model while ignoring the probability that there might exist distinct subgroups of school district effectiveness trajectories. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the existence of different SDE trajectories and how school district demographic variables and financial expenditures affect classification of SDE groups using a growth mixture model (GMM) with a national longitudinal dataset containing all public school districts in all 50 states and Washington D.C. from 2009 to 2015 (<i>n</i> = 11,185). The results indicated that (a) there are three different classes of school district effectiveness growth trajectories, which can be named as a constant SDE group (3.66%), a decreasing SDE group (34.16%), and an increasing SDE group (62.18%); (b) school district demographic characteristics such as a percentage of free lunch students and general administration expenditure per pupil are significantly associated with the probability of a school district being classified to a specific group; and (c) the longitudinal effects of school district demographic covariates and financial expenditures within each class such as school district locations (e.g., urban, suburban, etc.) are associated with the growth factors (intercept and slopes) in different ways. </p><p>

<p> The ability to think critically and complexly amid novel experiences that require self- and other-awareness is something that leaders in an array of social institutions seek to develop in their communities. Global and Diversity Learning (GDL) practices, one category of high impact practices (Kuh, 2008), aim to increase students&rsquo; awareness of self and others and imbue critical thinking skills that will help students see how their own background and experiences interact with those of peers. This study aims to understand the relationship of four GDL practices (education abroad, multicultural programming, intercultural living-learning communities, and global studies coursework) to desired learning outcomes. Through completing ANCOVAs and multiple regression analyses on an existing dataset of GDL participants, this study demonstrates the influence of gender, socio-economic status, and citizenship within GDL practice types. The study findings also reveal significant differences between group members&rsquo; other awareness and critical thinking capacity. Understanding how different GDL practice types affect capacity development will allow university leadership to direct collaboration between departments and align programming, to allocate resources more effectively, and communicate potential outcomes based on empirical data.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the impact of teacher attitudes and to discover other factors that have an impact on the implementation of a standards-based grading program. This descriptive phenomenology features interviews of 25 educators from Georgia as well as other states and two foreign countries in order to collect their perspectives of the lived experience of the implementation process. </p><p> The findings of this study suggest that the attitudes teachers have regarding the implantation process of a standards-based grading program do have a significant impact on the process. Those participants who described themselves as having a positive attitude towards the transition tended to also describe experiencing a more successful implementation of the program. The converse was true as participants describing their experience as being controlled by a negative attitude towards the transition experienced less successful transitions to the standards-based grading program. The findings of this study suggest that school leaders play a vital role in creating a successful implementation process and that other factors such as the quality of professional development and the element of time impact the process.</p><p>

<p> Employability skills training programs are an essential strategy to improve the skills of the workforce and minimize unemployment in Malaysia. However, there has been a lack of assessment and evaluation studies regarding local employability skills training programs. Existing local studies are focused more on the identification of the skills that allow a person to be employable. Due to the lack of assessment and evaluation studies, stakeholders seem perplexed about the direction of training programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of educators, employers, and recent graduates regarding the role of employability skills training programs in the workforce of Malaysia. The study also identified those factors that facilitate and improve training programs. The theoretical framework for this descriptive study was based on Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1993; Schultz, 1961). All participants for this study were from the central economic region of the west coast of peninsular Malaysia. The first population was engineering, technical, and vocational educators in public higher education institutions. The second population was employers in the manufacturing sector. The third population was recent graduates who were enrolled in employability skills training programs in higher education institutions and training centers. A questionnaire was adapted to gather perceptions from the respondents. The findings of this study revealed the importance of training programs for improving the skills, minimizing unemployment, and developing the workforce of Malaysia. Educators and recent graduates agreed about the positive impact of such programs on trainee skills. However, employers perceived that employability skills training programs neither ensure improvement in the skills, minimize unemployment, nor develop the workforce. The factors that facilitate the involvement of recent graduates in training programs and recommendations were also identified. Additionally, the findings revealed that employability skills training programs are relevant for recent graduates and workers in the labor force. Further, the findings identified the most integral skills that recent graduates should possess to obtain employment in the competitive job market as perceived by educators, employers, and recent graduates, including discipline and integrity, interpersonal skills, and professionalism, creativity and innovation, teamwork, lifelong learning, ability to apply knowledge, and knowledge in specific engineering disciplines.</p>

<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>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1989. / Title from title page screen, viewed October 26, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Ronald Laymon (chair), Richard L. Berg, Larry D. Kennedy, Mary Ann Lynn, Ronald J. Yates. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-225) and abstract. Also available in print.

<p> The purpose of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) triage during actual mass casualty incidents (MCI) and full-scale MCI exercises. Developed in 1984, Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment triage was created to assist in the process of triaging large quantities of injured patients from natural or manmade disasters and has since been the nationally accepted triage model in the United States. Historically, limited studies have shown patients are in fact, over-triaged 53% of the time. The research goal was to obtain substantial data to determine whether first responders&rsquo; use of the current triage model effectively sustains life. A mixed methods research analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collected from one historical MCI incident and three MCI exercises was evaluated to develop recommendations for protocol change and future curriculum development. Data analysis from actual incidents and exercises confirm that &ldquo;just-in-time&rdquo; training does increase the accuracy of the START triage model used from 42% to 73%. </p><p>

<p> For centuries, education policymakers have sought to identify the most effective way to assess a potential teacher&rsquo;s readiness to enter the classroom. These assessments evolved from multiple choice examinations to performance-based assessments focused on teacher actions. The latest iteration of these performance-baed assessments is edTPA. </p><p> edTPA&rsquo;s structure mirrors that of the assessment for National Board Certification (NBC) designed for veteran teachers. The NBC assessment has shown to be educative for teachers who complete it, leading to positive changes in their post-assessment practice (Athanases, 1994; Hattie &amp; Clinton, 2010; Sato, Darling-Hammond and Wei, 2008; Steeley, 2003). This study examines whether edTPA has similar educative impacts on early career teachers. </p><p> Since edTPA is relatively new, little research has been completed on its impact on teacher practice. Most of the current literature on edTPA focuses on its implementation or on pre-service candidate perceptions of completing the assessment. This interview study also examines candidate perceptions but focuses on whether they felt completing edTPA was educative and impacted their current practice. </p><p> This study includes twenty teachers who participated in two hour-long interviews given roughly six months apart. All of the participants were recent secondary mathematics education graduates from one university. This study is among the first studies of edTPA to include teachers who both completed edTPA and have been teaching for at least two years. Another unique strength of this study is that, prior to the second interview, candidates reviewed their actual edTPA portfolio to help recall components of the assessment and to potentially make clearer connections between edTPA and their current practices. </p><p> The study results support the notion that edTPA can be educative and influence a teacher&rsquo;s current practices around planning, instruction, and assessment. The level of influence that completing edTPA has on a teacher&rsquo;s practices may be impacted by school or district policies that either hinder or support high-scoring edTPA practices. The results demonstrate how edTPA can not only be seen as a summative tool at the end of pre-service teaching, but also a formative tool that impacts the teaching practices of early career teachers.</p><p>

<p> This study investigated the efficacy of the Read 180 program and its impact on upper secondary ELL students participating in the Read 180 program. The targeted population consisted of four 11^th and 12^th grade ELL READ 180 students attending a rural school with a school population of 884 students. To assess the effects of the Read 180 program, data was collected in regards to student reading, writing, speaking, and listening abilities from the beginning and the end of the 2017&ndash;2018 academic school year. Although this study was limited in duration and scope, it clearly shows that the Read 180 program had limited success in regards to student achievement in the areas of reading and writing. In addition, the data shows little to no progress for the target students in regards to listening and speaking. In addition, the study revealed that the students&rsquo; lack of a positive attitude in regards to the Read 180 program may have hindered student progress. Based on these findings, some pedagogical and teacher training recommendations are discussed, and a suggestion is included for future research. </p><p>

<p> This qualitative single case study on backward design lesson planning experiences of teachers in a professional learning community focused on gaining a better understanding of collaborative planning of standards-based learning intentions, success criteria, assessments, and activities as performed by four participants meeting daily in one high school content area department. The backward design lesson planning model contains three stages, including development of standards-based learning objectives, learning objective-based assessments, and assessment criteria-based authentic learning activities. The research problem was informed by multiple selections from the body of literature in the field of education on backward design lesson planning, curriculum evaluation frameworks, and suggestions for a need to better understand collaborative planning, backward design curricula, professional development-informed planning and practice, and professional learning community interactions in designing curricula. The purpose of the study was to better understand how teachers develop standards-derived learning intentions, success criteria, assessments, and activities through the backward design lesson planning model. The conceptual framework was constructed from a synthesis of findings from quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods peer-reviewed research reports in the field of curriculum and teaching. Synthesized findings informed the structure and sections of the conceptual framework, supporting the purpose of the research in better understanding connections between components of traditional linear curriculum evaluation, the three stages of backward design, and the need to better understand interactions between professional development practice of new curriculum development initiatives, implementation of new initiatives in professional learning community lesson plan design, and teacher perceptions of planning lessons through the lens of backward design. Through observational field notes and open-ended questionnaires pertaining to the three stages of backward design lesson development, teacher actions observed during professional learning community meetings and experiences noted by teachers on questionnaire forms indicated that teachers utilized their common lesson planning time in deriving learning objectives from content area standards, generating formative assessments for ongoing feedback to inform teaching and learning, generating rubrics for clarity in the relationship between success criteria and the satisfying of learning objectives, and sequencing activities based on ability levels of individual learners so that challenges were scaffolded based on cognitive complexity, with the goal of all students meeting learning objectives. Potential impacts of study results include integration of backward design lesson planning into professional development programs and professional learning community curriculum development programs for alignment, clarity, and congruency between content area department standards, objectives, assessments, and activities. Recommendations for future research informed by minor themes uncovered during the study include a need for further study of teacher perceptions of standards-based grading practices.</p><p>