<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> In recent years, there has been an interest in the effectiveness of college assessment preparation, which has prompted many studies. The majority of these studies researched instruction/coaching on the Scholastic Assessment Tool (SAT). Notably, the college entrance exam has become a growing concern for minorities, particularly African American students. Prior research by ACT, Inc. (2012, p. 2) has shown African American students rank the lowest in American College Test (ACT) scores of all racial groups. Between 2006 and 2011 the average ACT composite scores increased for White, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, and American/Pacific Islanders. Hispanic scores remained unchanged and the scores of African Americans students declined by an average of two scale points. The focus of this research investigated whether instruction/coaching for the ACT would increase the scores of African American students. The participants of this study were African American high school students who attended a suburban high school in the Midwest. These students took a pre-test (PLAN) and a post-test (ACT) and were provided with reflective journals to document comments and attitudes of this six-week program. The average increase in the ACT scores after taking the ACT Preparation Course was 2.00 points. Considering other variables, it appeared that the increase in these scores could be attributed to the instruction they received taking the ACT Preparation Course and prior to taking the ACT. This research compared both scores of African American students over four semesters, analyzed questionnaire data, and reflective journaling data to examine if student attitudes and scores could be affected as a result of taking a preparation course. The resulting data suggest there was not only an improvement in ACT scores, but also an improvement in student attitudes after completion of the ACT Preparation Course. Student attitudes were positively impacted towards taking the ACT in that the majority of students felt more confident when taking the test as well as acquiring a new perspective in testing skills and study strategies.</p>

<p> The relationship between teacher-assigned standards-based grades and teacher-assigned traditional grades and student achievement on the Missouri Assessment Program was examined for all students of the sample. The 120 participants for this study were third graders during the 2012-2013 school year transitioned to fourth grade during the 2013-2014 school year. The students were enrolled in Elementary School A in rural Missouri. One hundred twenty students&rsquo; permanent traditional and standards-based grade cards and Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores provided the data to determine the relationship between teacher assigned standards-based grade cards or teacher-assigned traditional grade cards and student achievement. The findings of this study provide strong suggestions for school districts considering a standards-based grading and reporting system in response to the recent transition away from traditional grading practices. The results of this study showed a significant relationship between teacher-assigned standards-based grades and student achievement on the MAP in the content areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics. The results of the study suggest standards-based grade reporting offers precise information concerning student learning that can be used as a measure of student achievement.</p>

<p> This study was designed to examine the ability of traditional and standards-based grading practices to predict student performance on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) Grade-Level Assessments at the middle school level. This study also explored the perceptions Missouri middle school teachers and administrators had concerning the use of standards-based grading and identified obstacles educators faced during and after its implementation. The research was conducted in phases to observe two sets of data. Phase One involved the collection and analysis of quantitative data from two schools in Missouri that use standards-based grading in the seventh and eighth grades and two schools in Missouri that utilize a traditional method of grading. Data consisted of semester grades and subsequent MAP achievement levels for each student in math and English language arts in the seventh and eighth grades. Student data were analyzed using the chi-square goodness-of-fit test to determine if a statistical difference existed between the ability of standards-based and traditional grading systems to predict MAP achievement. Phase Two included the collection and analysis of qualitative data which consisted of teacher and administrator responses to open-ended interview questions. Phase One data showed no ability of either standards-based or traditional grading to accurately predict subsequent MAP achievement levels. Phase Two data revealed that while the majority of respondents believed standards-based grading was a more accurate measure of student knowledge, teachers harbored negative feelings concerning this grading system, and administrators failed to provide adequate initial and ongoing professional development.</p>

<p>Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically based psychosocial intervention that targets psychological flexibility processes and has demonstrated benefits in the treatment of a variety of mental health conditions. A faster pace of training research is needed in order to inform empirically based training guidelines and this requires the development of new measures of clinical skill. The ability to identify psychological flexibility processes as they occur in therapy sessions and to discriminate between effective and ineffective interventions may be one foundational skill for ACT. This dissertation developed and evaluated a web-based discriminative ability assessment focused on this skill, called the ACT Online Competency Assessment (ACT OCA). </p><p> Simulated therapy sessions in the <i>Learning ACT</i> manual&rsquo;s companion DVD (Luoma, Hayes, &amp; Walser, 2007) were adapted into a video coding task wherein participant ratings of ACT-consistent and ACT-inconsistent interventions along with the psychological flexibility processes involved were compared with expert ratings, such that higher scores indicated greater agreement with experts across three subscales. The ACT OCA was distributed in an online survey to 189 undergraduates recruited from psychology classes at the University of Nevada in Reno who had no training in ACT. This same survey was distributed to 209 participants in intensive experiential ACT workshops conducted by expert trainers. 62 undergraduates provided sufficient data and were compared with 108 therapists who provided sufficient data. Changes associated with ACT training were examined amongst 64 workshop participants who provided Pre- and Post-workshop survey responses. </p><p> Therapists demonstrated superior ACT OCA performance and also reported higher levels of acceptance and mindfulness relative to undergraduates. Amongst workshop participants superior ACT OCA performance was correlated with superior performance in an ACT Knowledge Questionnaire and was correlated on some subscales with: ACT books read, ACT workshops attended, hours of simulated ACT sessions observed, ACBS membership status, and years spent in an ACT supervision group. Comparisons of Pre- and Post-workshop surveys indicated improvements in the ACT OCA as well as in psychological flexibility. Greater psychological flexibility at Pre predicted greater improvements in the ACT OCA at Post. However, psychological flexibility was also associated with lower ACT OCA scores at Pre. Limitations included the lack of a randomized control condition and high rates of drop-out. This study demonstrated an assessment development strategy with broad relevance to dissemination research and with particular importance to ACT&rsquo;s functional contextual conceptualization of fidelity. </p>

<p> Conflicting opinions and stances concerning standardization of curriculum in the United States education system are evidenced throughout the nation in the format of debates about the purpose of education and the curriculum. In 1892, nationally recognized American educators met as a Committee of Ten (National Education Association [NEA], 1893) to determine what subject matter should be contained in a formalized system of education, thus establishing the roots of the modern American school system. The results from the meeting were not accepted by all educational entities within the United States and curriculum content continued to be a matter of social and political debate resulting in legislative mandates designed to transform educational policy and practice. Leaders on the local, state, and national levels continue to pass new laws establishing and regulating educational standards and measurements for accountability, while classroom teachers are directed to adhere to many new directives and to become adept at a myriad of strategies and requirements to avoid being judged as inept and ultimately removed from the classroom. This action research study investigated the effectiveness of the use of Learning Targets throughout classroom curriculum by teachers as they promote instructional alignment to ensure student learning. This study explored how teachers develop, deliver, and assess student learning based on the processes and strategies contained within the Learning Target Theory of Action. It determined the perceptions about the processes involved and effectiveness of the Learning Target theory in the classroom. Finally, it placed emphases on ascertaining how students perceive the effectiveness of Learning Targets to their success in learning. </p>

<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 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 quantitative study of summer learning for Maine students in grades three through grades eight analyzed changes in academic achievement level in mathematics and reading that occurred during the summer recess of 2009. </p><p> For mathematics, it appeared that when school was not in session, students showed a cumulative loss of nearly 11 percent of a standard deviation. Although small, the change in performance over the summer was not uniform across all grades studied. For the youngest students in this study, the summer recess represented a time where children collectively lost nearly 40 percent of a standard deviation in mathematics. While gender did not show a statistically significant affect on a child&rsquo;s mathematics achievement over the summer, a child&rsquo;s socioeconomic status (SES) did. Taken cumulatively over the course of this study, high-SES children made a cumulative gain of just over one third of a performance level in mathematics as compared to their low-SES classmates. </p><p> For reading achievement, it appeared that when school was not in session, students showed a slight gain in reading of just about 2 percent of a standard deviation. Again the change was not uniform: children in the youngest grades of the study appeared to gain in achievement level during the summer, while the oldest children in this study lost nearly 32 percent of a standard deviation. Both gender and SES had a statistically significant impact on a child&rsquo;s summer learning. Over the five grade spans of this study, high-SES children gained nearly 25 percent of a performance level over their low-SES classmates while female students gained nearly 40 percent of an achievement level over their male classmates. </p><p> The patterns of learning exposed in this study for different categories of students during the summertime have meaningful implications for policymakers attempting to close the achievement gap. First, it suggests that efforts to close the achievement gap must include efforts to address out-of-school learning factors. Second, by including the summer learning in their calculations accountability measures that use an annual assessment to measure the effectiveness of teachers and schools at closing the achievement gap contain a substantial error.</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>