Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The purposes of the study were threefold: (1) to assess whether the math program of a small, midwestern elementary school was meeting the district's established cognitive mathematics objectives, (2) to make recommendations for improvement of the existing mathematics program and (3) to provide a basis for the cognitive components of elementary mathematics program evaluation suitable for adoption by school corporations of a similar size.The study was designed to determine the following: Does the existing mathematics program currently conducted by a small, midwestern elementary school meet the stated program learning objectives as measured by the Metropolitan Achievement Test, and the program's criterion-referenced tests?The review of literature considered pertinent for the study was reviewed and categorized as-follows: (1) history and overview of achievement assessments, (2) evaluation of mathematics achievement, (3) mathematics teaching today, and (4) mathematics program recommendations. The population for the study was defined as those students in kindergarten through grade six in a small, midwestern elementary school enrolling 506 students who had been administered the Metropolitan Achievement Test, during the week of April 28, 1985.The assessment of the achievement of the cognitive mathematics objectives was dependent upon results of the mathematics subtest scores of the Metropolitan Achievement Test, Form JS, Survey Battery and the criterion-referenced tests of the U-SAIL Mathematics Program. Data obtained from the tests were analyzed, summarized and presented in a narrative report.Based upon the results of the study using the MAT the following conclusions have been drawn:1. At all grade levels, the mathematics program learning objectives as measured by the MAT are generally met, however, the proportion of the curriculum measured is not adequate for assessing achievement of the district's established mathematics cognitive objectives.2. The Metropolitan Achievement Test does not measure enough objectives to adequately assess achievement of the program's mathematics cognitive objectives.Based upon the results of the study using the U-SAIL criterion-referenced tests, the following conclusions have been drawn:1. At kindergarten, first and second grade levels, the objectives are adequately met. The program is effective.2. At third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade levels, the objectives are being inadequately met. The program is ineffective.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of individualization of instruction, especially as it applies to high school English instruction, thereby providing both a rationale and a strategy. The first two chapters of the study provide the rationale for individualizing high school English instruction; Chapters Three and Four suggest a strategy for individualizing high school English instruction; and Chapter Five presents a summary and conclusions.Chapter One analyzes some of the conditions of our society of the latter part of the 20th century which call for new approaches to education in order to prepare young people of today to live and grow into the 21st century. One of the approaches discussed and encouraged by many educators is that of individualization of instruction, and one hypothesis of this study is that individualization of instruction is appropriate to the subject of English. Chapter Two continues the presentation of a rationale for individualizing English instruction by examining some of the major developments in the concept of individualization from the early 1900's to the present. The review of literature reveals that much remains to be done in the application of the theory and principals of individualization to the practical implementation of them.The second part of this study (Chapters Three and Four), therefore, is designed to move from theory to practice. Chapter Three recognizes that, as the learning situation shifts from the traditional large group instruction setting to a classroom operating on an individualized approach, the responsibilities and activities of both teacher and student shift also. This chapter, therefore, discusses some of the essential changes in role and function of both teacher and student in an individualized situation, with specific application to the individualized high school English program. Chapter Four provides further application of theory to practice, specifically for high school English. In this chapter, model units for various areas of English are presented as guides to help teachers prepare their own units for the initiation of an individualized program in English for grades 10-12.The examination of the rationale and the presentation of a strategy for individualizing high school English instruction lead to certain conclusions which are included in Chapter Five. One conclusion is that efforts should be made to prepare prospective teachers of high school English to approach English instruction through an individualized approach. A second conclusion is that experienced English teachers also should be provided help to understand the rationale and strategy behind the concept of individualized instruction and be given assistance and encouragement to consider this approach as a viable alternative to traditional methods of instruction. The third conclusion is that some controlled research studies should be carried out to see the relationship between traditional approaches to the teaching of English and individualized methods as far as measurable outcomes and pupil attitudes are concerned, with the recognition that some of the goals of an English program (and sometimes essential ones) are unassessable ones.

The primary goal of this research project was to produce and test individually paced curricular materials designed to develop basic science process skill competency in preservice elementary school teachers. The four basic science process skills of observing, measuring, classifying, and predicting were identified for the study. Evidence accumulated through three approaches substantiated preservice teachers' needs for further development of these four process skills. The need for science process skill study was based upon recommendations of The American Association for the Advancement of Science, upon the results of a science process measure for teachers administered to a population of preservice elementary school teachers, and upon nine years of personal observation by the researcher in his capacity as a public school science supervisor.In developing the project a sequence of performance steps was established, taking into consideration current trends in elementary science education, individualization of instruction, and educational accountability. This systems model embodied the development of specifically stated performance objectives for each process skill identified for the study. Eight prototype process skills tests were constructed consisting of a pre/post-test for each of the four process skill areas. The tests were validated by expert opinion. Four individualized learning guides, one for each process skill area, were created to be used with preservice elementary school teachers inelementary science methods courses. An instructors' guide was developed to accompany the student materials. The format for each student guide included a rationale, performance objectives, and a sequence of activities designed to facilitate the attainment of the objectives. A different content carrier was selected to be used in developing each of the four process skill areas. Selected content from the Elementary Science Study program was used in the development of the observation process skill. Selected content from the Science-A Process Approach program was used in the development of the measuring process skill. Selected content from the Science Curriculum Improvement Study program was used in the development of the classifying process skill. And materials of the researcher's design, problem-solving activities related to the concept of change, were used in the development of the predicting process skill. The prototype materials were tested during the Spring and Summer Quarters of 1973 and revisions were made on the basis of this testing. The revised materials were pilot tested during the Fall Quarter of the 1973-74 school year with six sections of Ball State University elementary science methods students. As a result of the pilot testing a new multiple choice process pre/post-test was created and revisions in the teachers' guide were made. Final testing of the curricular materials occurred during the Winter Quarter of the 1973-74 school year with four sections of elementary methods students.Statistical treatment of the data collected during the final testing of the materials included analysis of individual pre/post-test scores, pre/post-test variance, per cent of growth applied to an established competency criterion and the application of a one-tailed t test testing the null hypothesis that the mean of the difference between the paired measures (pre/post-test scores) is zero.The feasibility of creating individually paced, science process skill curricular materials using a systems approach and merging selected content goals of elementary science methods with science process skill acquisition goals was established in this study. The population of preservice elementary school teachers who used the curricular materials met the established competency criterion for all four process skills. Data from this study provide a model for further development of other science process skill building curricular materials for pre service elementaryschool teachers.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Anne Jordan.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-234).