This research effort investigates relationships among factors that typically impact student performance in computer skills. The study utilizes a causal-comparative (ex post facto) research design to examine the effects of several variables on the computer skills of low performing eighth grade students. Students from two county school systems were selected for inclusion in comparison groups. The relative contribution of literacy training, reading comprehension, race, and family income will be considered using multiple regression analysis. The results will be examined for the difference in effect sizes and/or existence of interactions between variables. The findings will be summarized at the conclusion of the study, along with possible implications for future research and instructional planning.

To better understand issues of congruity between the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) and its teacher membership, this study surveyed a sample of NCAEâs membership about issues related to curriculum and instruction. The research reported here utilized a model (exchange theory) that makes a distinction between voluntary membership organizations and non-voluntary membership organizations. The survey sampled 263 NCAE teacher members. Descriptive statistics, ANOVAs, and content analysis addressed three specific questions about congruity of positions taken by NCAE on curriculum and instruction issues and the beliefs of NCAE members. Results suggest NCAE members hold views very congruent with NCAE leadership. The importance of making distinctions between teacher views in non-bargaining states is a major implication of the findings.

<p>ABSTRACTMASON, CHERYL LARAY. An Analysis of Patterns of Computer Mediated Communication Within the Social Studies Student Teaching Experience. (Under the direction of Dr. Peter H. Martorella.) The purpose of this research has been to examine the computer mediated communication (CMC) among a cohort of middle school social studies student teachers and their university supervisors. CMC was facilitated by desktop videoconferencing and web-based groupware. Desktop videoconference sessions were held weekly using CU-SeeMe software, while, web-based groupware messages were posted voluntarily with NetForum software. The two modes of CMC provided the student teachers the opportunities for professional collaboration from their field placement. A qualitative design was used to identify patterns of discourse and to describe the participants? uses of technology. As a result of the participants? active participation in an online learning community, opportunities for peer collaboration and reflection were enhanced. Data from online conversations, interviews, and observations suggested that the intervention of CMC in the student teaching experience allowed the participants to engage in self-directed professional dialogue. The findings suggest that the participants translated the use of technology from the personal context to the classroom context. As a result of this, they acquired perceptions of themselves as technology users.Desktop videoconferencing as a mode of CMC provided more immediate and satisfactory feedback for the participants than the web-based groupware.<P>

<p>ABSTRACTJACKSON, ALECIA YOUNGBLOOD. Peer Response Groups Using Electronic and Traditional Communications: A Portraiture of a Class. (Under the direction of Dr. Carol A. Pope.) This participatory action research project was a qualitative inquiry into the contextual variables that influence peer response groups using electronic and traditional communications. The research participants, students of the teacher/researcher, were twenty-two university freshmen enrolled in two sections of a reading and writing course required for students with low verbal SAT scores. Students wrote five autobiographical stories in the narrative genre. For the first two writings, students paired with the same peer from their class for the face-to-face conferences. For the third writing assignment, students had both in-class conferences with the same peer in addition to an e-mail conference with a peer from the other class. Students used e-mail only to communicate with both partners about writing assignments four and five. Data collection took place throughout the fifteen weeks of the semester and consisted of participant observations, document analysis of students' reaction journals, document analysis of students? first and second drafts of writing (with peer comments), and individual interviews. Findings are presented as a portraiture of the collective classes and a portraiture of a peer response triad. The main theme that emerged from the findings is "acts of negotiation and balance." In general, students depended on the established social relationships with their in-class partners when making revision decisions. Students acknowledged that e-mail exchanges about writing were convenient and widened their audience, but they did not work to establish a relationship with their e-mail partners. Most students valued the complementary aspects of using the two different modes of communication for feedback about their writing. However, preference for mode of communication was secondary to their peers' possessing qualities of honesty, trustworthiness, and sensitivity. How peers achieved this rapport within their relationships was idiosynchratic to each response group. This study concluded that individual student attitudes, values, and expectations influence and are influenced by multiple contextual variables in the writing classroom (i.e., physical context, social context, mode of communication, the peer response group, and time). A model of reciprocity is proposed to illuminate the complex dynamics within peer response groups. Future research on peer response groups should include more systematic inquiry into contextual forces that contribute to the success or collapse of peer response groups. Teachers should work to understand the inevitable interchanges between individual students and class context in order to assist their students as they grow and develop as readers and writers in peer response groups. <P>

<p>The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to examine a new approach to information delivery and communication within Teacher Education courses. Advanced technologies in the Internet, Listserv, E-mail, NetForum and electronic forms were integrated, and the learning was guided by the clinical analysis/reflection and structured self-evaluation in a differentiated environment to promote individual development in both cognition and ethics.A cluster sample of sixty-eight pre-service teachers enrolled in the Introduction to Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences course in the Spring of 1999 at the North Carolina State University. Both pretest and posttest were conducted using Defining Issues Test by James Rest for the evaluation of moral growth of the students and Computing Concerns Questionnaire by Jean Martin for the concerns of the students in computing. The qualitative conclusion reached by the researcher suggested students have improved in both quantity and quality of their work more than previous semesters. The quantitative data showed a trend of decrease in students' concerns with regard to computing through Technology-Assisted-Reflection. Despite the statistically insignificant result, study indicated moral development of our pre-service teachers at the Stage 4 of moral development, which is within the norm of the national standard for undergraduate students. <P>

INCORPORATING LITERATURE CIRCLES IN A THIRD-GRADE CLASSROOM Margaret Marlene Morrow, Ed.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2005 This study describes how one third-grade classroom became literature discussants utilizing role-playing in a literature circle format. Over a span of nine months, I documented students initiation, training, and practice utilizing role-playing to conduct peer-led discussions about books. Types of responses, role-playing, and interactions resulting from role-playing activities while engaged in literature circle were examined. Audio and video taping, student self-evaluations and reactions, student role-playing schedules, and student artifacts based on culminating activities, provided a data set to analyze interactions and responses. Findings of the study indicated roles used to promote individual participation in discussions about books were easily adapted, particularly for the low and average-ability students who require more support in their learning. Over time and texts, students appeared to shift naturally in and out of roles while making contributions to discussions. Interactions known as Informative ranked highest in frequency for all students followed by Facilitative and Solicitation. Acknowledging interactions ranked third in frequency for the low-ability student. Responses known as Personal were most frequent and progressive across time and texts for all students. Interpretive responses showed the greatest percentage increase compared to other categories, but the lowest in cumulative frequency. Evaluative responses were most frequent and consistent across time and texts for the high-ability student compared to low and average ability students. Descriptive responses were lowest cumulative tally for high and low students only. The role of the teacher was viewed as shifting from voice of authority to facilitator assisting youngsters in finding their own voices.

It was the purpose of this study to explore if there is a more effective way to practice aural skills, one that could be individualized as well as computer based: a method of practice that would enhance what the instructor does in the classroom and help the student reinforce their recognition of the basic elements of aural skills and dictation. Concept mapping, which has been beneficial in other educational settings, especially math and science, might be such a way. The goal of this study was to examine if this procedure could be applied to aural stimuli in the same way it has been applied to verbal information. Sixty-four students in a first year college aural skills class were randomly assigned to two groups. Following a pretest of twenty-five chords randomly chosen from a pool of fifty, one group was presented with a lesson on concept mapping while listening to the chords and the other group received a distractor task. The results of these tests showed a higher gain score for the treatment group, M = 5.33, than for the control group, M = 1.25. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), showed a moderately significant gain of p = .030 (one-tailed) for the treatment group. Overall, the test results indicated a positive effect of the treatment on the ability of the participants to recognize chords in the posttest. Due to the limitations in the present study, more research is suggested to determine the effectiveness of the process.

This study investigated the effects of repeated reading of decodable and less decodable text on oral reading fluency, specifically accuracy and correct words read per minute. In addition the study sought to determine if a particular text type facilitated oral reading fluency for good, average, or poor readers. Participants read either decodable or less decodable texts or received regular classroom instruction. The two treatment groups reread two narrative and one informational text using four different techniques, (e.g. echo, choral and two variations of partner reading). The comparison group read a different leveled text each week as part of their regular classroom instruction. The leveled text was not reread. Treatment and comparison groups did not differ on post measures on nonsense word fluency or passage reading. Both treatment groups regardless of ability level increased significantly in words read correctly for each story. Thus, the repeated reading of text did have an effect on correct words read per minute. There was no significant difference between the groups reading decodable and less decodable text for two of the three stories read, regardless of reading ability. There was a significant difference between the two groups of low ability readers on one story, with the students reading decodable text making a significant gain in oral reading fluency.

This study examined the extent to which middle and high school classroom history assessments align with the educational objectives outlined in the 7th National Curriculum in Korea. In particular, the alignment between the classroom assessments and the educational objectives focused on the level of cognitive reasoning skills and the breadth of historical knowledge. The technical quality of the classroom assessment items, and the extent to which teachers had professional development activities related to the design, use, and interpretation of assessments were also examined. Korean history assessments for the 2004 school year from 22 middle schools and 10 high schools were collected and analyzed. The classroom assessments and the educational objectives were analyzed to examine their alignment with respect to the depth of understanding, breadth of knowledge, and balance of representation. An item writing guideline developed by Haladyna, et al. (1989, 2002) was used to examine the technical quality of the items. A brief survey of history teachers was conducted to obtain information about their assessment related professional development activities. The results of the study indicated that a relatively large percent of the assessment items from both middle and high schools tended to measure lower levels of historical reasoning than those required by the objectives, resulting in a small percent of items being consistent with the cognitive level of objectives. The distribution of the test items was not balanced across the objectives, rather they tended to emphasize factual knowledge, and the assessments did not thoroughly cover the span of knowledge represented in the curriculum. There were little differences across different levels and types of schools. However, multiple-choice test items from high schools were more likely to assess higher levels of historical understanding than middle school test items. In contrast, the performance assessment tasks for middle school students provided more opportunities to use higher level thinking skills. Most of the items were well developed in terms of formatting and writing test item stems and alternatives. The teacher survey suggested that teachers had little professional development related to the design, use, and interpretation of assessments in both their training courses and activities before and during their professional careers.

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice secondary mathematics teachers understandings about proportional reasoning prior to and upon completion of a practice-based methods course focused on proportional reasoning, their opportunities to learn the intended content, and their ability to apply what was learned in a new setting. Ten teachers completed a pre/posttest and pre/post interview that was designed to explore their ability to reason proportionally. All classes were videotaped so as to examine teachers opportunities to learn to reason proportionally and to utilize their understandings in a new setting. In addition, six teachers who were not enrolled in the course served as a contrast group and completed the pre/post instruments. The analysis of the data suggests that teachers learned important aspects of proportional reasoning from the course. Prior to the course, there were no differences between the understandings of the teachers enrolled in the course and those who were not. However, by the end of the course, teachers enrolled in the course utilized a broader range of solution strategies, significantly improved their capacity to distinguish between proportional and nonproportional relationships, and significantly enhanced their understanding of the nature of proportional relationships, while those in the contrast group did not. In addition, the analysis of the class sessions made salient that all of the mathematics that teachers learned during the course was made public during multiple classes and by multiple teachers. The analysis also revealed that even teachers who remained mostly silent during class discussions still learned the same mathematics that more the vocal teachers learned. The results of the analysis of class sessions from a subsequent course on algebra revealed that the teachers who participated in the proportional reasoning course drew upon their enhanced understandings of proportional relationships when appropriate. This result suggests that teachers had not merely memorized discrete facts about proportional relationships, but had developed flexible understandings that allowed them to access their knowledge as they explored different mathematical ideas. Finally, the results of the study suggest that practice-based teacher education courses can be fruitful sites for helping teachers develop mathematical knowledge needed for teaching.