Student engagement is a multifaceted construct gaining increased interest within the fields of psychology and education. Current literature suggests that student engagement is linked to important student outcomes including academic achievement, psychopathology, and mental wellness; however, there is a dearth of studies that have examined all components of student engagement simultaneously as they relate to the aforementioned outcomes. Additionally, past literature has found support for a decreasing trend in student engagement across the school years, but less attention has been paid to student engagement in the high school years. Among high school students, a particular subgroup has been virtually ignored: high-achieving students enrolled in college-level curricula such as International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP). Research questions answered in the current study pertain to: (a) differences in the components of student engagement among IB and AP students, (b) differences in the components of student engagement of IB and AP students across grade level, (c) the extent to which student engagement relates to academic achievement, and (d) the extent to which student engagement relates to mental health. To answer these questions, self-report surveys and school records data from 727 IB and AP high school students were analyzed. Several main effects for program type and grade level were found among the various dimensions of engagement, as well as two interactions between program type and grade level. Regarding predictive relationships, results indicate that the linear combination of all seven indicators of student engagement accounted for 19.56% of the variance in students' academic achievement, 17.47% of the variance in students' life satisfaction, and 6.17% of the variance in students' anxiety. Implications for school psychologists and future directions are discussed.

This study examines a five‐month process in which students from an International Baccalaureate (IB) school were introduced to Knowledge Building. The study occurred throughout three of the six Units of Inquiry that students cover over one year in the IB program. The transition from independent inquiry in the IB system to collective inquiry using knowledge building was aided by the Knowledge Forum software. The participants were 26 students from an international school in Hong Kong. Findings indicate that students responded positively to the knowledge building process, and showed significant of gains in knowledge in two units. Contributions to the knowledge building wall and Knowledge Forum showed evidence of some of the principles of knowledge building. Results also indicate more could have been done on the part of the teacher to promote the program. A number of recommendations for future implementations have been made. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (Ed. D.)-- Boise State University, 2009. / Title from t.p. of PDF file (viewed June 22, 2010). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-84).

This thesis has focussed on the International Baccalaureate’s Diploma Programme (IBDP). This focus arose from the author having worked in three centres which had subsequently gone on to adopt the IBDP, and which had thus given the author access to an initial purposive sample. This sample was later extended to include another five schools/colleges, as the author found that the initial interviewing sample had yielded inconclusive findings. The extended sample, however, provided a significantly rich source of qualitative data. This thesis examines leadership, and how leaders choose to implement non-mandatory curricula choices in schools and colleges. It also addresses whether leaders believe that these choices make differences to their students’ life chances through social mobility. This thesis investigates what happens when leaders can no longer afford to offer such choices to their students: how this makes them ‘feel’, and what they have ‘experienced’, through the removal of a curriculum option for educationalists and learners alike. It also addresses how leaders ‘feel’ when their students maintain access to curricula choices that other post-16 students are unable to access. The thesis also considers the development and extension of ‘a globally mobile transnational elite’ group (Savage et al, 2015: 244), and the leaders in education who deliver and extend this position. There have been eight phases to this research process, including four strands of data collection, with post-16 students, middle tier staff, HEI students, and Senior Leadership Teams in providing institutions, but the determining focus is with the SLTs interviews (N=28), conducted in 2014 and 2015. These were the individuals who had taken the decisions on the implementation of this non-mandatory curriculum area. The thesis analyzes some of the current areas of ‘distinction’ (Bourdieu, 1986) on independent schooling, and the research process demonstrates the significant gaps that are opening up between more traditional upper middle class groups in contrast with more adept transnational students and their parents. The thesis confirms that a global transnational elite exists inside the English education system, and that it uses the IBDP extensively to establish its separate cultural identity. It identifies ways of access to HEIs that are now a critical part of that cultural entity, as discussed by Savage et al (2015). This thesis is therefore an indicator of new and emerging forms of social differentiation, and examines how this is created using the IBDP. At a time of decreasing social mobility for the mainstream population, the thesis explores whether education environments are able to influence either their students or the wider education policy agenda, in order to actively achieve social justice.

Cognitive engagement has been linked to positive outcomes such as academic achievement (Eccles & Wang, 2012). However, students’ level of cognitive engagement tend to decline as students move into middle childhood and adolescence (Archambault, Janosz, Morizot, & Pagani, 2009; Wang & Eccles, 2012a; Wiley & Hodgen, 2012). In addition, two out of three high school students nationwide reported feeling bored at school because the academic tasks are not interesting or relevant (Yazzie-Mintz, 2006). In regard to this matter, researchers have examined factors that relate to cognitive engagement. Most of the existing research is quantitative in nature and only involves students who are low or average achievers. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the facilitators and barriers of cognitive engagement from the perspective of high-achieving students with qualitative methods. Participants were ninth grade students in accelerated curricula (i.e., enrolled in Advanced Placement classes or International Baccalaureate Diploma program). A mixed-method sequential design was utilized. Forty-seven participants who scored at the top or bottom 10% on indicators of cognitive engagement, specifically the Goal Valuation and the Motivation/Self-Regulation subscales of School Assessment of Attitudes Survey-Revised (SAAS-R) were identified from a larger sample of 320 freshmen. Among the selected participants, 13 were invited and 12 took part in the qualitative part of the study— individual interviews. A generic approach, focusing on the constant-comparative method, was used to analyze data generated from interviews. The qualitative analyses revealed nine themes. The first theme provided context to the voices of participants, including why they decided to join accelerated curricula and how their experiences in AP/IB classes have been. The next five themes were related to the facilitators of cognitive engagement. It includes (a) students’ role, (b) teachers’ role, (c) parents’ role, (d) school connectedness, and (e) technology’s role. Finally, the last three themes addressed barriers to cognitive engagement. Participants shared that some (a) student characteristics, such as mindset and life circumstance, (b) negative academic experiences, and (c) distractions deterred them from being cognitively engaged in their AP/IB coursework. Collectively, most of the themes generated from this study aligned with the findings from past research, except some themes from past studies were not found in this study. This study also discovered new themes that expanded upon the past literature’s understanding on ways to promote and remove barriers that hinder cognitive engagement. Consistent with the theories of other researchers, the results of this study showed that the three different types of student engagement (i.e., cognitive, behavioral, emotional engagement) are interrelated to each other. This study also found relatively little differences in the sentiments provided by participants who self-reported higher or lower level of cognitive engagement. Implications of this study include expanding the current literature body on facilitators and barriers of cognitive engagement. The results of this study also serve as a general guidebook for educators of AP/IB students to (a) create a learning environment that promotes cognitive engagement, (b) suggest to students strategies that might increase their level of cognitive engagement, and (c) share with parents home-based strategies that may promote students’ cognitive engagement. Future studies should focus on exploring the applicability of the findings on other student populations by conducting interviews with a more diverse set of participants (e.g., students with varying level of academic achievement) and further explore barriers to cognitive engagement.

Students in accelerated curricula tend to have greater stress when compared to students in general education (Suldo, Shaunessy, & Hardesty, 2008). It is important for stakeholders to be able to help these students reach their goals and attain happiness. One potential method to help these students is to attend to their character strengths. People who effectively utilize their character strengths have achieved numerous positive outcomes including greater levels of well-being, self-esteem, and positive affect (Proctor, Malby, & Linley, 2011; Quinlan, Swain, Cameron, & Vella-Brodrick, 2014; Wood, Linley, Maltby, Kashan, & Hurling, 2011). Unfortunately, there is a lack of research on students’ strengths, and there is no research looking specifically at the strengths of students in accelerated curricula. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the character strengths of students in accelerated curricula. Participants included 253 ninth-grade students in accelerated curricula, specifically enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) classes or a pre-International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma program. A mixed-method design was utilized. For the quantitative part of the study, the researcher looked at the most frequent self-identified character strengths of all the participants and examined if the endorsed strengths differed for subgroups of students based on ethnicity, academic program, academic risk, or emotional risk. The most prevalent strength was humor, followed by love, creativity, kindness and curiosity. More Asian students identified with love of learning compared to students from other ethnic groups, and more White students identified with social intelligence. Across program, more AP students identified with creativity and fairness, and more IB students identified with self-regulation and kindness. In regard to risk status, more students without academic risk identified with persistence/perseverance. More students without emotional risk identified with creativity, persistence/perseverance, leadership, and teamwork, whereas more students with emotional risk identified with love, hope, and humor. For the qualitative part of the study, the researcher examined a subset of 121 participants who participated in a selective intervention because they were identified as demonstrating early signs of academic or emotional risk. The researcher examined how these students described their behaviors and actions in a way that illustrated their strengths. The qualitative analyses revealed three main themes: Manifestation, Importance, and Origination. This thesis can assist educators understand how high-achieving students describe and view their character strengths as meaningful. The rich descriptions of each character strength can be useful for educators in targeting character strengths in students and creating strengths-based interventions to increase students’ happiness and overall flourishing, according to the PERMA framework (which is made up of positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment). Further research should be conducted on why strengths differ between AP and IB students, as those findings may have implications for those who participate and ultimately succeed in these rigorous programs.

Denna kvalitativa fallstudie undersöker hur svenskämnet på IB-programmet regleras i styrdokumenten, hur styrdokumenten kan omsättas till undervisningspraktik samt vilka fördelar och nackdelar lärare som undervisar i både IB-svenskan och de nationella svenskkurserna Svenska A och Svenska B upplever med IB-svenskan. Fallstudiens metoder är en hermeneutisk styrdokumentsanalys av IB-svenskans styrdokument i relation till kursplanen för Svenska B, en halvstrukturerad observation av en lektion i IB-svenska och halvstrukturerade intervjuer med de två lärare som undervisar i IB-svenska på den undersökta gymnasieskolan. Som analysverktyg nyttjas ramfaktor- samt frirumsmodellen. De slutsatser som kan dras utifrån fallstudien är att de yttre ramarna för IB-svenskan i form av styrdokumenten är snävare än för kursen Svenska B. Kursplanen, betygssystemet, ”Prescribed Book List”, den tillgängliga tiden, elevunderlaget och gruppstorleken utgör alla ramfaktorer som inskränker lärarnas frirum, både det upplevda och reella, i utformningen av och undervisningen i IB-svenska. Detta ser lärarna både fördelar och nackdelar med. De tydligare uppgiftsspecifika betygskriterierna är ett exempel på en fördel med IB:s betygssystem, medan en nackdel med Prescribed Book List är att den gör det svårare att lyfta in dagsaktuell litteratur. Samtidigt uppmärksammar studien att det reella frirummet som ges i Svenska B-kursen inte alltid utnyttjas på grund av ramfaktorn tid. Vida yttre gränser innebär alltså inte per automatik ett stort upplevt frirum för lärarna.

The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program [IB PYP] is a student-driven, inquiry-based elementary school level educational program that has grown rapidly in the United States since its creation in 1997. This study explores how IB PYP art teachers define and implement inquiry-based instructional methods in their art rooms through a nation-wide, online survey of art teachers, coordinators, and administrators. The Survey consists of 22 questions which ask respondents to describe their classroom practices and provide examples of how they make use of inquiry-based methods in the art room. The responses to this survey were then value coded for four different phases of inquiry and three degrees of student-centeredness to analyze understandings of these practices. This study concludes that conceptions of these instructional methods vary greatly in occasionally contradictory ways. There is need for more robust lesson plans examples and increased frequency and access to subject specific training, in both physical and online settings.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) standards recognize reflection as an integral part of the framework and the fabric of the Primary Years Programme school, as it is embedded in the foundational standards and practices of the inquiry-based IB teaching model. However, teachers in an IB Primary Years Programme school located in the southeast United States struggled with being reflective practitioners. Guided by John Dewey's reflective thought, the purpose of this bounded qualitative exploratory case study was to examine teacher perceptions of reflection practices in an IB Primary Years Programme school. Research questions were drafted to ask about teachers' perceptions of their reflective practices, how teachers' perceived reflective practices aligned with IB's teaching model, and beliefs about the school-based support and resources teachers needed to implement reflective practices. The selection criteria included teachers with at least 2 years of teaching experience who had been to at least 1 outside IB training. Ten teachers, chosen through purposeful sampling, completed a 2-week reflective journal and participated in a semistructured interview. Based on the open-coding and inductive analysis patterns emerged, leading to themes; including lesson reflections, planning, time, and training. Based on the findings, a project, a white paper, includes recommendations to address the teachers' perceptions of reflective practices that will be presented to the school as well as the district. This improved instructional change may provide positive social change in the culture of reflection for teachers and help them and to better differentiate instruction for students.

In this study, the contributions of learning motivation, reasoning ability, learning orientation and gender to International Baccalaureate and National Program students&rsquo / mitosis and meiosis achievement was investigated. Participants of the study were 472 ninth grade students from a private high school in Ankara. Two hundred nineteen students (46%) were in International Baccalaureate Program and two hundred fifty three (54%) were in National Program. The study was conducted during the 2006-2007 Spring semester. Prior to the introduction of mitosis and meiosis topics, students&rsquo / motivations toward biology learning (self efficacy, active learning strategies, science learning value, performance goals, achievement goals, learning environment stimulation), formal reasoning abilities and learning approaches were measured by Students&rsquo / Motivation Towards Biology Learning Questionnaire, Test of Logical Thinking Ability scale and Learning Approach Questionnaire respectively. After the topics have been covered, a 20 item Mitosis and Meiosis Achievement Test was used to measure achievement in mitosis and meiosis topics. Multiple regression analysis revealed that achievement was explained in positive direction by formal reasoning ability and in negative direction by active learning strategies and rote learning in National Program classes. Self-efficacy and formal reasoning ability had significant contributions to achievement for International Baccalaureate students. The main predictor of achievement was formal reasoning ability for both International Baccalaureate and National Program students, explaining 4.7% and 10.9% variance respectively. Moreover, while 2.9% of the variance in achievement was explained by self efficacy in International Baccalaureate classes, rote learning explained 2.2% of the variance in achievement in negative direction in National Program classes.