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Cost Comparison of Public Elementary School Construction Costs Based on Project Delivery System in the State of TexasReinisch, Ashley 2011 December 1900 (has links)
If a correlation exists between cost and project delivery system then this is crucial knowledge for any group organizing a new construction project. It has been observed anecdotally that the construction cost per student of public elementary schools has been observed to continue to increase in the state of Texas, even with the recent downturn in the economy.
The recent economic depression in the USA has seen construction material costs stagnate and construction costs dropping. This is a direct result of the competitive nature of a market that has a lack of business. The issue of a rising cost at the time of a falling market is of more than a passing research interest to school superintendents and the people of Texas.
This study investigated the relationship between cost and project delivery systems. A survey was sent to all school superintendents in Texas requesting recent data on elementary school enrollment, project delivery type and construction costs. One hundred and thirty six responses were received from one thousand and seventy six Texas school districts. A comparative means test was used to determine if a relationship exists between construction cost per student and project delivery system for public elementary schools in Texas. The research shows that Texas school districts are primarily using two types of project delivery systems for their new school construction, Construction Management at Risk and Competitive Sealed Proposals. After comparing the average construction cost per student for these two project delivery systems, the statistical analysis showed that Competitive Sealed Proposals cost approximately four thousand dollar less per student than Construction Management at Risk. The clear question is then as to why are districts using Construction Management at Risk when the comparative benefits of the contract type are not worth this amount of money per student.
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Diffusion across the digital divide: Assessing use of the Connecticut Digital Library (ICONN) in K-12 schools in Connecticut.Bogel, Gayle 12 1900 (has links)
State digital libraries are manifestations of the diffusion of technology that has provided both access to and delivery of digital content. Whether the content is being accessed and used equitably in K-12 schools has not been assessed. Determining patterns of the diffusion of use across socioeconomic groups in K-12 schools may help measure the success of existing efforts to provide equitable access and use of digital content, and help guide policies and implementation to more effectively address remaining disparities. This study examined use of the Connecticut Digital Library (ICONN) in K-12 schools in Connecticut by determining annual patterns of use per school/district over a four-year period, using transaction log search statistics. The data were analyzed in the paradigm that Rogers (2003) describes as the first and second dimensions of the consequences of an innovation - the overall growth and the equality of the diffusion to individuals within an intended audience --- in this case, students in K-12 schools. Data were compared by school district and the established socioeconomic District Reference Groups (DRGs) defined by the Connecticut State Board of Education. At the time of this study, ICONN used aggregate data (total searches) for K-12 schools, but did not have relevant data on diffusion within the public schools in Connecticut related to district or DRGs.
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Swimming Against the Tide: A Study of a Youth Enrichment Program Seeking to Empower Inner-City Black YouthKlein, Jayne A. 10 November 2011 (has links)
Serious inequities in our K-12 public education system, particularly in regard to the quality of education in predominately Black inner-city schools, are well-documented in the literature (Freeman, 1998; Ross, 1998). Moreover, there is general agreement that the most effective means of ameliorating that situation is through well-thought-out after-school programs and partnership initiatives (Beck, 1993; Gardner et al., 2001).
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the programmatic interventions of a youth enrichment program for inner-city Black youth currently in place at the Overtown Youth Center (OYC) in Miami, Florida, in order to: (a) discern those factors that support its claim that it is making a difference in students’ lives, (b) explore how any such factors are implemented, and (c) determine whether its interventions have served to equalize the playing field for these youth.
Two primary methods of data collection were used for this study. The first was participant observation conducted over the course of two years through a partnership initiative established and led by this author. The second was through in-depth interviews of the Center’s founder, staff, and students. Secondary methods used were the recording of informal conversations and the analysis of written documents.
Analysis of the data yielded four features of the Center that are indispensible to the students’ growth. The center provides the youth with (a) physical and psychological safety, (b) supportive relationships, (c) exposure to cultural and educational opportunities, and (d) assistance in building self-esteem.
The most significant finding of the study was that OYC has been successful at making a difference in students’ lives and at increasing their aspirations to attend college. By addressing the full spectrum of their needs, the Center has given them many of the necessary tools with which to compete and thereby helped equalize their opportunities to succeed in school and in life.
The study also noted a number of challenges for the Center to examine. The main issues that need to be addressed more seriously are staff turnover, staff indifference, nepotism, inconsistent student attendance, and insufficient focus on racial issues and African-American-centered education. Meeting those challenges would engender even greater positive outcomes.
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An Assessment of Technology Learning Styles, Skills, and Perceptions Among Teachers of Grades Pre-Kindergarten Through Four.Brubaker, Douglas D. 12 1900 (has links)
This study investigated whether a relationship exists between learning style and the self-reported technology-related needs, beliefs, stages of adoption, software expertise, and technology competencies of teachers in a large suburban school district. The Gregorc Style Delineator was used to identify dominant learning style, and the Snapshot Survey was used to measure technology-related needs, beliefs, stages of adoption, and software expertise. Technology competencies were measured using the Technology in Education Competency Survey. Data collected from 499 participants was included in data analysis. The study was conducted at each of the 12 elementary schools of a large suburban district in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The findings suggest that there is a significant relationship between learning style and the technology-related needs, stages of adoption, software expertise, and competencies of teachers. The relationship between learning style and technology-related needs was significant at the p < .01 level. The relationships between learning style and technology-related stages of adoption, software expertise, and technology competencies were significant at the p < .05 level. Members of the abstract sequential [AS] learning style group reported having significantly fewer needs and significantly higher stages of adoption, software expertise, and competency than members of one or more of the other learning style groups. More research is recommended to determine whether these findings could be utilized to improve teacher staff development in the area of technology. Possible applications may include mentoring programs and the customization of training models to more closely match learning style profiles.
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Integrative STEM Practices in the K-12 Classroom: Using Legos, Technology, and Writing to Increase Student MotivationMoran, Renee Rice 01 February 2017 (has links)
No description available.
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Capturing Teacher Perseverance: A Study of Veteran Teachers Who Have Remained in the ClassroomMott, Jennifer M. January 2020 (has links)
No description available.
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The Implications of Social Media: Secondary Teachers' use of Social Media for Personal, Professional, and Instructional PurposesQuintanilla, Brenda U. 08 1900 (has links)
Social media has the potential to be a critical force in creating connected educators. The collaborative nature of social media encourages personal connection, professional enrichment, and learning through co-creation of meaning. Secondary teachers are in a place that would permit them to harness these affordances, not only in their personal and professional environments, but also in their classrooms. This qualitative phenomenographic study aimed to uncover how secondary teachers used social media for personal, professional, and instructional purposes. Further, this study sought to understand secondary teachers' attitudes and beliefs toward social media. Their current state of social media use was also of interest, as were the types of relations secondary teachers had with social media. To better understand the stories and experiences realized by these educators, ten secondary teachers were engaged using a semi-structured interview process. These teachers presented with varying backgrounds, education, and teaching focus. The interviews provided a textual representation of their social media stories. Interview transcripts were transposed into thick rich accounts describing their experiences, thoughts, ideas, and how they understood social media in their personal, professional, and instructional lives.
It was found that the current state of social media use by secondary teachers was primarily limited to personal and professional purposes. Teachers used it to connect with family and friends. They used it to connect with like-minded educators and personal learning networks to locate teaching resources. Many expressed that they could see a benefit of students interacting and learning from others through social media. In the end, however, they did not use social media for instructional purposes. The majority voiced concerns about student privacy, a feeling of not being able to control what students were doing on social media, a lack of training for themselves and students, possible inappropriate behavior, and the inability to access social media through network firewalls.
Further analysis and coding of the textual data produced four emerging themes of discussion. The themes were: (1) support and constraints, (2) time, (3) privacy, and (4) one-way and two-way communication. These themes contributed to interactions with social media, in turn influencing their attitudes, beliefs, and how they used social media in their personal, professional, and instructional environments.
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Arduino Action : Arduino Action is a collaborative tool for understanding and creating with physical computing in high school.Roumen, Geert Jacob January 2020 (has links)
Within the field of education, computers and micro-controllers like Arduino are increasingly being used to teach students relevant skills, attitude and knowledge around technology. Education around these tools are often set in group contexts and collaboration is often considered an important part of the learning, however much of the currently available software is still designed around a laptop programming paradigm that which in itself tends to restrict collaboration and cementing rather than encouraging shifting of roles and activities among group members. This thesis explores how we could design tools that better invite collaborative interactions in these settings, in particular how mobile software tools could allow for sketching and iterating more fluidly. Based on interviews with experts, observations in the classroom setting, reflection with teachers and a workshop with Arduino Education this thesis sketches a future vision that re-designs the tools to be more collaborative and fluid, so that reflection, action and reaction cycles could be smaller and allow for more exploration and learning.
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Authentic Leadership Lessons from Leading Through a Pandemic: Suburban Superintendents Share Their StoriesCooper, Jonathan M. 11 April 2022 (has links)
No description available.
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AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE TEACHER TALK THAT OCCURS DURING INTEGRATED STEM UNITSValarie L Bogan (11014797) 23 July 2021 (has links)
<p>Teacher talk is a powerful
pedagogical tool in the science classroom. Educators use their talk to provide
information, guide discussions, check for understanding, and develop students'
scientific identities. However, few researchers have investigated how teachers
use their talk during an integrated science, technology, engineering, and math
(STEM) unit. This three-study dissertation investigates how teachers use their
talk to introduce a new discipline to students and how their talk affects
student learning and engagement during an integrated STEM unit. I designed
these research studies to answer the overall question: What talk moves do
teachers use during an integrated STEM unit, and how does the teacher talk
affect student engagement and learning? Study 1 is a multiple case study
investigating how teachers guide classroom discussions and how that teacher
talk affects student learning during the integrated STEM unit. Results demonstrate
the importance of teachers carefully balancing dialogic discussions and
providing information during these instructional units. Study 2 is an interpretative
qualitative study that investigates how a teacher's autonomy-supportive and/or
suppressive talk affects student engagement during the integrated unit. Results
show that each student responded differently to the teacher talk that occurred
in the classroom. While some became more engaged when the teacher used
autonomy-supportive talk, others became disengaged during the same type of
talk. Study 3 is a multiple case study investigating the talk moves teachers
use when integrating engineering concepts in the curriculum. Results show that
the two teachers requested student participation in the conversation about
engineering more during the first lesson of the unit than the last. In
addition, only one of the two teachers in this study incorporated talk about
engineering into the science lessons. The last chapter of this dissertation
synthesizes the data from all three studies. This chapter identifies some
common themes across the studies, including the complex nature of teacher talk,
the influence of non-talk factors, and the importance of dialogic discussion.
This chapter also identifies some implications for teaching, including the need
to restructure the curriculum units and to coach teachers during their first
implementation of an integrated STEM unit.</p>
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