This study is a predictive validity study investigating if teaching candidate performance on the teacher work sample predicted post-assessment achievement of K-5 students. Teaching candidate scores on the teacher work sample for 124 pre-service teachers were matched with the post-assessment scores of the 1,321 K-5 students to whom they taught a one- to two-week instructional unit. The pre-service teachers were in a semester-long field placement prior to student teaching in four rural, low-income elementary schools. Three of the thirty-two individual indicators of the teacher work sample were significant predictors of K-5 student achievement: knowledge of community, school, and classroom factors (Contextual Factors); sound professional practice (Instructional Decision-Making); and adjustments based on analysis of student learning (Instructional Decision-Making).

In an attempt to address the disregard for holistic practices in much of Western culture and education, I present yoga as an alternative learning strategy to banking instruction often used in current educational practices. Specifically, I examine Hatha yoga in its content and methodology as a platform from which K-5 students can learn to engage in strategies of mindfulness practices to counter underlying causes of cognitive and behavioral problems seen in many public schools. Drawing from research based in the field of somatics and feminist/critical pedagogy, I articulate a yoga curriculum that supports bodily knowing and encourages the cultivation of self-/social awareness and empathy. I organize my findings into two separate curriculums: one for students in the grades K-2 and another for grades 3-5. Each curriculum is further divided into three units to include learning objectives, themed activities, lists of skills and concepts, and specific notes for instructors that take into consideration the motor and cognitive developmental patterns of students at each grade level. By establishing a curriculum consistent with current curricular standards in California, my hope is that policy-makers, administrators, educators, and parents alike will take into consideration the importance of embodied knowledge in the classroom and further advocate for its role in public schools.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andre Henrique Pizysieznig.pdf: 2148950 bytes, checksum: e98b671a3a07d9dee100a4a9d809f88a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work is part of the problem that questions the process of building major mathematical concepts from Elementary Number Theory for Basic Education. In this context, this study aimed to investigate the conception of divisibility of the K-5 students in School Elementary or through an approach with calculator. The main theoretical references were sought in Resende (2007) and Zazkis and Campbell (2002) regarding the Elementary Theory of Numbers and Sfard (1991) to cognitive processes, Silva et al (1990), Borba and Penteado (2007) and Bianchini and Machado (2010) served as reference to discuss the use of the calculator in the classroom. The qualitative research methodology is based mainly in the Engineering Curriculum. Two sessions with students from the 6th year of public schools in Sao Paulo concluded that among the four concepts focused on the proposed activities: multiple and divisor a natural number, prime numbers and operations division, the students also used a division the calculator and mental arithmetic, half the students showed an operational concept in the process of internalization of the conception of multiple , showed no students meet the mathematical meaning of the term divisor and mostly did not recognize a divisor given representation in prime factors an integer. The calculator was used for all the subjects to calculate and / or validate their responses, being used by some students uncritically, combining alternately with mental arithmetic and algorithmic / Este trabalho se insere na problemática que questiona o processo da construção dos principais conceitos matemáticos da Teoria Elementar dos Números durante a Educação Básica. Neste contexto, este estudo teve como objetivo investigar a concepção de divisibilidade de alunos do 6° ano do Ensino Fundamental por meio de uma abordagem com calculadora. Os principais referenciais teóricos foram buscados em Resende(2007) e em Zazkis e Campbell (2002) no que tange à Teoria Elementar dos Números e em Sfard (1991) para processos cognitivos; Silva et al (1990), Borba e Penteado (2007) e em Bianchini e Machado (2010) serviram de referência para discutir o uso da calculadora em sala de aula. A pesquisa de cunho qualitativo se embasou principalmente na metodologia da Engenharia Didática. Duas sessões com alunos do 6° ano da rede pública estadual de São Paulo permitiram concluir que dentre os quatro conceitos focalizados pelas atividades propostas: divisor e múltiplo de um número natural, números primos e operação de divisão, os alunos para realizar uma divisão recorrem igualmente a calculadora e ao cálculo mental, metade dos alunos mostraram uma concepção operacional em fase de interiorização do conceito de múltiplo , nenhum aluno mostrou conhecer o significado matemático do termo divisor e em sua maioria não reconheceu um divisor dada representação em fatores primos de um número inteiro. A calculadora foi utilizada por todos os sujeitos da pesquisa para calcular e/ou validar suas respostas, sendo utilizada por alguns alunos de forma acrítica, conciliando alternadamente com o cálculo mental e algorítmico

xv, 110 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / In this dissertation study, the efficacy of Vocabulary Enhanced Systematic and Explicit Teaching Routines (VE SETR) as a vocabulary intervention was examined for first grade Spanish-speaking English Language Learners (ELLs). The quasi-experimental study included two groups of elementary students in two schools that had an "early exit" Spanish language arts programs, meaning students are instructed in their native languages for the purposes of early reading instruction for 2-3 years before they are transitioned to reading in English. The study examined the efficacy of a 15 minute daily vocabulary intervention using VE SETRs to enhance the vocabulary instruction in a first grade Spanish reading program. The VE SETR treatment cohort of students received 75 minutes of core reading instruction using the Macmillan McGraw-Hill reading curriculum, Tesoros, in conjunction with systematic and explicit teaching routines (SETR) that addressed all areas of reading instruction (e.g., phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension) plus 15 minutes of small group VE SETR instruction. The SETR comparison group received 90 minutes of the general core-reading curriculum using Tesoros and the SETRs only, without the 15 minutes of vocabulary enhanced instruction. The study examined whether the VE SETR intervention improved vocabulary development for students in the VE SETR treatment cohort. Assessment measures included the Bilingual Verbal Ability Test (BVAT), the Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody PVT-III (TVIP), Indicadores Dinámicos del Éxito en la Lectura (IDEL) oral reading fluency measure and the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) measure. Research findings indicated a statistically significant difference in favor of VE SETR treatment on students' ability to define and use target vocabulary words as measured by the Depth of Knowledge assessment. However, the VE SETR treatment had no statistically significant effect on the treatment students' oral reading fluency and on their receptive vocabulary as measured by the TVIP, or their bilingual verbal ability as measured by the BVAT. Overall, the VE SETR treatment had a positive effect for the VE SETR treatment group on one of the four measures. / Committee in charge: Edward Kameenui, Chairperson, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Gerald Tindal, Member, Educational Leadership; Paul Yovanoff, Member, Educational Leadership; Scott Baker, Member, Not from U of 0; Robert Davis, Outside Member, Romance Languages

The enactment of the NCLB Act of 2001 and its legislative mandates for accountability testing throughout the nation brought to the forefront the issue of data-driven decision making. This emphasis on improving education has been spurred due to the alleged failure of the public school system. As a result, the role of administrators has evolved to incorporate data-driven decision-making practices to help make educational choices. While the underlying assumption of implementing data-driven decision making is that it will lead to improvements in education, this has yet to be empirically proven. The purpose of the study was to analyze the relationships among school characteristics, principals' level of experience, principals' data-driven decision making practices, and student achievement. This census study addressed principals of k-5 public elementary schools. In this quantitative study, a web-based survey was used to measure principals' data-driven ion-making practices. The student achievement data examined were the California Standards Test results for English language arts and mathematics for the 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 school years. Through a series of multiple regression analyses, the study examined the relationships among school characteristics, principals' level of experience, principals' data-driven decision making practices, and student achievement. Specifically. this study explored the amount of variance in student achievement scores in language arts and mathematics that could be explained by school characteristics, principals' level of experience, and data-driven decision-making practices. The results showed principals are incorporating data-driven decision-making practices in k-5 public elementary schools in California. In addition, the results showed that principals believe the quality of their decision making has improved due to implementing data-driven decision making. Principals indicated they were incorporating practices identified in the four constructs used in the present study: (a) establishing a data-driven culture, (b) data-driven decision making by teachers to improve student achievement, (c) supporting systems for DDDM, and (d) collaboration among teachers using data-driven decision making. A strong negative correlation was found between the number of students on free and reduced lunch and student achievement.

Traditionally, K-5 students' writing has had a primarily academic aim-to help students master concepts and express themselves. Even if students take a professional writing course later, they typically do not have the opportunity to practice-over the long period of time mastery requires-the non-academic writing skills they will be required to use as part of their jobs and in their civic life. Based on a limited K-5 study, Texas' McKinney Independent School District is doing a good job of preparing students at the elementary-school level in the areas of collaboration and presentation. A fair job of helping elementary-school students understand the communication situation, define audience, clarify purpose, gather and evaluate resources, and test usability. [And] a poor job of helping elementary-school students with analysis and organization. With their teachers' help, K-5 students eventually grasp the communication situation and can broadly identify their audience and purpose, but they do not appear to select words, format, communication style, or design based on that audience and purpose. Their writer-based focus affects their presentations as well, although they do present frequently. If teachers routinely incorporated audience and purpose considerations into every aspect of communication assignments (format, communication style, design), students would be better prepared for non-academic communication. Texas pre-service teachers practice the types of documents they will write on the job but do not receive training in design or style. Likewise, they practice researching, collaborating, and presenting but receive little training in those skills. If Texas K-5 teachers are to supplement the curriculum with professional writing principles, as trends suggest they should, education programs need to focus on these principles in their pre-service teacher curriculum. Professional writing principles need to become part of ingrained writing patterns because these are the skills that will best serve students after they graduate, both in their careers and civic lives. Understanding how to tailor communication for audience and purpose; how to effectively collaborate; how to select, evaluate, analyze, and organize information efficiently and productively; and how to format presentations effectively requires practice over a long period of time.