The purpose of this study was to determine what impact high-stakes testing had on one school district's central office organizational culture, and how changes affected district-wide practices, central office administrators and campus principals. Three research questions guided the study: 1) What changes in the central office organizational culture occurred due to the increased implementation of and pressure from high-stakes testing? 2) How have the changes in the central office culture affected district administrators and campus leaders? 3) How have changes in central office organizational culture affected district-wide practices? This study utilized a qualitative methodology and a case study approach, focusing on one Texas school district. Three types of data collection methods were used: focus groups, interviews, and document review. The data were coded and analyzed using the constant comparison method in order for themes and propositions to surface. This resulted in a rich description of the case and provided answers to the three research questions. The findings of the study revealed that high-stakes testing has affected the central office organizational culture, as well as campus and district administrators, in four distinct ways: It has instilled fear of failure and fear of losing one's job; it has invoked frustration, both because of the narrow focus of the test and the demands of outside stakeholders; it has inhibited freedom, particularly in goal-setting; and it has improved focus by ensuring the use of research-based teaching practices and detailed student achievement data analysis. These changes have led to six alterations in district-wide practices: more precise student data analysis, reactive and targeted intervention for particular grade levels and students, increased discussion about testing throughout the district, improved curriculum alignment in classrooms, research-based professional development, and district support staff members becoming aware of testing demands. The findings contribute to literature in the field by investigating the connection between two areas of research, high-stakes testing and school district central office organizational culture. The study generated information to assist practitioners as they work to maintain or improve school district organizational culture while implementing high-stakes testing or other high-impact, mandated changes. / text

Ephemeral streamflow infiltration through alluvial channels has been identified as an important source of aquifer replenishment in arid and semi-arid environments. In this dissertation, two field methods were developed for monitoring streamflow timing in ephemeral stream channels. The first streamflow timing method exploits differences in the advective and conductive thermal transport mechanisms during the presence and absence of streamflow. The second method of streamflow timing utilized the relationship between soil water content and electrical conductance. Electrical resistance sensors were designed to detect saturated soil conditions and thus to infer streamflow timing during periods of saturation. Both methods were field-tested in Rillito Creek, Tucson, Arizona. The electrical resistance method proved more suitable than the temperature method because it was not depth dependent and was able to more accurately infer streamflow timing with less data post processing. Transient and steady state infiltration fluxes were simulated in a coarse-grained alluvial channel to determine the relative contribution the onset of streamflow provides to potential recharge. Water content, temperature, and pore pressure measurements were incorporated into a variably saturated heat and fluid transport model to simulate infiltration. Infiltration fluxes at the onset of streamflow were about 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than steady state fluxes and were inversely proportional to antecedent water content. The time duration from the onset of streamflow to steady-state infiltration ranged from 1.8 to 20 hours. Two transient and steady state periods were observed indicating a lower permeable layer at depth. During steady state periods, infiltration fluxes averaged 0.33 meters per day and ranged from 0.14 to 0.45 meters per day. A long-term decline was observed in all three events. Higher frequency diurnal and episodic changes were prompted by fluctuations in atmospheric temperature and discharge. The simulated steady state values were consistent with the effective vertical conductivity values (0.22 meters per day) of an underlying less permeable layer. The average contribution from the cumulative transient infiltration for the events was approximately 18 percent. Therefore, it is apparent that potential recharge calculations for alluvial channels that do not consider infiltration during the onset transient period may underestimate the true potential for recharge.

A perennial streamflow hydrograph, when measured at the outlet of a basin, continuously and without interruption, can be considered as an integral measure of hydrologic responses. Some of the theoretical and practical aspects of treating streamflow hydrographs as integral indicators of basin properties are addressed in this dissertation. This dissertation is divided into two parts. In the first part, a framework to identify and evaluate whether a streamflow variable is consistent and distinguishable in a given time scale and therefore can be considered as a streamflow index, is developed. The suggested framework is evaluated using as an example two streamflow variables that describe some aspects of the hydrograph shape. In the second part of the dissertation, the utilization of these streamflow indices in hydrologic model parameter estimation is demonstrated. It is assumed that streamflow indices that are evaluated on long streamflow records include large variability of climatic scenarios. Therefore, regardless of climate variability, the consistency and distinguishability are maintained the indices are more related to physical properties of a basin. Consequently, the problem of estimating model parameters that are related to basin properties can be approached by a comparison of indices between the observed and simulated streamflow. Three case studies are presented: the first demonstrates that using the streamflow index which describes the shape of the hydrograph in the parameter estimation processes improves consistency of prediction skill of the 5-parameter HYMOD model in the Leaf River, Mississippi. The second case study explores an important property of the shape descriptors as being relatively insensitive to errors in the data. Such property can be potentially used to identify key sources of uncertainty and to select model parameters that are less affected by data errors. In the final case study, the shape descriptors were used to derive the parameters of the gamma function as a model for the basin's Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (IUH).

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<p> In recent years, there has been an interest in the effectiveness of college assessment preparation, which has prompted many studies. The majority of these studies researched instruction/coaching on the Scholastic Assessment Tool (SAT). Notably, the college entrance exam has become a growing concern for minorities, particularly African American students. Prior research by ACT, Inc. (2012, p. 2) has shown African American students rank the lowest in American College Test (ACT) scores of all racial groups. Between 2006 and 2011 the average ACT composite scores increased for White, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, and American/Pacific Islanders. Hispanic scores remained unchanged and the scores of African Americans students declined by an average of two scale points. The focus of this research investigated whether instruction/coaching for the ACT would increase the scores of African American students. The participants of this study were African American high school students who attended a suburban high school in the Midwest. These students took a pre-test (PLAN) and a post-test (ACT) and were provided with reflective journals to document comments and attitudes of this six-week program. The average increase in the ACT scores after taking the ACT Preparation Course was 2.00 points. Considering other variables, it appeared that the increase in these scores could be attributed to the instruction they received taking the ACT Preparation Course and prior to taking the ACT. This research compared both scores of African American students over four semesters, analyzed questionnaire data, and reflective journaling data to examine if student attitudes and scores could be affected as a result of taking a preparation course. The resulting data suggest there was not only an improvement in ACT scores, but also an improvement in student attitudes after completion of the ACT Preparation Course. Student attitudes were positively impacted towards taking the ACT in that the majority of students felt more confident when taking the test as well as acquiring a new perspective in testing skills and study strategies.</p>

<p> The relationship between teacher-assigned standards-based grades and teacher-assigned traditional grades and student achievement on the Missouri Assessment Program was examined for all students of the sample. The 120 participants for this study were third graders during the 2012-2013 school year transitioned to fourth grade during the 2013-2014 school year. The students were enrolled in Elementary School A in rural Missouri. One hundred twenty students&rsquo; permanent traditional and standards-based grade cards and Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores provided the data to determine the relationship between teacher assigned standards-based grade cards or teacher-assigned traditional grade cards and student achievement. The findings of this study provide strong suggestions for school districts considering a standards-based grading and reporting system in response to the recent transition away from traditional grading practices. The results of this study showed a significant relationship between teacher-assigned standards-based grades and student achievement on the MAP in the content areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics. The results of the study suggest standards-based grade reporting offers precise information concerning student learning that can be used as a measure of student achievement.</p>

<p> This study was designed to examine the ability of traditional and standards-based grading practices to predict student performance on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) Grade-Level Assessments at the middle school level. This study also explored the perceptions Missouri middle school teachers and administrators had concerning the use of standards-based grading and identified obstacles educators faced during and after its implementation. The research was conducted in phases to observe two sets of data. Phase One involved the collection and analysis of quantitative data from two schools in Missouri that use standards-based grading in the seventh and eighth grades and two schools in Missouri that utilize a traditional method of grading. Data consisted of semester grades and subsequent MAP achievement levels for each student in math and English language arts in the seventh and eighth grades. Student data were analyzed using the chi-square goodness-of-fit test to determine if a statistical difference existed between the ability of standards-based and traditional grading systems to predict MAP achievement. Phase Two included the collection and analysis of qualitative data which consisted of teacher and administrator responses to open-ended interview questions. Phase One data showed no ability of either standards-based or traditional grading to accurately predict subsequent MAP achievement levels. Phase Two data revealed that while the majority of respondents believed standards-based grading was a more accurate measure of student knowledge, teachers harbored negative feelings concerning this grading system, and administrators failed to provide adequate initial and ongoing professional development.</p>

The effectiveness of a method using scaled scores and a correction for regression to the mean (RTM) designed to measure academic growth attributable to schools was compared to several alternative methods all incorporating simple (unadjusted) growth. Problems with scaled scores and the correction for RTM were discussed. Three alternative methods using normal curve equivalent (NCE), percentile rank (PR), and stanine scores were presented and compared to the scaled score method. A variation of the scaled score method without the correction for RTM was proposed to examine the effects of the correction. Two variations of the NCE and PR score methods were constructed with adjusted passing criteria to examine the effect of accounting for measurement error. Matched-student (1998--1999) Stanford 9 Achievement Test scores from the State of Arizona were used to compute a dichotomous one year's growth indicator (OYG) and a five-point within-state rank-ordered growth indicator (the Star Rating) for each school/grade unit using each of the proposed methods. Results showed that the methods using NCE or PR scores were more likely than the method using scaled scores to assign the same OYG decision to each school/grade unit. The correction for RTM resulted in school/grade units with low initial status having to (inappropriately) make more than one year's worth of growth to achieve a passing OYG decision. The results tended to confirm correlations between initial status and the simple growth indicators in the alternative methods, but for a majority, the magnitudes of the correlations were not large enough to warrant dismissing simple growth. Recommendations from the study were: (1) Scaled scores and the correction for RTM should not be used in any of the methods; (2) Methods that account for error should be used to allow for control over the possibility of misidentification of failing schools as well as the proportion of schools that are identified as needing assistance; (3) The current minimum unit size criterion of eight students should remain, because increasing the number would result in too many units not included in analyses.

<p>Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically based psychosocial intervention that targets psychological flexibility processes and has demonstrated benefits in the treatment of a variety of mental health conditions. A faster pace of training research is needed in order to inform empirically based training guidelines and this requires the development of new measures of clinical skill. The ability to identify psychological flexibility processes as they occur in therapy sessions and to discriminate between effective and ineffective interventions may be one foundational skill for ACT. This dissertation developed and evaluated a web-based discriminative ability assessment focused on this skill, called the ACT Online Competency Assessment (ACT OCA). </p><p> Simulated therapy sessions in the <i>Learning ACT</i> manual&rsquo;s companion DVD (Luoma, Hayes, &amp; Walser, 2007) were adapted into a video coding task wherein participant ratings of ACT-consistent and ACT-inconsistent interventions along with the psychological flexibility processes involved were compared with expert ratings, such that higher scores indicated greater agreement with experts across three subscales. The ACT OCA was distributed in an online survey to 189 undergraduates recruited from psychology classes at the University of Nevada in Reno who had no training in ACT. This same survey was distributed to 209 participants in intensive experiential ACT workshops conducted by expert trainers. 62 undergraduates provided sufficient data and were compared with 108 therapists who provided sufficient data. Changes associated with ACT training were examined amongst 64 workshop participants who provided Pre- and Post-workshop survey responses. </p><p> Therapists demonstrated superior ACT OCA performance and also reported higher levels of acceptance and mindfulness relative to undergraduates. Amongst workshop participants superior ACT OCA performance was correlated with superior performance in an ACT Knowledge Questionnaire and was correlated on some subscales with: ACT books read, ACT workshops attended, hours of simulated ACT sessions observed, ACBS membership status, and years spent in an ACT supervision group. Comparisons of Pre- and Post-workshop surveys indicated improvements in the ACT OCA as well as in psychological flexibility. Greater psychological flexibility at Pre predicted greater improvements in the ACT OCA at Post. However, psychological flexibility was also associated with lower ACT OCA scores at Pre. Limitations included the lack of a randomized control condition and high rates of drop-out. This study demonstrated an assessment development strategy with broad relevance to dissemination research and with particular importance to ACT&rsquo;s functional contextual conceptualization of fidelity. </p>

<p> Conflicting opinions and stances concerning standardization of curriculum in the United States education system are evidenced throughout the nation in the format of debates about the purpose of education and the curriculum. In 1892, nationally recognized American educators met as a Committee of Ten (National Education Association [NEA], 1893) to determine what subject matter should be contained in a formalized system of education, thus establishing the roots of the modern American school system. The results from the meeting were not accepted by all educational entities within the United States and curriculum content continued to be a matter of social and political debate resulting in legislative mandates designed to transform educational policy and practice. Leaders on the local, state, and national levels continue to pass new laws establishing and regulating educational standards and measurements for accountability, while classroom teachers are directed to adhere to many new directives and to become adept at a myriad of strategies and requirements to avoid being judged as inept and ultimately removed from the classroom. This action research study investigated the effectiveness of the use of Learning Targets throughout classroom curriculum by teachers as they promote instructional alignment to ensure student learning. This study explored how teachers develop, deliver, and assess student learning based on the processes and strategies contained within the Learning Target Theory of Action. It determined the perceptions about the processes involved and effectiveness of the Learning Target theory in the classroom. Finally, it placed emphases on ascertaining how students perceive the effectiveness of Learning Targets to their success in learning. </p>