<p> Alcoholic beverages in the State of Arizona are regulated by the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control (ADLLC). Education programs in the alcohol industry must align with the needs of students working in the industry and with the criteria set forth by the ADLLC. Prior research has concentrated on irresponsible alcohol consumption costing millions of dollars of expenditures in police, fire, and hospital services. This study examined the perceptions of alcohol law instructors and adult students related to alcohol law instruction in Arizona and if it effectively meets the program standards set forth by the ADLLC and to what extent standards of best practices and adult learning theory are incorporated into the curriculum for effective student learning outcomes. Results were considered in respect to Bandura's (2003) social learning theory, Szirony and Boden's (2009) <i>WHAT</i> model, and Kolb's experiential learning (1984). Online surveys were used to collect data from the population of two groups; 12 Arizona approved alcohol law instructors and 142 adult students ages 19 years or older, of various genders and ethnicities. Analyses of variance were used to assess the five research questions. Students and instructors generally agreed that lecture, PowerPoint, video, and student/instructor interaction was effective in transferring knowledge to adult students. The findings of this study may result in developing curriculum that assists the workforce in the alcohol industry to be self-directed, comprehend specifically why and what actions to take by instituting a curriculum containing adult learning theory for enhanced transference of knowledge, and retention of information to reduce civil liability and alcohol law violations at liquor licensed establishments. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Alcohol law training, adult learning theory, competencies</p>

<p> This study used existing third-grade ISTEP+ data from a cohort of Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation students to evaluate various non-experimental methods for estimating teacher effects on student test scores. The study considered the impact that first-, second-, and third-grade teachers had on student performance as measured by the Indiana standardized test in third grade by looking for recognizable patterns of success based on teacher assignment in a cohort of 350 students. By making the assumption of randomness in assigning students to teachers and controlling for student transience, demographics, and teacher movement, the variances of mean ISTEP+ scores were examined to determine and quantify differences based on teacher links. Descriptive statistics summarized possible patterns of success based on teacher links for the cohort as a whole and each school individually by grade level. Differences among teachers by grade level were examined by using an ANOVA model. Regression analysis was used to probe patterns of achievement based on teacher combinations as well as the predictability of ISTEP+ scores based on first-, second-, or third-grade teachers.</p>

<p> In this study, I examined the relation between various construct relevant and irrelevant variables and a math problem solving assessment. I used independent performance measures representing the variables of mathematics content knowledge, general ability, and reading fluency. Non-performance variables included gender, socioeconomic status, language proficiency and special education qualification. Using a sequential regression and commonality analysis, I determined the amount of variance explained by each performance measure on the Oregon state math assessment in third grade. All variables were independently predictive of math problem solving scores, and used together, they explained 58% score variance. The math content knowledge measure explained the most variance uniquely (12%), and the measures of math content and general ability explained the most variance commonly (16%). In the second analysis, I investigated whether additional variance was explained once student demographic characteristics were controlled and how this affected the unique variance explained by each independent performance measure. By controlling for demographics, the model explained slightly more than 1% additional variance in math scores. The unique variance explained by each independent measure decreased slightly.</p><p> This study highlighted the influence of various construct relevant and irrelevant variables on math problem solving scores, including the extent to which a language-free measure of general ability might help to inform likely outcomes. The use of variance partitioning expanded understanding of the unique and common underlying constructs that affect math problem solving assessment. Finally, this study provided more information regarding the influence demographic information has on outcomes related to state math assessments.</p>

As more applications rely on distributed systems (peer-to-peer services, content distribution networks, cloud services), it becomes necessary to identify hosts that return content to the user with minimal delay. A large scale map of delays would aid in solving this problem. Existing methods, which deploy devices to every region of the Internet or use of a single vantage point have yet to create such a map. While services such as PlanetLab offer a distributed network for measurements, they only cover 0.3% of the Internet. The focus of our research is to increase the speed of the single vantage point approach so that it becomes a feasible solution. We evaluate the feasibility of performing large scale measurements by performing an experiment using more hosts than any previous study. First, an efficient scanning algorithm is developed to perform the measurement scan. We then find that a custom Windows network driver is required to overcome bottlenecks in the operating system. After developing a custom driver, we perform a measurement scan larger than any previous study. Analysis of the results reveals previously unidentified drawbacks to the existing architectures and measurement methodologies. We propose novel meth- ods for increasing the speed of experiments, improving the accuracy of measurement results, and reducing the amount of traffic generated by the scan. Finally, we present architectures for performing an Internet scale measurement scan. We found that with custom drivers, the Windows operating system is a capable platform for performing large scale measurements. Scan results showed that in the eleven years since the original measurement technique was developed, the response patterns it relied upon had changed from what was expected. With our suggested improvements to the measurement algorithm and proposed scanning architectures, it may be possible to perform Internet scale measurement studies in the future.

This thesis presents a study of the validity of video portfolios as an assessment tool. For this study, first and second grade students were videotaped doing exercises four times in reading and four times in math over the course of a school year. After portfolios were collected, each set of four videos (either math or reading) was shown to teachers in random order. The teachers were asked to put the clips into the correct chronological and, therefore, developmental order. Interviews after the task investigated the criteria teachers used to order the clips, and found that they used task complexity, task performance, and demeanor of students as the primary factors. The teachers were able to correctly order the video clips to a high level of significance. This finding supports the hypothesis that video portfolios have validity as an assessment of progress in student achievement. Interview data also yielded relevant findings for the future use and implementation of video portfolios. Further studies should investigate the generalizability of these results, more closely examine the criteria teachers use to evaluate portfolios, and determine the validity of portfolios as an evaluation for other aspects of student learning.

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This study had two specific aims: Firstly, to determine whether or not, within a given group of subjects in a school in Kwa-Zulu Natal, the mediation offered during an application of Feuerstein's Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) in a group-administration format would result in modified cognition, demonstrated by improved performance in post-mediation testing; and secondly, to determine whether in the same group of subjects, the group-administration format of the LPAD would detect differences in the degree of cognitive modifiability of individuals. Feuerstein's LPAD follows a pretest - mediation - post-test procedure in which, by comparing pretest performance with post-test performance, the effects of the mediation, and hence the degree of cognitive modifiability of the individuals concerned, are determined. The present study operationalised Feuerstein's concept of Mediated Learning Experience (Feuerstein, 1979; 1980) and Vygotsky's concepts of mediation and internalisation (Vygotsky, 1978; Wertsch, 1985) by making use of Tharp and Gallimore's means of assistance within the zone of proximal development (Tharp and Gallimore, 1988). The pretest phase of the three selected instruments (Numerical Progressions, Organizer and Complex Figure Drawing Test), was administered to a group of twenty one black, female, high-school pupils. On the basis of their performance, the subjects were divided into matched experimental and control groups. In a second session, two weeks later, the experimental group received mediation in the cognitive operations and functions required by the instruments. Immediately following this, the post-test phase was administered to both groups. The scores of the subjects in each group were analysed: the scores of the experimental group as a whole were compared-to the scores of the control group, and the pretest scores of each subject were compared to her post-test scores in each instrument. In Numerical Progressions and Organizer, a significant increase in the post-mediation scores of the experimental group was observed, while the scores of the control group remained approximately at pre-mediation levels. The results of the Complex Figure Drawing Test did not follow the same pattern, however, due to difficulties inherent in both the instrument itself and the process of mediation. An analysis of the post-test scores of individual subjects in the experimental group revealed that some improved significantly, some a little, and some even performed less well on the post-test than on the pretest. It was postulated that this variability in post-test scores was an indication of the various degrees of modifiability of the subjects concerned, demonstrating the ability of these instruments, even in a group administration format, to begin to identify levels in the cognitive modifiability of individuals. The items in Numerical Progressions and Organizer were also categorised according to their levels of difficulty. An examination of the performance of subjects at the various levels gave further evidence of both the efficacy of the mediation and the degrees of cognitive modifiability of individuals. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

The aim of this study was to investigate Grade eight (8) Natural Science educators' assessment classroom practices and their perceptions about assessment. This study was based on the theory of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills that underpins the Revised National Curriculum Statement for Natural Sciences. An assumption was made that if assessment practices are to promote learning, as conceived in Curriculum 2005, educators' assessment practices must reflect a hierarchy of knowledge and skills. The educators' perceptions and their assessment practices were explored in the light of how learning is conceived to take place in the Revised National Curriculum Statement for Natural Sciences, i.e. learning is conceptualised as a "process". It was on this basis that an "accumulative" nature of learning was perceived as a relevant theoretical framework informing this study, i.e. learning ranges from simple to complex capabilities. To facilitate the educator's assessment practices and perceptions, a qualitative and quantitative approach was adopted. Interview schedules, observations and document analysis instruments were used as a means of collecting relevant data. The interview schedule included questions that elicited educators' biographies, perceptions the educators hold in relation to a hierarchy of knowledge and skills and the perceptions the educators hold about assessment. The observation schedule and the document analysis instrument were based on Gagne's hierarchy of knowledge and skills. These skills are discrimination learning, concept learning, rule learning and problem solving learning. The sample consisted of four Grade eight Natural Sciences educators drawn from four high schools in the greater Pietermaritzburg district. Three of these educators were from well-resource urban schools and one was from a poorly resourced Imbali Township. Interviews, documents and observations were analysed in terms of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills as a research framework informing the study. The results show that all the respondents assessed concrete and concept categories more frequently than the rules and problem- solving categories. This assessment strategy was common in both oral and written assessment tasks. The results exposed some inconsistencies between the educators' perceptions and their assessment practices. All four educators have unclear perceptions of the notion of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills, while in practice a wide range of categories of knowledge and skills were used in assessment tasks. The findings led to the conclusion that the policy needs to be explicit about the fact that the expected assessment standards within each learning outcome are organised around the notion of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills. This will make it clear to science educators why assessment should form an integral part of learning. In- service programmes are necessary to sensitise educators about organising assessment practices on the basis of a hierarchy of knowledge and skills. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

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