The education of all students is important in the school system, however, all students learn differently and are at different levels. One strategy that is used to cope with this issue is differentiated instruction. Di fferentiated instruction is when you teach to the individual student's needs by pre-assessing and determining those needs. If the student already know the information you need to move onto something more challenging for them. Often these gifted students already know the information, since they do come into each grade knowing 50% of the curricula, but quite often they are taught it again.

The purpose of this study was to specify and test a model detailing (a) gender, (b) previous elective music experience, (c) school, (d) music self-concept, and (e) music values as predictors of music enrollment and the initial juncture of school-sponsored elective music participation. In the event that a model with adequate fit was retained, a further purpose of this study was to calculate the direct, indirect, and total effects of each predictor, thereby determining each predictor's relative contribution towards explaining variance in elective music enrollment. Participants included fifth-grade students (N = 148) from two elementary schools. Data were gathered via administration of the Motivators of Elective Music Participation Questionnaire, and by accessing middle school elective enrollment records. The proposed expectancy-value model of elective music participation demonstrated excellent fit and was retained for interpretation. Overall, the model accounted for 34.4% of the variance in elective music participation. The greatest total predictor of elective music participation was previous elective music experience, followed closely by music values. Music self-concept, gender, and school played negligible roles in predicting whether students opted in or out of sixth-grade music electives.

The purpose of this study was to add to the limited amount of information on the effectiveness of play therapy interventions in a school-based counseling program. The study focused on examining the reasons why clients were referred to counseling, the frequency and duration of their behavior, the clients' academic performance at the beginning and end of treatment, the total number of sessions received, and the type of play therapy that was used to determine how effective play therapy interventions were during treatment.

The purpose of this study was to describe a Title I inclusion program in a north Texas middle school, to evaluate the degree of its success as a high achieving program, and to analyze how closely it met the requirements of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. Data were collected from the learning facilitators and teachers at the middle school with the permission of the school district. This study began with extensive research on the nature of adolescents and the beliefs and characteristics of high achieving middle schools. It addressed the steps which were recommended in the literature to improve middle schools and benefit students that are at-risk of failing to master the curriculum at their grade level. The researcher concluded by reporting effective strategies being used in middle school at-risk programs. These are strategies noted by experts as successful in identified programs. The population for this study was seventh and eighth grade Title I students who attended middle school during the 1992-1993, 1993-1994, 1994-1995 and 1995-1996 school years. The data collected by the researcher are presented in two parts: the description of the Title I inclusion program; and the results of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills tests in reading and math, the Shaw-Hiehle Math Tests, and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests. Findings from this study suggest that the program met the requirements of a Title I program established by the federal government. The test scores for the middle school improved during the three years of the program. The Title I inclusion program met the requirements of the Improving America's Schools Act. Finally, the Title I students were successful working in classrooms with other students on challenging curriculum which met the State's content and performance standards. These findings have implications for other middle schools who are developing Title I programs to meet the requirements of the Improving America's Schools Act.

Teachers have an undeniable influence on youth, on whose shoulders tomorrow rests. It is vital for teachers to be conscious of their role in both the local and global community in order to facilitate occasions for students to develop a sense of global consciousness. By imparting to students the desire to learn and to explore their interactions with things, people and experiences, and actively pursue knowledge, they develop critical literacy skills required to both acquire understanding and be(come) understood. Through this research study, the implications of applying David Diamond’s community drama work called Theatre for Living, as an effective and critical literacy practice to enhance social conciousness within a middle school, is assesssed. The program was implemented in a split grade 7/8 and grade 8 classroom in southwestern Ontario. The study exemplifies for educators a practical yet significant step for initializing and developing a broad sense of awareness in students; that is the sense of global consciousness.

Teachers have an undeniable influence on youth, on whose shoulders tomorrow rests. It is vital for teachers to be conscious of their role in both the local and global community in order to facilitate occasions for students to develop a sense of global consciousness. By imparting to students the desire to learn and to explore their interactions with things, people and experiences, and actively pursue knowledge, they develop critical literacy skills required to both acquire understanding and be(come) understood. Through this research study, the implications of applying David Diamond’s community drama work called Theatre for Living, as an effective and critical literacy practice to enhance social conciousness within a middle school, is assesssed. The program was implemented in a split grade 7/8 and grade 8 classroom in southwestern Ontario. The study exemplifies for educators a practical yet significant step for initializing and developing a broad sense of awareness in students; that is the sense of global consciousness.

In 1999, Texas Legislature mandated the Student Success Initiative to ensure all eighth grade students are on grade level in reading and mathematics. Although progress is evident, the achievement gap for English language learners remains. The purpose of this case study was to explore effective school practices that lead to closing the achievement gap. This qualitative study applies the two core functions of leadership for exercising influence and providing direction to answer the research question: How do the core functions of school leadership practices for implementing the Student Success Initiative requirements vary between English language learners and non-English language learners in high and low-performing middle schools? The comparison between the high-performing school and low-performing school brought forth key findings and identifies school practices for supporting secondary English language learners. The key findings for exercising influence on teachers were: 1) Effective school practices that influence teacher knowledge on how to identify students and their needs include: a) conducts a needs assessment.; b) analyze data; c) create differentiated ESL programs, d) place diverse groups of ELLs in differentiated ESL programs. 2) Effective school practices to influence teachers how to intervene include: a) accept teacher input and follow through on requests when planning interventions, b) target intervention needs; c) create differentiated interventions. 3) Effective school practices to influence teachers how to monitor include: a) analyze multiple types of data, b) measure student reading growth; c) measure student language proficiency, d) conduct walkthroughs to observe students. The key findings for providing direction to teachers established the following practices: 4) Effective school practices to provide direction to identify students and their needs include, a) develop and implement a school wide intervention plan, b) create a master schedule to implement differentiated ESL programs; c) model how to disaggregate data, d) develop and implement an individual plan for ELLs. 5) Effective school practices to provide direction to intervene include: a) assign ESL teacher to intervention groups, b) use data to drive intervention planning, c) measure growth in language and literacy, d) provide daily interventions, e) integrate language and literacy interventions in lessons. 6) Effective school practices to provide direction to teachers for monitoring include: a) measure growth of literacy and language development, b) triangulate multiple types of data, c) review intervention lessons during walkthroughs, e) provide daily interventions specific to student needs. / text

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Teachers have an undeniable influence on youth, on whose shoulders tomorrow rests. It is vital for teachers to be conscious of their role in both the local and global community in order to facilitate occasions for students to develop a sense of global consciousness. By imparting to students the desire to learn and to explore their interactions with things, people and experiences, and actively pursue knowledge, they develop critical literacy skills required to both acquire understanding and be(come) understood. Through this research study, the implications of applying David Diamond’s community drama work called Theatre for Living, as an effective and critical literacy practice to enhance social conciousness within a middle school, is assesssed. The program was implemented in a split grade 7/8 and grade 8 classroom in southwestern Ontario. The study exemplifies for educators a practical yet significant step for initializing and developing a broad sense of awareness in students; that is the sense of global consciousness.

Cette thèse s’attache à décrire les formes de la fragmentation urbaine à Marseille ainsi que leurs conséquences socio-spatiales à travers les modalités de l’offre scolaire au niveau collège et les pratiques de choix des lieux de scolarisation à l’entrée en sixième, à plusieurs échelles, en 2006 et 2009. La carte scolaire impose aux familles un collège de secteur mais face aux importantes recompositions socio-territoriales qui affectent la ville de Marseille, des décalages s’opèrent entre les collèges, les attentes éducatives des parents et les conditions locales de scolarisation. L’étude porte d’une part sur la quantification et à la localisation du phénomène de l’évitement scolaire à Marseille et d’autre part, sur l’analyse fine de contextes territoriaux, dans lesquels se développent plusieurs types de stratégies scolaires. Les fortes différenciations et les rapides recompositions socio-territoriales urbaines de la ville de Marseille impliquent des pratiques scolaires hétérogènes qui illustrent le creusement des inégalités socio-résidentielles dans la ville et constituent d’excellents indicateurs pour décrypter une fragmentation urbaine croissante. L’analyse des stratégies des différents acteurs institutionnels et individuels, permet d’appréhender les mécanismes de production d’un espace scolaire systémique et hiérarchisé. L’approche territoriale est largement valorisée et l’analyse des contextes locaux souligne l’existence de territoires scolaires multiples et différenciés. / This dissertation aims at describing the forms of urban fragmentation in Marseille as well as its socio-spatial consequences through the modalities of school supply at the middle-school level (collège) and the practices of choosing schools for 6th graders (élèves de sixième), at various levels, in 2006 and 2009. School mapping (carte scolaire) imposes to families a neighborhood middle school, but in the face of important socio-spatial reconfigurations affecting the entire city of Marseille, discrepancies between schools, parent’s pedagogical expectations and local schooling conditions widen. The study focuses on the one hand on the quantification and localization of the phenomenon of school dodging (évitement scolaire) in Marseille, and on the other on the detailed analysis of territorial contexts, where several types of schooling strategies develop. Strong differentiations and quick urban socio-territorial recompositions in Marseille imply heterogeneous school practices illustrating the widening of socio-residential inequalities in the city and representing excellent markers to probe into increasing urban fragmentation. An analysis of the strategies of different institutional and individual actors allows one to grasp the mecanisms of production of a systemic, top-down school space. The territorial approach is largely valued here and the analysis of local contexts underlines the existence of multiple, differentiated school territories.