Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-173).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--Lancaster Bible College, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-101).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 31-33).

This study examined relationships among epistemic beliefs, achievement goals, self-regulated learning, cognitive strategy use, and academic performance for 131 sixth graders and 100 eighth graders.

This study examined the effects of the Self-Advocacy Strategy delivered via the CD (i.e., SACD) on self-advocacy skills of fifteen middle school students with mild and moderate disabilities. A pre-/and posttest experimental design with random assignment to treatment or wait-list control groups was employed to investigate changes in student participation and level of self-determination post-intervention. The SACD instruction addressed essential self-advocacy skills, including knowledge of self and communication. Results showed significant differences in favor of the treatment group when compared with the wait-list control group concerning student participation, as measured by student responses to a set of 10 IEP related questions. In addition, generalization data indicated positive results for student participation, as measured by student use of SHARE behaviors, for the majority of students in the treatment group in informal educational meetings with their special educators. The results provide additional support for the use of SACD to teach self-advocacy and active student participation in the IEP process to middle school students with disabilities.

The purposes of this study were (1) to ascertain the total absolute change scores between student basic interest scale scores on the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) and like scores on the audio interest inventory (All), and the audio-visual interest inventory (AVII), which are based on the SCII; and (2) to ascertain if a statistically significant relationship exists between students with high reading ability and students with low reading ability, when different test-retest inventory administration methods are used.

This study examined and analyzed selected middle school teachers' perceptions of grade retention, and informed teachers about current and past research on grade retention. Through analysis of teacher interviews and using a Likert scale instrument, responses indicated that teachers continue to support and to use retention when students do not master required objectives for promotion. Because of the new Florida retention policy and the No Child Left Behind policy, it was critical to measure teachers' levels of understanding and perceptions of grade retention. Their perceptions gave insight into their thoughts and beliefs about the practice. Survey responses of 326 teachers in five selected middle schools in Florida and ten interviews clearly indicated that teachers believe children should be retained. A majority, nearly 83%, disagreed that students should not be retained. Although suspension and attendance have bearing, over 76% of teachers agreed that poor academics were the major reason for retention. Over 65% of teachers indicated that grade retention allows students who are behind academically to "catch-up" with peers. In addition, nearly 39% disagreed that retention is harmful to a child's self-concept/self-image. However, nearly 80% of teachers agreed grade retention affects a child's self-esteem. Data also indicated 56% of students who are more than two grades behind should not be retained. A chi-square statistics test used to measure significant differences based on teachers' years of teaching experience, grade level taught, race of teacher and socioeconomic status of the students, found significant differences only for student socioeconomic status. Although students have been retained since one-room schoolhouses, research on effectiveness of retention clearly points to instead of practicing grade retention, teachers, administrators, and parents need to analyze data in greater depth. Without more studies and analysis, teachers, administrators, and parents will continue a practice research has found harmful instead of beneficial to students. Educators must find a way to ensure that every child experiences academic success. Each educator must devise methods of working with students before they fail a grade. Tutoring, remediation, mentoring, small group work, after school programs, Saturday school, and summer school can help children learn.

The problem of this study was to determine if at-risk students who were enrolled in an educational support class for one hour a day would have an improvement on the four at-risk indicators being measured over students not enrolled in the academic support program. The four at-risk indicators are grade point average, self-concept, days absent from school, and discipline referrals. The hypothesis formulated for this study predicted no significant difference in mean scores of the four measured indicators between groups. These indicators were measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, official school attendance records, official school transcripts, and the school's discipline records book. The at-risk population was identified from the use of an at-risk indicator scale. After random placement into either the control or experimental groups the samples were divided and analyzed according to grade and gender. The study was conducted over a 12 week period and included students from the Memphis, Michigan School District in grades six through nine. Data were analyzed by the independent means t test at the .05 level. The experimental group means were further analyzed for practical significance and for directional improvement. A series of tables provides a comparison of scores for all students participating in the study. For students participating in the experimental group three of the four indicators, self-esteem, days absent from school, and grade point average had a statistically significant difference in mean scores. The majority of mean scores moved in a direction of improvement indicating enrollment in the treatment had a positive influence on the at-risk indicators. Most scores that did not show a statistically significant difference in means did report a high level of practical significance that was a result of being enrolled in the academic support program.

Many communities are promoting physical activity and active transportation as ways to combat childhood obesity and change sedentary lifestyles of school-age children. Safe Routes to School Youth Voices is a mixed methods approach to understanding the experiences and perceptions of middle school students surrounding the use of active transportation. Student experiences are explored both independently and in comparison to parental perspectives of barriers to actives transportation. Data were collected in the form of parent surveys, observations, student interviews, and student focus groups. This study aims to answer the following primary research questions: (1) What are the conditions experienced along the route? (2) What are the students' perceptions of barriers to active transportation? (3) What are the compensation practices that students take to overcome barriers? and (4) How do the students' perceptions compare with their parents? Interviews and focus groups were transcribed and coded using in-vivo, descriptive, structural and pattern methods. Primary themes which emerged include how conditions of walking to school, personal safety, compensation practices, and systematic barriers all affect the perceptions of active transportation of the student. Findings highlight the difficulties many students face when considering active transportation, and discuss the inconsistencies between student experience, parental perceptions, and intervention goals.

In three experiments, I first examined the correlation between the presence of transformation of stimulus function (TSF) across computation and the presence of TSF across saying and writing for spelling words, and then tested the effects of the establishment of TSF across saying and writing on the establishment of TSF across math operants. Eight middle school students with learning disabilities participated in experiments I and II. All participants demonstrated reader/writer and math skills such as textual responding and using counting strategies to solve one-step word problems. Four of the eight participants also demonstrated TSF across saying and writing for spelling. The dependent variables of Experiment I were the accuracy and fluency of solving word problems after receiving fluency training on math facts, as well as the number of counting strategies used when solving word problems. Results showed that all participants with TSF across saying and writing for spelling demonstrated significant increases in both their accuracy and fluency when responding to word problems (i.e., ES = 1) whereas participants who did not demonstrate TSF across saying and writing for spelling demonstrated minimal gain from accuracy and fluency training of math facts (i.e., mean ES = 0.3). Experiment II tested the effects of fluency and accuracy training of word problems on the accurate and fluent responding to math facts and other math operants. Results showed that accuracy and fluency training had large effects on all participants (i.e., ES = 1). Participants who did not demonstrate TSF also demonstrated larger improvement (i.e., ES > 0.67) compared to Experiment I. The results of Experiments I and II demonstrated an association between TSF across math operants and TSF across saying and writing for spelling. Experiment III further tested for a functional relation by examining the effects of the establishment of TSF across saying and writing for spelling on the establishment of TSF across math operants with three of the participants who did not demonstrate TSF across saying and writing for spelling in the first two experiments. Upon establishment of TSF across saying and writing for spelling words, all three participants demonstrated TSF across math operants (i.e., increased accuracy and fluency of word problems, extinction of counting strategies). The results of the three experiments suggest the importance of teaching math as a verbal behavior, more specifically, as a speaker-as-own-listener behavior instead of as visual match-to-sample repertoires. Future replication of the procedure is needed to extend the external validity of the current experiments.