The purpose of this study is to determine if the Sharpening Math Skills Lab technology-mediated mathematics instructional practices for math-delayed middle school students have positive effects on their mathematics achievement and spatial visualization ability and to gauge student engagement in learning, implementation of the principles of instructional design, and attitudes toward mathematics instruction. The results of a recent meta-analysis report a range of significantly positive to significantly negative effect sizes which establish a need for further evaluation of academic achievement utilizing technology-mediated mathematics programs at the middle school level (Slavin, Lake, & Groff, 2007). The literature (Moreno & Mayer, 2000) also suggests examining the principles of multimedia instructional design as they relate to programs such as those utilized in the Sharpening Math Skills Lab. The need for testing for relationships between student spatial visualization and problem solving ability (Wheatley, 1991), student attitudes and motivation toward mathematics (Tapia & Marsh, 2004), and students behavior while engaged in multimedia learning activities has also been established in the literature. This quasi-experimental study compares academic achievement of 109 southwest Louisiana 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in one school who participated in a treatment program of technology-mediated remedial math instruction with 162 - 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students from two other schools in the same district who received traditional classroom mathematics instruction. The experimental group attended the Sharpening Math Skills Lab 45 minutes per day utilizing FASTTMath software and iSucceed software with individual assistance provided by the lab facilitator and math teacher. Measurement instruments include Scantron Performance and Achievement Series tests, Wheatley Spatial Ability Test (WSAT) (1996), and Attitudes Toward Math Survey (ATMI) (Tapia, 1996). Qualitative data about the experimental group including levels of engagement and the effectiveness of instructional design of the software utilized were also gathered. Positive outcomes of the study include making best practices recommendations for remedial mathematics instruction of math-delayed middle school students. Data accumulated in the study contributes to the body of evidence on the usefulness of technology-based remediation practices and provides important information to school officials in the development of curricular and budgetary decisions.

With public criticism of American higher education on the rise, it is prudent for those in the academy to reflect upon their responsibilities to their students. Of particular salience is an examination of what constitutes misconduct within the faculty role. This dissertation reports the results of a study designed to identify what nursing educators believe to be the violation of normative teaching behaviors. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was utilized to develop an understanding of the actions that constitute academic impropriety. The College Teaching Behaviors Inventory, a survey instrument designed by Braxton and Bayer (1999), was distributed to deans and faculty members of all associate degree nursing programs accredited by the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission in the United States. Results reveal that nursing educators (n=604) identified nine patterns of normative behavior categorized as either inviolable or admonitory based upon the degree of sanction required if the norm should be violated. A discussion of each of the identified norms with fictional vignettes is provided. This study validates the need for critically reflective teaching that is conscious of the special nature of the teacher-student relationship. The results of this research have implications for higher education relative to issues of student retention, institutional policy regarding ethical faculty conduct, and preparation of graduate students for teaching in the college classroom.

A mixed methods design was utilized that was divided into three phases to verify and explore high stakes testings effects on teachers perceptions regarding classroom practices, pressure, and commitment to the educational profession. Phase I utilized previous surveys and a peer review to create a knowledge base to generate a survey instrument that measured the three areas assumed to be affected by high stakes testing (commitment, pressure, and classroom practice). The survey instrument that was created was piloted. Throughout Phase II there was a series of three-step analysis: First, the means and standard deviations from the results of the surveys were divided into the four cells and presented. Second, one-way ANOVAs were reported (with poor or high SPS scores as the independent variables) that test each of the three hypotheses. Third, two-way ANOVAs were reported (with poor or high SPS scores and lower or higher socioeconomic status (SES) as independent variables) to assess the effect that these variables jointly have on the dependent variables. The results of the quantitative portion of this study were that how well students performed on the high stakes testing and the SES of students at the schools had little effect on their teachers perceptions and responses to the testing program. All three hypotheses were not confirmed. The teachers overall scores were all above average indicating that the three areas of study were present in all situations. During Phase III, two teachers were interviewed from each school for a total of sixteen teachers. All of the teachers interviewed stated that LEAP 21 testing did affect their instructional planning, learning strategies, and curriculum content. Such practices as teaching to the test, neglecting subjects, sequencing, and time allotment were greatly affected. All of the teachers interviewed stated that LEAP 21 testing forced them to devote some time to test preparation. Teachers provided a range of 1/3 of class time to a 100 %. There were many factors that were contributing to a lessening of commitment to the educational profession from some educators, especially the younger ones who have a less of a vested interest in the profession.

Learning with educational technology in higher education is rapidly increasing and shows promise of providing cost effective instructional delivery to a wide audience. Information technology scholars have begun to explore multiple antecedent variables leading to successful learning with technology. Yet, the ideal conditions or barriers have not been fully explored. The current study attempted to link certain personality characteristics and technology acceptance constructs within a nomological network that could predict factors that might influence student integration and commitment to educational technology. Data were gathered using a survey collection approach at a large southern Research I university. Students are required to actively engage in a computer-mediated learning environment that consists of an interactive software program, MyMathLab, and a math lab that provides faculty and peer support. Students responded to two surveys designed to capture their initial perceptions of the value of educational technology and measures of stable personality constructs. A second survey collected attitudinal responses directly related to their learning experiences with MyMathLab. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) Structural Equation Modeling approach. The researcher specifies a predictive model of variables and, subsequently, examines the measurement and structural components of the model. The overall strength and statistical significance of the path relationships within the constructs are given by R2 and t-test statistics. The results suggest that affective measures of computer self-efficacy impact a students willingness to experiment with technology. In addition, students who feel comfortable with the level of complexity within MyMathLab, and who see the advantages to using the program, are more likely to integrate the system into their normal school routine. Another finding relates to the connection between integration and commitment. At the level of commitment, students moved beyond basic acceptance to a willingness to explore the technology further. Overall, the variables of the model explained 43.5% of the total variance in Commitment. An exploratory study of this nature can help educators gain a better understanding of potential curricular and instructional interventions that could be incorporated into computer-mediated learning environments.

College student retention rates are often used as a measure of institutional accountability, institutional success, and are used more frequently as a means of determining resource allocation. Understanding what factors impact the retention of college students has become critical to institutions of higher education. The study of the factors that impact student retention has been plagued with methodological concerns, especially the longitudinal and hierarchical nature of retention data. The purpose of this study was to investigate college student retention using a multilevel discrete-time hazard model. A multilevel discrete-time hazard model deals with many of the concerns associated with analyzing college student retention data, such as censored observations, the multilevel nature of the data, and variables that change over time. Gender, ethnicity and school-type were used to model the timing of students leaving a university from a cohort of first-time freshmen over five year period.

Louisiana concentrates its postsecondary financial aid funding in merit-based aid programs, as opposed to need-based aid programs. This study illuminates the distribution of Louisianas merit-based financial aid program, Louisianas Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS), to students from difference socioeconomic backgrounds by describing the basic characteristics of TOPS recipients at Louisiana State University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and selected Louisiana two-year postsecondary institutions. This study gives evidence to indicate that Louisianas TOPS program disproportionably benefits students from middle and upper income families, most of whom could afford college expenses without receiving a TOPS awards. In addition, this study found that the TOPS award methodology is systemically bias against African Americans, because TOPS award methodology includes biased standardized testing as a requirement that all recipients must meet in order to qualify for a TOPS award.

Racial segregation and an achievement gap persist despite the promises of Brown vs. Board of Education (1954). In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, public schools are 83% Black, while nearly one-third of all children attend private schools which are 86% White. South Boulevard (SB) Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet Elementary is a counterexample because it has achieved integration and academic achievement well above district and state averages on high stakes tests. This research explores the culture of SBs immersion magnet program in relation to its success as an integrated public school with high student achievement and explores the factors that motivated a diverse set of parents to choose public education over private education. This one-year ethnographic case study of SB is based on document analysis, interviews, and participant observation. In-depth interviews were conducted with 53 students, parents, school faculty, district administrators, and school board members. Using purposeful sampling, participants were selected who represented diverse backgrounds and perspectives. On-site participant observation (including classes, recess, lunch, PTO activities and meetings, and school board meetings) was conducted for one academic semester and follow-up observations the following semester. The data were broken down into units of meaning that served as themes that were first subjected to a systematic content analysis and then the constant comparative method. SBs achievement of integration and academic achievement is a counternarrative to dominant narratives that focus on the achievement gap and deficit models of minority culture. The primary explanation for SBs success is the unique culture created by the immersion curriculum. SB has a culture of academic rigor in which teachers have high expectations of all students. The second language creates a new culture of power that equalizes cultural and linguistic differences that may privilege or marginalize students elsewhere. SB has a culture of multiplicity that values diverse perspectives and includes a unique immersion subculture in which all students are equal participants. SB has a culture of community characterized by trusting relationships between members of the school community that emerge out of commitment to the immersion curriculum rather than geographical boundaries.

This case study investigates the implementation of the Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum English Language Arts in selected first grade classes. The teaching of the specific language arts skills, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, as directed the the Comprehensive Curriculum is examined. Four first grade teachers from a large urban school district, from an original sixteen first grade teachers, are observed during the hour and a half literacy instruction block once a week over a period of four weeks. These same four teachers are interviewed one-on-one by the researcher during the two interview sessions. Three themes developed throughout the observation from all four classes: phonics instruction, reading instruction, and language arts instruction. The investigation determined that this sampling of grade one teachers were implementing the Comprehensive Curriculum English Language Arts by means of integrating the instruction into both the phonics instruction and reading instruction.

This mixed method research was designed to examine the effects of cross-age mentoring in an inter-institutional online learning community. The research questions focused on the impact of mentoring on high school students confidence in their information seeking skills, perceptions of their information seeking standards, and the application of these standards to an information seeking task. Also of interest was the dialogic interaction between the students at the two sites, the impact of the facilitator on the process, and the university students perceptions about their experience. The participants included 26 students (mentees) enrolled in an American history class at a rural high school and 18 pre-service teachers (mentors) enrolled in an introductory educational technology course. Mentoring groups comprised of four-five high school students and three-four pre-service teachers interacted via a synchronous online courseware system. Both classes met at the same time of the day, twice weekly, allowing for synchronous interactions. The project was implemented over a five week period during which pre- and post-tests of information seeking confidence and standards were administered and students were engaged in their information seeking tasks. During the course of the project the online interactions were archived and saved for later analysis. Results revealed that there was no change in the high school students confidence in their information seeking abilities. The assessment of their evaluative standards revealed that they became more aware of the importance of evaluating the accuracy of information they located. In addition, a positive correlation was found between their understandings of the importance of evaluating information to determine its relevance to the task at hand and the disposition toward a more expert approach to seeking information. Performance on the information seeking task was positively influenced by conceptual scaffolding provided by both the facilitator and the pre-service teachers. Feedback that encouraged the high school students to consider conceptual issues was discovered to be most effective. The findings from this research contribute to the literature on cross-age mentoring between higher education and K-12 students as well as providing insights about strategies that influence students abilities to locate, evaluate, and synthesize information.

This study examined the skills that e-learners considered essential to the creation of a technology-rich school community. The focus was upon the skills that acting district and school administrators deemed essential to becoming an effective e-leader. The quantitative investigation associated with this study consisted of a researcher created survey based upon the International Society of Technology Educators (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A). The intent of this survey was to obtain a list of skills that the participants felt were necessary for administrators to obtain in order to be effective leaders. These skills are categorized into both theory-based and operational. The qualitative investigation examined interview data from one-on-one interviews. The interviews were conducted in order to obtain a greater insight into the views of school-based and district-based administrators in terms of technology leadership. The intent of this study was to investigative and gather information in order to create online self-paced professional development opportunities for school and district administrators.