Graduation date: 1954

An Exploratory Study of Mathematics Engagement of Secondary Students by Tracy Thomas Brown A large proportion of American students are not psychologically connected or engaged to what is occurring in their classes; in addition, they fail to take school seriously, have lost interest in school, and do not value or seek out success (Steinberg, Brown, & Dornbusch, 1996). In addition, the relationship in a mathematics classroom between schooling and engagement from the student’s perspective is not well known (Cothran & Ennis, 2000). The purpose of this study was to investigate engagement in order to describe students’ constructs of student engagement, their beliefs, attitudes, and values as they relate to engagement in secondary mathematics. Three broad questions guided this investigation: (a) What are students’ practices and beliefs concerning student engagement in the secondary mathematics classroom? (b) What are the patterns of engagement in the secondary mathematics classroom? (c) What are the interactions between the student in the secondary mathematics classroom and primary contexts that affect student engagement? Data were collected through behavioral observations, interviews, recent events, journals, and observer’s perceptions in this interpretive case study. Participants in this study were eleventh- and twelfth-grade high school students who were recruited from a high school in a rural community in the southeast United States. Data from the transcriptions of observations, interviews, researcher’s journal, and students’ journals were analyzed using a constant comparative and pattern-matching method using a tentative codebook. The codebook included: (a) themes derived from the affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions of student engagement; (b) contexts that affect student engagement; (c) properties of attribution theory; (d) the processes and sources of self-efficacy; and (e) factors that researchers have found that affect student engagement. Themes for each participant emerged from the data. A cross-case analysis was conducted. The cross-case themes were (a) moods, feelings, and/or physical conditions; (b) effort; (c) behavioral engagement, including attentiveness and help-seeking skills; and (d) approach to instruction. Findings from this study show that there are specific student practices, behaviors, and patterns that affect engagement. This study provides specific descriptions of these practices, behaviors, and patterns with respect to the influences on student engagement.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987.

<p> Using a convenience sampling of 10 eighth-grade language arts students, this exploratory case study examined in depth the literacy processes used by ten 8^th grade students to generate various multimodal artifacts that comprise their final projects and the nature of the literacy transactions that fostered these processes over the course of one year in this language arts classroom. Following closely (via the case studies in Chapter Five) how four of the ten students used the literacy events of the classroom to claim spaces to perceive and perform their voices and visions, the study revealed how these students were able to turn away from a specific form of silencing, both on and off the page, and reclaim a lost voice that helped them better navigate their lives and their literacies. This navigation transcended classroom walls to encompass larger social arenas in which students continued to perform and practice their literary and living choices.</p><p> I conducted three focus group interviews with all ten students. The purpose of these interviews was to define, from these students&rsquo; perspectives, the literacy practices they engaged in over the course of the 2012-2013 academic year as part of their eighth-grade language arts class. In studying how these transactions helped shape these students&rsquo; literate thinking, my intent was to investigate ways in which both local and global contexts interact to help students promote or resist social and political trends. The study brought into question and deconstructed the grand narratives surrounding our American identity and the traditional literacies that serve to define and legitimize them.</p><p> My findings revealed that the literacy events in the classroom, facilitated and negotiated by an interested and knowledgeable adult, offered these ten students a wide range of personal ways to practice, in new and innovative ways, both academic and personal choices.</p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative research study was to better understand why students classified with emotional disturbance (ED) were able to graduate from high school and earn high school diplomas. Students classified as having emotional disturbance have a host of deficits in the areas of reading, writing, math, and social and emotional skills. Despite these stumbling blocks, some students who had these deficiencies were resilient and able to graduate from high school, even in an era of school reform and heightened accountability. Using an extensive literature review, this phenomenological study explored reasons why this targeted population remained in school. Graduates were interviewed to determine the motivational factors that influenced and enhanced their decision to stay in an urban alternative high school. The subjects were classified with emotional disturbance over the age of 18 who were well past the age when they could legally withdraw from school and had graduated from a special education alternative high school in an urban setting. A cadre of administrators and teachers who supervised and taught this population during their 11^th and 12^th grades were interviewed for comparison to determine what kept these students in school. The theoretical framework of Alderfer&rsquo;s Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) theory was used; findings showed that the growth aspect was key in both the teachers&rsquo; beliefs as well as the students&rsquo; responses.</p>

No description available.

<p> This mixed methods case study documents an effort to implement authentic science and engineering instruction in one teacher&rsquo;s ninth grade science classrooms in a science-focused public school. The research framework and methodology is a derivative of work developed and reported by Newmann and others (Newmann &amp; Associates, 1996). Based on a working definition of authenticity, data were collected for eight months on the authenticity in the experienced teacher&rsquo;s pedagogy and in student performance. Authenticity was defined as the degree to which a classroom lesson, an assessment task, or an example of student performance demonstrates construction of knowledge through use of the meaning-making processes of science and engineering, and has some value to students beyond demonstrating success in school (Wehlage et al., 1996). Instruments adapted for this study produced a rich description of the authenticity of the teacher&rsquo;s instruction and student performance. </p><p> The pedagogical practices of the classroom teacher were measured as moderately authentic on average. However, the authenticity model revealed the teacher&rsquo;s strategy of interspersing relatively low authenticity instructional units focused on building science knowledge with much higher authenticity tasks requiring students to apply these concepts and skills. The authenticity of the construction of knowledge and science meaning-making processes components of authentic pedagogy were found to be greater, than the authenticity of affordances for students to find value in classroom activities beyond demonstrating success in school. Instruction frequently included one aspect of value beyond school, connections to the world outside the classroom, but students were infrequently afforded the opportunity to present their classwork to audiences beyond the teacher. </p><p> When the science instruction in the case was measured to afford a greater level of authentic intellectual work, a higher level of authentic student performance on science classwork was also measured. In addition, direct observation measures of student behavioral engagement showed that behavioral engagement was generally high, but not associated with the authenticity of the pedagogy. Direct observation measures of student self-regulation found evidence that when instruction focused on core science and engineering concepts and made stronger connections to the student&rsquo;s world beyond the classroom, student self-regulated learning was greater, and included evidence of student ownership. </p><p> In light of the alignment between the model of authenticity used in this study and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the results suggest that further research on the value beyond school component of the model could improve understanding of student engagement and performance in response to the implementation of the NGSS. In particular, it suggests a unique role environmental education can play in affording student success in K-12 science and a tool to measure that role.</p>

<p> Metro Nashville Public Schools has transitioned each of their 12 zoned high schools to the academy model. The original basis of this study was to analyze student achievement and engagement between the different academies within MNPS high schools. However, as the study proceeded with data analysis, a need for baseline data became evident due to lack of completion during the initial five years of the transition to the academy model. </p><p> The findings show with regard to student achievement that 50% of schools across the nation are scoring better than MNPS on the national percentiles for the PLAN ACT. The researchers chose to use PLAN ACT instead of ACT with regard to student achievement because it is a better predictor of student achievement for the purpose of this study. It can be concluded from the research that females had higher graduation rates overall. </p><p> With regard to student engagement, it can also be concluded that attendance rates among all twelve academies were over 85%. When disaggregated by ethnic groups in the sample it was found that all had at or above a 90% attendance rate. The researchers also drew the conclusion that there was a disparity between the ratios of in-school suspensions (ISS) and out-of-school suspensions (OSS). This could possibly suggest inconsistency in how these discipline measures were implemented across MNPS academies.</p>