Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Jennifer M. Bay-Williams / The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of student attitudes in a college algebra mathematics classroom when lessons are primarily composed of standards-based pedagogy. National reports advocate for a change in teaching K-12. Nowhere is this more needed than in community colleges where students are taught in traditional formats and rarely challenged to make connections between mathematics and their personal experiences. A thorough review of the literature shows the need for mathematics reform at every level, including the college mathematics classroom. There are several national reports, Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, Adding it Up, How People Learn, and Undergraduate Programs and Courses in the Mathematical Sciences, that have been published to address the need to change mathematics teaching and learning. They are advocates for the implementation of standards-based instruction into the mathematics classroom. This study focused on students’ perceptions about the nature of mathematics and learning mathematics, specifically, does such a learning environment impact students’ perceptions of being a student of mathematics in the areas of confidence, anxiety, enjoyment, and motivation, and relevance of mathematics in personal and professional experiences. Over the course of one semester, two sections of college algebra students participated in the study. By using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, the study was able to see if there was an impact in student attitudes toward mathematics. The standards-based pedagogy used in this study was cooperative learning, problem solving, discourse, and the graphing calculator. Changes in attitude were determined by attitudinal surveys, student questionnaires, observations, and focus groups. College algebra students had a statistically significant change in their enjoyment of mathematics. Although the other attitudes, confidence, motivation, and value did not have a statistically significant change, the qualitative data indicates a change in these attitudes did occur. This study identified that cooperative learning, problem-solving, discourse, and graphing calculators increased student confidence in doing mathematics because they felt more competent in working problems on exams. Students also found the class enjoyable, anxiety was reduced as students became more familiar with the instructional strategies, and students recognized the value of mathematics for job skills and personal business.

Education reform in schools has focused on inclusion of all students in general education environments and accountability measures. Students with cognitive impairments are mandated to participate in standards-based alternate assessments. Special education teachers in a school district in a southeastern state in this study have been faced with the challenge of implementing these assessments. A bounded case study design was used to examine their perceptions of the use of standards-based alternate assessments for students with cognitive impairments. Guiding research questions focused on the nature and process of implementing alternate assessments. Resistance to change was the conceptual framework. The bounded case included 3 elementary, 1 middle school, and 4 high school special education teachers who have taught students with mild to moderate cognitive disabilities in self-contained classrooms in the district. Teachers were interviewed and data were coded and analyzed for common themes. Results included implementation concerns such as time for administration, scoring issues, lack of usefulness of assessment results, inappropriate expectations for performance, and lack of validity of assessments for cognitively impaired students. Recommendations included decision makers' reconsideration of the procedures for implementation and establishing validity and usefulness of standards-based alternate assessments. Findings in this study reflected teachers' resistance to change, but were informative in providing local decision makers with an opportunity for social change that includes examination of where current policy fails to accommodate students with cognitive impairments and creation of appropriate policy and assessments that actually benefit those students.

As students move from grade level to grade level and onto college, their grades have an impact on the number of opportunities available to students. The competition for entering college and earning a scholarship are at an all-time high and the grades students earn have a direct impact on future opportunities. Grading practices vary by teacher causing students’ grades to mean different things. Standards-based grading practices focus on removing teacher bias and puts emphasis on the learning students can demonstrate. Students are given assessments to determine learning and are given multiple opportunities to show what they have learned. Emphasis is placed a student’s most current knowledge rather than an average of scores during the grading period. This study focused on how student learning was impacted when secondary math, science, and language arts teachers use standards-based grading practices in their classrooms. Student learning was measured by term grades and end-of-level SAGE test scores. Results show students who attended a classroom with standards-based grades earned higher GPAs, performed better on the end-of-level test, and had more learning growth over the course of the school year, than their peers who participated in traditional grading classrooms.

The information conveyed to parents on traditional report cards can be misleading. Although the use of the letter grade system has been in place for more than a century, these grades do not give parents the information they need in order to help ensure that their children are academically successful. In order to address this issue, schools must review the methods by which they communicate student progress. In this study, the parents of students in an elementary school classroom were told the benefits of using standards-based report cards and were shown how to read them. They were then provided with a standards-based report card detailing how their children performed in reading. Following the use of this report card, parents completed a questionnaire and were interviewed about their perceptions of using this revised reporting document.

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The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the perceptions of K-12 teachers as they relate to the implementation of the Tennessee Educator Acceleration (TEAM) evaluation framework. Survey links were sent to 1,115 K-12 teachers from 4 Northeast Tennessee school districts. The survey achieved a 24% return rate for a total of 270 participants. The research evaluated K-12 teachers’ overall perceptions of the TEAM evaluation framework, their perceptions of changes to their lesson planning processes, their perceptions of changes in the use of instructional strategies in their classrooms, and their perceptions of changes in the amount of time needed to prepare lessons for instruction since the implementation of the TEAM evaluation framework. Data sources analyzed consisted of an online survey design using a 5-point Likert-type scale. There were 4 research questions included in this research each with a corresponding null hypothesis. Each research question was analyzed with a series of single sample t-tests with mid-point of the scale (3.0) as the test value representing neutrality. All data were analyzed at the .05 level of significance. Findings from the data indicated a significant difference in perceptions of teachers in 3 of 4 areas. First the planning process for their lessons was reported to be more structured and focused on the evaluation rubric. Next, the instructional strategies used in their lessons were reported as more focused on higher order thinking skills. And finally the time required to plan instruction had increased since the implementation of the TEAM framework.

Today, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a growing interest, concern, and need for technological literacy. To this end, the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) through the Technology for All Americans Project, has developed and promulgated the Standards for Technological Literacy: Content for the Study of Technology. This effort is part of the ongoing initiative to develop technology standards on a national level, and to focus on what every student in grades K-12 should know and be able to do in order to achieve technological literacy (ITEA, 2000). The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived knowledge, use, and acceptance of national content standards by industrial technology education teachers in the state of Arizona. This study used a descriptive survey design in which self-reported perceptional and demographic data were obtained from industrial technology education teachers in Arizona. The survey was delivered via the web for expediency and reduced cost in collecting the data. Due to the relatively small size of the population and historically low response rate from teachers in the field, a census study was conducted (Creswell, 2002). The instrument was adapted from a survey questionnaire developed through Utah State University after a review of the literature failed to reveal any validated instrument that could be used to collect the requisite data. In addition to investigating the perceived level of knowledge, use, and acceptance of national content standards, the study also investigated the perceptions of industrial technology teachers as to the importance of the content standards with regard to their students and to classroom instruction. Frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, and correlational analyses were performed on the data. Results of the study showed that in spite of a low percentage of membership in either the state or international governing organizations, the majority of industrial technology education teachers in Arizona endorsed all of the national content standards presented in the Standards for Technological Literacy. This is in contrast to an historic lack of acceptance of technology education by industrial arts teachers. The study also revealed that the majority of technology education teachers in Arizona perceived they would benefit from additional training on all of the standards.

During a semester-long action research study, the author attempted to implement a standards-based approach to teaching mathematics in a high school geometry class. Having previously taught according to a more traditional manner, there were many challenges involved as he made this transition. Some of the challenges were related to Geometry and others were related to the standards-based approach in general. The main challenges that the author encountered are identified and discussed. A plan of action for possible solutions to these challenges is then described.