Since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, students who failed to demonstrate proficiency on state assessments were identified and targeted in order to receive interventions to assist in increasing their academic achievement. For many students, time during the regular school day simply could not be provided for the attention or time on-task necessary to meet their needs. As a result, many school districts and schools implemented after-school and tutoring programs to target those students who failed to demonstrate proficiency. Louisville Municipal School District (LMSD) operated an after-school program to help increase the academic achievement of 5th through 8th grade students in reading/language and mathematics on the MCT2. The purpose of this study was to (a) explore the impact the after-school program’s strategic components (leadership, activities, and partnerships) had on student achievement, and (b) determine if the after-school program had a positive effect on academic outcomes in the areas of reading/language and mathematics. A mixed method research design was used to conduct the study. A narrative approach was used to provide a response to the first research question. The Chi-squared test of independence was used as the primary means of analysis for the second and third research questions to determine if relationship existed between participation in the after-school program and academic achievement. The results from the research study show that strategic components of an after-school program had a positive impact on student achievement. Emerging themes were identified for each strategic component: leadership, activities, and partnerships. Participation in the after-school program proved to be a good predictor of student achievement on MCT2, with statistically significant Chi-squared results for reading/language. The recommendations for future research are as follows: (a) further research to improve reading/language and mathematics skills among the nation’s students, (b) longitudinal studies to determine long term effects on students attending after-school programs multiple years, (c) study of effects of after-school programs on other grade levels, and (d) including outcomes of other variables such as after-school participation on school attendance, behavior, and classroom grades.

Sammanfattning Att alla elever har rätt till undervisning där de utvecklas efter sina förutsättningar, styrks i styrdokumenten. Särskolan är framvuxen ur olika traditioner som genom åren haft skiftande syn på individer som kan tas för avvikande eller annorlunda. Begreppet delaktighet används inte explicit i skollagen men styrdokumenten understryker vikten av att alla elever ska kunna vara en del i undervisningen oavsett individuella förutsättningar. En central utgångspunkt i den här studien är att delaktighet är en förutsättning för lärande. I skolan är det genom undervisningen som elevens lärande förväntas ske. Det är således i undervisningen som eleven behöver vara delaktig. Därmed är det av intresse att utforska vad speciallärare lägger för innebörd i ”delaktighet” just avseende ”undervisning”. Vilken innebörd ger de ” delaktighet” och vilken innebörd ger de ”undervisning”? I vilken relation tycks de här ”innebörderna” stå till varandra? Studien preciserar problemområdet till lärare som undervisar elever med autism i kombination med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning – ett arbete som innebär specifika utmaningar. Studiens syfte är att utforska vilken innebörd lärare i särskolan lägger i elevens ”delaktighet i undervisning” avseende elever med autism i kombination intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Nio speciallärare har intervjuats. Föreliggande studie avser att fylla en liten del av den kunskapslucka som vi identifierat genom granskning av tidigare forskning. Utifrån ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv undersöks vilken innebörd som lärarna ger elevens ”delaktighet i undervisning”. Resultatet sätter ljuset på att delaktighet i undervisning är ett komplext, dynamiskt fenomen och bör ses, precis som Szönyi och Söderqvist Dunkers (2015a) lyfter, i den kontext den undersöks. Resultatet indikerar att vad läraren lägger för innebörd i elevens ”delaktighet i undervisning” styr lärarens val av aktiviteters/uppgifters karaktär i undervisningen. Resultaten visar att för var och en av informanterna framträder en individspecifik ”relation” mellan den innebörd som informanten ger ”delaktighet” och den innebörd informanten ger ”undervisning”. / All students have the right to an education where they develop according to their own abilities, which is clearly stated in school’s governing documents. The special-needs school has developed from distinct perspectives and traditions, that over the years have had shifting ideas about individuals who are considered deviant or different. The concept of participation is not explicitly stated in the Education Act, but the governing documents emphasize the importance of students participating in the teaching, regardless of individual abilities. The school classroom is an arena where the students are expected to learn. That is why it is of paramount importance that they are given the opportunity to be active participants during teaching. The purpose of this study is to explore the interpretation that special-needs teachers have of the concept “student's participation in teaching” concerning students with autism in combination with intellectual disability. As participation is a prerequisite for learning, it is of great interest to explore whether there is any relationship between the interpretations of students’ “participation” and “teaching”, based on the special-needs teachers' experiences. The present study specifies the problem area for special-needs teachers who work with students with autism in combination with intellectual disability, as that work is exceedingly complex and has very specific challenges associated. Nine special-needs teachers have been interviewed for this study which aims to fill a gap identified in the educational field for students with special needs. More specifically, the study explores the relationship between the meaning of “participation” and the meaning of “teaching”. Teachers’ interpretation of the term “student's participation in teaching” is examined through a hermeneutical lens. The result hopes to shed light on the fact that participation in teaching is a complex, dynamic phenomenon that should be seen, as Szönyi & Söderqvist Dunkers (2015a) highlight, in the context in which it is examined. The results of the study indicate that the teachers’ previous experiences impact, to an extent, their choice of activities and tasks in teaching. All nine teachers identify and relay their individual, and very different, relationships between the terms “participation” and “teaching”.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the classroom experiences of current secondary school students, in light of the present policy drive towards participation. Using an approach with ethnographic intent (participant observation, interviewing, shadowing and field notes) this research explores six students’ experiences, in one secondary school in Scotland. Emerging themes from the literature, regarding participation and participatory approaches, suggest that these can be understood in different ways, ranging from economic instrumentalism to democratic renewal. This study took a fresh theoretical approach, employing an ecological, temporal-relational understanding of the achievement of agency. This understanding acknowledges a young person’s awareness of, and capacity to engage with, a range of different possible actions, by means of a particular context at a particular time. This approach provided theoretical tools, with which to interpret aspects of these students’ school experiences. The findings are detailed in terms of teacher-student relationships, the cultural realm, and young people’s aspirations. Students’ achievement of agency in the school setting is complex, but one major finding is that the quality and type of teacher-student relationship are significant in enabling these students to achieve agency. Peer relationships and ties beyond the school gates are also significant. The ecological understanding of agency provides a basis for educators to better understand the interdependence of the individual and the environment and to explore how participation might afford a wider range of possibilities for young people. This reflection on participation is important if we want to shape educational ecologies to encourage practices which facilitate the achievement of agency by young people.

In order to understand withdrawal rates in online K-12 schools, it is vital to have detailed documentation of these rates and to describe characteristics of the students who withdraw compared to the students who remain enrolled. Once these characteristics are known schools can develop programs and/or policies that support students who are at risk of withdrawing. This study was a descriptive analysis of (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) participation, (d) teacher-student communication, and (e) overall performance percentage comparing the means between the enrolled student population and the withdrawn student population using extant data. Four of the five variables, (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) teacher-student communication, and (d) overall performance percentage, were significant at the p < .01 level. Upon analysis, the results of average lessons per day were not reportable due to problems with the data. The Enrolled group had significantly higher means in the following variables: (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) teacher-student synchronous contact, and (d) overall performance percentage.

The purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to determine whether a significantly statistical relationship exists between student participation and final grade performance within an online environment at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCAT) Regents Online Degree Program (RODP). The study used data retrieved from the Desire2Learn (D2L) course management system and the Student Information System (SIS) for the 2013-2014 academic year. The stratified sample consisted of 360 individual students enrolled in either one or more of the 43 TCAT RODP course sections randomly selected from a total of 217 course sections offered during 3 semesters. The courses were offered in an online setting and are representative of the following academic programs: academic areas of Business Systems Technology (BST), Computer Aided Drafting (CAD), and Computer Information Systems (CIS). The sample included 261 students from the BST program, 42 students from the CAD program, and 57 students from the CIS program. The gender demographics sample includes 273 females and 87 male students. The hypotheses in this study were tested through data analysis using the Spearman’s rho correlations test. The findings of the study revealed that no statistically significant relationships exist between discussion activity, course login activity, and course content interaction and final grade. The findings of the study indicated statistically significant relationships among course content interaction and final grade for students enrolled in the BST program, course login activity and final grade for students enrolled in the CAD program, and course login activity and final grade for female students.

Social entrepreneurs utilize the traits of commercial entrepreneurs; organizational abilities, opportunity identification, combining resources in novel ways, willingness to accept and manage risk and explosive growth or returns, to create enterprises that return high social value. As educators, we see opportunities where entrepreneurial skills can be applied to education, not-for-profit organizations, government offices and programs and philanthropic concerns and create service learning opportunities for students beyond the boundaries of the university. Many of us involved in higher education are frustrated with students who do not attend class, turn in assignments late or exhibit a lack of effort in classes where they pay tuition and receive a grade. It is a challenge, therefore, to gain the involvement of students in social entrepreneurship efforts where the reward (grade, pay or recognition) is not immediate or minimal and the trade-off (time management for their schedule) may be more fun or financially rewarding. This paper discusses the evolution for the process of enlisting student involvement in two distinct social entrepreneurship programs at our university. The first program involves linking university skill sets in the arts, digital media, technology and project management to the planning, implementation and evaluation of a regional arts and music festival held in the city where our university operates. Students involved in this social entrepreneurial venture work with community volunteers, city government officials and local business owners for a period of nine to ten months. In the first two years of sponsoring this program the strategy has evolved from enlisting the help of a student technology club (Edge Club, Digital Media) to working with a small volunteer student team (3 to 4 students). In each case, the organization or student team that worked on the project received no academic credit for the work involved beyond enhancement of their resume. Initial enthusiasm was high but tended to decline as the time horizon for finishing the project extended beyond the current semester and other activities or demands competed for the students’ participation. The second program also utilizes a student organization (Students In Free Enterprise, SIFE) to work on social entrepreneurship projects. In SIFE we have found that the students prefer projects that entail an afternoon of preparation for a short presentation, or service within a 3-4 day period. In that this group is involved in a “competition” with SIFE teams from other institutions at the end of the year, it is important that they seek projects that will differentiate themselves. The short-term projects that they prefer do little to accomplish this differentiation. The projects that truly differentiate are those that require a high degree of preparation for an event that culminates at the end of the semester, or even the following year. To that end, all students of this select team are required to create a long-term project that they will spearhead throughout the year. This leads to an escalation of commitment due to their “ownership” of that project. They are also required to assist another team member on their long-term project. Their efforts on these projects tend to be greater in that they realize that the other members will be assisting them on their project and they want to receive a conscientious effort from their teammates. This synergistic performance enhances both the number and quality of the projects. Using this method, we typically create 5 to 6 viable projects each year. Most teams that we compete with tend to have one major project per year. Using this system our university team has completed an average of 10 projects per year for presentation, of which 2 to 3 have been major projects.

<p>Uppsatsen behandlar genomförandet av det så kallade storprojektet, som under våren 2009 ledde fram till föreställningen ”Jorden Runt”. I studien (där jag fungerat som deltagande observatör) presenteras bakgrunden till projektet från start, samt en undersökning rörande i vilken utsträckning sex brasselever (på instrumenten kornett, valthorn och baryton) upplevt arbetet med ”Jorden Runt”, deras förväntningar inför projektet samt om de har några förslag inför kommande storprojekt. Undersökningen visar att eleverna inte tycker att de fått bestämma särskilt mycket i arbetet med föreställningen, men är trots detta ganska nöjda - endast en elev skulle ha velat påverka föreställningen ytterligare. Vid en jämförelse mellan elevinflytandet i storprojektet och i grundskolan framkommer olika synpunkter. Några elever tycker att de fått bestämma mer under storprojektet, medan andra tycker att de fått vara med och bestämma mer i grundskolan.</p> / <p>The essay discusses the implementation of the so called major project which took place during the spring of 2009 and generated in the show “Around the World”.The study (in which I’ve functioned as a participating observer) contains background information of the project and a study concerning how six brass students (playing the instruments cornet, French horn and baritone) have experienced the work of “Around the World”, their expectations before the project and whether they have any suggestions for the future major projects.The students do not experience a high level of their own participation but are yet fairly satisfied - only one student requests more influence. A comparison between the major project and the compulsory school shows that the students have different experiences. Some students think that they were allowed to decide more during the major project while other students felt that they were allowed to decide more in compulsory school</p>

Some researchers suggest that quality is preserved when students are rewarded for quantity of class participation (Boniecki & Moore, 2003; Bruss, 2009; Mainkar, 2007; Zaremba & Dunn, 2004); however, few studies have targeted the systematic assessment of participation quality. The primary purpose of the study was to develop a reliable system for rating quality of student participation, investigate whether quality of participation is preserved when students are given credit for the amount of class participation, and examine the relationship between participation quality and important course variables. The researcher in the current study developed a rating system to evaluate the quality of student participation in 2 small sections of an undergraduate class at a large Southeastern university. The primary observer rated the quality of each student comment and recorded the number of comments each student contributed each discussion day. In order to assess the reliability of the coding scheme, a secondary observer rated the participation quality and quantity on the third day in each unit. As outlined in the syllabus, instructors awarded credit for the amount of participation on randomly drawn days at the conclusion of select units. The average inter-observer agreement was 90% for the number of productive comments contributed by each student and 49% for the number of non-productive comments contributed by each student. The percent of productive comments that each student contributed each day was the primary dependent variable. Visual inspection and proportion analyses of the percent of productive comments revealed that quality of participation was generally preserved during units in which credit was awarded for the frequency of participation. On average, students who participated frequently were significantly more productive than those who participated infrequently. Additionally, a student’s frequency of course participation and critical thinking at the onset of the course significantly predicted classification into high- and low-quality responders. Future research suggestions include the following: expanding the definition of the quality of student participation into 3 overall qualitative categories rather than 2, increasing the criteria for participation credit in small course sections, and providing credit for the quality of participation.

Uppsatsen behandlar genomförandet av det så kallade storprojektet, som under våren 2009 ledde fram till föreställningen ”Jorden Runt”. I studien (där jag fungerat som deltagande observatör) presenteras bakgrunden till projektet från start, samt en undersökning rörande i vilken utsträckning sex brasselever (på instrumenten kornett, valthorn och baryton) upplevt arbetet med ”Jorden Runt”, deras förväntningar inför projektet samt om de har några förslag inför kommande storprojekt. Undersökningen visar att eleverna inte tycker att de fått bestämma särskilt mycket i arbetet med föreställningen, men är trots detta ganska nöjda - endast en elev skulle ha velat påverka föreställningen ytterligare. Vid en jämförelse mellan elevinflytandet i storprojektet och i grundskolan framkommer olika synpunkter. Några elever tycker att de fått bestämma mer under storprojektet, medan andra tycker att de fått vara med och bestämma mer i grundskolan. / The essay discusses the implementation of the so called major project which took place during the spring of 2009 and generated in the show “Around the World”.The study (in which I’ve functioned as a participating observer) contains background information of the project and a study concerning how six brass students (playing the instruments cornet, French horn and baritone) have experienced the work of “Around the World”, their expectations before the project and whether they have any suggestions for the future major projects.The students do not experience a high level of their own participation but are yet fairly satisfied - only one student requests more influence. A comparison between the major project and the compulsory school shows that the students have different experiences. Some students think that they were allowed to decide more during the major project while other students felt that they were allowed to decide more in compulsory school

ABSTRACT THE EFFECT OF ASKING REFERENTIAL QUESTIONS ON THE PARTICIPATION AND ORAL PRODUCTION OF LOWER LEVEL LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN READING CLASSES &Ouml / zcan, Seda MA, Program in English Language Teaching Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Nurdan G&uuml / rb&uuml / z May, 2010, 84 pages This study aims at investigating the effect of asking referential questions on the oral participation and production of lower level language learners in reading classes. The main purpose of the study is to inquire whether the reticence of lower level language learners to participate in lessons due to their poor language ability could be overcome by asking questions that require their opinions and comments, rather than solely answering questions to display their comprehension. For this purpose an action research was conducted in a lower level preparatory class at Izmir University of Economics over a 4-week period. This action research included a preliminary investigation stage to discover the reasons for low level of participation in these classes and to come up with a hypothesis to solve the problem, and 3 reading lessons to test the hypothesis. During those 3 lessons students were exposed to both display and referential questions and the number of students and responses were calculated for both question types to collect quantitative data. In addition, the mean lengths (in words) of students&rsquo / responses to display and referential questions were calculated to find out the differences of students&rsquo / responses in terms of length between display and referential questions. The analysis of quantitative data indicates that lower level language learners participate more when asked a referential question. Additionally, referential v questions engender longer responses compared to the responses given to the display questions.